9 Jan 2009

CNMI to get council to administer new Trench monument

2:35 pm on 9 January 2009

The Northern Marianas government is due to create an Advisory Council shortly for the newly designated Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.

The five-man Council will consist of three officials from the CNMI government and one representative from the Department of Defense and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Advisory Council will provide advice and recommendations on the development of management plans and management of the monument.

This week, the US President George Bush announced the project to protect large areas in the Pacific Ocean from commercial exploitation.

The three areas include the Rose Atoll in American Samoa, the Mariana Trench and northern Mariana Islands and a chain of remote islands in the Central Pacific.