Managing Troubled Waters The Role of Marine Environmental Monitoring (1990) / Chapter Skim
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3 Strengthening Regional and National Monitoring
3 Strengthening Regional and National Monitoring
Pages 38-52
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From page 38... ...
Such information may not directly affect day-to-day decision making about a particular discharge, but improved knowledge on broader space and time scales of the changing environment and the status of its living marine resources is required to place site-specific regulatory decisions in a relevant context. The three case studies found that, in general, site-specific monitoring programs conducted specifically to assess the effects of specific wastewater discharges or activities were not sufficiently integrated to address questions about regional-scale problems.
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From page 39... ...
Chesapeake Bay . The Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program, begun in 1984, is a coordinated federalistate effort to assess environmental quality trends and the effectiveness of pollution abatement efforts throughout the bay.
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From page 40... ...
THE ROLE OF REGIONAL MONITORING Rationale for Regional Monitoring It is clear from Table 3.1 that monitoring programs at the regional scale have great potential to contribute information pertinent to management of the coastal marine environment and its resources; yet few regional monitoring programs exist because of important technical, institutional, and financial obstacles. These problems are apparent in the two regional case studies commissioned by the committee.
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From page 41... ...
sources of chemical and microbial contaminants in riverine and stormwater discharges to the bight have not been adequately quantified; no formal institutional mechanisms exist for requiring the findings from the ongoing monitoring programs to be integrated into a regional assessment of environmental quality; and no effective system exists for communicating findings of monitoring programs to the public, the scientific community, or policy makers in terms that the respective audiences can understand. As a result of these findings, the case study panel recommended development and implementation of a regional monitoring program for the Southern California Bight.
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From page 42... ...
The Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program now faces the common dilemma of choosing between the need for longterm consistency and the desire for flexibility in incorporating improved sampling strategies, innovative approaches, and improved coordination. As a result, the limits to the detection of human-induced effects in a background of large natural variation were seldom stated and in most cases are not known.
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From page 43... ...
The problems encountered in the case study are an illumination of those that will be encountered in other regional programs such as that proposed for the Southern California Bight. The Federal Role The federal government can and should be important in the development of regional monitoring programs.
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From page 44... ...
Presently we have no authoritative scientific information to address public concerns about widespread deterioration of the oceans. Alternate Approaches Leo fundamentally different approaches can be taken to constructing a comprehensive national marine environmental monitoring program: a fixed station national sampling design and a national program consisting of integrated regional monitoring programs.
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From page 45... ...
It illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of the fixed-station network approach to a national monitoring and assessment framework On the positive side, it provides for carefully controlled collection and analysis of samples and display of summary information in a way that facilitates comparisons of contamination conditions over space and time. (See Figure 3.1.)
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From page 46... ...
( San Antonio Bay TX St. Johns River estuary FL Mobile Bay AL Delaware Bay DE Boston Harbor MA Baritaria Bay LA Sapelo Island GA Galveston Bay TX Salem Harbor MA Charleston Harbor SC MANAGING TROUBLED WATERS SHS NIS HUN DAN COL SDA SEA LUT BOD SMB ELI 1 .
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From page 47... ...
It was necessary to make extensive interpretations based upon other sources of information to make meaningful inferences concerning the significance of the findings. An Integrated Network of Regional Monitoring Programs The second broad approach to providing a national assessment of marine environmental quality is for a federal agency, NOAA or EPA, for example, to pull together, synthesize, and interpret available data from an integrated series of regional monitoring programs that have been designed to meet regional and local needs.
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From page 48... ...
EPAs proposed ELLAP has many characteristics of an integrated network of regional programs. BOX 3.2 EPA'S NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM · Established by Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987 to protect and improve water quality and enhance living resources.
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From page 49... ...
The needs, barriers, and some opportunities for interagency and intergovernmental coordination are discussed in the following section. COORDINATION The Need for Interagency and Intergovernmental Coordination Whether there is an expanded independent national status and trends monitoring program, a national monitoring program built largely from a network of regional monitoring programs, or a combination of the two, greater coordination among the various federal, state, and local agencies involved in marine environmental monitoring to adopt consistent, or at least compatible, monitoring methods and designs would clearly benefit all levels.
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From page 50... ...
For example, EPAs NEP, authorized by the 1987 Water Quality Act, has stimulated the planning of several intensive regional monitoring programs that could contribute to a national assessment while serving more specific localized management needs. As an initial step, consideration should be given to requiring that management conferences for estuaries included in NEP make a multiyear commitment to participate in a national estuarine monitoring network.
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From page 51... ...
stated: "The need for development of a national monitoring program has been recast in modified form.... lilt is now believed that the real need is for organizing and structuring existing programs into regional monitoring networks rather than establishing a new national program for monitoring." The plan proposed "a national marine pollution monitoring network, composed of well-defined regional monitoring networks...." The fourth National Marine Pollution Program Plan (NOAA 1988)
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From page 52... ...
At the same time, although the committee can offer no panaceas or magic formulas, we urge continued efforts to achieve regional coordination of study protocols and parameters. Through development and demonstration of standardized approaches, such as those used in NOA~s NS&T Program, the federal government can encourage wider adoption of methods that will enhance the opportunities for development of information useful in national assessments.
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