2 Oct 2008

American Samoa supports protection of Rose Atoll as national monument

11:15 am on 2 October 2008

The United States government has organized a series of open houses to discuss the advisability of providing additional recognition or protection to the historic and scientific qualities of three specific marine areas in the Pacific.

One of the three is Rose Atoll in American Samoa and an open house session will be held in Pago Pago tomorrow afternoon.

In April American Samoa governor Togiola Tulafono wrote to President Bush in support of declaring Rose Atoll as a national monument because of its

uniqueness as the smallest atoll in the world and one of the remaining pristine atolls in the South Pacific.