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BUZZARDS BAY COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN VOLUME I MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTION PLANS
Citation:
BUZZARDS BAY COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN VOLUME I MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTION PLANS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 1991.
Description:
In 1985, the Buzzards Bay Project was established with the goal of developing and implementing management recommendations that would preserve and protect water quality and living resources in Buzzards Bay. The development of the Buzzards Bay CCMP is an example of an emerging nationwide effort to develop management strategies that take into account the uniqueness of certain coastal areas. This "special area management" approach is being successfully carried out in several other regions, including Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, Puget Sound, and San Francisco Bay. This Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) is one of the first several such plans currently under development in other estuarine areas designated as part of the National Estuary Program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Buzzards Bay lays out an approach for achieving the goal of a clean.and healthy Bay. The CCMP is based on the scientific and technical information gathered by the Buzzards Bay Project over the past five years and an analysis of the present regulato~ programs designed to protect the Bay.
The Buzzards Bay CCMP is a three-volume document. The main document is the Management Recommendations and Action Plans. It contains a synopsis of the problems facing the region and detailed recommendations on how to protect and preserve water quality and living resources in Buzzards Bay. The Management Recommendations and Action Plans identifies what actions need to be taken and who / should take them. Two volumes complement the Management Recommendations and Action Plans -- the CCMP Financial Plan and the CCMP Monitoring Plan.
Environmental protection often costs money and uses human resources. The Financial Plan will identify the costs associated with certain management actiofis recommended in the CCMP and financial strategies for meeting them. The Buzzards Bay Project has investigated a variety of funding sources to underwrite the costs of implementing recommendations in the CCMP and this information is also included in the Financial Plan.
Environmental management also requires a coherent and effective monitoring strategy to determine if actions taken are effective and warrant further expenditures. In order to judge the success of this Project over time, data that show a reduction in pollution discharged into the Bay must be collected. These needs are add ressed in the Monitoring Plan, which contains the overall monitoring goals for Buzzards Bay, the specific environmental quality questions being asked, and the methods and approaches to answer those questions.
Those seeking detailed information on various aspects of the Project will have access to other documents including a Pollution Characterization Report; a Report on Living Resources of Buzzards Bay, and the Buzzards Bay Project Technical Report Series, which contains technical and scientific papers on issues and problems facing Buzzards Bay.
During the summer and fall of 1990, the CCMP was presented to the public for review and comment. At the same time, it was sent to all government organizations that have the responsibility to implement its recommendations. A series of meetings and hearings were held throughout Buzzards Bay to discuss the recommendations and receive comments. This document reflects the comments that were received both verbally and in writing during the review period. It also reflects additional comments received on an interim draft completed in May 1991.
Completion of the CCMP is not the end of the Buzzards Bay Project, but a beginning. Implementation of the plan will be a top priority for the Project in the coming years. Because new insights and technological advances are expected, periodic revisions will serve to update the plan.