State / Commonwealth / Territory - Marine Managed Areas (MMAs)

M I C H I G A N

Highlighted MMAs: Bottomlands Preserves
Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (MCL 324.76101 et seq)

The Michigan Underwater Preserve System, which is administrated through the Department of Environmental Quality’s Submerged Lands Program, is responsible for managing roughly 200 shipwrecks located on approximately 2,300 square miles of Great Lakes bottomland. The underwater preserves have been established to protect some of the region’s most sensitive underwater natural and cultural resources, and provide an area-based approach to managing shipwrecks. The system’s central objective is to provide enhanced management for shipwrecks by managing the tracts of submerged land where wrecks are located.

The Michigan Underwater Preserve System was established in 1980 through the Michigan Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA). The legislation received strong support from stakeholder groups, arguably the strongest of which was from the recreational dive community. The underwater preserves are managed in conjunction with the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries of the Michigan Historical Center, as authorized by Section 761 (Aboriginal Records and Antiquities of NREPA). Sport divers and history enthusiasts have also ensured the integrity of the preserve system through a system of volunteer monitoring and enforcement. The eleven underwater preserves that constitute the preserve system are considered underwater museums.

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