The Flower Garden Banks (FGB), remotely located on the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, are afforded a certain measure of protection due to their geographic distance from land. Problems that affect coral reefs throughout the region, including land-based sources of pollution and coral disease have not had a measurable effect at the FGB. In addition to their relative isolation, the depth of these reefs, 18-48 m, has protected corals from bleaching events that have had devastating effects on most western Atlantic reefs.