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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
The sanctuary expansion areas are recognized as hotspots of marine biodiversity that provide vital habitat for many important species in the Gulf of Mexico region. They are home to the most significant examples of coral and algal reefs, mesophotic and deepwater coral communities, and other biological assemblages in the Gulf of Mexico.
Furthermore, these areas provide important habitat for vulnerable species such as mobula rays, sea turtles, and whale sharks, while serving as nurseries for numerous fish species of commercial and recreational importance. As such, most of these areas have also been identified as nationally significant through their designation as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern HAPC by the GMFMC and as NAZs by BOEM.
These habitats are vulnerable to a variety of known and potential impacts, including large vessel anchoring, marine salvage operations, fishing techniques that may injure benthic habitat e.g., trawling, bottom-tending gear, and certain oil and gas exploration and development activities. These impacts will more effectively be addressed within the expanded areas through the comprehensive habitat conservation and management authorities under the NMSA. The protection of these ecologically significant sites would increase the resilience of marine ecosystems and enhance the sustainability of the regions thriving recreation, tourism, and commercial economies. Ultimately, expanding FGBNMS will help ensure that valuable marine resources remain available for the use and enjoyment of future generations of Americans.
This sanctuary expansion is the outcome of decades of scientific research and growing public recognition of the need for coordinated protection of significant offshore marine places in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico region.
Protecting additional habitat in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico emerged as one of the highest priorities identified during a vigorous public review process of FGBNMS management issues.
Subsequently, Sanctuary Expansion was incorporated as a discrete action plan in the 2012 revision of the sanctuarys management plan. The region is utilized for a variety of recreational, commercial, and industrial purposes, and there are ongoing impacts from bottom-disturbing activities, such as large vessel anchoring and marine salvage, on the sensitive biological resources and geological features associated with many reefs and banks in the area. Therefore, pursuant to the NMSAs purpose to facilitate to the
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extent compatible with the primary objective of resource protection, all public and private uses of the resources of these marine areas, FGBNMS can further resource protection while balancing multiple uses. This action will expand FGBNMS by incorporating portions of selected reefs and banks in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. In doing so, this action will provide management of and protection for nationally significant areas with biological, ecological, and/or structural links to the existing sanctuary, including vulnerable mesophotic and deep benthic habitat sites, while providing important opportunities for research and recovery of resources from observed impacts. These areas contain the most significant examples of mesophotic coral communities in the United States, including some of the highest known densities colonies per square meter and species richness of mesophotic corals Cairns et al. 2017.
In addition, and as noted above, many banks in the expansion area have also been recognized by BOEM and GMFMC
as nationally significant and designated as HAPCs and NAZs.
II. History of the FGBNMS Expansion Process 1. Management Plan Review NOAA is required by NMSA Section 304e to periodically review sanctuary management plans to ensure that sanctuary management continues to effectively conserve, protect, and enhance the nationally significant living and cultural resources at each site.
Management plans generally outline regulatory goals, describe boundaries, identify staffing and budgetary needs, and set priorities and performance measures for resource protection, research, and education programs.
Management plans also guide the development of future management activities.
The FGBNMS management plan review process began in 2006 with a series of scoping meetings to obtain information about the publics interests and priorities for FGBNMS management 71 FR 52757; September 7, 2006.
Subsequently, NOAA worked with the FGBNMS Advisory Council to prioritize issues and develop appropriate management strategies and activities for the preparation of a draft revised management plan. Protecting additional nationally significant habitat in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico emerged as one of the highest priority issues for the sanctuary during the FGBNMS
management plan review process.

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In 2007, the FGBNMS Advisory Council, using information developed by its Boundary Expansion Working Group BEWG, recommended a range of sanctuary boundary expansion alternatives. Based on this input, and information obtained through a subsequent public process, NOAA
prepared a revised management plan 77
FR 25060, April 27, 2012 that contained six action plans, including one that specifically addressed sanctuary expansion. The Sanctuary Expansion Action Plan outlined a strategy to expand the protected areas to include additional reefs and banks in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and to develop a Draft Environmental Impact Statement DEIS to evaluate appropriate expansion alternatives. The recommended expansion alternative, as identified by the FGBNMS Advisory Council in 2007, was included in the Sanctuary Expansion Action Plan. This recommendation included nine additional reefs and banks, encompassing approximately 281 square miles.
2. Boundary Expansion Notice of Intent On February 3, 2015, NOAA
published a Notice of Intent NOI to prepare a DEIS for expanding FGBNMS
boundaries 80 FR 5699. The NOI
solicited public input on the range and significance of issues related to sanctuary expansion, including potential boundary configurations, resources to be protected, other issues NOAA should consider, and any information that should be included in the resource analysis. The public scoping period was open through April 6, 2015, during which time ONMS held three public hearings and interested parties submitted both written and oral comments.
NOAA received approximately 200
comments during the scoping period.
Most commenters were strongly supportive of the concept of sanctuary expansion. In addition to broad general support, some comments expressed conditional support while raising user concerns primarily relating to the potential impact of sanctuary expansion on the offshore oil and gas industry and historic fishing practices. Other commenters recommended that NOAA
consider a broader geographical area than the Sanctuary Expansion Action Plan identified, especially in light of the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill and new information that became available since the 2007 FGBNMS
Advisory Council recommendation.
This information was considered during the development of the expansion alternatives in the DEIS.

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