analysis from each of three stations established at the eastern end of 

 the island. Samples were frozen should further interest warrant their 

 analysis. 



All the observations made on Fishers Island suggest that there 

 was no onshore impact from the gasoline spill. Apparently a slick 

 never reached the island. There were no dead or moribund 

 organisms washed ashore as a result of the spill, and typical inter- 

 tidal organisms were observed in a healthy state. 



1.2 Damage Assessment Surveys 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

 (NOAA) was requested to organize the damage assessment so that 

 on 17 March 1978, when the USCG opened the area for vessel 

 traffic the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 3 chartered 

 the RV Strider for a series of 1 d cruises on 17, 18, and 20 March 

 1978, from Jerusalem (17, 18) and Galilee, R.I. (20). Personnel 

 from NMFS, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and 

 the Graduate School of Oceanography, URI, participated in these 

 cruises. The survey was conducted over a 3.2 x 2.4 km grid off 

 the Rhode Island coast between Watch Hill and Napatree Points 

 (Fig. 1-2). Station locations and hydrological data are presented in 

 Table 1-1. The same station numbers were used for all 3 d, but 



Table 1-1.— Summary of station locations and hydrologk data from RV Strider 

 cruise 78-01 in the area of the grounding of the Ocean 250. 



Station 







Depth 



Temp 



Salinity 



no. 



Lat. (°N) 



Long. (°W) 



(m) 



(°C) 



(0/00) 



1 



41°17'02" 



71 "51 '30* 



34 



1.7 



29.4 



2 



41 "17 '02" 



71°52'10" 



34 



1.7 



29.4 



3 



41°17'02" 



71°52'52" 



27 



1.7 



29.4 



4 



41°17'30" 



71°51'52" 



5 



1.8 



29.0 



5 



41 "18 '02" 



71°52'10" 



9 



2.2 



28.6 



6 



4I°18'02" 



71°52'10" 



6 



2.2 



29.5 



7 



41°17'30" 



71°52'10" 



9 



1.8 



29.4 



8 



41°17'30" 



71°51'30" 



21 



1.7 



29.9 



9 



41 "18 '01" 



71 "51 '30* 



8 



1.7 



29.7 



10 



41 "17 '30" 



71°50'59" 



26 



1.7 



29.5 



11 



41°17'30" 



71 "50 '12" 



30 



1.1 



30.0 



12 



41 "17 '02" 



71 "50 '59" 



37 



1.1 



30.8 



13 



41 "17 '02" 



71°50'12" 



38 



1.1 



31.0 



14 



41°18'01" 



71°50'12" 



29 



1.1 



31.0 



15 



41 "18 '32" 



71 "50 '12" 



12 



1.1 



31.2 



16 



41°18'29" 



71°50'59" 



7 



1.4 



30.5 



17 



41 "18 '01 " 



71°50'59" 



11 



1.4 



29.8 



18 



41 "18 '28" 



71°52'10" 



5 



2.2 



28.8 



'Northeast Fisheries Center Narragansett Laboratory. National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, NOAA, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882. 



daily samples were distinguished by the addition of to the 1 7 

 March stations, 100 to the 18 March stations, and 200 to the 20 

 March stations, i.e., 1, 101, and 201. For simplicity within this 

 report most stations are referred to by the original ( + 0) 

 designation. 



54° 



52' 



50' 



18° — 



NAPATREE PT 



15 



WATCH HILL PT 



SUGAR REEF 



CATUMB • 

 ROCKS 



4 ■-. 



9« 



^.WATCH HILL REEF 



8 



17 



14 



18° 



10 



►12 



I3» 



54 ° 52° 50= 



Figure 1-2.— Survey area and station locations for RV Strider cruise 78-01. The barge Ocean 250 was grounded on Watch Hill Reef (*) on 16 March 1978. 



3 



