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Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Proposed Management Plan
Dear All:
For the last several months a group of us has been working behind the scenes to address what is becoming a very serious threat to our right to access shipwrecks in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) - located off the coast of Massachusetts. The management plan that is in place is undergoing a revision this year or early next. NOAA has been attempting to re-work the existing management plan to control public access to shipwrecks by creating a 3-tier classification system, with each classification having certain provisions attached to it. There are implications for everyone in the proposed changes, with commercial fisherman probably being the most adversely affected. However, we as divers - researchers using remote sensing equipment and specifically wreck divers - are also adversely affected by what is being proposed. In short, access to shipwrecks will be controlled, regulated and restricted - they want us out. We will be unable to visit even the most historically unimportant shipwrecks without first notifying the sanctuary of our visit. Talk about Big Brother!
To date only a "Maritime Heritage Resources Action Plan" (AP) has been released. This plan forms the basis for the draft management plan, which can go into effect after a 60 day public review period, assuming the public response is positive. The AP has been approved already and is will on it's way to implementation via the management plan. We don't have time to wait for the draft management plan before we act, so we are starting now and addressing these issues now.
We as divers - but most importantly as the tax-paying public - have the right to dive in Stellwagen and visit ALL of its shipwrecks - and that includes the PORTLAND, the Palmer/Crary, etc. The Federal Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987 requires that states facilitate access to shipwrecks - why should national marine sanctuaries be any different?
Some of you may believe that you are not affected by the changes being proposed in SBNMS because it's not in your geographic area. Nothing could be further from the truth - you are affected. Stellwagen is a National Marine Sanctuary - one of 13 in our country. Collectively these National Marine Sanctuaries cover 13,000 square miles of water. Changes here will set a dangerous precedent for the management of other sanctuaries, preserves and bodies of water under state or federal control. You are affected.
With that, we are calling all divers, researchers and concerned public to join our cause. We need your support and ask that you show it by visiting http://www.shipwreckdivers.org, learning about Stellwagen, and signing an online petition that will be submitted during the public review period - a petition that will hopefully force reconsideration of the proposed changes. Please share this information with as many people as possible so we can appear during the public commenting meeting with a strong voice. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us. Thank you for time.
On behalf of the many who have already helped get us this far -
Best regards,
Heather Knowles & David Caldwell
Boston, MA
