Ch. 6— Environmental Considerations • 231 



Box 6-D.— New York Sea Grant Studies 



Sea Grant studies of the Lower Bay of New York Harbor' illustrate the NOMES conclusion of benthic 

 heterogeneity over even a small region of the seafloor. Five studies had been done on the biology of the ben- 

 thos in this confined area. For 3 summers (1957-60), more than 100 stations were sampled for macrobiota 

 using grab samplers.' Monthly samples were taken over a period of 1 year (February 1966 to January 1967) 

 off the southwest coast of Long Island.' The Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory sampled 78 stations seasonally 

 (1973 only) between Ambrose Channel and the mouth of the Raritan River.* The New York District of the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sampled the East Bank of the Ambrose Channel before and after sand borrow 

 dredging operations.^ Additionally, eight stations in the Lower Bay and Raritan Bay were sampled once to 

 estimate standing stock and diversity.* A table displaying ttie results of all five surveys, while not formally 

 comparing numbers of individuals or species at different stations, cleeu-ly shows the data sets have little in 

 common. Kastens et al. conclude: "The wide variation in collecting devices, sampling frequency, and sedi- 

 ment type; the paucity of stations; and the extreme temporal and spatial patchiness of benthos make such 

 a comparison of little value." 



In the Raritan Bay, muddy bottoms sampled in close proximity to sandy bottoms had markedly different 

 biological communities.' They shared only one species in common.^ While both sediment types were low in 

 both density and diversity, the muddy bottom was particularly so, with only 10 species being reported. How- 

 ever, the Lower Bay has been perturbed by a diverse input of pollutants which may contribute to decreased 

 biological activity.' The East Bank (less than 2 mUes away) was described as "far from depauperate."'" This 

 study identified a third unique community within the relatively small area of the Raritan Bay. Differences 

 in biota between dredged and undredged sites in the Lower New York Bay were less than differences from 

 one geographic site to the next." 



'K.A. Kastens eta]., Bnvimnmental Effects of Sand Mining in die Lower Bay of New YoA Harbor, Special Report 15, Reference 78-3, State Univer- 

 sity of New York, Marine Sciences Research Center, (Stony Brook, NY: September 1978). 



*D. Dean, "Raritan Bay Macrobenthos Survey," National Marine Fisheries Service Data Report 99, 1975. 



'F. Steimle and R.B. Stone, "Abundance and Distribution of Inshore Benthic Fauna off Southwestern Long Island, New York," NOAA Technical 

 Report NMFS SSRF-673, 1973. 



*R.A. McGrath, "Benthic Macrofatmal Census of Raritan Bay — Preliminary Results, Benthos of Raritan Bay," Proceedings, Third Symposium on 

 Hudson River Ecology, paper No. 24, Mar. 22-23, 1974, Bear Mountain, New York, Hudson River Environmental Society. 



^Woodward-Clyde Consultants, Rockaway Beach Erosion Control Project, Dredge Material Research Program, Offshore Borrow Area, Results of 

 Phase I-Pre-dredging Studies, prepared for the Department of the Army, New York District, Corps of Engineers, 1975. 



®L.A. Walford, Review of Aquatic Resources and Hydrographic Characteristics of Raritan, Lower, and Sandy Hook Bays, report prepared for the 

 Battelle Memorial Institute by the staff of Sandy Hook Sport Fisheries Marine Laboratory, 1971. 



'McGrath, "Benthic Macrofaunal Census." 



^Kastens et al.. Environmental Effects of Sand Mining. 



'B.H. Brinkhuis, Biological Effects of Sand and Gravel Mining in the Lower Bay of New York Harbor: An Assessment from the Literature, State 

 University of New York, Marine Sciences Research Center, (Stony Brook, NY: January 1980). 



'^Kastens et al. , Environmental Effects of Sand Mining 



"Brinkhuis, Biological Effects of Sand and Gravel Mining. 



column appears to cause only local and minor re- 

 ductions in plankton productivity. The abundance 

 and types of species found on the bottom also 

 change.*' When the substrate type is changed due 

 to the dredging activities (e.g., removal of gravel 

 or a sand layer on top of bed-rock) then adverse 

 effects may be persistent.*^ The benthic commu- 



*'S.J. de Groot, Bibliography of Literature Dealing with the Ef- 

 fects of Marine Sand and Gravel Extraction on Fisheries (The Nether- 

 lands: International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Marine 

 Environmental Quality Committee, 1981); de Groot, "The Poten- 

 tial Environmental Impact of Marine Gravel Extraction in the North 

 Sea." 



♦^International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Second Re- 

 port of the ICES Working Group on Effects on Fisheries of Marine 

 Sand and Gravel Extraction, Cooperative Research Report No. 64, 



nities that are established in the area after remov- 

 ing the top layers may differ significantly from the 

 prior communities.*^ 



Of great concern to the European community 

 is the potential detrimental effects of mining on 

 commercial fisheries. Removal of gravel in herring 



(Charlottenlund, Denmark: ICES, April 1977); International Coun- 

 cil for the Exploration of the Sea, Marine Environmental Quality Com- 

 mittee, Report of the ICES Working Group on Effects on Fisheries 

 of Marine Sand and Gravel Extraction, (Cheirlottenlund, Denmark: 

 ICES, 1979). 



♦'A. P. Cressard and C.P. Augris, "French Shelf Sand and Gravel 

 Regulations," Proceedings of the Offshore Technology Conference, 

 OTC 4292, 1982. 



