About the Sanctuary:

Picture yourself over 100 miles from land, in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. At times, the seas can be very unforgiving, and the weather can turn foul in an instant. But here, in the midst of this unpredictable Gulf, lie three of the most beautiful and wild places in the entire world. Manta rays, whale sharks, coral heads bigger than cars, hundreds of species of fish and invertebrates... This place teems with life!

The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) is one of 14 federally designated underwater areas protected by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. Located 70 to 115 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, these underwater communities rise from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico atop underwater mountains called salt domes. The sanctuary actually protects three separate areas: East Flower Garden Bank, West Flower Garden Bank and Stetson Bank. These banks are separated from each other by miles of open ocean ranging from 200 to 500 feet (61-152 meters) deep, and each bank has its own set of boundaries.

A Brief History:

Legend has it that The Flower Garden Banks were discovered by snapper and grouper fishermen in the late 1800's, naming the banks after the brightly colored sponges, plants, and other marine life they sometimes snagged and brought to the surface. While fishers are believed to have discovered and named the Flower Garden Banks, the first recorded discovery did not occur until 1936. The Flower Garden and Stetson Banks were included in a hydrographic survey of the Gulf of Mexico, conducted by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey (now the National Ocean Service, of which the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is a part). The survey provided valuable information about the geology and topography of the banks.

In the late 1960’s, Robert Alderdice and James Covington established the Flower Gardens Ocean Research center (FGORC), heralding a period of intense multi-agency, interdisciplinary research, which continues to this day. Results of this on-going research prompted government agencies to begin discussing the need to protect the banks from increasing human activities, including oil and gas extraction, anchoring on the reefs and harvesting fish, corals and other invertebrates. With passage of the Marine Research and Sanctuaries Act in 1972, researchers began discussing the Flower Garden Banks as a candidate for designation as a National Marine Sanctuary.

The Houston Underwater Club led the charge to have the banks officially designated by submitting a formal letter of nomination in 1979. Due to a number of issues, it was 11 years before President George H. Bush ultimately signed the document designating the Flower Garden Banks as our 10th National Marine Sanctuary on January 17, 1992. Stetson Bank was brought into the system in 1996.

August Brings New Life to the Sanctuary:

Every year, 7-10 days after the full moon in August, the reef-building corals of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary put on a fantastic spawning display. In ways that we still don't understand, each coral species times its gamete release for maximum benefit by avoiding the simultaneous spawning of other species.

Photo Credit: Emma Hickerson

Most scientists agree that these mass spawning events are designed to allow genetic mixing and dispersal of offspring over large distances. And, the sheer volume of the events allow for the fertilization and survival of a significant number of larvae despite the best efforts of predators.

Each year, sanctuary scientists and researchers from other facilities visit the sanctuary to observe this phenomenon in an effort to decipher even more pieces of the puzzle.

Explore the Sanctuary from Your Computer:

Captured image of the interactive map showing the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. (Click the image above to visit the map.)

In June FGBNMS welcomed the development of a new online GIS-based mapping tool that can be used to virtually explore the sanctuary and surrounding areas. Many of the other banks are connected to the sanctuary by low-relief ridges along the seafloor. Scientists think the ridges may serve as "habitat highways" for marine life to travel between the banks. The map allows users to zoom in and out, as well as turning layers on and off. One other notable feature will be the incorporation of ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) tracks with associated photos. So far, only one dive track has been loaded (at McGrail Bank), but the sanctuary is working on adding representative data for all of its ROV cruises since 2004 (over 200 ROV tracks). Click here to begin virtually exploring the sanctuary.

The Bigger Picture:

The banks in the sanctuary are just three among dozens of topographic features scattered along the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. For the past ten years, the sanctuary science team has been exploring and characterizing many of these banks to determine how they influence each other, the rest of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and even the Western Atlantic. Many of the banks are connected physically, through low ridges that provide shelter and food for animals that may travel between the banks. All of the banks are connected by hydrology. The Gulf Loop Current flows up from the Caribbean and through the gulf before wrapping around the tip of Florida to become the Gulf Stream, which flows through the Florida Keys NMS and up the east coast through Gray's Reef NMS off the coast of Georgia. Do the coral reefs of FGBNMS help renew reefs in the Caribbean and South Atlantic? How important are reefs in Mexico to renewal of those in the sanctuary? Does the continued health of the sanctuary depend on the health of other banks along the continental shelf? What role do land-based activities play in the state of the sanctuary's health? These are the questions for which the sanctuary's science team will continue to search for answers.

To learn more about the bigger picture, click here