Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 6 



° The Hawaiian Islands National Marine 

 Sanctuary was Congressionally designated in 

 November 1992. The Sanctuary includes waters 

 within the 100-fathom isobath of the islands of 

 Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and a portion of Kaui. 

 Among Sanctuary purposes are protection of 

 humpback whales and identification of additional 

 marine resources and ecosystems of national 

 significance. Unless determined to be 

 unsuitable, waters around the island of 

 Kahoolawe will be added to the Sanctuary in 

 January 1996. 



In addition to Stellwagen Bank, the Sanctuaries 

 and Reserves Division is actively developing 

 designation documents for four additional proposed 

 Sanctuaries. The proposed Sanctuaries are: 

 Northwest Straits, Washington; Olympic Coast, 

 Washington; Norfolk Canyon, Virginia; and 

 Thunder Bay, Michigan. 



E. History of the Proposal 



In January 1982, NOAA published a Program 

 Development Plan (PDF) for the National Marine 

 Sanctuary Program, describing the Program's 

 mission and goals; site identification procedures and 

 criteria; and establishing a sanctuary nomination 

 and designation process. Pursuant to the PDP and 

 Program regulations, NOAA initiated a pubUc 

 process in February 1982 to estabUsh a Site 

 Evaluation List (SEL), to be comprised of highly- 

 qualified marine sites meeting Program criteria for 

 further evaluation as possible national marine 

 sanctuaries. Potential SEL sites were identified and 

 recommended to NOAA by regional resource 

 evaluation teams, in accordance with the Program's 

 mission and goals, as set forth in the PDP and in 

 Program regulations. 



A marine area of approximately 500 square 

 miles (1294.99 sq. km) surrounding Stellwagen Bank 

 (offshore Massachusetts) was nominated jointly by 

 Defenders of Wildlife, Inc. and Dr. Charles A. 

 Mayo, of the Provincetown Center for Coastal 

 Studies, to the North Atlantic Regional Resource 

 Evaluation Team for its consideration. The 

 nomination was subsequently recommended by the 

 evaluation team to NOAA for placement on the 

 proposed SEL. A proposed SEL, including the 



Stellwagen Bank site, was published on March 1, 

 1983 (48 FR 8527); and, following a public comment 

 period, the final SEL was published August 4, 1983 

 (48 FR 35568). 



The Secretary of Commerce (acting through 

 NOAA), will from time to time select sites from the 

 SEL as Active Candidates, which formally initiates 

 evaluation of a site for possible designation, through 

 implementation of the National Environmental 

 PoHcy Act (NEPA) process. Prior to the 1988 

 Congressional amendments to Title III of the 

 MPRSA, there was no time limit on NOAA's 

 consideration of a site for national marine sanctuary 

 designation. However, the 1988 amendments to the 

 National Marine Sanctuary Program (Title II of 

 Pub. L. 100-627, codified at 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.) 

 establish (at Section 304(b)) a finite period of time 

 (i.e., 30 months) from the time of Active Candidacy 

 to a notice of designation (or findings regarding why 

 such notice has not been published). 



Additionally, the 1988 Amendments specifically 

 require (Section 304(e)) that a prospectus on the 

 Stellwagen Bank proposal be submitted to Congress 

 for its review and comment no later than September 

 30, 1990. The prospectus on a proposed national 

 marine sanctuary contains, among other 

 information, the draft environmental impact 

 statement and the draft management plan 

 (DEIS/MP). To meet this Congressionally- 

 mandated deadline, NOAA elevated the Stellwagen 

 Bank proposal to Active Candidate status on April 

 19, 1989 (54 FR 15787). 



Following the Federal Register notice 

 announcing Stellwagen Bank as an Active Candidate 

 for National Marine Sanctuary designation, NOAA 

 conducted four public scoping meetings during the 

 week of June 12-16, 1989 at Provincetown, MA; 

 Portsmouth, NH; Gloucester, MA; and Boston, MA. 

 The purpose of the meetings was to gather 

 information and comments from individuals, 

 organizations, and government agencies on the 

 range and significance of issues related to the 

 Sanctuary proposal. Attendees were provided 

 information sheets on the study area for the 

 proposal, and were asked to comment on identified 

 management issues; to suggest additional issues for 

 examination; and to provide information useful for 



