Stellwagen Bank FEIS/MP Appendices 



Page G9 



established natural resource areas, such as national 

 seashores, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, parks 

 or other areas designated for similar purposes (e.g. . 

 national marine sanctuaries). (See additional 

 discussion at Part Two, Section 11.11, Mariculture). 



By listing this potential activity as subject to 

 Sanctuary regulation, NOAA reserves the ability to 

 determine the need for regulation, including 

 prohibition, should the establishment of a 

 mariculture operation within the Sanctuary 

 boundary be proposed in the future. General 

 prohibitions against discharge and deposits of 

 matter in the Sanctuary may be sufficient to prevent 

 this activity from harming Sanctuary resources. 



H. OCEAN INCINERATION 



Ocean Incineration Activities Should Be Prohibited 

 In tlie Sanctuary. 



Several commenters, including the New England 

 Fishery Management Council, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, Massachusetts Audubon Society, 

 Gloucester Fishermen's Program, two fishing vessel 

 captains, Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association, 

 Cetacean Research Unit, the New England 

 Aquarium, and many private individuals, supported 

 a Sanctuary prohibition on ocean incineration 

 activities. 



NOAA Response : NOAA agrees and has 

 prohibited this activity within the Sanctuary or 

 outside the Sanctuary if there is a discharge or 

 deposit which enters the Sanctuary and harms 

 Sanctuary resources. Under current existing 

 authorities, ocean incineration activities may only 

 occur pursuant to "interim" or "research" permits, 

 issued by EPA under Title I of the MPRSA. To 

 date, no ocean incineration sites have been 

 designated by EPA. In designating such sites, EPA 

 is required by Title I regulations to avoid sensitive 

 areas, such as national marine sanctuaries. It is 

 therefore unlikely that an ocean incineration site 

 would be designated within a designated national 

 marine sanctuary. 



NOAA agrees that incineration activities should not 

 occur in national marine sanctuaries. Although the 

 environmental effects of such activities may not be 



well understood currently, at a minimum, the 

 aesthetic impacts are clearly negative to Sanctuar)' 

 qualities. In its consideration of alternatives, 

 NOAA determined that the Sanctuary regulation 

 prohibiting discharge or deposit of matter within the 

 Sanctuary will preclude any future designation of 

 incineration sites within the Sanctuary, and leave no 

 question regarding the possible occurrence of future 

 incineration activities. Thus, although ocean 

 incineration is generally prohibited by existing law, 

 identifying ocean incineration as discharge and 

 deposit activities prohibited by Sanctuary regulations 

 will provide supplemental enforcement authority 

 and penalties for violators. 



I. FIXED ARTIFICIAL PLATFORMS 



Large Fixed or Floating Platforms Should Not Bf 

 Permitted Within The Sanctuary. 



Several commenters voiced opposition to the 

 construction, placement, and operation of the fixed 

 artificial platforms or "islands" of the type proposed 

 previously for Stellwagen Bank (known as "Gugel's 

 Arabian Nights"), within the Sanctuary boundary. 

 Among the concerns raised are conflict with vessel 

 traffic lanes, interference with fishing areas, 

 increased hazards to marine mammals from 

 resulting additional vessel traffic and noise, potential 

 entanglement for marine mammals and seabirds, 

 degradation of water quality, and privatization of 

 Federal waters. 



NOAA Response : The current status of the 

 proposed artificial platform remains very uncertain, 

 pending the satisfactory response by the applicant to 

 numerous additional questions raised by the COE, 

 including the identification of financial support for 

 this project. However, regardless of the apphcant's 

 successful completion of necessary applications, 

 NOAA shares the concerns of commenters 

 regarding this project. In general, the presence of 

 an artificial fixed platform over or around 

 Stellwagen Bank is not an activity which reasonably 

 could be described as "compatible with the primary 

 objective of resource protection". Construction and 

 placement of man-made structures within the 

 Sanctuary may alter natural ecosystem functions, as 

 well as the esthetics of the Sanctuary. 

 Notwithstanding conditions which might be placed 



