REGULATIONS

Regulations are an essential part of managing and protecting our national treasures for current and future generations. People are interested in using the sanctuary for a variety of activities, such as wildlife viewing, photography, fishing, research and bioprospecting (investigating the potential for using biological components for commercial purposes such as developing new medicines). Some uses have a greater potential for impacting the natural resources than others. Some activities may not have a measurable effect in small amounts, yet have an undesirable cumulative effect if the amount of the activity is too great. The challenge is to strike a balance in what types and intensities of use are allowed so that those uses are sustainable and the resources are available to be enjoyed for generations to come.

The sanctuary's distance from shore makes enforcing regulations yet another challenge. We depend heavily on education, peer pressure and voluntary compliance with the regulations. When those are ineffective, partnerships with other government agencies, such as the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Marine Fisheries Service, are vital to enforcing sanctuary regulations.

Regulations, summary (260kb pdf) - a 1-page summary of the regulations most likely to be applicable to individual visitors to the sanctuary; not a comprehensive summary

Regulations, NMSP (364kb pdf) - excerpt from Code of Federal Regulations detailing regulations application to the National Marine Sanctuary Program; regulations specific to the Flower Garden Banks NMS regulations are in Subpart L (2007)

Regulations, FGBNMS section (60kb pdf) - Subpart L of the above document, outlining only regulations specific to the Flower Garden Banks NMS (2007)

Regulations, No Anchoring Amendment (44kb pdf) - excerpt from the Federal Register, detailing changes to Flower Garden Banks NMS regulations to prohibit all anchoring and to limit size of vessels that can use mooring buoys (2001)