A resource-based methodology to assess dock and pier impacts on pleasant bay, massachusetts

摘要

The preparation of a four-town resource management plan for Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, required a comprehensive assessment of the present number of private piers on the bay, the probability of numerous additional piers in the future. and the potential impacts from piers on the resources of the bay. The planning group developed a methodology to account for various components relative to piers and their use. The study area was segmented into 26 geographic subsections. Each subsection was evaluated for nine factors representing biological, physical, and human use characteristics critical to the impacts of docks and piers. The nine factors were semi-enclosed or open water bodies, water depth, shellfish habitat, eelgrass, fringe salt marsh, density of existing structures, moorings, and navigational channels, and recreational activity. After assessment of the areas, each of the nine factors was assigned a value of 0,0.5, or 1, where 0 indicated the least significance and 1 represented the greatest signiicance, Results were tabulated and mapped according to resource sensitivity. The results indicated that a significant portion of the bay's more secluded shoreline is extremely resource sensitive. The environmental impacts from construction and use of docks and piers in these areas pose a direct threat to the extensive and fragile resources, and these areas have been deemed inappropriate for new docks and piers. Less sensitive areas may be more appropriate for construction of new docks and piers based on baywide criteria to be formulated once the plan is implemented.