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Baseline Assessment of the Massachusetts Ocean Planning Area

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Baseline Assessment of the Massachusetts Ocean Planning Area Baseline Assessment of the Massachusetts Ocean Planning Area DRAFT Acknowledgements The authors thank Emily Chambliss and Dan Sampson for their help in preparing Geographic Information System (GIS) data for presentation in the figures. We also thank Anne Donovan and Arden Miller, who helped with the editing and layout, respectively, of this document. Special thanks go to Walter Barnhardt, Ed Bell, Michael Bothner, Erin Burke, Tay Evans, Deb Hadden, Dave Janik, Matt Liebman, Victor Mastone, Adrienne Pappal, Mark Rousseau, Tom Shields, Jan Smith, Page Valentine, John Weber, and Brad Wellock, who helped us write specific sections of this assessment. We are grateful to Wendy Leo, Peter Ralston, and Andrea Rex of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority for data and assistance writing the water quality subchapter. Robert Buchsbaum, Becky Harris, Simon Perkins, and Wayne Petersen from Massachusetts Audubon provided expert advice on the avifauna subchapter. Kevin Brander, David Burns, and Kathleen Keohane from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Robin Pearlman from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided data for the wastewater subchapter. Lastly, we’d like to thank the Science Advisory Council members (Priscilla Brooks, Carlton Hunt, Scott Krauss, Jack Looney, Frank Muller-Karger, Bill Schwab, and David Terkla) for their input on the framing, writing, and editing of this document. Todd Callaghan Kathryn Ford Prassede Vella DRAFT Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction ............................................................................................................. BA-1 Chapter 2 - Water Column Features ................................................................................. BA-7 Chapter 3 - Seabed Features ............................................................................................... BA-25 Chapter 4 - Habitat ...................................................................................................................... BA-33 Chapter 5 - Archeological and Cultural Sites ........................................................ BA-65 Chapter 6 - Human Uses ......................................................................................................... BA-73 Chapter 7 - Economic Valuation ..................................................................................... BA-111 Chapter 8 - Climate Change ............................................................................................... BA-119 DRAFT List of Tables Table 2.1 - Major oceanographic characteristics in the Massachusetts ocean planning area (MCZM 2008). Table 2.2 - Sea temperature in the Massachusetts ocean planning area (GoMOOS 2008). Table 2.3 - Relative noise source levels (SL) from different large vessel types transiting Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) in 2006. Table 4.1 - Eelgrass trends in four regions of Massachusetts. Table 4.2 - Trends in commercially harvested groundfisheries (from NOAA 2008). Table 4.3 - Habitat features of importance to fisheries resources. Table 4.3 - Marine mammal and reptile species found in the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Table 4.4 - Bird species with special state or federal protection that use the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Table 4.5 - Marine mammal and reptile species found in the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Table 4.6 - Marine introduced species in low intertidal to shallow subtidal waters of Massachusetts. Table 5.1 - Historic major storm events (adapted from Luther 1958; Mastone 2002). Table 6.1 - Commercial vessels and other traffic entering or leaving the Port of Boston in 2005 (adapted from Table 23 in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Draft Management Plan. 2008. U.S. Dept. of Commerce. NOAA. National Marine Sanctuary Program). Table 6.2 - Passenger vessels transiting between Cape Cod and the Islands. Table 6.3 - Energy generating facilities adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Table 6.4 - Proposed and approved renewable energy projects in Massachusetts. Table 6.5 - Permitted discharges to Massachusetts Bay by sector and their actual (as opposed to permitted) monthly discharge flow from August 2007-July 2008. Table 6.6 - Areas of Critical Environmental Concern in and adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Table 8.1 - Tide gauge sea level trends in Massachusetts. DRAFT List of Figures Figure 1.1 - The Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 1.2 - Municipalities adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 1.3 - Major biogeographic regions within the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 1.4 - The Gulf of Maine. Figure 1.5 - Massachusetts waters north of Cape Cod. Figure 1.6 - Massachusetts waters south of Cape Cod. Figure 2.1 - Currents in the Gulf of Maine (from Anderson et al. 2007). Figure 4.1 - MassDEP mapped seagrass in the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 4.2 - Distribution of the 56 unique seafloor habitat classes in the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 4.3 - Areas important to fisheries resources. Figure 4.4 - Roseate Tern nesting and staging areas in and adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 4.5 - Roseate Tern foraging habitat in and adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 4.6 - Important habitat for Long-tailed Duck in and adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 4.7 - Interpolation of North Atlantic Right Whale sightings-per-unit-effort (SPUE) data for all seasons. Figure 5.1 - Wrecks in the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Data from NOAA AWOIS (downloaded 05-01-2009). Figure 6.1 - Commercial fisheries activity in the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 6.2 - Recreational fishing areas classified as “high importance.” Figure 6.3 - Recreational fishing and boating areas identified by a Massachusetts Marine Trades Association survey. Figure 6.4 - Popular dive sites in and adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. DRAFT Figure 6.5 - Infrastructure, navigation lanes, and transportation routes. Figure 6.6 - Wind power potential off of the Massachusetts coast. Figure 6.7 - Protected areas in and adjacent to the Massachusetts ocean planning area. Figure 6.8 - Locations of the five Ocean Sanctuaries in Massachusetts. DRAFT CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION As directed by the Oceans Act of 2008, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is developing a comprehensive ocean management plan in Commonwealth waters. The Oceans Act requires the establishment of an ocean Science Advisory Council (SAC) of nine members with expertise in marine sciences to support the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs in the development of the ocean management plan. The SAC was tasked with creating a baseline assessment and obtaining any other scientific information necessary for the development of the ocean management plan. Specifically, the SAC assisted in the development of the baseline assessment by approving the outline, reviewing data sources provided by the authors, providing additional data sources, and editing drafts for clarity and content. This document is the baseline assessment portion of the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. It is intended to be an information base for ocean management plan development and implementation and to provide a science-based context for the plan. The introduction covers how the data were assembled for the assessment and the geographic focus for the ocean management plan. Chapters two through eight describe the current knowledge and status of resources, uses, and conditions in the Massachusetts ocean management planning area. DATA COLLECTION Many sections of this baseline assessment are informed by The Massachusetts Ocean Management Task Force Technical Report (Commonwealth of Massachusetts 2004). In addition, the baseline assessment incorporates new information produced by the six ocean management plan working groups that were formed to help inventory and synthesize available data for the development of the ocean management plan (i.e., the habitat; fisheries; renewable energy; transportation, navigation, and infrastructure; regional sediment resource management; and ocean recreational and cultural services work groups). These work groups were organized following the signing of the Oceans Act and worked through the summer and fall of 2008. The work groups included a core of state agency staff that compiled existing data and spatial information on the various topics. After the initial data collection phase, the work groups were expanded to include expertise from beyond state government that included academia, federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and industry. The work group process resulted in a series of reports that describe and analyze existing data for each of the six topic areas. While the work group reports are stand-alone products, as appropriate, data and analysis results have been incorporated into this baseline assessment. Data variability is a readily apparent issue with this baseline assessment. Within the ocean management planning area (planning area), available data varies spatially, temporally, and in terms of depth, precision, and accuracy for most subjects covered in this baseline assessment. In the future, one of the important ocean management activities will be DRAFT BA-1 addressing data variability and filling data gaps, particularly for priority issues and management concerns. For purposes of this document, “baseline” is not intended to connote a description
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