All waters within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument will be off-limits to commercial fishing and other resource extraction activities, such as deep-sea mining. Commercial fishing and drilling are prohibited, and the designation also has implications for navigation, with voluntary restrictions on travel through certain areas and a requirement that ships notify the U.S. Coast Guard when they enter or exit the area.

During his nearly eight years in the White House, Obama has protected more square kilometers (square miles) of land and sea than any other president in the history of the United States.

The national monument was originally just under 140,000 square miles.

William Aila, a former state official and Hawaiian activist, said Thursday the president's move will preserve "a cultural seascape, with the history of the Polynesians who migrated up to Hawaii". Subsequently, more than a dozen large-scale highly protected marine reserves have been created around the globe, including nine larger than the original Hawaiian monument. And Brian Schatz, a Democratic senator from Hawaii, made a formal proposal about it in June. "His decision to expand the Monument restores my hope that we may yet overcome the major environmental challenges we now face".

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Although much of the region remains to be fully explored, Papahānaumokuākea is home to more than 7,000 species, a quarter of which are endemic, or found nowhere else on Earth; some have only recently been discovered. New satellite technology allows scientists and researchers to "see" the topography of the seafloor and can track individual animals, such as whales and seals, providing a better understanding of foraging and migration patterns.

While Senator Schatz claims that a large preserve would allow fish stocks to replenish, making fishing viable for future generations, other prominent Hawaiians, among them Hawaii House Speaker Joe Souki, fear that the massive swath of protected ocean would adversely affect the island state's vital fishing industry, especially fisheries' ability to bag lucrative bigeye tuna. Daniel Akaka, a Native Hawaiian, wrote a letter in July to oppose the expansion. Hawaii's Department of Natural Resources and Office of Hawaiian Affairs will serve as a trustee in managing the monument. Conservationists have been pressing for greater ocean protections to aid a marine environment that is challenged by a global coral bleaching event, overfishing, seabed mining, a plague of plastic pollution and a lack of accountability on the high seas - something the United Nations is seeking to address. Shipwrecks from the World War II Battle of Midway, including wreckage from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, also are located in the newly protected area.

This lovely siphonophore was seen close to the ocean bottom on an unnamed seamount just outside Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

While it seems the people who use the sea for its bounty of resources might take a hit from Obama's expansion, the Native Hawaiian community and the species who call the area their home will certainly benefit.