Notice2023-16551
Notice of Availability of Final Management Plan and Final Environmental Assessment for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
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Published
August 8, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
On February 13, 2020, NOAA initiated a review of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS or the sanctuary) management plan to evaluate substantive progress toward implementing the goals of the sanctuary and to make revisions to the management plan as necessary to fulfill the purposes and policies of the NMSA. NOAA anticipated that management plan changes would require preparation of environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and initiated public scoping meetings to gather information and other comments from individuals, organizations, tribes, and government agencies on the scope, types, and significance of issues related to the SBNMS management plan and the proper scope of environmental analysis for the management plan review. NOAA is providing notice of availability of a final management plan and a final environmental assessment (EA) for SBNMS.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 151 (Tuesday, August 8, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 151 (Tuesday, August 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53473-53475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16551]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Notice of Availability of Final Management Plan and Final
Environmental Assessment for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
AGENCY: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), National Ocean
Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Department of Commerce (DOC).
ACTION: Notice; notice of availability of a final management plan and
final environmental assessment.
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SUMMARY: On February 13, 2020, NOAA initiated a review of the
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS or the sanctuary)
management plan to evaluate substantive progress toward implementing
the goals of the sanctuary and to make revisions to the management plan
as necessary to fulfill the purposes and policies of the NMSA. NOAA
anticipated that management plan changes would require preparation of
environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), and initiated public scoping meetings to gather information and
other comments from individuals, organizations, tribes, and government
agencies on the scope, types, and significance of issues related to the
SBNMS management plan and the proper scope of environmental analysis
for the management plan review. NOAA is providing notice of
availability of a final management plan and a final environmental
assessment (EA) for SBNMS.
DATES: The final management plan and final environmental assessment are
now available.
ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the final management plan, final
environmental assessment, and finding of no significant impact (FONSI),
contact the Management Plan Review Coordinator at Stellwagen Bank
National Marine Sanctuary, Alice Stratton, 175 Edward Foster Road,
Scituate, MA 02066, 203-882-6515, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#84f7e6eae9f7e9e5eae5e3e1e9e1eaf0f4e8e5eac4eaebe5e5aae3ebf2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c7b4a5a9aab4aaa6a9a6a0a2aaa2a9b3b7aba6a987a9a8a6a6e9a0a8b1">[email protected]</span></a>. Copies
can also be downloaded from the Stellwagen Bank National Marine
Sanctuary website at <a href="https://stellwagen.noaa.gov/management/">https://stellwagen.noaa.gov/management/</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alice Stratton, 203-882-6515,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f68594989b859b97989791939b939882869a9798b698999797d8919980"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="592a3b37342a343837383e3c343c372d293538371937363838773e362f">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 53474]]
I. Background
SBNMS was designated in October 1992. It spans 842-square-miles
(638-square-nautical-mile) at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. The
sanctuary boundary is somewhat rectangular, stretching from three miles
southeast of Cape Ann to three miles north of Cape Cod. The sanctuary
is about 25 miles east of Boston, and lies totally within Federal
waters. It encompasses all of Stellwagen and Tillies Banks, and the
southern portion of Jeffreys Ledge. SBNMS is administered by NOAA,
within the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was designated to conserve,
protect, and enhance the biodiversity, ecological integrity, and
cultural legacy of marine resources for current and future generations.
Sanctuary programs in education, conservation, science, and stewardship
help protect SBNMS and its nationally-significant resources, while
promoting public use and enjoyment through compatible human activities.
In 2016, NOAA completed an internal assessment of progress toward
implementation of the 2010 management plan. The assessment found that
66% (69 of 104 activities) of the management plan's activities had been
fully or partially completed or were still being implemented as ongoing
functions, while 35% (36 of 104 activities) were not yet started or had
been placed on hold. Results of the 2016 internal assessment were
discussed at a public meeting of the sanctuary advisory council in
October, 2016.
II. Management Plan Revisions
On February 13, 2020, NOAA published a notice in the Federal
Register, initiating a review of SBNMS management plan and providing a
notice of intent to conduct scoping to prepare an environmental
analysis under NEPA (85 FR 8213). Pursuant to the National Marine
Sanctuaries Act (NMSA), the management plan review process provides an
opportunity to evaluate substantive progress toward implementing the
goals of the sanctuary, and to make revisions to the management plan as
necessary to fulfill the purposes and policies of the NMSA. The scoping
process yielded feedback that was largely aligned with the 2020
condition report findings. Comments focused on NOAA's need to monitor
and address potential emerging issues such as climate change and
changes to water quality, to continue and expand protections for
sanctuary resources, and to maintain core sanctuary research. Scoping
comments also called for enhanced education and outreach efforts and
increased capacity to administer sanctuary programs. NOAA incorporated
the issues identified during the public scoping process into the draft
management plan.
