Around the World: United States

Marine monuments

The home of a giant land crab, a sunken island ringed by pink-colored coral, and equatorial waters teeming with sharks and other Jaws-like predators are being designated national marine monuments by US President George W. Bush in the largest marine conservation effort in history.

The three areas - totaling some 195,274 505,760 sq km - include the Mariana Trench and the waters and corals surrounding three uninhabited islands in the Northern Mariana Islands, Rose Atoll in American Samoa and seven islands strung along the equator in the central Pacific Ocean.