by Mark Kneubuhl - newsbyrd.com
(August 6, 2012) There’s a lot of ocean that surrounds Rose Atoll. The closest “major” port is Pago Pago about 140 miles to the west. Auckland harbor is about 1500 miles southwest and Pearl Harbor, about 2500 miles northeast. Rose Atoll is a rather remote outlier in a sparsely populated part of the planet called Oceania.

Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1973 when the American Samoa Legislature approved an agreement between the Governor and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Additionally, President Bush created Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in 2009, which extends 50 nautical miles from Rose Atoll. One has to be within five miles (that’s on a clear day), to spot the atoll’s highest point, no taller than a chimney on a single-story house.