On November 30, 2021, NOAA published a notice in the Federal
Register, announcing the availability of a public comment period for
the SBNMS Draft Management Plan and Environmental Assessment SBNMS
management plan. NOAA held two virtual public comment meetings (January
11, 2022 and January 12, 2022) to receive public input. During public
comment, NOAA heard concerns from the environmental NGO community that
the proposed changes in the sanctuary management plan would not
adequately address declining sanctuary conditions. NOAA also heard
concerns that the management plan should include more direct management
actions, including regulations for fisheries management and reducing
sound. In preparing the final Management Plan, NOAA evaluated and
considered all public and agency comments and made several changes to
the management plan in response to those comments.
The revised management plan contains 15 Action Plans addressing
priority issues under four primary goals: ensure a thriving sanctuary,
increase support for the sanctuary, deepen our understanding of
sanctuary resources, and ensure coordinated support for sanctuary
infrastructure, staff, and field operations. The revised management
plan supports continued protection of sanctuary resources through
enforcement of existing sanctuary regulations, education and outreach
strategies that promote ocean stewardship, and community engagement.
The revised SBNMS management plan will result in changes to
existing programs and policies to address contemporary issues and
challenges, and to better protect and manage the sanctuary's resources
and qualities. The management plan review process was composed of four
major stages: (1) information collection and characterization; (2)
preparation and release of a draft management plan and environmental
document under NEPA; (3) public review and comment; and (4) preparation
and release of a final management plan and environmental document. NOAA
has also addressed other statutory and regulatory requirements,
including those contained in the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Marine
Mammal Protection Act, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) provisions of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act), Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA), and tribal consultation responsibilities under
Executive Order 13175.
A. Action Plans
This draft management plan contains 15 action plans which address
priority issues for SBNMS. These action plans fall under four primary
goals: ensure a thriving sanctuary, increase support for SBNMS, deepen
our understanding of sanctuary resources, and ensure coordinated
support for sanctuary infrastructure, staff, and field operations. Each
action plan is summarized below (refer to the draft for complete text).
1. Marine Mammal Protection: The sanctuary serves as the primary
habitat for 22 species of marine mammals. The goal of this plan is to
expand our understanding of the vulnerability of marine mammals to
anthropogenic activity and develop and implement mitigation activities.
2. Seabird Research: Coastal development, predation by humans and
other animals, removal of prey through fisheries activity, and marine
environment pollution threaten the many seabirds in the sanctuary. The
goal of this plan is to understand the abundance, distribution, habitat
use, bycatch, contaminant load, and foraging ecology of seabirds, and
how SBNMS relates to the wider Gulf of Maine and Atlantic ecosystems.
3. Vessel Traffic: SBNMS sits at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay,
which experiences commercial vessel traffic traveling to and from the
growing Port of Boston. Sanctuary staff work to mitigate the impacts of
the large volume of vessel traffic through technology, reporting, and
warnings. The goal of this plan is to monitor vessel traffic and
mitigate negative effects on sanctuary resources.
4. Maritime Heritage and Cultural Landscapes: The sanctuary serves
as an underwater museum to maritime history with numerous shipwrecks on
the seafloor. The sanctuary's efforts in maritime cultural landscapes
help us understand the relationships between the people and the sea in
the past and present through research and management. The goal of this
plan is to understand the broader context of past and present uses of
the sanctuary while assessing and protecting maritime heritage
resources in the sanctuary.
5. Compatible Uses: Evolving commercial and recreational uses of
the sanctuary impact key elements of the sanctuary's landscape. The
goal of this plan is to enhance transparency
[[Page 53475]]
regarding how current and emerging activities are assessed for
compatibility while managing sanctuary resources.
6. Climate Change: The goal of this plan is to evaluate climate
change impacts on sanctuary resources and incorporate changing
conditions in management decisions. Various strategies and efforts for
enhanced understanding of climate impacts and synergies will inform
decisions on a wide range of sanctuary management, including resource
protection, education, and operations.
7. Education and Outreach: A variety of education and outreach
programs, tools, and techniques are employed to bring sanctuary
information and research to the widest audiences. The goal of this plan
is to increase public awareness and understanding of the sanctuary and
encourage responsible use and stewardship of its resources.
