This is a proposed updated Action Plan in the Buzzards Bay CCMP 2024 Update.

Monitoring Management Action, Status, and Trends

Problem

Monitoring is used to track the effectiveness of management action or inaction. For Clean Water Act initiatives like the National Estuary Program, a key question has always been, “Are we making waters more fishable and swimmable?” This question is understood as whether government is preserving and protecting ecosystem health and the integrity of the natural environment, and whether waters meet specified “designated uses.” An especially difficult challenge in all environmental monitoring programs is recognizing that static environmental conditions in the face of new development or pollution inputs is a measurable success.
Increasingly, funding agencies want to know not only whether a project was completed successfully, but also whether it was successful in protecting or restoring the environment. In fact, the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act section 320(b)(6) specified that each NEP Management Conference shall “…monitor the effective-ness of actions taken pursuant to the plan,” to meet these two goals: “measure the effectiveness of the management actions and programs implemented under the [CCMP]; and provide essential information that can be used to redirect and refocus the CCMP during implementation.” Implicit in these requirements are programmatic monitoring, environmental monitoring, and some level of re-search to ensure that selected environmental monitoring is adequately characterizing environmental conditions and risks.
Each action plan in the Buzzards Bay CCMP includes monitoring strategies. This action plan reiterates some of the most important elements of other action plans, but also addresses some broader watershed monitoring and reporting needs to meet the broader goals of the Buzzards Bay CCMP.

Goals and Objectives

Changes: One goal and objective were revised to improve clarity and meaning. One new objective was added.

Goal 20.1. Document environmental trends of water quality, living resources, and habitat to assess the effectiveness of management actions taken or identify the need for new actions.
Goal 20.2. Identify research and monitoring needs to understand more clearly the causes of impairments, reduce uncertainties about health risks, and better define conditions in Buzzards Bay.
Objective 20.1. Collect and monitor programmatic actions to document implementation of the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.
Objective 20.2. Ensure that regulatory agencies define essential monitoring requirements and collect data necessary to evaluate program and project success.
Objective 20.3. Ensure that funding is available to implement essential monitoring programs.
Objective 20.4. Revise and adapt monitoring programs to meet changing needs and information gaps.
Objective 20.5. Disseminate data and syntheses of information to scientists, managers, and the public.
Objective 20.6. Encourage scientists and agencies to evaluate emerging contaminants and other stressors to the environment.
Objective 20.7. Track National Estuary Program funding to help ensure environmental justice and environmental equity goals are met. (New)