411 



sediments in the vicinity of exploratory activities are being used to trace the patterns and 

 quantities of drilling fluid deposition around and downcurrent from drilling rigs. This 

 research is being performed by the U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 

 (Bothner et al., 1982). Concentrations of several metals are being analyzed in selected 

 species of bottom-living fish and shellfish and possible petroleum hydrocarbon 

 contamination of bottom sediments and marine animals of Georges Bank is being 

 investigated by Science Applications, Inc. (Payne et al., 1982) in a further effort to 

 determine if drilling activities are resulting in contamination of the Georges Bank 

 environment. The major portion of the Monitoring Program is being performed by 

 Battelle New England Marine Research Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution and addresses the question of whether populations of animals living in the 

 bottom sediments (benthic infauna) change in selected regions of the southern Georges 

 Bank and southwestward (downcurrent) along the southern New England Outer Continental 

 Shelf, including Lydonia and Oceanographer Canyons, during various stages of oil and gas 

 exploratory activity in Lease Area 1*2, and whether these changes can be related to 

 observed changes in the concentrations in the benthic environment of pollutant materials 

 discharged from exploratory platforms. 



5. PROGRAM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION 



The Benthic Infauna Monitoring Program was designed to determine both the 

 near-field short-term and the regional long-term environmental impacts of oil exploration 

 activities in Lease Area '^2. A total of 'fS stations were established on and adjacent to 

 Georges Bank. These were of two types. A group of long-term regional stations was 

 established to assess long-term and widespread impacts of drilling activities (Figure 2). 

 Benthic infaunal distributions on the southern flank of the Bank are determined largely by 

 water depth and sediment characteristics. Therefore, three transects of three stations 

 each were established perpendicular to the local depth profiles, approximately in a north- 

 south direction. The transects were located west of, east of, and directly through the 

 Lease Area U2 blocks. The three stations on each transect were located at depths of 

 approximately 60, 80, and 100 meters. Because the net movement of water currents over 

 the southern flank of Georges Bank at all depths and seasons is toward the southwest, the 

 eastern Transect I, lying upstream of the lease area, was considered a reference transect, 

 unlikely to be influenced by drilling activities, with which to compare the other transects. 

 The western Transect 111 lies downstream of the drilling activity where drilling discharges 



