A group of people who care passionately about protecting an area of our nation's marine or Great Lakes waters comes together to develop a nomination. This consists of gathering key information about the special place they wish to nominate and developing broad community support for the nomination.

In our initial review, we will look at whether or not the nomination contains enough of the information we need. If the proposal does not meet the basic requirements, NOAA may decline it or send it back to the community for additional information.

A nomination that meets the minimum requirements will move on to the next round of review, where NOAA will take a closer look at all the different factors that make the nominated place a potential candidate for sanctuary designation. Throughout this process, NOAA will work with the community to answer any questions that arise, and NOAA may bring in external reviewers as needed.

When a nomination successfully passes the review phase, NOAA will notify the community that all the requirements have been met and the nomination has been accepted.

As mentioned above, NOAA will place successful nominations in an inventory of areas it could consider for potential designation as a national marine sanctuary. Addition to the inventory does not guarantee that a nominated area will become a sanctuary.

NOAA announces its intent to designate a new national marine sanctuary and asks the public for input on potential boundaries, resources that could be protected, issues NOAA should consider and any information that should be included in the resource analysis.

The public, agency partners, tribes and other stakeholders provide input on the draft documents. NOAA considers all input and determines appropriate changes.