5.0 EFFECTS ON LIVING RESOURCES (PAST AND FUTURE) 



To date, there has been no significant offshore oil and gas activity 

 other than the drilling of one exploratory strati graphic test well in the 

 Baltimore Canyon area. Although oil spills and shipwrecks have occurred in 

 the past, with impacts often similar to what might be expected from intense 

 oil and gas activity, there have been no impacts yet from OCS development. 

 The following discussion thus concerns itself with likely impacts as based 

 on knowledge of the existing ecosystems in the Mid Atlantic and South At- 

 lantic OCS regions, and on past experience from other areas where offshore 

 oil and gas activity has been under way for a number of years. 



The general impacts of OCS activity on coastal ecosystems should be the 

 same for both the Mid Atlantic and South Atlantic. This premise is based on 

 the overall similarity between the two regions. Both areas are composed of 

 the Atlantic coastal plain, which ranges in width from 20 to 30 miles in 

 northern New Jersey to over 140 miles in North Carolina (23). The coastline 

 of both study areas is one of submergence so that stream valleys are "drowned" 

 and form broad tidal estuaries. The seaward margin is fringed with almost 

 continuous beaches and bars, while landward, nearly continuous marshes border 

 the estuaries. However, whereas the Mid Atlantic coast is fringed by barrier 

 beaches and islands, the coastlines of South Carolina and Georgia are comprised 

 of barrier islands. 



Various types of wetland classifications are given by Shaw and Fredine 



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