Flower Garden Banks draft Sanctuary Management Plan

[Wookie]

The Flower Garden Banks will release the Draft Sanctuary Management Plan tomorrow. This document will guide diving, fishing, research, boundary expansion, education and outreach, and all operations to take place at the Flower Gardens for the next 5 years. In all reality, this will be the guidance document for probably the next 15 years. Those users and interested parties need to look at the plan, as public comment period lasts for 90 days only, and once congress approves it, we all have to live with it for our relative lifetimes. I will post the link tomorrow when it is available.

 

[diver 85]

It's the Federal Government, no??.If so, you'll be beating your head against the wall to make any changes.......lol...

 

[Wookie]

Actually, I was the chairman of the committee that drafted it. If you don't read it, and you don't comment on it, you won't have any input at all. It's kind of like voting. By yourself, your input doesn't mean squat. If you can get some like-minded individuals to vote with you, you can elect a black man President of the United States of America. Whoda thunk it?

 

[halocline]

How do you feel about giving us a few highlights? Any big changes that will affect divers?

 

[diver 85]

Actually, I was the chairman of the committee that drafted it. If you don't read it, and you don't comment on it, you won't have any input at all. It's kind of like voting. By yourself, your input doesn't mean squat. If you can get some like-minded individuals to vote with you, you can elect a black man President of the United States of America. Whoda thunk it?

Is the FGB a marine reserve??.....If so, who reserved it??

 

[Cuda66]

Thank you for keeping us informed!

 

[Wookie]

Is the FGB a marine reserve??.....If so, who reserved it??

The dive operators who were running commercial charter vessels to the Flower Gardens 15-20 years ago felt the need to protect the resource. This came about specifically for 3 reasons. First, a fishing vessel was observed bringing a manta ray onboard. Second, a tug/tow slowed down and the tow cable was allowed to drag across the bank, toppling coral heads. The third instance was an oil tanker who anchored in the coral. I would suspect that the dive operators were trying to find a method of protecting their livelihood, and so they formed a non-profit organization along with a few dive shops and others, called GREAT, the Gulf Reef Environmental Action Team. GREAT raised money from oil companies to install the first mooring buoys. GREAT then petitioned NOAA to create a National Marine Sanctuary.

To have a sanctuary, a number of requirements must be met. First, there must be a resource that needs protecting. In the case of the Flower Gardens, it is the healthiest coral reef in the world. Second, the resource must be under some threat, in this case, anchoring and commercial fishing. Third, an interested party must show that they are trying to protect the resource, in this case, GREAT installing mooring buoys.

That's the long, but not too long answer to your question.

 

[Wookie]

How do you feel about giving us a few highlights? Any big changes that will affect divers?

Possibly. One of the major initiatives of this Management Plan is to perform a comprehensive survey of reef/diver interaction. That will likely mean that that a portion of or an entire bank may be closed to diving. Another bank may be entirely closed to fishing. I personally contend that diving very rarely takes place on the North side of the East bank, because of depth and lack of moorings. Since divers don't dive there, it's a good place to study and compare places divers dive and where they don't. However, the fishermen want the divers to give up something if the fishermen have to give up something. Worst case scenario is that the divers will give up the West bank, fishers will give up the East bank. As always, scientific studies are governed by available funding, so we'll have to wait and see....

 

[diver 85]

The dive operators who were running commercial charter vessels to the Flower Gardens 15-20 years ago felt the need to protect the resource. This came about specifically for 3 reasons. First, a fishing vessel was observed bringing a manta ray onboard. Second, a tug/tow slowed down and the tow cable was allowed to drag across the bank, toppling coral heads. The third instance was an oil tanker who anchored in the coral. I would suspect that the dive operators were trying to find a method of protecting their livelihood, and so they formed a non-profit organization along with a few dive shops and others, called GREAT, the Gulf Reef Environmental Action Team. GREAT raised money from oil companies to install the first mooring buoys. GREAT then petitioned NOAA to create a National Marine Sanctuary.

To have a sanctuary, a number of requirements must be met. First, there must be a resource that needs protecting. In the case of the Flower Gardens, it is the healthiest coral reef in the world. Second, the resource must be under some threat, in this case, anchoring and commercial fishing. Third, an interested party must show that they are trying to protect the resource, in this case, GREAT installing mooring buoys.

That's the long, but not too long answer to your question.

Thanks for the info--my problem comes about when I see 'National' in anything---I don't trust em as far as I can throw em---IYKWIM........

 

[theduckguru]

Thanks for the info--my problem comes about when I see 'National' in anything---I don't trust em as far as I can throw em---IYKWIM........

I feel the same way,

National Football League
National Rifle Association.
National Guard
National Geographic
ect.

None of them can be trusted.