24 April 2025

Get Into Your Sanctuary Day A Success!

On Saturday, April 12, 2025, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary opened its doors  in Galveston, Texas to over 300 visitors for our Get Into Your Sanctuary Day Open House. Visitors learned about underwater robots, invasive lionfish, coral reefs, reef monitoring, mooring buoys, mesophotic coral ecosystems, manta rays, the National Marine Sanctuary System, and more!

Most visitors were from Texas, but a few were from Maryland, Arizona, Louisiana, and Georgia. Along with sanctuary staff, the activities were staffed by Texas Master Naturalists, Texas A&M University at Galveston students, Ball High School students, and additional community volunteers. 

Feedback from event participants: 

• “This was a great day for our community! Thank you to staff and volunteers for the wonderful experience and insight into the important role you provide keeping our ocean/world safe and healthy.”

• “Thank you to the NOAA’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Team for a wonderful learning opportunity and all the effort that went into a successful day! The more we all know, the more we will continue to share the true impact of NOAA’s work!” 

• “Thanks for all the effort! Learned many new things!!! See you again next year!!!”

• “This was such a great event!! It was great to see all of you and learn more about what you are doing!”

• “Fantastic event! Appreciated the focus on education and serving the community and environment.⁣⁣” 

This event was a collaborative effort for the entire sanctuary staff. Every staff member contributed their time and skills to bring this event to life.

Farewell from Kelly As the manager of this list for the past 20 years, it's been my pleasure to share news about Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary with you. I hope you've enjoyed these (mostly) weekly tidbits and have learned to appreciate the sanctuary more and more over the years. I am retiring and passing the torch to Taylor Galaviz, so stay tuned to continue learning about this amazing ocean treasure in the Gulf! Best fishes, Kelly

This is an electronic distribution list run by Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). This list was created to provide subscribers with information and the latest news about sanctuary management, research, events, and opportunities for involvement. To subscribe to this or any other FGBNMS email list, please visit https://flowergarden.noaa.gov/newsevents/subscribe.html

Postings made to this list are not the views of the Federal Government, inclusive of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce/NOAA/NOS/ONMS/FGBNMS. If you need additional assistance, please contact   flowergarden@noaa.gov.