Stellwagen Bank FEIS/MP Appendices Page Al 



APPENDIX A: DESIGNATION DOCUMENT AND REGULATIONS 



DESIGNATION DOCUMENT 



FOR THE STELLWAGEN BANK NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY 



On November 4, 1992, the Oceans Act of 1992 became law (Pub. L. 102-587). Section 2202 of Title II of 

 that Act, known as the National Marine Sanctuaries Program Amendments Act of 1992 ('NMSPAA'J, designated 

 an area of waters and submerged lands, including the Uving and non-living resources within those waters, as 

 described in Article n, as the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 



Article I. Effect of Designation 



Title ni of the Marme Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, as amended (the ')\ct"or 

 •MPRSA*), 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seg. authorizes the issuance of such fmal regulations as are necessary and 

 reasonable to implement the designation, including managing and protecting the conservation, recreational, 

 ecological, historical, research, educational and esthetic resources and qualities of the Stellwagen Bank National 

 Marine Sanctuary. Section 1 of Article IV of this Designation Document lists activities of the type that either 

 are to be regiilated, or may have to be regulated subsequently in order to protect Sanctuary resources and 

 qualities. Listing does not necessarily mean that a type of activity will be regulated; however, if a type of activity 

 is not listed it may not be regulated, except on an emergency basis, unless Section 1 of Article IV is amended 

 to include the type of activity by the procedures outlined in section 304(a) of the MPRSA. 



Article 11: Description of the Area 



The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (the 'Sanctuary'5 boundary encompasses a total of 

 approximately 638 square nautical miles (approximately 2181 square kilometers) of ocean waters, and the 

 submerged lamds thereunder, over and surrounding the submerged Stellwagen Bank and additional submerged 

 features, offshore the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The boundary encompasses the entirety of Stellwagen 

 Bank; Tillies Bank to the northeast of Stellwagen Bank; and southern portions of Jeffreys Ledge, to the north 

 of Stellwagen Bank. Portions of the Sanctuiuy are adjacent to three coastal ocean areas designated by the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Ocean Sanctuaries. The northwestern border coincides with the North 

 Shore Ocean Sanctuary. The southern border coincides with the seaward Umit of Commonwealth jurisdictional 

 waters adjacent to the Cape Cod Bay Ocean Sanctuary; and is also tangential to the Cape Cod Ocean Sanctuary. 

 The western border of the Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary occurs approximately 25 miles east of Boston, 

 Massachusetts. Appendix I to this Designation Document sets the precise Sanctuary boimdary. 



Article HI: Characteristics of the Area That Give It Particular Value 



Stellwagen Bank is a glacially-deposited, primarily ssindy feature measuring nearly twenty miles in length, 

 occurring in a roughly southeast-to-northwest direction between Cape Cod and Cape Aim, Massachusetts. It 

 is located at the extreme southwestern comer of the Gulf of Maine, and forms a partial 'feateway"to Cape Cod 

 Bay, situated shoreward and southwest of the Bank. 



The presence of the Bank feature contributes to a particular combination of physical and ocesmographic 

 characteristics which results in two distinct peak productivity periods annually, when overturn and mixing of 

 coastal waters with nutrient-rich waters from deeper strata produce a complex system of overlapping mid-water 

 and benthic habitats. From the time of Colonial settlement, this area has supported an abundant and varied 

 array of fisheries, which continue to provide livelihoods for an active commercial fleet. Important fisheries 

 include bluefin tuna, herring, cod, haddock, winter and summer flounder, silver hake, pollack, ocean pout, lobster, 

 shrimp, surf dam and sea scallop. The commercial value of fish caught (exclusive of bluefin tuna) within 



