410 



Substantial concern has been expressed by environmentalists and the commer- 

 cial fishing industry that oil and gas exploration and possible later fossil fuel development 

 and production on Georges Bank would seriously damage this complex and highly 

 productive ecosystem and the commercial fisheries dependent on it. Because of these 

 concerns, a Biological Task Force for Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale '*2 was 

 established by the Federal Government to recommend to the U. S. Department of the 

 Interior, Supervisor of Oil and Gas Operations in the North Atlantic, the design of 

 environmental studies and surveys that would provide an early warning of adverse effects 

 of oil exploration on the Georges Bank environment (Biological Task Force, 1981). The 

 Bureau of Land Management (now Minerals Management Service) of the U. S. Department 

 of the Interior has implemented the monitoring program recommended by the Biological 

 Task Force, with some slight modifications. 



». PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE PROGRAM 



The major environmental concerns resulting from exploration and development 

 activities for oil and gas on Georges Bank are that intentional discharges of materials 

 (mainly drilling fluids and cuttings) from oil platforms during normal exploratory and 

 development activities may damage the Georges Bank environment, particularly animals 

 living on or in the bottom sediments, upon which commercial fisheries species depend for 

 food. If commercial quantities of oil or gas are found, a major concern during the 

 develop! nent and production phases of the Georges Bank field is that accidental spills of 

 crude oil and operational discharges of petroleum hydrocarbon-laden produced water will 

 harm the narine biota, and particularly the floating or pelagic eggs and larvae of 

 commercial fishery species. Other concerns relate to increased ship traffic over the 

 Bank, disruption of the bottom by pipelines, anchors and rig structures, and disturbances 

 of migrating and feeding whales by noise and surface pollution. 



The Georges Bank Monitoring Program is designed to address the concerns 

 related to the initial exploratory phase of Georges Bank development. Specifically, the 

 objectives of the Program are to determine the fate of discharges (primarily drilling fluids 

 and cuttings) from exploratory drilling platforms in Lease Area '*2 and to assess the 

 effects of these discharges on benthic species and communities of Georges Bank and 

 potential depositional areas for drilling fluids and cuttings in submarine canyons and the 

 Outer Continental Shelf south of eastern New England. The accumulation and distribution 

 of drilling fluid-associated metals, in particular barium and chromium, in bottom 



