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Ecological Condition of Coastal Ocean Waters Along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Bight: 2006
Citation:
Balthis, W., J. L. Hyland, M. H. Fulton, E. F. Wirth, J. A. KIDDON, AND J. M. MACAULEY. Ecological Condition of Coastal Ocean Waters Along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Bight: 2006. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ann Arbor, MI, EPA/600/R-09/159, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
This report provides an assessment of the water, sediment, and benthos of of offshore waters in the Mid-Atlantic Bight using design and analysis methods comparable to concurrent assessment of estuarine condition in the Bight region. Results from the estuarine assessment are reported to provide essential context for the offshore results. This inter-agency collaboration also highlights the coordination in design and analysis protocols adopted by NHEERL and NOAA.
Description:
This report presents the results of an assessment of ecological condition in coastal-ocean waters of the U.S. mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB), along the U.S. continental shelf from Cape Cod, MA and Nantucket Shoals to the northeast to Cape Hatteras to the south, based on sampling conducted in May 2006. The project was a collaborative effort by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It represents one of a series of studies, similar in protocol and design to EPA’s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) and subsequent National Coastal Assessment (NCA), that extend prior work in estuaries and inland waters out to the coastal shelf, from navigable depths along the shoreline seaward to the shelf break (approximately 100 m). NOAA Fisheries Service/Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NFS/NEFSC) provided specimens of summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) from 30 of their stations in overlapping portions of the study area for analysis of contaminant body burden. A variety of metrics were measured and analyzed to assess the quality of wter, sediment and benthic communities. No indications of poor sediment or water quality were observed, based on published criteria, and there was no evidence of biological impacts linked to measured stressors. These results suggest that coastal shelf waters of the MAB are in good condition, with lower-end values of biological attributes representing parts of a normal reference range controlled by natural factors. Some influence of depth on diversity and species richness was observed, with deeper sites having slightly higher values for these measures.