Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 67 



4) Cetacean Research Unit of the Gloucester 

 Fisherman's Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts 

 (1980-1985); 



5) Gulf of Maine Cetacean Sighting Network 

 College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine 

 (1975-1981); 



6) Aerial surveys at MBDS (monthly, January-June, 

 1986); and 



7) Onboard observers during site designation 

 cruises. 



These data, along with a synthesis of the primary 

 hterature, were used to map the distribution and 

 abundance of cetaceans, turtles and seabirds in the 

 area around Stellwagen Bank and the MBDS. 

 Complete descriptions of these studies can be found 

 in MBO (1987), and results are summarized in the 

 MBDS Site Evaluation Report (Hubbard et ad., 

 1988). 



The Army Corps of Engineers (Hubbard et al., 

 1988) estimates that if the MBDS is ultimately 

 designated by EPA, it is likely to receive an average 

 of approximately three million cubic yards of 

 dredged material per decade. The Boston Harbor 

 Deepening Project, which involves the dredging of 

 certain portions of the Harbor to allow safer 

 passage for vessels entering and leaving the Harbor, 

 or other proposed infrastructure improvement 

 projects currently under review, could triple this 

 estimate in any one decade. 



c. Fish Processing Wastes 



In 1985, and again in 1987, requests were made 

 to the EPA to allow ocean dumping of fish 

 processing wastes. Section 102(d) of the MPRSA, 

 and the regulations at 40 CFT^ § 220.1(c), specify 

 that "the transportation for the purpose of dumping 

 or the dumping in ocean waters of fish wastes" does 

 not require a permit, provided that the dumping 

 does not occur in: 1) "harbors or other protected or 

 enclosed coastal waters'; or 2) "any other location 

 where the administrator finds such dumping may 

 reasonably be anticipated to endanger health, the 

 environment, or ecological systems." In response to 

 those proposals in 1985 and 1987, EPA, in 



consultation with NMFS and the fishing industry, 

 provided suggested locations for such disposal and 

 recommended a number of conditions which, if 

 followed, would allow such dumping to meet 

 criterion 2, as described above. Those conditions 

 included criteria for the character of the material to 

 be discharged (e.g., must be ground/no chunk 

 greater than 1"; no shells from shellfish), and how 

 the discharge should occur (e.g., laid down in rows; 

 no revisiting the site of discharge for at least three 

 days). Also, these sites were only to be used when 

 fish processing plants either break down and are 

 imdergoing repairs, or are temporarily shut down 

 for repairs. When recommendations for suitable 

 sites were being developed, attempts were made to 

 avoid active fishing areas, and to ensure that the 

 wastes did not drift onshore. No post-disposal 

 assessments were conducted. Dumping of fish 

 processing wastes did take place, under the 

 conditions described above, at a site off Gloucester. 



Future activity involving the dumping of fish 

 wastes within or adjacent to the proposed Sanctuary 

 is highly uncertain. One of the principal reasons for 

 this uncertainty is the unpredictable nature of the 

 fisheries themselves. 



The Northeast Region Office of NMFS has 

 suggested that this disposal activity is not 

 particularly problematic from an envirormiental 

 standpoint, as most of the material appears to 

 disappear quickly from the sea bottom. (C. 

 Mantzaris, NMFS, pers. comm., June 1990). 

 Results of an informal study conducted by EPA's 

 Region I Office on dimiping of dogfish wastes in 

 Maine were consistent with the opinions expressed 

 by NMFS. 



It should be noted that this issue is confined to 

 the disposal of fish wastes as defined at 40 CFR § 

 220.1(c). It does not include such activities as the 

 discharge of fish or parts and chumming materials 

 (bait) from fishing vessels. It is limited to large 

 scale commercial fish processing operations wishing 

 to transport and dump fish wastes within or 

 adjacent to the Sanctuary. 



d. Incineration of Trash 



A proposal has been recently put forward to 



