Condition Reports

Flower Garden Banks Condition Report 2009–2021

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is the only sanctuary located in the Gulf of Mexico. Situated 80 to 125 miles (130 to 200 km) off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, FGBNMS ranges in depth from 52 to 722 feet (16 to 220 m) and includes thriving shallow-water coral reefs, algal-sponge communities, and deeper mesophotic reefs comprised of black coral, octocoral, and algal nodule habitats. When first designated in 1992, the sanctuary consisted of East Flower Garden Bank (EFGB) and West Flower Garden Bank (WFGB), home to some of the healthiest coral reefs in the Atlantic and Caribbean region. Stetson Bank was added to the sanctuary in 1996. In 2021, portions of 14 more primarily mesophotic banks were added to the sanctuary, expanding the sanctuary in size from 56 to 160 square miles. The 17 reefs and banks that make up FGBNMS are a combination of small underwater mountains, ridges, troughs, and hard-bottom patches perched atop underlying salt domes along the continental shelf to form a chain of protected habitats for ecologically and economically important species (including fish, sea turtles, and manta rays) across the continental shelf in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.

Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (CBNMS) was designated in 1989 and expanded to its current size of 1,286 square miles in 2015. The sanctuary is entirely offshore, with its southern boundary located 42 miles north of San Francisco, eastern boundary located six miles from shore, and western boundary located 30 miles from shore. Seafloor features, such as the rocky Cordell Bank, deep Bodega Canyon, steep slope, and continental shelf habitats, combined with significant upwelling ocean conditions, create an extremely productive marine environment in CBNMS, with an array of species that contribute to the sanctuary's unique biodiversity.

The remote and rugged Olympic Coast of Washington state is a place of stunning beauty, where Indigenous peoples have long recognized the reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment during thousands of years of continuous residence. Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary was established in 1994 and includes 3,188 square miles of marine waters off the rugged Olympic Peninsula in northwest Washington state. The sanctuary covers much of the continental shelf and several major submarine canyons, with upwelling that supports locally abundant marine life and supports seasonal populations of marine mammals and seabirds. Along its shores are thriving kelp and intertidal communities, teeming with fishes and other sea life. In the darkness of the seafloor, scattered communities of deep-sea coral and sponges form habitats for fish and other marine wildlife.

In 2020, a new Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Condition Report was released. This marks a second comprehensive update to describe the status and trends of sanctuary resources including water quality, habitat, living resources, and maritime archaeological resources. In addition, this new condition report includes the status and trends of ecosystem services including heritage, food supply, consumptive and non-consumptive recreation, sense of place, science and education. This condition report will inform the next sanctuary management plan update process which will begin in 2020.

In 2015 the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Condition Report was partially updated. The 2009 Monterey Bay condition report provided a summary of resources in the sanctuary, pressures on those resources, current conditions and trends, and management responses to reduce or mitigate human pressures. The 2015 report provides an update to the State of the Sanctuary Resources section, which assesses the health of the sanctuary. Sanctuary staff, with input from regional scientific experts, re-evaluated status and trend ratings for 16 standardized questions. Each question was re-evaluated for accuracy and completeness, given new data sets, published literature and expert opinion that have become available since 2009. For most questions, new information and updated narratives are provided, and many include new status and trend ratings. Trend ratings are generally based on trends since 2009. This re-evaluation was completed for three sanctuary environments: (1.) estuarine, (2.) nearshore and (3.) offshore. A fourth environment, seamount, was evaluated for the first time in this update due to the addition of Davidson Seamount Management Zone to the sanctuary in November 2008.

New condition report currently in development

Designated in 2000, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects a nationally significant collection of historic shipwrecks and related maritime cultural resources in northern Lake Huron. Through research, resource protection and education, the sanctuary works to ensure that these important historic, archaeological and recreational sites are preserved for current and future generations.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is one of the largest marine protected areas in the United States, encompassing 2,896 square nautical miles (9,933 square kilometers). It was designated by Congress and exists under federal law, and became effective in state waters with the consent of the state of Florida.

Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is currently a single-species sanctuary whose primary mission is the protection of humpback whales and their habitat in the main Hawaiian Islands. Each winter, the sanctuary is home to more than half of the North Pacific humpback whale population. The sanctuary works with community members and agency representatives to protect one of the most important humpback whale breeding calving, and nursing grounds in the world.