Scientific Review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit (2012) / Chapter Skim
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5 Conclusions
5 Conclusions
Pages 47-52
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From page 47... ...
for which no alternative conclusions were identified. Impact assessments for harbor seals, the coastal flood zone, water quality, soundscapes, and socioeconomics were all considered to have a high level of uncertainty, and the committee determined that alternate conclusions could reasonably be reached for these (Chapter 3)
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From page 48... ...
. Resource Language Minor Moderate Major Category Localized, slightly Clearly detectable; could Highly noticeable, Common Wetlands, detectable, no affect on appreciably effect would substantially Across Eelgrass, and community structure individuals, communities influence individuals, Categories Wildlife or natural processes communities or natural processes Changes to an individual, Some changes to an A noticeable change to Special Status population or critical individual, population, or an individual, Species habitat are possible critical habitat would population or critical result habitat would result Takes place in the Takes place within the Would have a floodplain or flood zone, floodplain or flood zone, measurable impact on no increase in potential would result in increased potential flood damage Coastal Flood flood damage to other potential for flood or environmental Zones areas (or is exempt from damage to property or contamination to the NPS floodplain environmental site and to adjacent & management guidelines)
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From page 49... ...
benthic infauna) given the small overall Wildlife Fish A footprint of the mariculture activities · Insufficient consideration of cumulative Seals may tolerate or Harbor impacts under alternative A habituate to DBOC A B,C,D Seals · Impact definitions not linked to biologically activities resulting in significant criteria minor impacts · Additional data available from species list & Impact may be minor Birds A B,C,D survey data that could indicate population given high abundance & trends species richness · Description of species preferred habitat Butterfly A B,C,D would inform the impact assessment · Map of potential breeding grounds needed to Frog A B,C,D assess impact of DBOC onshore operations · Need more detailed description of breeding Special Status Plover A B,C,D & overwintering grounds · Time-series of abundance from Christmas Tern A B,C,D birds counts & other publically available surveys could be included · Include critical juvenile habitat (freshwater Coho A B,C,D tidal wetlands)
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From page 50... ...
to assess Based on the data temporal & spatial variability presented in the DEIS, Soundscape A B,C,D · Sound levels presented in dBA makes it more impacts could be difficult to assess impacts on wildlife moderate to minor · Lack of direct measurements of sound levels related to DBOC operations in DE Lacks assessment of change: Socio- · in producer's plus consumer's surplus for B,C,D A economics commercial shellfish4 · in consumer's surplus for recreation · in non-use value In addition, the committee found that the relationship of impact intensities across resource categories was not well articulated. For example, impacts on eelgrass habitat across alternatives B, C, and D were classified as "moderate," while impacts on the fish species utilizing eelgrass habitat were determined to be "minor." Similarly, soundscape impacts were identified as "major" for alternatives B, C, and D, while impacts on birds and harbor seals that would be affected by that soundscape were defined as "moderate." The committee's concerns with definitions that are specific to each resource category (Table 5.2)
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From page 51... ...
· Use all relevant and available information, especially for water quality and soundscapes, such as additional measurements reported in Volpe (2011) ; analyze sound levels based on both dBA and unweighted values across a wide frequency range; and consider duty cycles when estimating the fraction of time DBOC activities impact the soundscape.
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From page 52... ...
In Drakes Estero, as in many highly valued coastal areas, sustained monitoring of key variables (e.g., water quality parameters such as current velocities, temperature, salinity, dissolved nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, suspended organic matter, attenuation of downwelling radiation, and turbidity; abundance and distributions of benthic fauna, fish, birds, harbor seals, and non-indigenous species; extent and condition of eelgrass beds and tidal marshes) would reduce the uncertainty of impact assessments.
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