Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 73 



optimum capacity, each pen would hold 

 approximately 500,000 pounds of fish of market size 

 (8" to 10"). Nets hanging beneath the water surface 

 would be 1-1/2" mesh, and designed to exclude 

 marine mammals, fish, and seabirds. 



The total area required for the site would be 

 approximately 55.6 square nautical miles. Water 

 depths at the revised location are approximately 700 

 meters (2,296.5 ft.), deeper than the 300-400 foot 

 depths at the original offshore location. The 

 proposed site is located outside normal commercial 

 vessel traffic lanes, and would be marked in 

 conformance with U.S. Coast Guard guidelines. 



Several aspects of the offshore faciUty have 

 presented siting, structural, environmental, and 

 economic concerns. In response to the original 

 application, the COE required extensive additional 

 information before processing of the application 

 could proceed, covering structural, resource, 

 operational, administrative and financial specifics of 

 the proposed project. Additionally, a Section 7 

 consultation (pursuant to the Endangered Species 

 Act) with the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 (NMFS) was conducted, and resulted in a biological 

 finding of "no jeopardy" to endangered marine 

 species in the vicinity of the proposed aquaculture 

 facility. (C. Mantzaris, NMFS, pers. comm., May 

 1990). 



Although the fish farm operation would be "self- 

 monitoring" to attain best management practices, 

 both COE and EPA permits would carry with them 

 several requirements, including an endangered 

 species monitoring program requirement. 



Under this "monitoring program" requirement, 

 fish pen operators would conduct monitoring 

 activities during four months of each year. During 

 those periods, 360° surveys of the pens would be 

 made to determine the presence of any endangered 

 species, and to note any interaction between 

 endangered species and the fish pens. These 

 surveys would be made every 15 minutes, over an 8- 

 hour period, on a total of six days during a two- 

 week period (total of 48 observations of all pens 

 over each two-week period). Secondly, boat surveys 

 would be made during the same time periods to 

 note (from the water's surface) any interactions 



between endangered species and the fish pens. 



If the results of these monitoring activities 

 indicate interaction problems, the permits would be 

 subject to additional NMFS and EPA review (and 

 possible hearings) to determine whether the permits 

 should be withdrawn. 



A Section 10 permit was recently issued by the 

 COE for this project. Subsequent to the issuance of 

 this permit however, two actions have resulted in 

 uncertainty regarding the future of the Norwegian 

 Fish Farm proposal. The COE permit was 

 challenged in court by the Conservation Law 

 Foundation (CLF) which charged, among other 

 claims, that the fish farm facility would 

 uru-easonably displace other hirnian uses of the site. 



Secondly, the Department of the Navy has 

 recently raised strong objections to the permit on 

 the grounds that the proposed location for the 

 facihty conflicts directly with certain Navy air and 

 sea operations. On the basis of national security, 

 the COE was requested to revoke the Section 10 

 permit for this project. The Norwegian Fish Farm 

 proposal has currently been moved to a site further 

 north, offshore of New Hampshire. 



13. Offshore Fixed Artificial Platforms 



A proposal and plans initiated by a private 

 marine consultant in the mid-1980's for the 

 construction of a fixed offshore artificial "island", or 

 platform, were submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of 

 Engineers (COE) for its review under § 10 of the 

 Rivers and Harbors Act (as extended by § 4(f) of 

 the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)). 

 The offshore fixed platform, to be known as 

 "Gugel's Arabian Nights", was proposed as a holiday 

 resort facihty, incorporating restaurants, shopping 

 malls, hotels, casinos, apartments, a hospital, a 

 heUport.and other amenities to accommodate 

 100,000 persons (Figure 16). 



As originally proposed, the physical structure 

 would consist of an octagonal-shaped steel platform 

 supported by 16 steel piles, located approximately 

 30 miles (48.3 km) east of Boston, in water depths 

 of 80 to 85 feet (24.4 to 25.9 meters), and directly 

 over the Stellwagen Bank, at 42°23'N x 70°23'W 



