Recreation and Travel Media Resources

It may be the nation's best kept ocean secret. We call it America's best ocean idea: NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary System. We developed this StoryMap to provide information about America's system of underwater parks for recreation, travel and tourism professionals, travel media, and visitors.

The National Marine Sanctuary System is a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 629,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters in 18 national marine sanctuaries. Since 1972, NOAA has worked to protect special places in America's waters, from the site of a Civil War shipwreck to a vast expanse of ocean surrounding remote coral reefs and tiny atolls. Backed by one of the nation's strongest pieces of ocean conservation legislation, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries seeks to preserve the extraordinary scenic beauty, biodiversity, history, and economic productivity of America's most precious underwater treasures, while also encouraging Americans to explore the variety of recreation and tourism activities these destinations have to offer.

We welcome travelers, writers, and multimedia journalists to explore national marine sanctuaries and share stories of their experiences above and below the water. In the map below, we share resources on the recreation, travel, and tourism opportunities for the underwater parks in America that we hope will inspire your next creative endeavor. A collection of high quality public domain photos for most sanctuaries can be found on our Flickr page.

Contacts: National Media Coordinator: Vernon Smith, vernon.smith@noaa.gov, 240-533-0662