Each has a magnetic appeal that attracts fishermen, researchers, and curious citizens. And each has resources that deserve special protection. The Natural and Historical Resources of the Twelve Sanctuaries Reefs are the key features of four sanctuaries. Five others lie along the spectacular coasts of California or Washington. Three others don't fit into any larger category.
Coral reefs are the centerpiece of three sanctuaries.
The Florida Keys sanctuary includes the third largest coral reef in the world. The sanctuary stretches the full 220-mile length of the Keys and is literally at the front door of 82,000 residents and 2.5 million tourists each year. The Flower Garden Banks sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico centers on two small, pristine coral reefs in the middle of an actively producing oil field and at the northern limit of waters warm enough for coral reefs to grow. The Fagatele Bay sanctuary is a beautiful eyeful of cliff, beach, reef, and water on the southern coast of the most populated island in American Samoa. Its coral reefs are recovering from two hurricanes, coral bleaching, and a 1979 epidemic of starfish that ate live coral A fourth sanctuary, Gray's Reef off Georgia, contains two highly productive but small reefs.