Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council
Principles for Marine Zoning and Regulatory Review
1. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary regulation/zoning review should be conducted with the recognition
that there are bordering and overlapping marine management regimes in place, and that these regimes must be
considered when contemplating changes to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary regulation/marine
zoning structure.
2. All areas of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary should be classified as part of a specific zone, therefore
the current “unzoned” area should be classified as a recognized zone type such as “general use area” or “multiple
use area”.
3. Each habitat type should be represented in a non-extractive marine zone in each of the biogeographically distinct
sub regions of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to achieve replication. The subregions identified were
the Tortugas, Marquesas, and Lower, Middle, and Upper Keys.
4. Information on resilient reef areas that can serve as refugia should be taken into account in zoning changes.
5. Temporal zoning should be considered as a tool for protecting spawning aggregations and nesting seasons.
6. The size of individual non-extractive zoned areas, the cumulative total area included in non-extractive zones, and
their spatial relationship with one another matter greatly in achieving the resource protection purposes of the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Approved on 12/13/2011 by Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council.