President Obama Expanding National Monument in Hawaii

President Obama will expand a national monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating the world’s largest marine protected area.

FOX’s Jon Decker has more from the White House:

The Papah?naumoku?kea Marine National Monument will be expanded by hundreds of thousands of square miles, permanently protecting coral reefs and deep sea marine habitats from commercial fishing and mineral mining.

The President will travel next Thursday to Midway Atoll to mark the significance of the monument expansion, which had been opposed by the local fishing industry, arguing that it would be hard-hit by the designation.

President George W. Bush first designated the area surrounding the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a national monument 10 years ago.

At the White House, Jon Decker, FOX News.