Stellwagen Bank
Located at the mouth of the Massachusetts Bay just 25 miles east of Boston, Stellwagen Bank is perhaps best known for its 19 species of marine mammals. Whale-watching tours introduce 1.5 million people annually to seals, harbor porpoises, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and pilot, minke, finback, and humpback whales, who are renowned for their exciting breaches through flocks of scavenging seabirds. The luckiest people might even spy the slow-moving, critically endangered North Atlantic right whale or the 100-foot blue whale, the world’s largest mammal.
Geologists believe that Stellwagen Bank was originally dry land, stalked by wooly mammoths and mastodons prior to being sculpted and forced underwater some 14,000 years ago by the last Ice Age glaciers. In 1992, it was designated a National Marine Sanctuary to conserve biological diversity and culturally important sunken ships. Today, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is an 842 square mile hotspot for ocean wildlife, attracting more than 575 known species to the area, including assorted sponges, corals, starfish, and squid; groundfish, such as the yellowtail flounder and Atlantic wolffish; and even the prized lobster and sea scallop. Schools of bluefin tuna and marauding blue sharks cruise the middle depths in search of prey, while 30-foot basking sharks and prehistoric ocean sunfish ride the surface currents. Although increasingly rare, loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles still live here, protected by the Endangered Species Act.
The richness of marine life and Stellwagen’s close proximity to the shore draws human activity to the area. Some of these activities can be harmful to the sanctuary. As such, there are special protections to ensure that Stellwagen remains the special place it is today. The sanctuary prohibits the mining of sand, gravel and oil and gas. In addition, in some areas, “bottom trawling,” a highly disruptive fishing practice, is also forbidden.
Unfortunately, current conservation measures protecting this marine sanctuary do not go far enough. Wastewater discharges from greater Boston, excessive ship speed, and harmful fishing practices continue to jeopardize the health of this important ecosystem. Over the last 30 years, the annual average speed of whale-watching boats in the sanctuary has quadrupled; as a result, the annual rate of whale strikes by boats has quadrupled as well.
Despite the high number of whales, Stellwagen Bank sees more commercial shipping traffic than any other location in the Gulf of Maine and has the highest use by fixed fishing gear commercial vessels anywhere along the eastern seaboard. In addition, the sanctuary also has the highest number of reported whale entanglements of any place in the United States.
CLF is calling for the creation of a long-term management plan for Stellwagen Bank that protects special areas of ocean wildlife habitat from harmful industrial trawling and better manages shipping and boat traffic to stop killing endangered whales. Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is one of New England’s greatest ocean treasures, and it’s up to us to protect it so that future generations can enjoy the sanctity of these fertile waters as much as we have.
Contact:
Priscilla Brooks, Ph.D., Director, Ocean Conservation
Sean Cosgrove, Ocean Campaign Director