Support for Mariana Trench

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland at Upwell 2024

I joined the Center for American Progress in November 2021 and have been able to use that platform to advocate for better management of the Mariana Trench -- and many other marine protected areas in the United States. On June 4, during the Upwell 2024 conference held at the Center for American Progress, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would soon implement final management plans for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.


In response, I issued the following statement: "These two marine monuments were designated during the Bush and Obama administrations, but their management plans have languished in bureaucratic limbo for years. This announcement is a critical step toward achieving effective management for huge swaths of protected waters in the United States and protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. Together, these two monuments make up 8.2 percent of the protected oceans in our country alone."


Here's a few of the words I wrote and spoke since joining CAP to call attention to the lack of final management plans for the marine monuments in the US Pacific territories:

    CAP Website 
    1. Centering Access, Quality, and Equity and Justice in a Beyond 30x30 Ocean Strategy, June 2024
    2. Now Is the Time to Secure President Biden’s Ocean Leadership Legacy, April 2024
    3. 5 Early Takeaways From the BIden Administration’s Conservation Atlas, April 2024
    4. The Biden Administration Can Deliver on Ocean Conservation Promises Made by the Bush and Obama Administration, January 2024
    5. Prioritizing Implementation at the Our Ocean Conference Would Benefit Ocean Communities and Ecosystems, February 2023
    6. Why Conserving 30x30 Is More Than a Numbers Game, January 2023
    7. U.S. Pacific Territories and the America the Beautiful Initiative Can Deliver Ocean Climate Solutions, November 2022
    8. Implementing Ocean Climate Solutions and Marine Protected Areas Require U.S. Leadership at the Our Ocean Conference, April 2022
    Placed Op-eds
    1. Dreaming of a Protected Ocean, Smithsonian American Indian Magazine, Spring 2024
    2. The US Territories will be key for achieving the goals of America the Beautiful, Pacific Daily News, May 2023
    3. More Work Needed on MPAs, Pacific Daily News, October 2022
    4. Happy 13th Birthday to the World’s Deepest Protected Area, Angelo Villagomez, January 2022
    CAP Videos:
    1. A Day in the Life of a Conservation Advocate
    2. President Biden Should Take These Conservation Actions
    3. The Special Places We’re Trying to Save
    4. CAP’s Angelo Villagomez at Our Ocean 2024
    Peer Reviewed Articles
    1. Assessing the Quantity and Quality of Marine Protected Areas in the Mariana Islands, Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022
    2. Ocean Protection Quality is Lagging Behind Quantity: Applying a Scientific Framework to Assess Real Marine Protected Area Progress Against the 30x30 Target, Conservation Letters, 2024
    Presentations
    1. 30x30 in the US and UK, Coastal Futures UK, January 2022
    2. Summit on Ocean Biodiversity, Smithsonian, January 2024
    3. What Are We Not Talking About, Our Ocean Greece, April 2024
    Miscellaneous
    1. America the Beautiful for All Coalition 2024 Policy Agenda
    2. America the Beautiful for All Coalition 2023 Policy Agenda

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