2003 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, Governor Kerry Healey, Lieutenant Governor Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Ellen Roy Herzfelder, Secretary Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management photo CZM archives Tom Skinner, Director 251 Causeway Street, Boston, MA 02114 Dear Coastlines Reader: (617) 626-1200 Welcome to the 2003 edition of Coastlines, the annual magazine of CZM Information Line.....................................(617) 626-1212 the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). We CZM Home Page......................................www.mass.gov/czm appreciate all the feedback we received from readers of the summer 2002 edition and have incorporated many of your suggestions. For monthly CZM Regional Offices news on coastal issues, our electronic newsletter, CZ-Mail, has proven North Shore...................................................(978) 281-3972 very popular. If you are interested in receiving this electronic update, Boston Harbor................................................(617) 626-1200 please email [email protected] with your contact information. South Shore...................................................(781) 545-8026 For this edition, we have chosen to feature the shipping industry. Long Cape Cod & Islands........................................(508) 362-1760 before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, shipping has been a South Coastal................................................(508) 946-8990 cornerstone of the region’s culture, economic prosperity, and history. In the past four centuries, shipping has changed dramatically, but it remains Editor Anne Donovan a vital part of the Bay State’s economy, connecting Massachusetts with Designer/Assistant Editor Arden Miller markets around the world. Our goal is to support a robust maritime Cover Photo Karen Young trade industry and healthy, vibrant marine ecosystems. We hope you’ll Other Photos unless otherwise noted, NOAA Photo Library find the array of articles on these topics informative. As always, please feel free to contact us with any comments. Thanks to the NOAA Photo Library The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains a Web-based library of thousands of Sincerely, photographs and images. This collection, which is easy to search and has a remarkable breadth of materials, is avail- able at www.photolib.noaa.gov/ Tom Skinner Coastlines is a publication of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Director Management (CZM) pursuant to National Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award No. NA17OZ2338. This publication is funded (in part) by a grant/cooperative agreement from NOAA. Views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies. This information is available in alternate formats upon request. Printed on Recycled Paper 2003: focus on shipping Governor Mitt Romney on Port Development page 3 Secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder and Maritime Industry page 4 The Port of Boston page 6 The Bay State’s Other Ports page 12 Making Shipping Green page 17 Right Whales and Ships page 20 Ocean Transportation and the Right Whale page 23 Environmental Impacts of the Cruise Industry page 24 Designated Port Areas page 27 1 table of contents, continued 2003: ebb & flow 25 Years of Coastal Zone Management page 30 Liberty Ships page 32 The Giant Squid page 34 CZScience on Stormwater page 36 Marion: Land of Many Waters page 40 Coastal Trails on the Web page 42 Ask Joe Anything page 43 Ships in a Bottle page 44 2 Focus on Port Development By Governor Mitt Romney The ports and harbors of Massachusetts are My administration will work with these Governor Mitt the original foundation of our wealth and port communities to promote maritime trade Romney with prosperity. While the economy is now far in Massachusetts in the context of this integrated New Bedford Chair of the more diverse, the industrial, commercial, and development approach. To underscore the Harbor: an aerial Seaport Advisory recreational value of our connections to the importance of this partnership, Lieutenant view of the Council, Lieutenant sea remain fundamentally important to the Governor Kerry Healey will serve as my Commercial Fish Governor fortunes of the Commonwealth. Maintaining representative and Chair the Seaport Advisory Pier. The port of Kerry Healey. and improving our maritime facilities to Council, directly assisting in the Council’s New Bedford/ support these uses is good business mission to build port infrastructure, advocate Fairhaven is home and good policy. for the maritime community, develop maritime to the largest Investments in maritime industry policy for the Commonwealth, and promote the fishing fleet on and infrastructure must be guided by overall economic development of Massachusetts. the East Coast. a comprehensive assessment of need, benefit, and cost in the context of long-term municipal and state devel- opment goals. Under the Seaport Initiative, the Commonwealth’s major port communities have photo courtesy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts demonstrated their commitment to a port development planning strategy that integrates social, economic, and environmental objectives in formal implementation plans. These Municipal Harbor Plans, developed by the ports in consultation with port profes- sionals; the public; and local and state economic, infrastructure, and environmental staff, establish a management and investment template consis- tent with statewide policy but specific to the unique circumstances of the individual port. 3 Massachusetts’ Maritime Tradition and Seafaring Future photo by Tom Skinner By Ellen Roy Herzfelder, Secretary of Environmental Affairs The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is cargo movements expected to triple over unique and special opportunities to engage well known for its coastal natural resources, the next 20 years. The Port of Boston now the economic strengths of the Commonwealth from expanses of white sandy beaches and has direct calls by large container vessels and the region. rock-bound shores, to picturesque island from Europe and the Far East, 14 million To take full advantage of these resources in communities, to quaint harbors and inlets. tons of bulk cargo enter its waters each the expanding global economies of the 21st However, that is only half the story. year, and last year, 250,000 cruise passen- Century, the Commonwealth will work with At the very heart of this state— gers and over 100,000 automobiles came the public, federal agencies, representatives of originating from the earliest of across its docks. The Port of Boston alone is the shipping and fishing industries, and local colonial days—is a maritime tradition estimated to have an $8 billion impact on officials from each of these ports to set the based on some of the finest natural the economy producing more than 9,000 agenda for port planning and development. harbors to be found anywhere. The direct jobs. With Governor Mitt Romney’s restructuring movement of goods and services As a fishing port, New Bedford often of state government, transportation, the envi- through these harbors was the exceeds all other U.S. ports in the value ronment, and community development are sustenance and strength of a new of seafood landings (landings that translate directly coordinated through the Governor’s nation about 226 years ago. Today, into cargo shipped worldwide). Similarly, Office, ensuring better delivery of services to maritime commerce remains an Gloucester ships packed herring to Europe our maritime constituents. Coupled with our integral part of the economic and the Near East; while lumber, steel, and recently announced Ocean Management structure of Massachusetts. salt products enter and leave the port of Fall Initiative, we are poised to enter a new age We have seen much change since River. The “Port of Massachusetts,” the of sustainable maritime activity. those early days. Vessels are faster, combination of our five largest ports—Fall For monthly updates on the Ocean bigger, deeper, and come and go River, New Bedford, Boston, Salem, and Management Initiative, check out CZ-Mail from every corner of the earth, with Gloucester—offers the global marketplace at www.mass.gov/czm/czmail. Packing mackerel on the Boston Fish Pier, 1938. 4 Boston Fish Pier, 1936. Although shipping has changed dramatically over time, it remains a vital part of the Bay State’s economy, connecting Massachusetts with markets around the world. feature Shipping in the Bay State map adapted from Mapping Boston; original The Town of Boston in New England, John Bonner, 1722 Through the Eyes of a Mariner: Touring the Port of Boston By Jane W. Mead, CZM A tour of Boston Harbor, an estuary sheltered discuss some recent events that affect commercial South Boston and unless otherwise noted, all by the arms of Winthrop and Hull, can take shipping in and out of the Port. the Inner Harbor photos by Jane W. Mead many forms. Ferrying around the Boston Moving to the northwest, we Harbor Islands, glacial drumlins of such natural Quincy-Weymouth approach the Port of Boston proper and historic interest that they have been named The giant cranes of the old Fore River on the recently dredged shipping a National Recreation Area, is a wonderful way Shipyard still stand visible throughout the channels. The U.S. Army Corps to enjoy the beauty of the coast. When canoeing harbor. The cranes mark the Fore River of Engineers and the Massachusetts Port through