Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial (Midway Atoll Special Management Area)

Midway is administratively part of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands but legally sits inside Papahanaumokuakea, so a different and stricter rulebook applies than at the Pacific Remote Islands. The refuge and national memorial "is currently closed to public visitation". Within the monument, 50 CFR 404.4(a) makes entering it unlawful without a permit, and 50 CFR 404.7 prohibits "removing, moving, taking, harvesting, possessing, injuring, disturbing, or damaging ... any living or nonliving Monument resource", "possessing fishing gear except when stowed and not available for immediate use during passage without interruption", and — uniquely — "swimming, snorkeling, or closed or open circuit SCUBA diving within any Special Preservation Area or the Midway Atoll Special Management Area", the Special Management Area being defined as the sanctuary waters "surrounding Midway Atoll out to a distance of 12 nautical miles". The Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Sanctuary regulations that took effect on 24 March 2025 repeat the ban (15 CFR 922.244(a)(9)-(14)); their only fishing exception applies in the Outer Sanctuary Zone beyond roughly 50 nautical miles from emergent land, not at the atoll. Proclamation 11035 of 2026 expressly did not alter "existing restrictions applicable within 50 nautical miles of the center geographical positions of certain islands and reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands". Spearfishing and even swimming are prohibited.