Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 135 



regulate activities which either currently threaten 

 significant damage to the area's resources; or which 

 may pose greater adverse impacts on the area as 

 human activities increase. Acknowledgement of the 

 species and habitat values of the Stellwagen Bank 

 system, through Sanctuary designation, should focus 

 national, as well as regional, attention on the 

 importance of ensuring the future of this area. 



1. Resource Protection Regime 



Designation of the Sanctuary will improve 

 resource protection by instituting new regulatory 

 measures, and by enhancing present surveillance 

 and enforcement activities. The overall effect of 

 these proposed regulations, focused on specific 

 activities, will be beneficial to the Bank system. The 

 impacts of each regulation are discussed below. 



a. Ocean Discharge and Deposit Activities 



The following activities will be prohibited by 

 Sanctuary regulations: 



• Discharging or depositing, within the boundary 

 of the Sanctuary, any material or other matter, 

 except for: 



fish, fish parts and chumming materials 

 (bciit) used in or resulting from traditional 

 fishing operations in the Sanctuary; 



biodegradable effluents incidental to 

 vessel use generated by marine sanitation 

 devices approved by the U.S. Coast 

 Guard; 



water generated by routine vessel 

 operations (e.g., cooling water, deck 

 washdown, and graywater as defined by 

 the FWPCA) excluding oily wastes from 

 bilge pumping); and 



engine exhaust. 



• Discharging or depositing, from beyond the 

 boundary of the Sanctuary, materials or 

 substances of any kind, other than those listed 

 above, that subsequently enter the Sanctuary 

 and injure a Sanctuary resource or Sanctuary 



quality. 



According to COE/EPA studies, disposed 

 dredged materials at the "interim" MBDS do not 

 enter the Sanctuary or harm Sanctuary resources or 

 quahties. Thus, disposal activities should continue 

 following the effective date of final Sanctuary 

 designation. In addition disposal of dredged 

 materials will be relocated to a permanently- 

 designated MBDS outside the Sanctuary. Assuming 

 disposal continues to be conducted without harm to 

 Sanctuary resources, no certification of disposal 

 permits will be required. However, NOAA will 

 actively participate in the EPA/COE review process 

 for disposal events to ensure the effects of such 

 disposal do not enter the Sanctuary and cause harm 

 to Sanctuary resoiu-ces or qualities. The preferred 

 Sanctuary regulatory alternative (prohibiting 

 disposal within the Sanctuary) is anticipated to be 

 beneficial to maintaining water quality (and thus 

 hving marine resources). 



Although Title I and its regulations provide a 

 comprehensive framework for management and 

 regulation of ocean disposal of dredged materials, 

 they are nonetheless directed at a single activity. As 

 areas of "special national significance", national 

 marine sanctuaries require a broader context for 

 regulatory decision-making. The proposed 



Sanctuary regulation, prohibiting discharge or 

 deposit activities from outside the Sanctuary 

 boundary which enter and harm resources or 

 qualities will improve and complement existing 

 regulatory mechanisms for ocean deposit and 

 discharge activities, by 1) imposing a larger, system- 

 wide framework upon those authorities empowered 

 to issue such permits, within which they would be 

 required to consider the merits (and effects) of such 

 activities; and 2) ensuring that those considerations 

 and determinations would be made based in part on 

 Sanctuary research data relevant to the proposed 

 disposal or discharge activity. ZHZ - 



This expanded level of scrutiny due to national 

 marine sanctuary designation will aid in overall 

 efforts to maintain the reasonably good water 

 quahty currently found in the Stellwagen Bank 

 system, by ensuring that localized effects of disposal 

 actions are minimized and contained; and also by 

 providing the regulatory mechanism to stop such 



