specifications for a well-designed, regional monitoring program was the challenge that faced 

 the DAMOS TAC. 



During the course of the three TAC workshops, background assumptions underlying 

 the philosophy of ecological monitoring were identified and debated. The next step entailed 

 the construction of a basic framework or structure for identifying, examining, and displaying 

 probable relationships between dredged material disposal and the physical, chemical, and 

 biological environmental alterations that would occur as a result of disposal operations. The 

 most intense discussions during these meetings revolved around describing the physical- 

 chemical-biological linkages associated with dredged material disposal and developing tiered 

 approaches to monitoring short- and long-term impacts on biological resources. 



The TAC's objective was to address the disposal-related environmental impacts 

 through a tiered monitoring approach. The steps necessary to achieve this end were (1) 

 identifying the resources to be protected (being as specific as possible); (2) predicting the 

 processes, specific magnitudes, and areal extent of change that would be necessary to bring 

 about an impact; (3) incorporating monitoring tools with a rapid data return so that field 

 results could be used to make management decisions; and (4) recognizing there are limited 

 resources and a need to develop a parsimonious monitoring plan. The group's knowledge of 

 the constituents of dredged material, its physical and chemical behavior, and known 

 responses of biological communities to disturbance factors made it possible to outline the 

 events that would need to take place before an effect of sufficient magnitude to be considered 

 adverse would occur. 



Three tiered monitoring plans were developed: 1) a management overview, outlining 

 the structure of the decision tree for dredged material permit testing and acceptable disposal 

 options; 2) a monitoring plan for unconfined aquatic disposal; and 3) a monitoring plan for 

 confined aquatic (capped) disposal mounds. The principal concern addressed in the last two 

 plans developed for open water (i.e., noncapped and capped disposal mounds) was the 

 potential for transport of sediment-associated contaminants from the mound to the food web, 

 where they ultimately could adversely impact the ecosystem, as well as pose human health 

 risks through seafood consumption. Each tier of these monitoring plans was structured to 

 focus on detecting change relative to a specific, conservative, early warning threshold. 

 Typically, lower tiers focused on processes that need to occur first in order for the undesired 

 biological impact to take place, while the highest tiers focused on changes in the resource 

 itself. The intent was for this tiered strategy to prevent significant adverse impacts by 

 providing early warnings for such an occurrence. 



The tiered strategies developed by the TAC are the first serious attempt by NED to 

 implement a long-term strategy and to base a monitoring program on hypothesis testing using 

 sampling techniques with rapid data return. There is no doubt that these draft protocols 

 developed over the past few years will be revised and modified as we learn that some of our 



DAMOS Summary Report, 1985-1990 



