Cape Cod Bay Marine Monitoring

The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies' Cape Cod Bay Monitoring
Project was a four-year study on the effects of the treated effluent from the
Boston Outfall, funded in part by the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, Oak
Foundation, Cape Cod Commission, and concerned citizens throughout the region.
In the spring of 2000, six months prior to the start-up of the multi-billion
dollar project to clean up Boston Harbor, the Center announced that it had
begun a careful study of possible nitrogen loading of Cape Cod Bay resulting
from the average discharge of 350 million gallons a day of treated effluent
from the Deer Island Treatment Plant into Massachusetts Bay.

The mission of this program is to:

* To study the quality and health of Cape Cod Bay through applied science
and research;
* To protect and when possible restore the Bay's estuaries and marshes,
barrier beaches, creeks, rivers and harbors from human and natural threats;
* To inform the public and decision makers about the natural resources of
the Bay and threats to their long-term protection;
* To advise local, state and federal resource managers about this unique
marine environment;
* To preserve Cape Cod Bay as a State Ocean Sanctuary, as defined by
Chapter 132 of the General Laws of Massachusetts.

In March of 2005, the Center's findings from its four-year study on the effects
of the treated effluent from the Boston Outfall were reported to the Cape Cod
Commission. The conclusion was that the outfall has had minimal impact on Cape
Cod Bay and the food supply of the endangered North Atlantic right whale. In
reporting the findings, however, Executive Director Peter Borrelli called upon
the commission to adopt a precautionary approach to Cape Cod Bay by supporting
continued research on potential long-term impacts of "upstream polluters" of
the marine environment.

As a follow-up to its four-year monitoring program on the effects of the Boston
Outfall on Cape Cod Bay, the board and staff of the Center have decided to
expand its commitment to marine conservation of Cape Cod Bay.

The Monitoring Program will provide monthly and annual reports on the state of
Cape Cod Bay

Type: Bay

Waterbody or Watershed Names: CAPE COD BAY