Marine Preserve

A long-awaited government plan for protecting a marine preserve 25 miles off Boston proposes few new fishing or other restrictions, despite the document's sobering conclusion that humans are harming whales and fish.

The 842-square-mile Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is among the world's richest ocean feeding grounds, but it is suffering from a host of problems, from fishermen taking too many big, mature fish to whales getting entangled in fishing gear, says the draft plan being released today.

The report, which took nearly a decade to complete, does recommend tightening restrictions around whale-watching boats and creating buffer zones around historic shipwrecks on the sea floor. It proposes a fishing ban on sand lance, a key food for humpback whales that is not fished commercially off New England. Yet the document avoids pushing for controversial restrictions on the bank, such as no-fishing zones.

"What it does is provide a solid foundation for next steps," Craig MacDonald, superintendent of the sanctuary, said in an interview yesterday. MacDonald said creating the plan took nearly a decade be cause of the need to perform scientific studies and hold numerous meetings with interested parties, including conservation groups, boat captains, and fishermen.

The completed draft plan was not shared in advance with the 21-member Sanctuary Advisory Council, composed of representatives of the public and interest groups. Members will receive it today, and a final plan will be prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after a public comment period.
Susan Farady, regional director of the Ocean Conservancy and chairwoman of the advisory council, said she hoped that the document would "blaze the path" for long-term conservation of Stellwagen.

Once blanketed with forests and animals, Stellwagen Bank was slowly covered by water as glaciers melted at the end of the last ice age. The underwater plateau, 19 miles long and 6 miles at its widest, is etched with steep canyons.

The bank's currents create a virtual smorgasbord of small marine life that nourishes 17 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises; 80 species of fish; 39 species of sea birds; and lobster, scallops, sponges, and corals.

Fears of a massive floating casino, hazardous-waste dumping, and sand and gravel mining convinced Congress in 1992 to form the sanctuary. Yet while mining and hazardous-waste dumping were banned, the sanctuary remained one largely in name only. Some scientists say it's more like South Station: Recreation boats, fishing boats, whale-watching cruises, and tankers make the sanctuary the most heavily used of all the nation's 13 ocean sanctuaries.

Last year, the National Marine Sanctuary Program issued the bank's first report card, giving it marks of mostly fair to poor. The biggest concerns were damage from fishing gear, whale collisions, and declining fish species. Fishing nets were also getting caught on historic shipwrecks.

The document being released today highlights some progress. New shipping lanes that went into effect last year shifted ship traffic away from whales. And there is better technology to track whales.

But the nearly 400-page report notes that "virtually every square kilometer of the sanctuary is physically disturbed by fishing." Each year about 17.5 million pounds of fish and crustaceans from the sanctuary arrive at area ports, but vast amounts of fish are also thrown back - many presumably dead - because they were species fishermen are not allowed to catch or don't want. And 41 percent of whale entanglements in the Gulf of Maine occur in the sanctuary, more than anywhere else.

Fishermen had worried that the draft plan would call for strict fishing rules that would cut into already-shrinking profits from regulation. Contacted yesterday, Frank Blount of the New England Fishery Management Council said he was open to new management strategies but could not comment in depth without seeing the plan.

MacDonald said it was clear fishing was harming the sanctuary. But environmentalists said scientists have known that for years. What remains to be seen is whether the science will be heeded.

"Stellwagen Bank is clearly one of the prime spots where protection could have a significant impact to restoring the marine life of this region," said John D. Crawford, senior scientist for the Conservation Law Foundation, an advocacy group that has helped identify key areas to protect in the Gulf of Maine. "Right now, there is no enduring protection."