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Pacific atoll recruits eco-tourists in new battle of Midway

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MIDWAY ATOLL (AP) — The long stretch of atolls and coral reefs northwest of the Hawaiian islands is so precious that humans generally aren't allowed to venture there.

Boats need special permits to approach. All fishing must stop in 2011, aside from what native Hawaiians catch for cultural purposes. President Bush made the region the largest protected marine area in the world when he declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a marine national monument last year.

But there is one spot in the 1,400-mile archipelago where officials think human visitors, in limited numbers, could do more good than harm: Midway Atoll.

In about six months, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to allow tourists to visit Midway, primarily to help clear the island of debris and invasive species. Wildlife officials also hope visitors will leave having become strong advocates for the continued preservation of the monument.

"That is such a treasure that America is not yet aware of," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said during a recent visit to the remote island. The monument, recently named Papahanaumokuakea, is home to thousands of species found nowhere else in the world. Mr. Kempthorne said it was America's equivalent of the Galapagos Islands or the Great Barrier Reef.

Midway, in the upper extreme of the island chain, is a three-to-five-hour plane ride from the nearest city, Honolulu, depending on the type of aircraft.

Visitors are greeted immediately by the mating-call sounds of hundreds of thousands of gooney birds, or Laysan albatross, echoing through the trees.

Hawaiian monk seals, a critically endangered species, lounge on the beach. Green sea turtles, a threatened species commonly known by its Hawaiian name "honu," lurch ashore to bask in the sun.

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