Managing Troubled Waters The Role of Marine Environmental Monitoring (1990) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 5-18
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From page 5... ...
, is that this deterioration is accelerating and pervasive. The large mortality of bottle-nosed dolphins off the East Coast from the Carolinas to New England during 1987, the banning of many popular sport fisheries in the 1980s, the closure of New York and New Jersey beaches during 1988 due to stranded garbage, trash, and a small amount of medical wastes, continued controversies surrounding offshore oil and gas development, ocean outfalls off California and sewage sludge dumping off New York, extensive closures of shellfish beds around the country, the Valdez oil spill, and a host of other problems along the U.S.
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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY The ultimate goal of the present study is to improve the usefulness of monitoring information. ~ this end, the committee sought to: review the current status of monitoring systems and technology, assess marine environmental monitoring as a component of sound environmental management, and identify needed improvements in monitoring strategies and practices.
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This definition necessarily includes the regulatory, institutional, and decision-making aspects of environmental problems, thus focusing committee attention on the features of monitoring programs that either enhance or detract from their capability to supply information needed for environmental management. Within this context, the committee then defined "marine environmental monitoring system" as a range of activities needed to provide management information about environmental conditions or contaminants.
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The committee uses the term monitoring in a broad sense to include all such activities used to evaluate whether environmental management goals are being met. Not included in the committee's operational definition of marine monitoring are continuing observations of environmental conditions for purposes other than assessing marine environmental quality, for example, measuring water levels and assessing fishery stocks for management of their exploitation.
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MPRSA amendments Deep Water Port Act MPRSA reauthorization 1974 1975 1977 1977 1978 1987 1988 PL 80-845 PL 83-212 PL 84-660 PL 87-88 PL 89-234 PL 89-753 PL 91-190 PL 91-224 PL 92-500 PL 92-532 FWPCA major amendments National Ocean Pollution Research, Development, and Monitoring Planning Act of 1978 1978 OCSLA amendments 1978 FWPCA amendments 1980 Clean Water Act (FWPCA amendments) 1985 Clean Water Act amendments (national)
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Estimates were obtained from the following sources: annual reports prepared for Congress by NOAA on ocean pollution, monitoring, and research; annual summaries of federal programs and projects related to marine pollution (e.g., Battelle 1984~; periodic inventories of nonfederally funded marine pollution research, development, and monitoring activities (e.g., Battelle 1984~; and a telephone survey of federal, state, local, and private organizations known to have monitoring TABLE 1.2 Agency Roles in Marine Environmental Monitoring NOAA EPA COE USCG MMS Type of Monitoring Compliance X X X X Trends X X X X Model validation/ X X X X research Space Scale Local Regional National X X X X X X X X
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. EPAs relatively high proportion of the total federal expenditures results from its many compliance monitoring programs associated with permitting and enforcement programs.
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Within the private sector, monitoring programs associated with electric power production, oil and gas development, the chemical industry, and coastal development account for most of the expenditures. Private sector monitoring expenditures are frequently on the same order of magnitude as those of state and local governments.
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Annual expenditures for pollution control are orders of magnitude larger. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates national water pollution control expenditures each year.2 In 1985, total spending for water pollution abatement was about $20.6 billion (in constant 1982 dollars)
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The lack of communication and coordination among the entities sponsoring or conducting monitoring and making environmental management decisions inhibits the proper design of monitoring programs and limits the usefulness of monitoring results. Inflexible regulatory requirements also limit opportunities to adapt programs to new needs.
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Results are often not reported at all; when they are, they may not be in a useful form. ASSESSMENT APPROACH Conceptual Model To provide a common and comprehensive basis for evaluating marine environmental monitoring programs and generate recommendations that deal with the perceived problems of monitoring as it is practiced, the committee developed a conceptual model of the design and implementation of a marine environmental monitoring system (see Figure 1.4 and Appendix B)
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Case Studies Listing all current marine environmental monitoring programs, much less evaluating them, is not possible. Instead, a case study approach was adopted to assess classes of monitoring programs in depth.
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Selecting the Chesapeake Bay allowed comparison of coordinated regional monitoring, such as exists there, with extensive source-specific monitoring programs that characterize the Southern California Bight. The third selection is not region specific; it evaluates monitoring efforts associated with the disposal of particulate wastes such as dredged material, sewage sludge, and drilling discharges in coastal environments.
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