Wow!! Why? Designation of a marine sanctuary requires 3 things for Congress to act. The first is a unique place with a natural or heritage site. You have that with shipwrecks. The third is public request to protect the site, and this is the process you are in now. The second is a clear and direct threat to the area, which I don't see.
Asking for sanctuary status is a double edged sword. I am a great fan of sanctuaries when they are done right, and they all start with best intentions, but sadly, since they are run by humans, ego and government power override simple protection. Remember, as I said, Sanctuaries must protect a undersea (or lake) resource that is in danger of being lost.
Let's look at Stellwagen Bank. Stwllwagen bank is a whale sanctuary. Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary was formed to protect the right whales off of Boston from tourism, marine traffic, and research of the right whale. The fine folks at Stellwagen Bank are now proposing that all of their shipwrecks be dived only by permit, much like Monitor NMS. Wait. Monitor NMS practically destroyed the USS Monitor getting at the Dahlgren guns, the turret, and the boilers/engine before dumping them in a conservation pond. They've lost funding for the conservation effort, so instead of having an intact shipwreck, they have piles of junk in 2 places.
Flower Garden Banks and Florida Keys are better success stories. They were built to protect coral reefs, and they utilize a "whole ecosystem" approach to protection. They have areas off limits to boating where the fish thrive. They have diving only areas where someone can go look at these fish and the fish are not afraid. This makes the fishermen mad, but heck, they have whole oceans in which to beat the water to a froth.
While I agree with the concept of sanctuaries, the truth is that there is no commitment in congress to properly fund them. There has been no budget to provide for the operating costs for many of the sanctuary vessels in years. The Florida Keys built a new multimillion dollar outreach center in Key West that does not have an operating budget to buy electricity. The Flower Gardens have a multimillion dollar dive vessel that must compete with charter dive boats to make enough fuel and crew money to fulfill the sanctuary mission. The fault for this lies not at the local sanctuary office, but in Washington DC where the head of sanctuary programs wrote me a letter stating that the local manager "must do more with less", which is a total cop-out. He is currently on administrative leave. I hope he reads this, but he already knows I think he is a fool.
You ask why I bring this up? Well, because without effective, dedicated Law Enforcement, the sanctuary is just another set of rules with no teeth. We have enough of that to deal with, and if there is no or lax enforcement, then only the honest folks are honest, and the folks who will steal a ship's bell or poach a fish will do it anyway, and they won't be stopped or caught. Without the commitment from congress and NOAA to provide funding for the sanctuary to carry out it's mission, it';s just another set of rules for the honest people to follow, and for the operators and folks who regularly visit these places to have to follow. Of course, the wrecks (reefs, whales) don't normally need protection from those operators and regular visitors, they understand that their charter depends on the pristine-ness of the site, and they will take steps to maintain that quality. They don't need government help.
