To: President Donald Trump

Save YOUR Marine Monuments & Ocean Sanctuaries!

Dear Secretary of Commerce Ross,
In late April, President Trump signed an executive order that threatens to roll back long established environmental protections by opening our Marine Monuments to commercial fishing and National Marine Sanctuaries to oil and mineral exploration. We shouldn't be selling off our healthiest ocean spaces to the highest bidder; they belong to all of us. Coastal communities depend on these special places in the ocean.

I strongly urge the Trump administration to maintain the current boundaries and management plans for our marine monuments and sanctuaries. Oil drilling, mineral mining and commercial fishing do not belong in these sensitive places. In an ocean already suffering, we need to protect these valuable marine ecosystems and ocean wildlife, not put them at greater risk.

I urge you to support the following marine monuments and sanctuaries and recommend that their boundaries and protection remain in place.

AMERICAN SAMOA
Rose Atoll Marine National Monument
National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa

CALIFORNIA
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

HAWAII
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

MARIANA ISLANDS
Marianas Trench Marine National Monument

MICHIGAN
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

NEW ENGLAND
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument

Why is this important?

President Trump signed an executive order in April that endangers five marine monuments and six national marine sanctuaries in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and Great Lakes that protect clean and healthy areas for recreation and wildlife. Oil exploration and drilling, deep sea mining, or intensive commercial fishing could soon be permitted in these places and threaten marine wildlife like whales, seals, seabirds, sea turtles, and recovering fish populations. We can’t let that happen; industrializing these places would take us back, not forward.

Our marine monuments and sanctuaries are home to diverse, abundant ocean life and are of significant scientific, historic and cultural value. They contain rare species, endangered marine mammals, seabirds, and sea turtles. Some have pristine coral reefs. Others are spiritually significant to native communities. In many cases, local economies depend on these ocean parks to boost tourism, enable recreation, and conserve healthy fish populations.

A public comment period is open until August 15th for you to tell the Trump administration and Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, who will make recommendations about protecting or trashing these places, how YOU feel about this threat.

Please sign this petition to support our monuments and sanctuaries!