Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



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d. Aircraft 



At least one aircraft crash site may be located 

 within the Sanctuary. It has been reported that a 

 P-38 Lightning is located on the western edge of 

 Stellwagen Bank (Grey Eagle Charters, personal 

 communication, 1990). At this time, however, no 

 information is available to explain the reason for its 

 occurrence at this site, or to assess its possible 

 importance (Lawrence Webster, pers. comm., 1990). 



C. Human Activities 



1. Commercial Fishing 



a. Regional History 



Historically, the most economically important 

 human activity directly dependent on the resources 

 of the entire Gulf of Maine, including Stellwagen 

 Bank, has been commercicd fishing. The yield from 

 groundfish, invertebrate, and pelagic fisheries has 

 been the most important commercial resource 

 available throughout the New England region since 

 the time of early Colonists. This traditional activity 

 continues today as an important source of revenue 

 to the New England coastal states. 



Three hundred years ago, catch was abundant 

 from local coastal waters; there was no need to 

 venture to distant offshore banks. Handlines 

 employed off of small skiffs and sail craft yielded 

 necessary daily catches; modest weirs or traps 

 placed at river mouths or harbors captured plentiful 

 amounts of migratory fish; and shellfish were readily 

 available from intertidal areas. 



Colonization of the northeast seaboard was itself 

 spurred by the discovery in 1497 by explorer John 

 Cabot of vast codfish grounds in the northwest 

 Atlantic. Early settlements in Maine and New 

 Hampshire estabhshed the first fish curing stations 

 before the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, 

 Massachusetts in 1620. It was cod fishing that 

 brought the first settlers to Gloucester, Marblehead, 

 Salem, Weymouth, and Scituate, Massachusetts 

 (McFarland, 1911). In the decade between 1765 

 and 1775, the business of cod fishing actively 

 involved 20 towns, 605 vessels, 1,475 fishermen, and 

 9,600 others in curing, packaging, and shipping 



(McFarland, 1911). 



The coimtry's growth increased pressure to extend 

 fishing efforts to offshore locations, and necessary 

 developments occurred in commercial gear and 

 methodology. The technology of fishing gear 

 advanced rapidly, starting at the turn of the century 

 with the mechanization of equipment. Primitive 

 nets evolved into purse seines, otter trawls, giU nets 

 and trap and pound nets. The major advance in the 

 fishing industry during this time was the 

 development and use of diesel-propelled fishing 

 vessels, which replaced steam-driven and sail craft. 

 Fishing gear itself also became mechanized, greatly 

 enhancing the success of various fisheries. With the 

 introduction of electronic equipment, such as ship- 

 to-shore telephones, loran plotters, direction finders, 

 depth indicators and recorders, "fish fmders", radar, 

 and automatic steering devices during the 1940's, 

 both the safety of navigation and the productivity of 

 fishing activities were improved. Finally, the 

 introduction of synthetic fibers now used in most 

 fishing gear has improved fishing methods, as well 

 as the equipment. 



Commercial fishing changed at the turn of the 

 century, with the introduction of the steam engine 

 and mechanized otter trawl gear. The effect of 

 these innovations was an increase in fresh fish 

 landings from shorter trips. As the demand for fish 

 grew, Boston became the primary fishing port, 

 because of its position as the New England 

 marketing and transportation center. Gloucester 

 businesses, suffering from both the decreased 

 demand and less expensive imports from Norway, 

 Canada, and Iceland, nonetheless survived by 

 improving fish processing techniques (notably 

 "quick-freeze" methods), and shipping. Improved 

 processing and transportation permitted the 

 introduction of new species to both fresh and frozen 

 fish markets in the East and the Midwest. 



Large foreign trawlers began fishing on Georges 

 Bank in 1961, primarily on non-traditional fish 

 species, such as hake, herring, and squid. By 1973, 

 approximately 300 vessels from 16 countries were 

 also targeting more traditional domestic species, 

 notably haddock, and New England fisheries began 

 to feel the pressure. Because there was no effective 

 management of fisheries outside the existing U.S. 



