Howland Island National Wildlife Refuge and Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument (Howland Island unit)

Howland Island — best known as Amelia Earhart's intended landfall — carries a refuge established in 1974 and, per the Fish and Wildlife Service, "expanded in 2009 as part of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to include submerged lands out to 50 nautical miles from the island", for a total of 410,999 acres of which 648 acres are terrestrial and 410,351 acres submerged. The Service states plainly that "Howland is uninhabited, and entry is by Special Use Permit only" and that the refuge "is not open to the public". Recreational fishing has no legal basis here: 50 CFR 27.21 forbids taking any animal on a refuge, 50 CFR 32.7 opens no refuge in these islands to sport fishing, and 50 CFR 665.933(b)/665.934(d) prohibit non-commercial fishing in the monument and, absolutely, within 12 nautical miles of emergent land absent a Fish and Wildlife Service authorisation. A shallow fringing reef surrounds the island but it may not be fished. Spearfishing is prohibited.