Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 141 



special qualities of the Stellwagen Bank system, and 

 the importance of ensuring its protection for the 

 future. Educational/interpretive products such as 

 audio/visual materials, exhibits, brochures, etc., will 

 be developed for the visiting pubUc and for 

 dissemination to schools, organizations, and user 

 groups. 



The Sanctuary headquarters will also serve as 

 the public information center for the Sanctuary. 

 The Sanctuary facihty will serve as a focal point for 

 the interested public to learn about the Sanctu2U7 

 Program, its resources, its human uses, and the 

 plans for its protective management. In addition to 

 on-site educational materials, the Sanctuary will 

 initiate coordination efforts with existing agencies 

 and programs, such as the Massachusetts Bays 

 Program, the Gulf of Maine Initiative, the 

 Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries Program, and the 

 educational programs of organizations such as the 

 New England Aquarium, Center for Coastal Studies, 

 Massachusetts Audubon Society, Manomet Bird 

 Observatory, Cetacean Research Unit, and others, 

 to establish a useful public information center on 

 the Sanctuary. Information collected would include 

 both technical and non-technical references. 



The Sanctuary information center could also 

 incorporate information on current research projects 

 and their results; this Usting would be updated 

 regularly and made available to the interested 

 pubUc, scientists and decisionmakers. The listing 

 would provide a record of scientific investigations 

 with management impUcations; contribute to 

 understanding use patterns in the Sanctuary; assist 

 in identifying research areas requiring further 

 attention; and ensure that Sanctuary managers are 

 aware of area-specific studies. The resulting record 

 of researchers with first-hand experience in the 

 Stellwagen Bank area will also provide an important 

 means of coordinating research through multi- 

 disciplinary analyses. 



The Sanctuary Program will encourage 

 research directly by estabUshing a monitoring 

 program, and by providing competitive funding for 

 rese2U"ch. The monitoring program will focus on the 

 overall health of the Sanctuary's resources, and on 

 the level of effects of human activities occurring in 

 the Sanctuary or close to it. Information from the 



monitoring program will assist NOAA in ensuring 

 well-reasoned management for the Sanctuary, as 

 well as providing a means for assisting other 

 authorities in carrying out their responsibihties in 

 the area. 



An important objective of the Sanctuary will 

 also be to complete jm inventory of historical or 

 cultural resources existing in the Sanctuary. Very 

 limited archeological research has been conducted 

 in the Stellwagen Bank area, and research into and 

 mapping of possible historical artifacts around the 

 Bank area will be a necessary element of the 

 Sanctuary program. 



3. Boundary Alternatives 



All five of the boundary alternatives presented 

 in this document would provide protection to the 

 Stellwagen Bank feature, and to the biolotjical 

 resources in its immediate vicinity. 



Boundary alternative #1 (Figure #18) is the 

 smallest of areas considered for Sanctuary 

 designation, encompassing approximately 259 square 

 nautical miles. The boundary forms a rectangular 

 area close around the Bank feature itself. Most of 

 the species found in the larger boundary alternatives 

 are found within this alternative, with the possible 

 exception of some of the fish and invertebrate 

 species. However, important habitat and feeding 

 areas are not included in this alternative. 



The focus of this alternative is the protection 

 of the Bank feature, as both habitat and causal 

 feature in the production of internal waves and 

 upwelling, which contribute to the biological 

 productivity of the overall Stellwagen Bank and 

 Basin area. Boundary alternative #1 would provide 

 the means for protection of the Bank from the 

 effects of activities such as sand and gravel 

 extraction, and from the effects of offshore oil and 

 gas development activities. Thus, the environmental 

 consequences of boundary alternative #1 would be 

 beneficial to the Bank feature itself; however, 

 similar protection would not be extended to 

 important habitat and human use areas surrounding 

 the Bank. 



