Environmental Studies Program Direction:
Monitoring Marine Environments
Since 1974, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has supported intensive study of the
East and West Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 120 miles off the
Texas coast. The MMS studies have provided information essential to the environmentally
sound management of these sensitive and important coral reef habitats that have been
designated as a National Marine Sanctuary. The MMS has used this information in developing
lease stipulations that have permitted natural gas and oil exploration, development, and
production to proceed in the vicinity of the banks with no detrimental environmental
effects. A long-term program monitoring the general health of the banks and possible
effects of offshore natural gas and oil operations began in 1988. Since 1994, the Flower
Garden Banks Monitoring Program has continued as a cooperative effort with equal funding
provided by MMS and the National Marine Sanctuary Program of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Information from the ongoing monitoring program is used
by MMS analysts to evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of current lease stipulations
that are designed to protect the important biological resources of the Flower Garden
Banks. In Fiscal Year 1998, the MMS also supported the deployment and analysis of ocean
surface drifters to study the phenomenon of synchronous spawning of corals on the Flower
Garden Banks.
In 1994, the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program presented a recognition award to
MMS for over 20 years of commitment to resource protection and funding of research at the
Flower Garden Banks. In 1996, MMS was awarded a Federal Environmental Quality Award for
environmental monitoring and reassert in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary. This award recognizes excellence achieved through implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act.
For more information, contact Thomas Ahlfeld.