8. Interagency/Intergovernmental Coordination: NOAA relies on
partnerships with other Federal and State agencies as well as
collaborations with non-profit, community, research/academic, and many
others, for effective management. The goal of this plan is to promote
improved management through coordinated partnering with local, State,
regional, Tribal, and Federal partners.
9. Sanctuary Advisory Council: The Sanctuary Advisory Council
addresses specific management issues and public involvement by
developing sound advice for the sanctuary. The goal of this plan is to
facilitate an active and engaged community of Sanctuary Advisory
Council members to advise the superintendent in carrying out the
sanctuary's mission.
10. Research and Monitoring: The sanctuary conducts a robust
science program to provide vital information to support management
needs. The goal of this plan is to support, promote, and coordinate
scientific research, characterization, and long-term monitoring to
enhance the understanding of the sanctuary environment and processes,
and improve management decision-making for optimal resource management
and protection.
11. Soundscape: The sanctuary has an extensive acoustics research
program that provides opportunities for partnership and leadership in
the development of regional, national, and international policies for
managing noise impacts on marine life. The goal of this plan is to
maintain the role of SBNMS as a sentinel site for passive acoustic
monitoring in the Gulf of Maine, and as a testbed for applying these
data to both long-term monitoring of ecosystems and the design of
methods to reduce impacts from human activities.
12. Water Quality Monitoring: The exceptional diversity of marine
life in the sanctuary depends on good water quality. This action plan
addresses the need to collaborate on water quality monitoring and
research in the sanctuary to determine whether it can continue to
maintain healthy resources.
13. Habitat: Habitat quality in the sanctuary over the last decade
has shown changes from both direct interactions, like bottom-contact
fishing, and indirect interactions, such as trophic and competitive
shifts in population. The goal of this plan is to develop an improved
understanding of the condition of major habitat types within the
sanctuary to understand their productivity and biodiversity.
14. Ecosystem Services: Sanctuary resources support nearby coastal
communities in a variety of ways, and it is important to better
understand and quantify the economic and intrinsic values of the
sanctuary to natural and human systems. The goal of this plan is to
explore the dynamic connections between sanctuary resources and
ecosystem services to better inform management decisions.
15. Administration and Infrastructure Capacity: This action plan
addresses the necessary operational and administrative activities
required for implementing an effective program, including staffing,
infrastructure needs, and operational improvements.
B. Regulatory and Boundary Changes
The management plan review process did not identify the need for
any regulatory or boundary changes at this time.
C. National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
In accordance with NEPA, on February 13, 2020, NOAA published a
notice of intent to prepare an environmental analysis in order to
identify and analyze potential impacts associated with adopting and
implementing a revised management plan and field activities for SBNMS
(85 FR 8213). NOAA's analysis of the draft management plan indicated no
significant impacts are expected. Accordingly, NOAA determined the
preparation of an EIS would not be necessary, and instead prepared a
draft EA, which was made available for public review on November 30,
2021 (86 FR 67923).
For this EA, NOAA evaluated the potential impacts on the human
environment of the proposed action and alternatives in compliance with
NEPA, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and its implementing
regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508). NOAA analyzed two
alternatives: the no action alternative and the preferred alternative.
The no action alternative would be to continue operating under the
existing management plan, without updating it to reflect current
resource status or protection priorities. The preferred alternative is
adopting and implementing a revised management plan and field
activities, which would update strategies to better address resource
protection and management needs. NOAA prepared the final EA and finding
of no significant impact (FONSI) for this action using the 1978 Council
on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations because this environmental
review began before September 14, 2020, which was the effective date of
the amendments to the CEQ regulations implementing NEPA (85 FR 43304,
July 16, 2020).
In preparing the final EA, NOAA evaluated and considered all public
and agency comments received on the draft management plan and draft EA,
and made changes to the management plan and EA as appropriate. NOAA
determined that these changes to the management plan did not result in
any changes to the determinations of the draft EA with regard to the
significance of the impacts. NOAA prepared a FONSI that concluded that
implementing the preferred alternative (i.e., adopt and implement a new
management plan and field activities) would not have a significant
impact on the quality of the human environment. Copies of the final EA
and FONSI are available at the website listed in the ADDRESSES section
of this notice of availability.
III. Public Comments
NOAA received 56 comments on the Draft Management Plan/
Environmental Assessment during the public comment period. These are
summarized into 61 topics. NOAA's summary of these comments and
relevant responses are provided in Appendix E of the Final Management
Plan.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.
John Armor,
Director, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Ocean
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-16551 Filed 8-7-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-NK-P
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