ECOLOGY OF BUZZARDS BAY An Estuarine Profile 



Preface 



Buzzards Bay, described by Gabriel Archer in an account of Bartholomew Gosnold's discovery in 

 1602 as "the stateliest sound I was ever in," remains one of the few relatively pristine bays in the 

 metropolitan corridor from Washington to Boston. The bay and its surrounding marshes and uplands 

 have provided a variety of biotic resources not only to European settlers over nearly 400 years but 

 also to the Native Americans who relied on this estuary for thousands of years before them. Today 

 the uplands are divided between 1 8 communities and although the bay is still exploited for its biotic 

 resources, its aesthetic and recreational values add to the growing concern to preserve its environ- 

 mental quality. At the same time, the health of the Buzzards Bay ecosystem, like that of almost all 

 estuarine systems, is clearly controlled not just by processes within the bay waters themselves but 

 also by inputs from the surrounding uplands as well. Therefore, to properly understand and manage 

 this system, it is important to describe in detail activities and land use patterns within the watershed 

 as well as within the tidal reach of the bay waters. This combined watershed-bay system is referred 

 to as the "Buzzards Bay Ecosystem" and is the necessary frame of reference for understanding the 

 biotic structure of the bay and for managing and conserving its resources. 



Located in southeastern Massachusetts, Buzzards Bay and its watershed have long been of inter- 

 est to biologists because of their geographical positioning between several major water masses 

 along the North Atlantic coast of the United States. This led to the establishment of several major 

 marine research centers, the U.S. Fish Commission in 1871 (now the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service), the Marine Biological Laboratory in 1 888, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

 in 1930. 



Buzzards Bay's undulating shoreline contains numerous natural harbors and coves, which support 

 diverse floral and faunal communities as well as commercial and recreational resources. The port 

 of New Bedford, located on the southwestern shore, is the major industrial and business center 

 within the Buzzards Bay watershed. Well known historically as a hub of the whaling industry in the 

 early 1800's, New Bedford remains an active fishing port (coastal and offshore) for the region and 

 represents the largest revenue-producing fishing port on the east coast of the United States (Weaver 

 1 984). The problems facing Buzzards Bay fisheries more than 1 00 years ago (e.g., overfishing and 

 restriction of inland waterways; Baird 1873) still exist; however, the problem of coastal pollution 

 has been revived as a potential factor in the apparent decline of the area's fisheries. In addition to 

 the historic pollutants (urban runoff, heavy metals), the discovery of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) 

 pollution in the waters and sediments of New Bedford Harbor in 1976 (Farrington et al. 1984; 

 Weaver 1984) and the rapid human population growth within the Buzzards Bay watershed have 

 refocused attention and resulted in a renewed scientific interest in the bay and its environs. 



In 1 984, Buzzards Bay became one of four estuaries then making up the National Estuary Program. In 

 1985, through a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Executive 

 Office of Environmental Affairs, the Buzzards Bay Project was established to develop strategies for pro- 

 tecting the bay's natural resources. The Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Buz- 

 zards Bay, released in 1 99 1 , focused on three priority problems: closure of shellfish beds, contamination of 

 fish and shellfish by toxic metals and organic compounds, and potential water quality degradation resulting 

 from excessive nutrient loading. Both the Buzzards Bay Project and the Comprehensive Conservation 

 and Management Plan are aimed at developing recommendations for regional water quality management 

 based on sound information, defining the regulatory and management structure necessary to implement the 



