Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 117 



c. Regulation of the Activity: Sanctuary 

 regulation of industrial materials development 

 activities would result in one of two possible 

 options: permit under certain conditions, or 

 prohibit. 



1) Permit Under Certain Conditions: 

 Under the option of permitting industrial materials 

 development activities imder certain conditions, a 

 Sanctuary regulation would be promulgated 

 restricting sand and gravel extraction to certain 

 levels and amounts; to certain areas of the 

 Sanctuary, and/or to certain seasons of the year. 

 These actions would be taken to avoid or to 

 minimize adverse impacts on particularly sensitive 

 jireas of the Sanctuary, such as fish spawning areas. 

 Development of specific Sanctuary regulations in 

 coordination with MMS, however, would be 

 necessary for protection of Sanctuary resources not 

 already incorporated into the MMS leasing process 

 to be imposed on lessees. 



2) Prohibit: This is the preferred alternative. 

 A prohibition on sand and gravel extraction 

 activities would preserve the physical structure of 

 the Bank featiu-e, in addition to preventing the 

 physical (and possible chemical) disturbances 

 associated with extraction activities. 



Physical disturbances resulting from extraction 

 operations would include destruction of benthic 

 biota; resuspension of fme sediments: and alteration 

 of the Banks surface profile. Additionally, 

 extraction activities may result in the introduction of 

 pollutants or undesirable nutrients, which in turn 

 would result in: interference with filtering, feeding, 

 and respiratory functions of marine organisms; 

 direct smothering of benthic species; loss of food 

 sources and habitat; lowered photosynthesis and 

 oxygen levels; and (possibly) degraded appearance 

 of the water itself. 



Preservation of the Bank S physical structure 

 and profile is important to the continuation of the 

 cycle of seasonal upwellings, which generates the 

 high biological productivity of the Bank system. 

 Thus, the preferred regulatory alternative would 

 prevent any such alteration of the physical character 

 of the Sanctuary. 



From the perspective of supply and demand 

 for mineral aggregate within the New England 

 region generally, it appears that the need to remove 

 sand and gravel resources from Stellwagen Bank in 

 order to supply regioned demand is questionable. 

 None of the large pubUc works projects currently 

 underway (i.e., the MWRA wastewater treatment 

 faciUty in Boston Harbor, the MDPW Central 

 Artery project, and the MDPW Third Harbor 

 Tunnel project), has identified Stellwagen Bank as 

 a possible source of construction materials. 

 Although all of these projects are in early phases of 

 construction, the time required for exploration, 

 permitting, and facihties construction associated 

 with a new marine mining operation at the 

 previously-unexploited Stellwagen Bank make it 

 highly unUkely that mineral aggregate materials 

 necessary for these metropoUtan Boston area 

 projects could be suppUed in time to be of direct 

 assistance. 



Additionally, a recent progress report to the 

 New England Governors Conference on the 

 construction aggregate demand study under 

 development (Eastern Research Group, Inc., 1991), 

 made the observation that industry representative 

 survey respondents commented that while the 

 Boston projects (such as the harbor tunnel) will 

 rettim successful companies to better capacity rates 

 (80-85%), the projects will not, of themselves, 

 create a shortage of sand and gravel (or aggregate) 

 resources. The industry opinion here expressed, 

 therefore, is that sand and gravel resources from 

 Stellwagen Bank are not necessary for the 

 completion of the Boston area projects. 



4. Alteration of. or Construction on. the 

 Seabed 



a. No Regulation: Under this alternative, the 

 benthic resources and the seabed within the 

 Sanctuary would continue to be protected by 

 management measures available under existing 

 Federal statutes. Federal regulations governing 

 activities on the seabed would continue to apply 

 within the Sanctuary. There would be no particular 

 emphasis placed on the importance of either the 

 Bank feature or of the seabed in providing the 

 biologically rich area supporting fisheries, cetacean, 

 and seabird populations. 



