Petition to List Lynn Canal Pacific Herring under the Endangered ...

(Holmberg 1996). The Field Supervisor further cautioned that “piecemeal destruction of
Berners Bay” is sure to result from the menagerie of development projects proposed at
that time. They included:
By itself, construction of a road along the USDA Forest Service Right-of-Way to
access private land at Cascade Point could have a significant on the area’s fish
and wildlife resources. However, construction of a road is just part of a total
development plant that will affect lands and waters of the United States. The
subject project includes land exchanges, timber sales, log transfer facilities, fish
processing facilities, and development of a small community.
(Holmberg 1996).
In a July 29, 1998 letter from NMFS Alaska Regional Administrator Pennoyer,
the impact of the Cascade Point facility on herring is described.
The project would have removed an area representing at least 2 percent of
available spawning habitat for a remnant population of herring in Berners Bay. In
addition, the project may have had further reaching impacts to the recovery of this
herring stock due to disruption of shoreline currents and tidal patterns,
introductions of hydrocarbons from chronic boat spillage or leakage, and
increased disturbance to spawning herring from vessel use of the marine facility
from March 15 to June 1. While these activities are unlikely to adversely affect
the current status of the humpback whale or Steller sea lion, they may have
impeded their recovery by reducing the likelihood that the Berners Bay herring
stock would recover fully and become a future food source for humpback whales
and Steller sea lions.
(Pennoyer 1998).
The NMFS Biological Opinion for the Kensington Gold Project (NMFS 2005a)
contains a substantial analysis of the effects of the Cascade Point Breakwater project.
This project is likely the most damaging to Lynn Canal Herring because it will directly
destroy spawning beds by dumping dredge and fill material on eelgrass and kelp.
Overall, the combined changes in site hydrology, local water conditions and light
availability are likely to change the structure and composition of the submerged
vegetative community at Cascade Point. Changes in the plant community may in
turn affect the likelihood of utilization by spawning and rearing herring and other
forage fish and adversely affect spawning success at and near the site.
If the breakwater does not mitigate for the loss of Cascade Point intertidal habitat,
the development of this site would result in a permanent loss of at least one acre
of spawning habitat for Lynn Canal herring. In addition, spawning habitats
adjacent to Cascade Point will likely be impacted by habitat alteration and
degradation. These losses of spawning habitat may impact spawning production
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