President Obama used a presidential proclamation to create the world鈥檚 largest protected marine area Thursday, the White House announced .
Areas around U.S.-controlled islands and atolls will be added to the , created by President Bush in 2009. The monument will expand to almost 500,000 miles鈥攕ix times its current size, and larger than California. Fishing, undersea mining, and other commercial activity will be banned in the protected area.
This is the 12th time President Obama used his presidential powers to set aside areas for environmental protection, and environmental activists are pleased. 鈥淭his is a great moment,鈥 Greg Stone, chief scientist for Conservation International, . 鈥淭his is some of the last real tropical ocean wilderness left on the planet, so it鈥檚 good to put some of these kind of reef systems aside.鈥