Marine Fisheries
Title:	Restoration of Natural Resources in the New Bedford Harbor Environment
Author(s):	Jack Terrill, Steven Block, James Turek, NOAA Restoration Center; Dale Young, MA EOEEA, Natural Resources Damages Program
Date:	Monday, April 26, 2010
Time:	3:20 pm - 5:00 pm
Room:	Salon B
Abstract: Decades of hazardous substance releases, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), led to New Bedford Harbor and the Acushnet River being designated as one of the first Superfund sites in 1983. This resulted in injury to approximately 18,000 acres of marine waters resulting in death and reproductive impairment of marine species and lost use of natural resources. The New Bedford Harbor Trustee Council (NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Commonwealth of Massachusetts) was established in 1993 to coordinate the natural resource restoration with funding provided by a 1992 settlement of $20.2 million. The Trustee Council is responsible for the restoration of natural resources which were injured, destroyed or lost by the release of hazardous substances into the New Bedford Harbor Environment. To date, twenty two restoration projects have been completed since 1998 with another nine underway. Funded restoration projects have included land acquisition, fish passage, wetland restoration, shellfish restoration, endangered seabird restoration and recreational park construction. The panel will report on examples and highlights of the restoration projects completed to date as well as those underway.
Back to Marine Fisheries Schedule