A vast Pacific sanctuary of islands, reefs, and deep ocean preserving Hawaiian natural and cultural heritage.
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is one of the largest protected ocean areas on Earth, encompassing roughly 582,578 square miles of Pacific waters, submerged banks and seamounts, reefs, and ten islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Stretching about 1,200 miles from Nīhoa in the southeast to Kure Atoll in the northwest, the monument crosses the International Date Line and reaches the limit of the United States exclusive economic zone in many areas, creating an almost continuous marine reserve that is larger than all of America's national parks combined.
The monument was first designated by President George W. Bush in 2006 under the Antiquities Act, named with the Hawaiian creation-oriented name Papahānaumokuākea in 2007, and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. President Barack Obama expanded it more than fourfold in 2016, and in 2025 the marine portions were redesignated as Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary. Only a tiny fraction of its area, roughly 5.8 square miles, remains above sea level, but these islands and atolls provide essential nesting and breeding habitat for seabirds, endemic land birds, seals, and sea turtles.
Beyond its ecological significance, the area carries deep cultural meaning for Native Hawaiians as a place where life begins and returns, and its waters hold shipwrecks, downed aircraft, and the resting places of thousands of service members from the Battle of Midway. The monument's combination of coral reef biodiversity, endemism, Native Hawaiian cultural importance, and wartime maritime history makes it a globally distinctive protected landscape.
