Executive Summary - Department of Invertebrate Zoology

analyzed for leachable metals and USGS total digestates were analyzed
for barium and vanadium . During the second year VIMS analyzed
sediments for both leachable and total metal concentrations .
VIMS collected suspended sediments for USGS analysis and, using a
USGS instrument, provided USGS with records of nephelo aeter/
transmissometer traces .
VIMS biologists parti c ipated in USGS submersible cruises in the
lease area during the first year to obtain quantitative and
qualitative estimates of animal distributions .
. . ...
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA), U . S .
Department of Commerce, analyzed historical finfish and benthos data
related to the Middle Atlantic Bight OCS area under Interagency
Agreement No . AA550-IA7-35 with BLM . The National Data Buoy Office
maintained two meteorological data buoys in the region, one of which,
in addition to stannard meteorological wind-sea surface data, recorded
wave data (AA550-IA6-3) . This data, particularly the wave data, was
used by VIMS in wave model studies . The 2nvironmental Data and
Information Service ( EDIS) Center for Experiment Design and Data
Analysis ( CEDDA) of NOAA under Interagency Agreement No . AA550-IA6-12
analyzed historical oceanographic and meteorological data for long
term and seasonal trends . VIMS physical oceanographers worked closely
with CEDDA on this project and provided a complete set of all
oceanographic data in the VIMS data base for offshore areas . A list
of personnel responsible for liaison between BLM supported studies in
the Middle Atlantic Region is provided in Table 2 .
Other BLM funded studies in the region that did not directly
relate to the benchmark study included two literature surveys . A
:iterature survey of the 200 m - 2000 m sope area from the Gulf of
Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, was conducted by The Research
Institut e of the Gulf of Maine ( TRIGOM) under Contract No, .
(1855U-CT5-47 . An update of the TRIGOM 1974 socio-economic ar .d
environmental inventory which covered the northern portion of the
Middle Atlantic Bight, and a University of Rhode Island (URI 1973)
coastal and offshore environmental inventory of the region from Cape
Hatteras to Nantucket Shoals was ccmpleted by the Center for National
Areas ( CNA) under Contract No . AA550-CT6-45 . VIMS personnel have
provided data and reports to CNA for their update .
Major non-BI .M studies in the region include the ground fish
surveys conducted annually by the National Marine Fisheries :ervice
(NMFS), the Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program ( MESA) New York Bight
Studies, both o : NOAA, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
funded dump site studies off Delaware Bay .
VIMS' other major offshore study in the Middle Atlantic Bight is
a National Sc ence Foundation ( NSF) funded study of the Norfolk Canyon
ecosystem which focuses on shelf and canyon ichth Nnfauna, zooplankton,
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