(h 



Benthic Macrofauna 



Numeric density data of the benthic population in the vicinity of the Brenton 

 Reef Disposal site and a reference location at 41°2l '47.7"N, 71 °1 9'39.9"W, 

 southwest of the disposal area are presented in Tables E-4 and E-5. These data 

 indicate a population comprised of 83 species and 10473 individuals was present 

 at these two sites. The high number of individuals is caused by an extremely 

 dense population of the amphipod, Ampilisca agassizi at the reference station. 

 Members of this species accounted for 8080 individuals or 11% of the total number 

 of individuals collected at both sites. 



There are many similarities between these stations and stations in the 

 Gulf of Maine; namely high sample to sample variability, a clumped spatial dis- 

 tribution and a small percentage of the total number of species accounts for 

 a large percentage of the total number of individuals (at the reference site). 

 The values for diversity are somewhat lower than most of those calculated for 

 the Gulf of Maine and indicate a somewhat less stable environment at the Brenton 

 Reef sites. The presence of such large number of Ampel isca agassizi , a species 

 considered sensitive to pollution, would argue that some degree of instability 

 rather than pollution is the probable reason for a lower value of diversity. 

 The mean value for specied evenness(s') is somewhat higher at the Brenton Reef 

 dump site than for most of the more northern sites and is notably higher than 

 that calculated for the Brenton Reef reference station. 



Fisheries 



The fisheries of the dump site were discussed in a 1972 report by Saila, 

 Pratt and Pol gar. The lobster fishery was examined in 1975 (Pratt, 1978). A 



