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Blackbar
soldierfish huddle within a coral reef.
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The 12 marine
sanctuaries are diverse in a number of ways. They
range from a quarter of a square mile to over
5,300-square miles, an area almost as large as the
state of Connecticut. Most lie near the coast, but
one is about 105 miles from shore. Some include
waters within three miles from shore, where states
have legal jurisdiction. Others are partly or
wholly within federal waters, which reach out to 12
miles, or in international waters on the
continental shelf, where there are limits on
federal authority. Some are easy to reach; others
are remote and invisible to anyone but a few
fishermen or venturesome, expert divers. (See Table
1.)
Each sanctuary has a particularly interesting
and attractive combination of marine resources.
Most are national treasures--places with
outstandingly rich marine life, unusual physical
features or habitats, or in some cases unique
"submerged cultural resources" such as shipwrecks.
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
sometimes calls itself the "Yosemite of the sea,"
with good cause. A few are perhaps not national
treasures. Instead, they are only outstanding
examples of a particular combination of attractive
marine features. But all of the sanctuaries are
special places. 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.
They are not coral reefs but rather outcroppings of
rock, up to six-feet high, covered with soft coral
and plants, and sheltering a rich variety of fish.
There are several similar reefs elsewhere off
Georgia, but Gray's Reef is larger than most and
closer to shore. It is a small oasis of life on a
vast, flat, sandy sea-bottom.
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Table
1: The Twelve National Marine
Sanctuaries
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|
Name
|
State
|
Date
Designated
|
Size
(sq. miles)
|
Proximity
to Shore
|
Includes
State Waters
|
|
|
|
Florida Keys
|
Florida
|
November 1990
|
3,674
|
Adjacent
|
Yes
|
|
Flower Garden Banks
|
Texas/Louisiana
|
January 1992
|
56
|
105 miles
|
No
|
|
Fagatele Bay
|
American Samoa
|
April 1986
|
0.25
|
Adjacent
|
Yes
|
|
Gray's Reef
|
Georgia
|
January 1981
|
23
|
20 miles
|
No
|
|
Channel Islands
|
California
|
September 1980
|
1,658
|
adjacent to islands
9-46 miles offshore
|
Yes
|
|
Monterey Bay
|
California
|
September 1992
|
5,328
|
Adjacent
|
Yes
|
|
Gulf of the Farallones
|
California
|
January 1981
|
1,255
|
Adjacent
|
Yes
|
|
Cordell Bank
|
California
|
May 1989
|
526
|
7-23 miles
|
No
|
|
Olympic Coast
|
Washington
|
September 1992
|
3,310
|
Adjacent
|
Yes
|
|
Stellwagen Bank
|
Massachusetts
|
November 1992
|
842
|
3ñ 25 miles
|
No
|
|
Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale
|
Hawaii
|
November 1992
|
1,300
|
Adjacent
|
Yes
|
|
Monitor
|
North Carolina
|
January 1975
|
1
|
16 miles
|
No
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Five other sanctuaries--all quite large--lie
along the West Coast, from the Channel Islands off
Santa Barbara, California, to the Olympic Coast off
the state of Washington. They lie alongside the
most spectacular undeveloped coastline in the lower
48 states, abutting 4 national parks. The
sanctuaries contain areas where cold currents rise
from the deep ocean floor to the surface, bringing
nutrients that feed a rich diversity of fish,
shellfish, and numerous other marine species.
Forests of kelp grow in shallow areas, and there
are rich commercial fishing grounds as well as
feeding grounds for sea lions, sea otters, and sea
elephants, and vast numbers of seabirds.
The Channel Islands sanctuary lies off the
mainland coast, and includes water within seven
miles of the Channel Islands. Most of the islands
and the first mile offshore are within Channel
Islands National Park. Although the major zone of
upwelling and mixing between cold and warm currents
lies just outside its boundaries, the sanctuary is
still a rich fishing ground, home for seabirds and
sea lions, and visiting spot for whales. The
sanctuary also includes one federal oil lease,
which has not been developed. Local citizens fought
to create the sanctuary partly to prevent federal
oil leasing.
The Monterey Bay sanctuary lies about 150 miles
to the north and runs for 360 miles along the Big
Sur Coast, through Monterey Bay, and north to San
Francisco and a few miles beyond the Golden Gate
Bridge. It is a spectacular and rich area. Among
many other features, it includes the Monterey
Canyon, which begins a few hundred yards off shore
and drops to 10,000 feet below the surface--twice
as deep as the Grand Canyon. Residents of the
Monterey Bay area fought for 20 years to establish
the sanctuary to protect Monterey Bay from oil
leasing and development.
The Gulf of the Farallones sanctuary is adjacent
to the northern end of the Monterey Bay sanctuary
and runs north along the coast of Point Reyes
National Seashore. The sanctuary gets its name from
the Farallones Islands, a small rocky chain that is
a national wildlife refuge. The Cordell Bank
sanctuary lies beside the Farallones sanctuary. It
is entirely off-shore on a submerged bank with
steep pinnacles that rise to within 115 feet of the
surface.
The Olympic Coast sanctuary lies along the
northern third of the coast of Washington, next to
the Olympic National Park and four small Indian
reservations. Like the other West Coast
sanctuaries, it is dramatic--a rich fishing ground,
home to many seabirds, and a visiting spot for
whales.
Like the West Coast sanctuaries, Stellwagen Bank
off Massachusetts is a zone of upwelling and great
marine productivity. Endangered humpback and right
whales, as well as many other species of whale and
dolphin, visit Stellwagen.
Whales also visit the Hawaiian Islands Humpback
Whale sanctuary, a beautiful shallow area between
Maui and two other islands that includes small
areas off other islands. The Hawaiian sanctuary is
unique in having responsibility for only one
species, rather than the full array of marine
resources. Whale watching is popular and profitable
in Hawaii and at Stellwagen, as well as
increasingly along the California coast.
The Monitor sanctuary off Cape Hatteras, North
Carolina is unique in having no natural resources
of particular interest. It is the site of the wreck
of the Monitor, the first ironclad ship in the U.
S. Navy and one that fought in a celebrated civil
war battle. The Monitor lies upside down in 230
feet of water on flat, sandy bottom. Its
distinctive turret and much of the hull are still
intact. However, the wreck is decaying rapidly,
especially since a fishing boat that dropped its
anchor in 1991 fouled in the Monitor's propeller
and began to tug the wreck apart. The sanctuary has
now recovered the propeller and other artifacts,
and there are hopes to retrieve other parts of the
wreck for display at the world class Mariners'
Museum in Newport News, Virginia. There are
historic shipwrecks in several other sanctuaries,
including the Florida Keys sanctuary, where some
shipwrecks may contain Spanish gold.
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