Marianas Trench Marine National Monument | view more tourist attractions

Marianas Trench Marine National Monument President George W. Bush signs paperwork establishing the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument on January 6, 2009 The Marianas Trench Marine National Monument is a United States National Monument created by President George W. Bush by the presidential proclamation no. 8335 on January 6, 2009. The monument includes no dry land area, but protects 95,216 square miles (60,938,240 acres) of submerged lands and waters in various places in the Mariana Archipelago. The United States was able to act under international law and U.S. law to create this marine national monument, since the U.S. controls the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam which act as the land (island) boundaries of the oceanic zones which form the monument's protected areas of ocean waters and submerged lands (ocean beds).