Since little is known about the divers visiting these tropical gardens, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary contracted with us to learn more about the demographic characteristics, experience preferences, participation patterns, diving behavior, and attitudes of the divers visiting the reefs. This information will not only help the NOAA staff better serve the diver population, but it will also enable them to better manage this unique natural resource. Additionally, since there is no current method available for identifying and tracking these constituents and their dive trip-related expenditures, this survey provided a unique opportunity to understand FGBNMS divers from a social and economic perspective.

The data for FGBNMS divers originated from a 1999 study conducted for the Artificial Reef Program of Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW): "Demographics, Attitudes, Management Preferences, and Economic Impacts of Sport Divers Using Artificial Reefs in Offshore Texas Waters." In designing the artificial reef users study for TPW, they agreed to allow us to make it a "Texas Sport Diver Survey" by also including charter dive boats and the divers they took to the FGBNMS in 1997. This was done so that at some future date, statements could be made about all sport diving activity in Texas marine waters involving charter dive boats, not just artificial reef-related sport diving.

The study made use of a mail survey to 1,059 sport divers who used dive charter boats to go diving in Texas offshore waters: 614 divers made trips to the FGBNMS and 445 divers who made dive trips involving mainly artificial reefs. Because the only means available for identifying the Texas offshore diver populations was through dive charter boat operators, divers making use of private boats to go diving offshore were not included in the study. Of the 1,059 surveys mailed, 528 were returned usable, 461 of which indicated that they went diving in the previous twelve months. Of these 461 divers, 333 indicated they dove at the FGBNMS: 186 divers went diving only at the FGBNMS and 147 divers went diving at the FGBNMS as well as other locations off the Texas coast.

The data set of 333 FGBNMS divers will be analyzed to characterize the sport diver constituency that makes use of the national marine sanctuary and to provide estimates of their direct and indirect economic impacts on coastal communities in Texas and at the state level. This project began in January 1, 2001 and will conclude May 31, 2001.