21 



management/monitoring structure, 

 because the same individuals would be 

 involved in designing and performing 

 both the physical monitoring effort 

 and the EMP. For ecological structure 

 and function, it was agreed that 

 considerable data and other 

 information exist which describe the 

 environment. These data were 

 identified to exist for all DAMOS sites 

 given the 10-year history of the 

 monitoring program; there was still a 

 need for considerable review to 

 determine their relevance and, where 

 appropriate, information needs to be 

 extracted and synthesized (e.g., the 

 white papers identified and written 

 during the past two years on 

 contaminant sediment flux, capping 

 effectiveness, fisheries resources, and 

 the capping monograph). 



The focus of the most intense 

 discussions revolved around 

 describing the physical-chemical- 

 biological linkage(s). If monitoring is 

 approached as an experiment as 

 suggested earlier, several advantages 

 almost inevitably follow. First, a 

 carefully designed monitoring system 

 is likely to be established which is 

 capable of gathering the data necessary 

 to test the predictions contained in the 

 initial assessment. Second, the study's 

 boundaries also will be established, 

 with efforts directed to the places 

 where effects are most likely to occur. 

 Determining study boundaries in 

 space and time also would help to 

 identify all interest groups and 

 political jurisdictions likely to be 

 affected by the project. It also was 

 recognized that if those groups are 

 involved in the planning from the 

 beginning, costly legal battles and 



delays potentially can be avoided. 



3.4 Development of DAMOS Tiered 

 Monitoring Strategies 



Of the nine regional disposal sites 

 in New England, eight are considered 

 to be containment sites; of these, the 

 three in Long Island Sound (Western 

 Long Island Sound, Central Long 

 Island Sound, and New London 

 Disposal sites) are in relatively shallow 

 water (less than 40 meters) and closed 

 for 4 months out of the year (June 

 through September) due to seasonal 

 restrictions on dredging. While the 

 other four sites in deeper water receive 

 dredged material on a year-round basis 

 (Cape Arundel, Portland, Rockland, 

 and Massachusetts Bay Disposal sites), 

 the three Long Island Sound sites offer 

 a unique opportunity for monitoring 

 biological impact and the process of 

 ecosystem recovery because of the 

 temporary hiatus in disposal each year 

 and the management practice of 

 building multiple, discrete mounds 

 within each site. At each of these 

 three sites, mounds are built as a 

 result of sequential disposal operations 

 over the course of one disposal season 

 (e.g., the FVP study in Central Long 

 Island Sound) or over a few seasons 

 due to routine permit and 

 maintenance dredging (the disposal 

 point is moved after the mound apex 

 is between 3-4 meters above ambient 

 depth). While near-field, short-term 

 impacts are studied easily at any of the 

 DAMOS disposal sites, this 

 management practice at the three 

 shallow sites in Long Island Sound 

 also allows monitoring of long-term 

 impacts in the absence of continuous 

 disturbance. 



An Integrated, Tiered Approach to Monitoring and Management of Dredged Material Disposal Sites 



