EXAMPLE 1. ABBREVIATED CONSULTATION

Shawn Mahaney

Project Manager

US Army corps of Engineers

Maine Project Office

675 Western Avenue, #3

Manchester, Maine 04351

Re: Wood & Johnson Shellfish Aquaculture, file #199900517

Dear Mr. Mahaney:

NMFS has reviewed the application of John D. Wood and Robert W. Johnson to the Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) for a permit under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act to install and maintain eighteen mussel rafts on an eight acre lease site in Moosabec Reach at Beals, Maine.

The project plans indicate that the shellfish operation will consist of a series of (up to eighteen) 40' by 40' rafts, each made of three pontoons which are attached to one another with steel I-beams and which serve as a platform for 35 foot long mussel dropper ropes. Each group of three rafts will be anchored with four, three to four ton mooring blocks or 700 pound anchors. Each anchor will be attached to the group of rafts with 40 feet of anchor chain made up to 100 feet of 1.5 inch polysteel line. Around the perimeter of each raft will be hung a predator net which will hang to a depth greater than the extent of the mussel dropper ropes.

The application states that the affected habitat consists of a mud/sand bottom with a minimum depth of 40 feet at mean low water. An excerpt from NOAA chart number 13326 shows the northern limit of the site intersecting a sounding of 34 feet, mean lower low water. The tide tables for 1998 and 1999 indicate spring low tides of -2.65 feet below the charted soundings (based on Portland, Maine, using the factor of 1.26 adjusting the tidal range for Jonesport/

Moosabec Reach). While the anchor/mooring blocks and anchor chain may present localized impacts -- comparable to a vessel's anchoring or installation of a mooring field -- impacts to the bottom habitat will be far greater should the predator nets and/or the dropper ropes drag along the sand/mud bottom. If the dropper ropes and netting are made of nylon or any other material that stretches, the frequency and severity of impacts to the benthic habitat will increase as the shellfish grow and as other marine organisms attach to the gear. NMFS recommends that the surveys of the lease site be verified and the length of the dropper ropes and predator nets be adjusted so the bottom of the gear is at least six feet off the bottom at mean lower low water. Also, NMFS opposes the temporary storage of predator nets on the seafloor and recommends that a permit condition prohibit the practice.

Essential Fish Habitat Considerations

Pursuant to Section 303(a)(7) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the the fishery management councils have designated Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for all federally managed fishery species. The site of the proposed project falls within a 10' longitude by 10' latitude square which is designated as EFH for many species. Federal agencies initiating(conducting, permitting, or funding) activities in EFH are required to assess the potential impact of the activity on the designated species. Accordingly, USACOE public notice for the subject project states that the adverse impacts of the project be will transient and insubstantial. NMFS concurs with this assessment.

EFH Conservation Recommendations

NMFS submit the following EFH conservation recommendations pursuant to Section 305(b)(4)(A) of the MSA.

• The applicant should verify the depths in the lease site and should adjust the length of all suspended gear such that the bottom of the gear is no closer than six feet to the seafloor at mean lower low water.
  
  
• The applicant should not store predator nets on the seafloor when the nets are not in use.
  
  

Section 305(b)(4)(B) of the MSA requires ACOE to provide NMFS with a detailed written response to these EFH conservation recommendations, including a description of measures adopted by ACOE for avoiding, mitigating, or offsetting the impact of the project on EFH. In the case of a response that is inconsistent with NMFS recommendations, the ACOE must explain its reasons for not following the recommendations, including scientific justification for any disagreements with NMFS over the anticipated effects of the proposed action and the measures needed to avoid, minimize, mitigate or offset such effects [50 CFR 600.920(j)].

Other Recommendations

As a condition of the permit, the applicant should be required to remove all gear from the water when the lease site and/or the enterprise is abandoned.

Should you or the applicant have any questions about these comments, please contact me at (978) 281-9237 or Daniel.Morris@NOAA.GOV.

Sincerely,

Patricia A. Kurkul

Regional Administrator