13-17 



Irrpacts 



An evaluation of the total impact of the Harbor Station on the 

 epibenthic community was made by comparison of annual and monthly trends 

 in species composition, abundance and distribution prior to and during 

 operation of the New Haven Harbor Station. The total number of epi- 

 benthic species collected annually was similar for each year of the 



study. The only species that showed any major consistent change in 

 annual abundance was the starfish, Asterias forbesi, which decreased 

 consistently from 1974 to 1977. The observed decline in the catch 

 abundance of starfish was probably due to either "mopping" and the use 

 of biocides such as lime (calcium oxide) by commercial oyster companies 

 to protect oyster beds from starfish predation, or simply long-term 

 starfish abundance fluctuations, which are common and well documented in 

 Long Island Sound (Galtsoff , 1969) , rather than to construction or 

 operation of the Harbor Station. 



For all other species, variations observed in species compo- 

 sition, distribution and abundance during operational years appeared to 

 be within the range of variability established by preoperational moni- 

 toring- The operation of New Haven Harbor Station appears to have had 

 no detectable influence on the epibenthic invertebrate community in New 

 Haven Harbor. 



OYSTER STUDY 



New Haven Harbor has historically served as a natural source 

 of seed oysters {Crassostrea virginica) for the Long Island Soiind oyster 

 fishery. The environmentally stressed conditions in the harbor necessi- 

 tate the dredging and transferral of premarketable oysters (10-15 cm) to 

 less impacted areas such as Oyster Bay, Northport Harbor, Peconic Bay 

 and Gardiner's Bay, New York for "self-cleaning" (MacKenzie, 1970). The 

 objectives of oyster studies were to assess effects of generating sta- 

 tion operations on oyster growth, mortality and condition index by 



