# National Marine Sanctuary

A U.S. National Marine Sanctuary is a federally designated area within United States waters that protects areas of the marine environment with special conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, cultural, archeological, scientific, educational, or aesthetic qualities. The program was established in 1972 by the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act and is currently administered by the National Ocean Service through the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA).
While National Marine Sanctuaries are multiple-use areas, the NMSA emphasizes that one of the express purposes of a sanctuary is to “maintain the natural biological communities” and to “protect and, where appropriate, restore and enhance natural habitats, populations, and ecological processes.” The National Marine Sanctuary System consists of 17 marine protected areas that encompass about 785,000 square miles (2,030,000 km$^2$). Individual areas range from less than 1 to 583,000 square miles (3 to 1,509,963 km$^2$).
The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), administers the 17 national marine sanctuaries. The program began after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill off the coast of California brought the plight of marine ecosystems to national attention. The United States Congress responded in 1972 with the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act which allowed for the creation of marine sanctuaries. The resources protected by U.S. national marine sanctuaries range from coral reef ecosystems in American Samoa, Florida, Hawaii, and Texas, to shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
The NMSP also is involved in the administration of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, although they are not U.S. national marine sanctuaries. The NMSP jointly administers the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in conjunction with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Hawaii, and it jointly administers the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

## Scope of protection

Designation as a National Marine Sanctuary does not automatically prohibit fishing and other activities. Recreational and commercial fishing is allowed in some sanctuaries. It is possible to restrict consumptive or destructive activities through the initial designation process and NMSP actions. There are restrictions in some sanctuaries that are enforced by other governing agencies. For example, current regulations restricting fishing in Stellwagen Bank were not issued by the NMSP, but rather by National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) and the New England Fishery Management Council, which have jurisdiction in federal waters off the New England coast generally. The private nonprofit organization Marine Conservation Institute has compiled fact sheets for each sanctuary listing activities which are directly regulated by the NMSP.

## Designating sanctuary sites

Site selection is done under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Regional teams of marine scientists identify geographically representative sites for potential marine sanctuaries. NOAA then selects candidate sites and meets with state or territorial resource managers and/or the state or territorial governor's staff to determine the local level of interest in establishing a sanctuary. If there is mutually satisfactory interest, the candidate sites are evaluated through a process of public and legislative review and validated by the United States Congress and state or territorial governments. NOAA initiates the designation by the preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and a proposed management plan, then publishes a notice of its plans in the Federal Register. NOAA sponors regional meetings and public hearings to gather comments. The U.S. Congress receives the draft statements and may conduct its own hearings. NOAA prepares a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) that addresses the concerns raised in the DEIS process and distributes it for comment. Finally, upon approval of the President of the United States, the United States Secretary of Commerce, who oversees NOAA, designates the area as a National Marine Sanctuary. The U.S. Congress and the governor of the state or territory then may formally object to or appeal the designation.

## List of U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries

| Name | Location | Area | Designated |
| National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa | Pacific | 13,581 sq mi (35,175 km$^2$) | April 29, 1986 |
| Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 1,470 sq mi (3,807 km$^2$) | October 2, 1980 |
| Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 4,543 sq mi (11,766 km$^2$) | October 11, 2024 |
| Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 1,286 sq mi (3,331 km$^2$) | May 24, 1989 |
| Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico | 3,840 sq mi (9,946 km$^2$) | November 16, 1990 |
| Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary | Gulf of Mexico | 160 sq mi (414 km$^2$) | January 17, 1992 |
| Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic | 22 sq mi (57 km$^2$) | January 16, 1981 |
| Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 3,295 sq mi (8,534 km$^2$) | January 16, 1981 |
| Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 1,400 sq mi (3,626 km$^2$) | November 14, 1992 |
| Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary | Great Lakes | 1,722 sq mi (4,460 km$^2$) | September 6, 2024 |
| Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic | 18 sq mi (47 km$^2$) | September 3, 2019 |
| Monitor National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic | 0.785 sq mi (2.03 km$^2$) | February 5, 1975 |
| Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 6,094 sq mi (15,780 km$^2$) | September 18, 1992 |
| Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary | Pacific | 3,189 sq mi (8,260 km$^2$) | May 11, 1994 |
| Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic | 842 sq mi (2,180 km$^2$) | November 14, 1992 |
| Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary | Great Lakes | 4,300 sq mi (11,137 km$^2$) | June 22, 2000 |
| Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary | Great Lakes | 726 sq mi (1,880 km$^2$) | October 9, 2021 |
The National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa originally was named the Fagatelle Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary originally was named the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

### Former sanctuaries

| Name | Location | Area | Designated |
| Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic | 103 sq mi (267 km$^2$) | December 18, 1975 |
| Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary | Atlantic | 7.04 sq mi (18.2 km$^2$) | January 16, 1981 |
These sanctuaries were subsumed by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary on November 16, 1990, but continued to operate until July 1, 1997, when they were integrated into the Florida Keys sanctuary and redesignated as Existing Management Areas.

### In designation process

* Lake Erie National Marine Sanctuary
* Hudson Canyon National Marine Sanctuary
* Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Sanctuary
* Papahanamokuakea National Marine Sanctuary