Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM) Outline - Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI)

Boundary of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM), located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). Created in 2006, Papahanaumokuakea is the largest conservation area in the U.S. and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. It is home to extensive coral reefs harboring over 7,000 marine species, one quarter of which are found only in Hawaii. Many of the islands and shallow water environments are important habitats for rare species such as the threatened green sea turtle and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. Significant cultural Native Hawaiian sites can also be found on the islands of Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker Island). Co-managed with the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the monument preserves one of the most untouched areas of coral reef in the world.

This layer shows the PMNM boundary after its expansion in 2016. On August 26, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation expanding the monument from 139,797 square miles (362,073 square kilometers) to 582,578 square miles (1,508,870 square kilometers). This extended the monument boundary westward of -163 degrees longitude out to Hawaii's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at 200 nautical miles offshore. The present layer shows the monument boundary as it existed after this expansion. To view the previous, smaller boundary, access the data layer for "hi_noaa_nwhi_papahanaumokuakea_2006" instead.

NOTE: This layer is provided as polyline features. For polygon features which can be color filled, please see the layer named "hi_noaa_nwhi_papahanaumokuakea" instead. Both polygon and polyline formats are provided for this dataset because the monument boundary spans the antimeridian (+/-180 degrees longitude) making it difficult to display in many GIS software applications without showing a division at the antimeridian.