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2012 Management Plan

Scuba diver looking small above and behind a large whale shark swimming directly toward the camera

The sanctuary's 2012 Management Plan serves as a framework for addressing issues facing the sanctuary over the next five to ten years. It lays the foundation for protecting, conserving, and enhancing Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) and its regional environment in the Gulf for this and future generations.

Management Plan Highlights

The 2012 Management Plan includes two proposals that are particularly likely to interest the public:

  • a recommendation to expand sanctuary boundaries to include additional reefs and banks in the northwestern Gulf, and
  • further study to determine the need for a scientific research area within the sanctuary to better understand the impacts of hook and line fishing and SCUBA diving.

These will be considered for action prior to the next management plan review and will necessitate further analysis through an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Along with the 2012 Management Plan, NOAA is enacting some changes to FGBNMS regulations. As required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), NOAA prepared a programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze potential impacts to the natural and human environments that may result from revising the 1991 FGBNMS management plan and FGBNMS regulations. The 2012 Environmental Assessment is available as a separate document.

Organization of this Document

The 2012 Management Plan is organized into seven sections.

  1. Introduction

    2.

    This section provides background information about national marine sanctuaries, FGBNMS, and the purpose and need for updating the management plan.

  1. Sanctuary Setting

    2.

    This section provides an overview of the institutional setting in which the sanctuary operates and the regional ecosystem of the northwestern Gulf. It also describes the local environment of East and West Flower Garden Banks, and Stetson Bank.

  1. Action Plans

    2.

    This section details the management strategies and activities developed to address various FGBNMS priority issues and meet the purposes and policies of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.

  1. Public Comments on Draft Management Plan

    2.

    This section provides responses to public questions and comments received during review of the Draft Management Plan, which was released in October 2010.

  1. Summary of the Programmatic Environmental Assessment

    2.

    This section provides a summary of the environmental analysis of the two alternatives considered: 1) no action, and 2) the proposed action of revising the management plan and making modifications to FGBNMS regulations.

  1. References

    2.

    This section lists the sources cited within the document.

  1. Appendices

    2.

    These sections provide the full text of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and FGBNMS Regulations.