Office of National Marine Sanctuari

NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries serves as the trustee for a network of underwater parks 

encompassing more than 600,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters. The network includes a 

system of 14 national marine sanctuaries and Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments. 

The system works with diverse partners and stakeholders to promote responsible, sustainable ocean uses that 

ensure the health of our most valued ocean places. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries also leads the 

National Marine Protected Areas Center, the nation's hub for building innovative partnerships and tools to 

protect our special ocean. In addition, ONMS staff conduct and support research and monitoring programs 

tailored to the information needs of each sanctuary. Below are four highlighted scientific projects by ONMS 

researchers and their partners.

Telepresence Science Missions in National Marine Sanctuaries

Increasingly, science missions in NOAA’s 

National Marine Sanctuaries invite the 

public aboard through remote access. In 

2020, ONMS invited the public to 

participate in science missions facilitated 

through the use of underwater exploration 

systems. Using ship-to-shore technology, 

scientists led remotely operated vehicle 

exploration at Cordell Bank, Greater

Farallones, Monterey Bay, and Flower 

Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuaries. 

In addition, other missions have taken place 

at Stellwagen Bank, Olympic Coast, and 

Channel Islands sanctuaries. Students and 

the public participated in dozens of virtual, 

interactive sessions as well as live feeds of 

the exploration and sample collection. In total, more than 1.3 million people viewed the videos. The objectives 

included exploring deep-sea canyon and coral communities, assessing changes over time at octopus brooding 

areas and the sites of decomposing whale carcasses, and surveying biological and archaeological features of 

shipwrecks. These missions were made possible through partnerships with groups including the Global 

Foundation for Ocean Exploration, Ocean Exploration Trust, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

FY20 Accomplishment(s): The discovery of a whalefall in the middle phases of successional 

degradation was a rare encounter, and a highlight of an exploration mission in Monterey Bay National 

Marine Sanctuary.

Project URL:

https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/earthisblue/wk256-whale-fall.html

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Using Ocean Exploration Trust’s ROV technology, NOAA and 

partner researchers discovered a whale fall in Monterey Bay 

National Marine Sanctuary in 2019 (right). In 2020, the team 

revisited their 
Octopus Gardens

After the discovery of a large number of deep-sea octopus brooding their young in 2018, Monterey Bay 

sanctuary scientists returned to Davidson Seamount with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution aboard the 

submersible Alvin, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute aboard the R/V Western Flyer, and with Ocean 

Exploration Trust (OET) aboard the E/V Nautilus. With Alvin dives highlighted on BBC’s live television 

broadcast of “Blue Planet Live,” the team confirmed that warm water was venting from the seafloor where 

octopus were brooding. With OET, the team estimated octopus population size (more than 1,000 individuals), 

and installed instruments to track temperature, dissolved oxygen, and water chemistry at the warm water seeps 

harboring the animals. 

FY20 Accomplishment(s): The project team discovered a second octopus nursery occupying thermal 

vents on Davidson Seamount, confirming the importance of this protected area to a species not 

previously known to occur there.

Project URL: 

https://sanctuarysimon.org/2018/11/mbnms-scientists-discover-octopus-gardens-and-film-a-dumbo-squid/

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Octopus brooding their eggs within a warm water seep near Davidson Seamount in Monterey Bay National Marine 

Sanctuary. This genus has an unusual upside-down brooding posture. Credit: Ocean Exploration Trust/NOAA. 
Transitioning Science to Protect Right Whales via 

Corporate Responsibility

Since 2012, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary’s highly regarded “Report Card” has been detailing 

compliance of vessels with speed restrictions while traversing Right Whale Seasonal Management Areas 

(SMAs) in the Gulf of Maine. In 2008, NOAA began requiring large ships to slow down to 10 knots or less 

while passing through SMAs. Some of these areas overlap the sanctuary, which is a critical seasonal feeding 

area for right, humpback, fin, and minke whales. In these areas, large commercial ships converge to enter the 

Port of Boston. When ships slow down, any collisions they have with whales have a smaller chance of 

delivering a lethal strike. In 2018, the project sent report cards to 228 ships and 115 companies, helping them 

better understand the impacts of their vessel practices. In 2019, 85% of vessels received grades of A or A+ and 

only 5% receive a grade of F. Report cards were sent to ships and companies in December 2019, to be 

influential during the 2020 SMA season. Companies that receive an A or A+ grade also receive a certificate 

recognizing their achievement. This positive reinforcement has been crucial to the success of the project.

FY20 Accomplishment: The use of vessel tracking data to assess compliance with speed restriction is 

now used as a model for numerous other areas where ship speed poses a risk of collision between 

whales and ships.

Project URL:

https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/jun19/right-whale-corporate-responsibility-project-stellwagen-bank-nationalmarine-sanctuary.html

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Seven new calves were born to North Atlantic right whales this year. The NOAA Fisheries speed regulation and the 

Right Whale Corporate Responsibility Project give these calves a better chance at surviving in Stellwagen Bank 

National Marine Sanctuary. Image credit: NOAA. 
Wave Glider Transits over 2,500 NM to Survey Soundscape of 

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 

the US Navy, and Jupiter Research Foundation 

used a wave glider autonomous surface vehicle 

to collect acoustic recordings, weather and 

ocean data, and surface and underwater imagery 

on a 2,500 nautical mile survey in the 

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National 

Monument. The SV3 Wave Glider Europa 

departed Hawaiʻi Island in January 2020 

and spent 67 days transiting the Monument 

as far as Lisianski Island, covering a 

distance equivalent to a roundtrip from 

Washington D.C. to Denver. The wave glider 

navigated rough winter seas and surveyed 18 

banks, shoals and seamounts that had either 

been unsurveyed in the past or had been under 

surveyed in the winter season, and documented 

the first recorded presence of humpbacks at 

several of these locations.

FY20 Accomplishment: The 

SanctSound Project, a collaboration 

between NOAA and the U.S. Navy, 

employed autonomous surface vehicles 

to collect sound and other data in the 

winter season in remote areas of largest 

MPA in the United States and identified 

previously unknown humpback whale

distributions.

Project URLs:

https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/

monitoring/sound/

https://jupiterfoundation.org/humpacs-1

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Humpback whale observed during the Humpback Paci