Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Designated: January 17, 1992
Expanded: October 11, 1996 and January 19, 2021
Area: 160 mi2 (~415 km²).
Overview.
Since 2011, the Foundation funded annual scientific cruise ships to monitor the health of the coral in the sanctuary. Researchers record conditions and detect early warning signs consisting of different impacts of climate change and possible environmental crime. Scientists use the long-term data to establish baselines, understand changes and assess why reefs become unhealthy. This ongoing record was priceless in 2016 when the Sanctuary discovered a vast coral die-off in its East Bank. While the event has stabilized, the Foundation continues to dedicate additional funding to support further observation. The Foundation also funds economic impact studies on commercial and recreational activity in the area to understand use and inform protection planning and potential expansion.
About.
The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary located offshore of Galveston, Texas, in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. It contains the northernmost coral reefs in the United States.
Underlying salt domes forced the seafloor upward in various areas of the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in the formation of seamounts and ocean banks. Conditions of the Gulf of Mexico were conducive to reef-building, which started roughly ten to fifteen thousand years ago.
Two reefs, East Flower Garden Bank (EFGB) and West Flower Garden Bank (WFGB), made up Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) when it was initially created in 1992. In 1996, Stetson Bank was added to the sanctuary. The three banks are not contiguous.
The sanctuary contains many aquatic species. Almost three hundred species of fish and over twenty species of coral are found in the sanctuary along with a wide variety of crustaceans, sponges, and plants. FGBNMS provides habitat for many protected and/or threatened species including marine mammals, sharks, rays, and sea turtles. Many fish species important to recreational and commercial fisheries inhabit the banks.
Expanded Sanctuary.
On January 19, 2021, NOAA issued the Final Instruction for expansion of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. This action protects 14 additional reefs and banks, slightly adjusts the boundaries of the sanctuary's original three banks and expands the sanctuary from 145 square kilometers to a total of 415 square kilometers. The operative date of this action is March 22, 2021.
The final rule applies existing sanctuary regulations to all the new areas, supplying protection from the destructive impact of activities relevant to fishing with bottom-tending gear, ship anchoring, oil and gas exploration and production, and salvage activities on sensitive biological resources.
. These areas include critical habitat for recreationally and commercially important fish, as well as threatened or endangered species of manta rays, sea turtles, and corals in the Gulf of Mexico./
highlighted spot.
Diving and sightseeing are popular activities in and near this sanctuary. Here are five of its popular sights to see in Flower Garden Banks:
1) The Banks
These banks are underwater mountains that rise from the deep water and make this site special. The three banks within the sanctuary (East Flower Garden Bank, West Flower Garden Bank, and Stetson Bank) all support coral reefs, some of the healthiest in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic region. These reef communities began developing on the salt domes approximately 10 to 15,000 years ago and are now they are a support system for a complex, balanced ecosystem and supporting both shallow and deep-water species.
2) Golden smooth trunk fish
Flower Garden Banks and areas near the sanctuary are one of only two places in the world where you can find the golden phase of the smooth trunkfish, the other being near the Bay Islands north of Honduras. The golden smooth trunkfish is not a distinct species but a different color variation of the smooth trunkfish that we see throughout the rest of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, including Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Scientists have not yet discovered the reason for the color differences in the Flower Garden Banks and Honduran populations.
3)Coral spawning
Every August, about a week after the full moon, a mass coral spawning event takes place in and near the sanctuary. For some days, multiple species of star and brain corals release gametes into the water. This event allows for genetic mixing between different species of corals and increases diversification. It's an incredible sight to see and a rare phenomenon that is well documented.
4)Manta rays
Mantas are famous because of their sheer size, majestic movements through the water, and gentle manner. The largest species of ray in the ocean, their wingspans can reach upwards of 29 feet from fin tip to fin tip and adults can weigh as much as 3,600 pounds. These rays are a common sight in and near the sanctuary and are a highlight for divers lucky enough to lay eyes on one. They're an amazing species to see up close and recent research confirmed Flower Garden Banks as an area that serves as critical nursery habitat for oceanic manta rays. Sanctuary waters offer young mantas protections from human activity and the sanctuary continues to work towards the conservation of manta rays through expansion of the habitat.
5)Spotted eagle rays
These are Less common than manta rays but just as awe-inspiring are spotted eagle rays. They school in and around the sanctuary during the early part of the year. They have a pronounced head with a snout and distinct white spots and rings on their dark backs which make them unmistakable. They also have incredibly long whip-like tails, longer than most other rays, with venomous spines used in defense when they are threatened. They can also grow to have wingspans of nearly 16 feet but are still smaller than manta rays.
History.
The ocean banks comprising FGBNMS were first mapped in 1936, when EFGB, WFGB, and Stetson Bank were included in a hydrographic survey of the Gulf of Mexico conducted by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey. These initial surveys, along with others conducted in the 1950s, led researchers to conclude that the banks originated when salt domes forced overlaying sediments upward to form seamounts.
Before the early 1960s it was debated whether coral reefs could develop off the Texas coast; some researchers predicted the area would be too cold, or too turbid to support any extensive reef development. A series of scientific scuba diving expeditions, however, revealed that EFGB and WFGB did indeed support extensive coral reef systems. The late 1960s saw the establishment of the Flower Gardens Ocean Research Center (FGORC), a scientific facility whose research inspired federal agencies to begin discussing protecting the banks from human activities, including oil and gas extraction, fishing, and anchoring on the reefs.
With passage of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, the Flower Garden Banks became a candidate for designation as a United States National Marine Sanctuary. The Houston Underwater Club led a movement to have the banks officially designated as sanctuaries by submitting a formal letter of nomination in 1979. President George H. W. Bush authorized Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary as the 10th National Marine Sanctuary on January 17, 1992. The sanctuary was enlarged to include Stetson Bank in 1996.
The sanctuary's administrative offices and laboratories are located in a part of the former Fort Crockett in Galveston, Texas. Research Vessel MANTA is also located in Galveston, and provides a working platform for researchers. A system of mooring buoys, which reduces resource impacts from anchoring, is maintained by FGBNMS staff.