Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the single largest conservation area under the U.S. flag and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world and was inscribed as a mixed (natural and cultural) World Heritage Site. It covers an area of 582,578 square miles.

Papahānaumokuākea’s globally significant natural attributes incorporate its living, indigenous, cultural connections to the sea––where modern Hawaiian wayfinders (non-instrument navigators) still voyage for navigational training on traditional double-hulled sailing canoes.

Papahānaumokuākea is of great cultural importance to Native Hawaiians with significant cultural sites found on the islands of Nihoa and Mokumanamana, both of which are on the National and State Register for Historic Places. Mokumanamana has the highest density of sacred sites in the Hawaiian Archipelago and has spiritual significance in Hawaiian cosmology. The Monument Vision is to forever protect and perpetuate ecosystem health and diversity and Native Hawaiian cultural significance of Papahānaumokuākea.