marshlands are a valuable nursery and spawning area for most estuarine and 

 nearshore fish and shellfish. Commercial and sport fishing are major regional 

 industries here that could be affected. Also, such areas are important as 

 buffer zones against storms, are feeding areas for migratory waterfowl, and 

 support a vast diversity of flora and fauna. 



The possible effects of OCS activities, such as spills, on offshore 

 fisheries may present a major problem. The offshore areas of the Mid Atlantic 

 states are heavily used for sport and commercial fishing, important species 

 being: marlin, bluefish, striped bass, menhaden, flounder, sea bass, weak- 

 fish, mackerel, hake, surf clams, hard clams, blue crab, oysters, and lob- 

 ster (23). 



Comments made by the Natural Resources Defense Council in regard to 

 the Environmental Impact Statement for OCS Lease no. 40, Baltimore Canyon, 

 reveal the following possible areas of environmental concern. These possible 

 effects are discussed in detail in Section 5. No assertion as to whether and 

 to what degree th^se problem areas might arise is made. 



1. Lack of baseline biological data on: phytoplanktonic 



populations, zooplanktonic relationships with phytoplankton, 

 spawning characteristics of fish, impact of sublethal oil 

 on fish, life history of commercially significant fish, 

 effects of turbidity and resuspension of toxic materials 

 due to pipeline laying'. Some effort is being made to cor- 

 rect deficient data by BLM sponsorship of a baseline 

 study of the Mid Atlantic OCS. VIMS is the contractor 

 for this study. 



8 



