A new collection of postal stamps celebrates the 50th anniversary of the national marine sanctuary system.

Minnow leaps from the ocean – and the corner of an envelope. The breaching humpback is one of the 16 images on the new Forever stamps released by the U.S. Postal Service on Aug. 5, honoring the 50th anniversary of the national marine sanctuary system.

With Minnow come stamps featuring the creatures and habitats of four different West Coast marine sanctuaries, including rockfish, sea stacks and – yes – a sea otter bobbing on the surface of Monterey Bay.

Each image is eye-catching, which helped them win a wildly competitive process to appear on Forever stamps. A citizen stamp advisory committee for the USPS receives more than 30,000 suggestions for stamp art each year. Along with a team of art directors, they make the decisions on what appears on the stamp – and as few as 20 make the cut.

The advisory committee looks to represent diverse aspects of American life, from iconic Americans to points in history to cultural landmarks, like the recently printed Buzz Lightyear and soon-to-be published Pony Car stamps.

Now, the marine sanctuaries are part of a 150-year-old tradition that has grown to issue 8 billion Forever stamps every year. Existing stamps already recognize geographic places like national parks.

The national marine sanctuary system was created in 1972 and its most recent addition was Mallows Bay in Maryland in 2017, which protects the maritime legacy of the 80 sunken ships of the World War I Ghost Fleet. The Chumash Heritage Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Santa Barbara is among the next to be designated.

The system of 15 sanctuaries has grown into “a vibrant network… that protects some of our nation’s most treasured seascapes, wildlife and maritime heritage resources,” according to John Armor, director of the national marine sanctuary system.

The West Coast of the U.S. has five protected areas, including Monterey Bay, and also the Channel Islands, Cordell Bank, Greater Farallones and the Olympic Coast.

Four of these are featured on the new Forever stamps in photographs. The sea stacks – vertical columns of rock emerging from the water – on the Olympic Coast were snapped by Matt McIntosh; Monterey Bay’s sea otter and a refuge in the Greater Farallones by Norbert Wu; and credit goes to Joseph Hoyt for the rockfish in Cordell Bank.

Kris Sarri, president and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, feels that the stamps can have a lasting impact. “The new Forever stamps celebrate the majestic seascapes, wildlife and underwater wonders that our national marine sanctuary system offers,” she says. “As we mark the 50th anniversary of the sanctuary system, we must recommit to saving these spectacular places and protecting their splendor for generations to come.”

Paul M. Scholz, deputy assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service, hopes the stamps will have an intergenerational impact. “Perhaps the stamps will even inspire a child who one day grows up to become a marine biologist, environmental educator, science communicator, or a passionate protector of our blue planet,” he says.

Elliott Hazen, a research ecologist for NOAA – the body managing the sanctuary system – took the photo of Minnow. He studied Minnow for six years as a graduate student in the early 2000s while stationed at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. Hazen is now based in Monterey.

Hazen bought 15 sheets of the stamps when they first came out, and he’s giving some of them to his third-grader to help with a school project that involves writing letters to family members around the country.

“For me personally, the sanctuaries have been a part of my life from a young adult until now,” he says. Now, they’re a part of his child’s life, too.

To purchase the National Marine Sanctuary System’s Forever stamps, visit a post office or go to bit.ly/sanctuarystamps