MIDWAY ISLAND: President Barack Obama went off the beaten track Thursday — way off — to a newly expanded marine reserve on an atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, part of an effort to polish his environmental legacy.
Obama flew three hours west of his native Honolulu to Midway Atoll, on the far northwestern tip of the Hawaiian island chain.
The atoll is situated at the heart of Papahanaumokuakea, a vast Pacific marine reserve given protected status by then-president George W. Bush in 2006.
Obama recently quadrupled its size to make it the world’s largest marine reserve, home to 7,000 marine species, including many endangered birds as well as the Hawaiian monk seal and black coral, which can live for 4,500 years.
“This is going to be a precious resource for generations to come,” Obama told reporters on Midway’s Turtle Beach.
All the atoll’s 40 inhabitants — mostly US Fish and Wildlife Service staff — greeted him.
Until recently, the area was perhaps best known to military history buffs.
Seventy-four years ago, the Battle of Midway was a decisive naval fight in World War II that turned the tide of the war against Japan.
Obama praised “courage and perseverance” of the vastly outnumbered American soldiers who repelled Japanese forces. “This is hallowed ground,” he said.
Now, he added, protecting the vast ecosystem “allows us to study and research and understand our oceans better than we ever have before”.
