Important New Resource from NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries
New Guide to Diving in America’s Underwater Treasures

Posted Wednesday, December 5, 2007

 
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The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program has developed a colorful new printed guide and Web page for scuba diving enthusiasts about diving in our nation’s 13 national marine sanctuaries, home to some of America’s most spectacular underwater sights.

“NOAA’s national marine sanctuaries have something to offer every diver, from the most experienced to the newly certified,” said Daniel J. Basta, sanctuary program director. “We hope that all divers visiting our sanctuaries will want to join efforts to help preserve and protect these special places for future generations.”

The new diving guide, introduced at the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association annual show in Orlando, Fla., describes the wonderful world beneath the sea at each of the national marine sanctuaries, from the shipwrecks and nutrient-rich waters of Stellwagen Bank off Massachusetts to the pristine coral reefs of Fagatele Bay in American Samoa. The brochure also offers tips on how to be a safer, more responsible diver by mastering buoyancy control, respecting marine wildlife, and how to volunteer for habitat monitoring activities in your local marine sanctuary.

Available in PDF format at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/visit/diving.html, the new guide can be downloaded and customized for use by dive operators and tourism companies to give their customers.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.