Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, adjacent to New York’s Jefferson, Oswego, Cayuga and Wayne counties, will celebrate the region’s maritime cultural history and provide new opportunities for research, education, recreation and maritime heritage-related tourism in local coastal communities and the broader Great Lakes region.

The sanctuary designation advances President Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative, which supports locally-led collaborative conservation efforts across the country for the benefit of all Americans and sets a national goal of protecting, conserving or restoring at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. With more than 41 million acres already conserved, President Biden is on track to conserve more lands and waters than any president in history.

“The designation of this sanctuary is a milestone for NOAA, New York and the nation,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad during the opening statement of the Capitol Hill Ocean Week. “Establishing a national marine sanctuary in the cold fresh waters of eastern Lake Ontario opens the door to world-class research and education initiatives, and provides opportunities to support and enhance tourism and the local economy within one of the most historically significant regions in the Great Lakes.”

Eastern Lake Ontario’s waters and coast tells the story of America’s diverse history and heritage, from early Indigenous settlements to today. The area includes transportation and trade routes for Indigenous Peoples and early European explorers, and locations of military conflicts and maritime innovation. Eastern Lake Ontario supported the growth of the young American republic and the nation’s industrial core.

The new sanctuary features a collection of 41 known shipwrecks and one known submerged aircraft, among the best preserved in the world, discovered over decades by recreational scuba divers and shipwreck explorers. The shipwrecks, such as St. Peter, a three-masted schooner that was loaded with coal when it was lost in a storm in 1898, embody more than two centuries of the nation’s maritime history.

NOAA will use its expertise to further locate, research and monitor these and other maritime cultural resources. NOAA will also focus on education and outreach through partnerships with Indigenous governments, local partners and institutions.

“From sacred places and cultural practices to lighthouses and historic shipwrecks, this region’s maritime cultural legacy provides meaning and a sense of place to countless generations,” said Nicole R. LeBoeuf, director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service. “NOAA looks forward to working with a wide range of partners to learn, share and celebrate the remarkable history of the eastern Lake Ontario region.”