The Draft Management Plans (DMP) for the Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries focus on key issues and opportunities affecting the three sanctuaries. The draft plans contain information about each sanctuary’s environment, priority management issues and actions proposed to address them, regulations, staffing and administration, operational and programmatic costs, and performance measures. They address important sanctuary programs such as public awareness and understanding, conservation science, water quality, emergency response and enforcement, and maritime heritage. The draft plans, released in October 2006, represent a major revision of each site’s original management plan and are the result of several years of study, planning, and extensive public input.

Each DMP contains four principal sections: an introduction to the National Marine Sanctuary Program and the specific sanctuary, an overview of the sanctuary setting (including physical, biological, human and operational components), a set of action plans, and a series of appendices. Action plans are the means by which a sanctuary identifies and organizes the wide variety of management tools it employs to manage and protect its marine resources. Action plans allow the sanctuary to clearly articulate the programs, projects and regulations it uses to address the resource issues identified for its management plan and to fulfill the purposes and policies of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Each action plan addresses a priority resource management issue through a series of strategies. Within each strategy is a suite of related activities that sanctuary staff will engage in over the next five years.

To download and review summary Fact Sheets for the three sanctuaries action plans, please click here.

To view or download a copy of the Draft Management Plans, please click on the following links:

• Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Draft Management Plan
• Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Draft Management Plan
• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Draft Management Plan

To request a CD-ROM of the Draft Management Plans, Proposed Rules, and accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Statement, please email your request to jmpr.info@noaa.gov or call one of the following numbers:

• Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary: (415) 663-0314
• Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary: (415) 561-6622
• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary: (831) 647-4201

The National Marine Sanctuary Program released the Draft Management Plans, Proposed Rules and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement to the public on October 6, 2006, and will be accepting public comments on the documents from that date through January 5, 2007. During that time members of the public can submit written comments on the documents via email, mail, and fax, and provide verbal comments during public hearings. For more information on providing comments, please see Get Involved!