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Marine Sanctuary Construction

+$13.0 Million in FY 2002
(part of NOAA's Coastal Conservation Activities Initiative)

The Challenge of Offshore Treasures

NOAA is requesting a total of $16.0 million, an increase of $13 million over the FY 2001 enacted level, to provide critical facilities to support the National Marine Sanctuaries. Visitor facilities are greatly needed to educate the American public on the marine environment by bringing the National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS) to life. Most NMS are offshore and not easily accessible by the public. Even when Sanctuaries are adjacent to the shoreline and visible to coastal observers, the resources are mostly submerged in the ocean depths.

NOAA's challenge, and our directive from Congress, is to further educate the American public on the significance of ocean resources and NOAA's efforts to promote their sustainable use. Meeting this challenge is a key goal of the Coastal Conservation Activities Initiative. Other facilities are required to support Sanctuary operations and house staff in safe, efficient buildings.

One highlight of the FY 2002 request is the renovation and construction of the Dr. Nancy Foster Florida Keys Environmental Center. This multi-agency facility will host both a operations center for the sanctuary and a visitor center to promote environmental education, protection, marine safety, and coastal stewardship.

NOAA FY2002 Budget
National Ocean Service (PAC)	FY 2002 Change $ in millions
Marine Sanctuary Construction	$13.0
Total Change from FY 2001	$13.0

Strategy For Bringing National Marine Sanctuaries To Life

The National Marine Sanctuary System (NMSS) has completed a system-wide facilities assessment that has determined the need for developing a network of visitor center facilities that increases the visibility of NOAA and the Sanctuary System, as well as a need for upgrading an aging infrastructure of existing facilities. NMSS interpretive facilities will bring the marine environment to the visitor through real-time ocean images, virtual dive experiences, and interactive modules, which allow visitors to operate underwater cameras to explore a variety of marine communities.

Through this network of facilities NOAA will broaden its education opportunities for the public, as well as educators, students and resource professionals, on the importance of ocean and atmospheric science, encourage minority participation in the marine sciences, and expose audiences to innovative technology. NMSS has identified several potential programmatic and funding partnerships with other organizations with related objectives; funding is needed for these partnerships to progress through the planning stage into the construction phase.

Current education/exhibit/outreach partnerships or evolving visitor center-related activities are evolving at:

• Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (with New England Aquarium)
• Monitor (with Mariner's Museum in Newport News, VA)
• Gray's Reef (interpretive center with local partners)
• Florida Keys (Nancy Foster Center)
• Flower Garden Banks (with Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, LA, and the Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX)
• Olympic Coast (with Olympic National Park)
• Channel Islands (with the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum)
• Monterey Bay (with the State of California)
• Thunder Bay (with Michigan on a Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena)
• Hawaiian Islands (with proposed aquarium in Honolulu).

Capitalizing on NOAA's Expertise:

NOAA is uniquely qualified to serve as the primary messenger of the value of marine conservation, merging years of experience of ocean management and marine education. In the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, Congress directed NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary System (NMSS) to use education to further our knowledge of the ocean. Since the inception of the NMSS, the sanctuary sites have focused on educating local communities on the value of the ocean, its role in the everyday life of many Americans, and the need to protect ocean resources.

This funding will allow NOAA to take that marine education expertise to the next level, by supporting cooperative development of a network of interactive visitor centers, with appropriate partners, that will bring an interactive experience to the general public. NOAA will capitalize on its unique partnerships with museums, aquaria and other marine exhibition facilities, to bring the world of ocean exploration, marine protected areas and the significant resources of the NMFS to the public.

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