Malden Island importance as a protected area for breeding seabirds. The island is designated as the "Malden Island Wildlife Sanctuary". In 2014 the Kiribati government established a fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands (Caroline (commonly called Millennium), Flint, Vostok, Malden, and Starbuck). Malden Island is located south of the equator, south of Honolulu, Hawaii, and more than west of the coast of South America. The nearest land is uninhabited Starbuck Island, to the southwest. The closest inhabited place is Tongareva (Penrhyn Island), to the southwest. The nearest airport is on Kiritimati (Christmas Island), to the northwest. Other nearby
Kiritimati the nominate subspecies, as "Prosobonia cancellata cancellata" or Kiritimati sandpiper, distinct from the surviving Tuamotu Islands population more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi) to the southeast. It may have been, but probably was not, limited to Kiritimati; while no remains have been found, little fieldwork has been conducted and judging from the Tuamotu sandpiper's habits, almost all Line Islands would have offered suitable habitat. The Kiritimati population of "P. cancellata" disappeared in the earlier part of the 19th century or so, almost certainly due to predation by introduced mammals. While "Prosobonia" generally manage to hold their own against Polynesian rats,