On Wednesday night, the White House announced that it is expanding an existing marine monument around seven U.S.-controlled islands and atolls in the central Pacific, making it the largest protected area of any kind on the planet.

The historic announcement extends protection to endangered wildlife and serves as a powerful symbol of commitment to marine conservation, says one leading ocean scientist and advocate.

National Geographic discussed the importance of these protected areas with Norse.

There are two answers to that question. One of them is a conservation/science answer and one of them is politics. An answer to the former is that existing protections are not enough to maintain the abundance of marine life we are concerned about.

We originally made the case that the