A marine scientist at Hawaii University is warning pristine marine conservation areas are under threat from the Trump administration's review of federal protection for national monument parks.
Photo: William Ray
Dr Alan Friedlander said the Bush administration instituted marine sanctuaries in 2009 and they were extended by Barack Obama to protect a group of islands, atolls and reefs south and west of Hawaii.
He said opening up these areas to fishing would be extremely short sighted.
Dr Friedlander said even if fishing was done off-shore it has huge adverse impacts as the ecosystems are all so tightly interconnected.
"The US Pacific Remote Islands, these are places scattered throughout the Pacific, they have less of the constituents but also in some respects are more important because they represent some of the last in tact marine ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean and so yes those are definitely in danger. They are on the chopping block right now."
Dr Friedlander said the Trump administration was being very quiet about the timing and decision making over the fate of the ten national monument parks under review by the Department of the Interior.