NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

09/29/2026

🪸 Olivia Eisenbach is the Research Operations Specialist at NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and the subject of our latest Career Feature! Learn about her work conducting reef ecology research and conservation as well as some advice she has for someone who might be pursuing her career path!

Get to know Olivia and her work 👉 https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/ocean-careers/olivia-eisenbach.html

📸: Olivia Eisenbach/NOAA

09/29/2026

Homeward Bound: Mesophotic Corals Returned to NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary 🪸

After being studied in NOAA laboratories, 56 lab-reared corals, originally collected as fragments from the twilight zone, were loaded onto the RV Pelican and transported offshore near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Experts cared for the corals to learn about the corals' growth, feeding, and reproductive cycles in support of restoration efforts.🔬

👉Learn more about this project in our latest : https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/notes/2026/mesophotic-corals-returned-to-flower-garden-banks-nms.html

📸: Shannon Ainsworth/TESA; NOAA, Marine Applied Research & Exploration, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; Daphne Torres/TESA

09/25/2026

This entire NOAA RESTORE-funded mission would not have been possible without divers who collected coral surveys, coral samples, water samples, fish surveys, and photomosaic plots at East and West Flower Garden Banks.

The mission was a stellar example of teamwork and cross-collaboration and involved combining open-circuit and closed-circuit rebreather dive operations. With both operations happening on the same vessel, the team was able to maximize time underwater and meet the mission's objectives.

This is the first of many missions, and there is more work to come over this five-year project to assess coral resilience in the sanctuary.

Learn more about this project: https://restoreactscienceprogram.noaa.gov/projects/fgbnms-coral-resilience

Partners on this NOAA RESTORE mission: University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Harte Research Institute/Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, University of Alabama at Birmingham, FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies/NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The NOAA RESTORE Science program is administered by NOAA Coastal Ocean Science

📷 Taylor Galaviz/NOAA
📷 Michelle Johnston/NOA

09/24/2026

During the recent NOAA RESTORE-funded mission, partners assembled on the M/V FLING to collect coral surveys, coral samples, water samples, fish surveys, and photomosaic plots at East and West Flower Garden Banks.

Coral samples were bagged, labeled, and stored for analysis back in the lab. Water samples collected at various depths were processed on board to look at various parameters to better understand the overall environmental conditions of the reef.

Learn more about this project: https://restoreactscienceprogram.noaa.gov/projects/fgbnms-coral-resilience

Partners on this NOAA RESTORE mission: University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Harte Research Institute/Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, University of Alabama at Birmingham, FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies/NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The NOAA RESTORE Science program is administered by NOAA Coastal Ocean Science.

📷 Taylor Galaviz/NOAA

09/23/2026

Last week, sanctuary staff and research partners completed the first coral sampling mission under the five-year NOAA RESTORE-funded project that looks to gain insights into the physiological, molecular, and reproductive responses of corals in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and their tolerances to environmental stressors.

Day one began with loading the vessel, the M/V FLING, with gear and going over the dive plan for the week. Follow along as we highlight the work that happened during this mission in the sanctuary.

Learn more about this project: https://restoreactscienceprogram.noaa.gov/projects/fgbnms-coral-resilience

Partners on this NOAA RESTORE mission: University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Harte Research Institute/Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, University of Alabama at Birmingham, FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies/NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The NOAA RESTORE Science program is administered by NOAA Coastal Ocean Science.

📷 Taylor Galaviz/NOAA

09/21/2026

Monitoring Monday: What is photogrammetry? 📸🪸

Sometimes one photo of a reef just isn’t enough—so we take thousands.

Using this underwater camera system, divers photograph the reef from many different angles, with lots of overlap between images. Specialized software matches features across those photos and stitches them together to create a detailed, scaled 3D model of the reef.

These models allow us to measure and revisit the reef from our computers, looking at things like coral size, surface area, reef structure, and changes through time.

By repeating photogrammetry surveys, we can compare models and document changes that might be difficult to capture with traditional monitoring methods alone.

A lot of swimming, a lot of photos, and one very detailed digital reef.

📷 Kelly O'Connell/NOAA

09/18/2026

👋 Howdy neighbor!

Last week, the sanctuary's vessel, R/V MANTA, gained a new neighbor, Texas A&M University at Galveston's new 524-foot-long ship, TS Lone Star State. R/V MANTA spends most of the year docked at Texas A&M University at Galveston's Texas Clipper Pier and shares the pier with the new training ship.

📷 Matthew Loschiavo/NOAA

09/18/2026

Happy ! 🌊 What better way for a manta ray to spend it than at the spa!🫧

Here, small cleaner wrasse clean parasites and dead tissue from a manta ray in Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Talk about a powerful exfoliator! By chowing down on parasites, cleaner wrasse provide rays and other fish an important service, protecting them from disease and keeping them healthy for years to come.

📸: Ed Lyman/NOAA

09/17/2026

09/16/2026

This summer, invasive lionfish were removed from East Flower Garden Bank, West Flower Garden Bank, Stetson Bank, and surrounding artificial reefs as part of two successful Lionfish Invitational LLC citizen science removal cruises!

These cruises brought together scientists and concerned citizens to remove the invasive fish and participate in research projects with scientists from NOAA, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and Texas A&M University at Galveston.

216 lionfish were removed this summer, saving thousands of native species from being consumed by lionfish. This number may seem small to some, but it is huge for the reefs. Without these trips, the lionfish population would continue to thrive unchecked.

What happens now? Each fish will be measured, their gut content will be analyzed, and samples will be sent out for further studies. Students from across the country will have an opportunity to learn about this invasive fish and collect data that goes back to the researchers to learn more about them and their impact.

Learn more about the Lionfish Invitational: https://flowergarden.noaa.gov/involved/lionfishinvitational.html

📷 Lionfish Invitational LLC