Howland And Baker Islands

Howland Island and Baker Island are two uninhabited U.S. atolls in the Equatorial Pacific that are located close to one another. Both islands are wildlife refuges, the larger of which is Howland Island. They are both part of the larger political territory of the United States Minor Outlying Islands and they are also both part of the larger geographic grouping of the Phoenix Islands. Each is a National Wildlife Refuge managed by a division of Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On January 6, 2009, U.S. President George W. Bush included both islands to the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

The Howland-Baker exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a 400 nautical-mile diameter area protected by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Howland-Baker EEZ has 425,700 km²; by comparison, California has 423,970 km².

Howland Island was the area that Amelia Earhart was trying to reach in 1937 when she disappeared. The islands are the only land masses in the world associated with UTC−12:00, which is the last area on Earth for deadlines with a date to pass.

EEZ History

The 1976 Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act provided for the U.S. EEZs, which were further established by the Presidential Proclamation of 1983. The Treaty of Tarawa, signed in September 1979, came into force in September 1983, and created the international boundary of the EEZ between Baker Island and McKean Island. Article 4 specifically states, "The two Governments recognize the interest of their peoples in close cooperation for their mutual benefit in economic development relating to fisheries off their coasts." Since 2008, the Kiribati side of this boundary has been a marine protected area, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

Land area and territorial claim

The islands combined are of uninhabited land. Howland and Baker are separated by . Were Howland and Baker separate EEZs, the 200 nautical mile EEZ radius for either of the two islands would overlap with 80% of the EEZ for the other island. As a combined area, this EEZ is 4% of the total U.S. coastline (425,000 km² out of 11,300,000 km²), larger than that of South Korea or Cuba.

The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument extends out from each island.

As per the 2009 presidential proclamation, the National Wildlife Refuge extends out from each island.

Geologic setting

Howland and Baker islands are volcanoes approximately 120-75 million years old, on top of which coral has formed platforms. In the EEZ there are ten moderate-sized seamounts from the Cretaceous Period. Most of the seabed is more than in depth, covered with abyssal sediment.

Economic potential

The only immediate mining potential is on and immediately offshore of the islands themselves (phosphates, sand, gravel, and coral) which would conflict with their protected status per the study. Iron deposits on a few seamounts are also mentioned as an ''intermediate'' possibility but no energy resources are identified. The islands have phosphorite and guano resources. However, all commercial extraction activities, including fishing and deep-sea mining, are prohibited in the wildlife refuges and submerged lands and waters of the monument.

Boundary with Kiribati

The islands are considered to be a part of the Phoenix Islands, the rest of which are in Kiribati. The Winslow Reef borders the Howland-Baker EEZ, but is in Kiribati. The PacIOOS mentions that Winslow Reef is "on the southeast boundary line of the EEZ". The EEZ boundary lies halfway between Baker Island and McKean Island.

Kiribati, as traced by the 1995 realignment of the International Date Line, arcs around Howland and Baker Islands as well as the US Possession Jarvis Island, from the west to the south and to the east. For example while the Winslow Reef in Kiribati is to the southeast of Howland and Baker Islands, the capital of Kiribati is on the Tarawa