FLOWER GARDENS NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY


The Flower Gardens Banks National Marine Sanctuary is a region of water roughly 110 miles due south of the Texas-Louisiana border.  It was designated a National Marine Sanctuary in 1992, which places administration and regulation of the area under the control of the National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) Department of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  Taking of any life from the reefs is prohibited.  Commercial fishing is allowed as long as it is single hook and line fishing.  No longlining or bottom trawling is allowed.
The Flower Gardens Banks consist of two salt domes which have raised the ocean floor from the 400-foot depths in the immediate area to just under 70 feet in the center of the banks.  These two plateaus are home to the northernmost coral reefs in the Gulf and on the North American continental shelf, hosting several different species of hard coral.  Soft coral, for the most part, is absent.  The Flower Gardens Banks are also home to hundreds of species of caribbean fish, and sightings of large pelagics such as Manta Rays and Whale Sharks are frequent.  Schooling Hammerhead Sharks can frequently be seen at the Flower Gardens between the months of January through March.