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Georges Bank Monitoring Program 



Introduction 



On April 14, I98I, the Georges Bank Biological Task Force 

 recommended a monitoring program to assess the effects of 

 OCS oil and gas operations resulting from Lease Sale #42 on 

 the benthic communities of the Georges Bank area. Shortly 

 thereafter, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) assumed the 

 responsibility for funding and managing several studies 

 proposed by the Biological Task Force. In May, 1982, the 

 Outer This document provides Continental Shelf component of 

 BLM, including the studies program, was transferred within 

 the Department of Interior (DOI) into the newly created 

 Minerals Management Service (MMS). This document provides a 

 discussion of the monitoring program and descriptions of 

 the studies funded originally by BLM, now MMS. 



Two types of sampling stations have been established for the 

 monitoring progrsim: long-term, regional stations and site- 

 specific stations. The long-term, regional stations were 

 established to monitor broad-scale, long-term changes in 

 benthic epifaunal and infaunal populations, and sediment 

 texture and chemistry resulting from OCS oil and gas 

 operations. The locations of these stations are shown in 

 Figure 1 . The site-specific stations are arrayed around an 

 operating rig. These stations were established to monitor 

 local changes in the benthic community and sediment texture 

 and chemistry in the immediate vicinity of drilling 

 operations. The locations of these stations are shown in 

 Figure 2. 



The Lease Sale #42 tracts are located along the southern flank 

 of Georges Bank in water depths ranging between 50 and 200 

 meters. The average currents in this region of the bank are 

 generally westward. Areas to the east of the lease sale tracts 

 (upcurrent) should be affected less by materials discharged 

 from drilling operations than areas to the west (downcurrent). 

 Sampling stations located upcurrent of the lease sale tracts 

 along Transect I (stations 1, 2, suid 3) were chosen because 

 it relatively was felt they would be free of drilling 

 discharge materials and be acceptable long-term, regional 

 "control" sites downcurrent stations along similarly. 

 Transect III (stations 10, 11, and 12) were chosen as sites 

 where effects from discharges are more likely to occur. 



Upcurrent control stations are situated in a manner which 

 facilitates comparisons with respective downcurrent stations 

 along or near the same isobath. The rationale for such a 

 comparison is that surficial sediments, currents, hydrography, 

 and benthic communities change significantly in a cross-shelf 

 direction from the crest of the Georges Bank to the edge of 

 the continental shelf, but change less dramatically along a 



