MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW BEGINS

Planning for the Future--Get Involved!

In September 2006, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) embarked on its first Management Plan Review (PDF 84kb), a public process that allows us to revisit the original sanctuary designation documents and decide if changes are needed.

What is a Sanctuary Management Plan?
A sanctuary management plan is a site-specific document that describes the objectives, policies, and activities for a sanctuary.  It generally outlines regulatory goals, describes boundaries, identifies budgetary and staffing needs, sets priorities and establishes performance measures for resource protection, research and education programs.

The National Marine Sanctuary program is required by law to periodically review sanctuary management plans, most of which date back to their original designation date and have not been updated.  The management plan for the FGBNMS is currently almost 15 years old.

What does this mean to me?
The management plan review process relies on public input, both locally and nationally.  This begins with a State of the Sanctuary report (1.4MB) that provides information about the sanctuary, its accomplishments and current resource management issues.  Copies of this report are currently available from the sanctuary office and on this website.

Following the release of this report, the sanctuary held three Public Scoping Meetings (344kb):

October 17, 2006 - Webster, TX (Houston/Galveston area)

October 19, 2006 - Corpus Christi, TX

October 24, 2006 - New Orleans, LA

These meetings allowed people like you to comment on sanctuary management strategies and provide input on what issues and problems they see as management priorities for the next 5 to 10 years. 

Even if you didn’t attend one of the meetings, your comments are still welcome.  This is your chance to be part of the process!!  We will accept written comments by mail, fax or email.  You may also attend any of the Sanctuary Advisory Council meetings held by the sanctuary.  Meeting agendas and minutes will be posted on this website, and all meetings are open to the public.

Is that all?
This is just the beginning!  There are many more steps involved in arriving at a new sanctuary management plan and many more opportunities for you to provide input. We will keep you posted as we progress through all of the steps by contacting the local media and providing updates on this website.  You can also receive email notification about management plan review activities by emailing our program coordinator at fgbmanagementplan@noaa.gov to get on our list.

For more information, please visit the management plan review section of our website or contact the sanctuary office at:

Attn: Management Plan Review
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
4700 Avenue U, Building 216
Galveston, TX  77551
phn: (409) 621-5151
fax: (409) 621-1316
fgbmanagementplan@noaa.gov

Download a copy of this article (48kb pdf).