Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 118 



Also under this alternative, NOAA would rely 

 on the regulatory requirements of existing 

 authorities to ensure the protection of the Bank 

 during the construction and operation of man-made 

 structiu-es, such as artificial platform facihties. 

 Assuming all such requirements are satisfactorily 

 met, there would be no particular safeguards (unless 

 permits issued for this activity incorporate specific 

 conditions) against discharges from the facihty 

 entering the Sanctuary and possibly causing harm to 

 a Sanctuary resource or quality. Additionally, the 

 scope of consultations conducted under the 

 Endangered Species Act perteiin only to those 

 species currently listed as threatened or endangered; 

 full consideration of effects on all Uving marine 

 resources is not addressed. Under the 'ho 

 regulation "alternative, therefore, there remeiin gaps 

 in protection against possible adverse effects of 

 seabed alterations. 



b. Regulation of Alteration of, or Construction 

 on, the Seabed: The preferred alternative is to 

 prohibit the alteration of, or construction on, the 

 seabed, or the placement or abandonment of any 

 structure or material on the seabed; or the attempt 

 to do so for any purpose other than anchoring 

 vessels; bottom trawling or dredging resulting from 

 traditional commercial fishing operations; routine 

 navigation operations; and ecological maintenance. 



The intent of this regulation is to protect the 

 resources of the Sanctuary from the harmful effects 

 of activities such as, but not limited to: excavation 

 of historical and/or cultural resources; drilling into 

 the seabed; or ocean mineral extraction. This 

 regulation is also mtended to prohibit the placement 

 of man-made objects or structures on the seabed, 

 such as, but not limited to, pilings, supports or 

 anchors for artificial platforms or islands; and 

 submerged pipelines and cables. This regulation 

 includes abandonment (which may include vessels 

 that have run aground), and thereby ensures that 

 vessel owners are responsible for the removal of 

 such vessels. 



5. Mariculture Activities 



Beyond existing requirements related to 

 construction and maintenance of offshore fish- 

 raising facihties, there are no regulatory controls 



currently imposed on the placement of large 

 amounts of manufactured fish feed into the marine 

 environment. Inasmuch as this type of activity is 

 untested in an ocean location subject to strong 

 storm events, it is unclear whether the proposed 

 structure can withstand such events, and what the 

 environmental and impacts would be if the structure 

 broke apart during such an event. 



a. No Sanctuary Regulation: Under this 

 regiilatory alternative, the initiation of mariculture 

 operations would be subject to existing regulatory 

 procedures at § 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act 

 of 1899, administered by the U.S. Army Corps of 

 Engineers and coordinating Federal resource 

 agencies. These regulations address the 



construction, installation and maintenance of any 

 offshore tethered facihty for raising fish as a 

 commercial enterprise. Additionally, the activity 

 would be subject to the requirements of § 402 of 

 the Clean Water Act (Nationid Pollutant Discharge 

 Elimination System, or NPDES), administered by 

 the U.S. EPA. CompUance with these existing 

 regulations would also likely require that conditions 

 be attached to the operation, including an 

 endangered species 'honitoring" program 

 requirement, conducted regularly by on-site fish pen 

 operators, to ascertain any interaction between 

 endangered species and fish pens. 



It is likely that existing guidance from the 

 COE for the permitting of fish pen mariculture 

 activities would preclude the permitting of any fish 

 pen mariculture operation in a designated National 

 Marine Sanctuary. In the COE guidance document. 

 Information Required for Department of the Army 

 Permits: Aquaculture (Floating Fish Pen) Projects" 

 (dated 25 November, 1988), fish farms are 

 prohibited from areas 'hamed in Acts of Congress 

 or Presidential Proclamations as National Rivers, 

 National Wilderness Areas, National Seashores, 

 National Recreation Areas, National Lakeshores, 

 National Parks, Monimients, or Wildlife Refuges, 

 and such areas as may be established under federal 

 law for similar or related purposes ." [Emphasis 

 added.] While National Marine Sanctuaries are not 

 specifically hsted in this guidance, this prohibition is 

 apphcable to National Marine Sanctuary areas. 



