United States
                   Environmental Protection
                   Agency
                                           Office of Research and
                                           Development
                                           Washington, DC 20460
EPA/620/R-00/005p
November, 2000
vvEPA    Coastal    Communications
                                                                 Massachusetts
                                                                 Coastal 2000 Design

                                                                 Sampling Sites
                                                                        Map Locations
                      NATIONAL COASTAL REPORT CARD
              COASTAL 2000 - MASSACHUSETTS ASSESSMENT
                          OR&/REGION  1/OW/MA CZM
Background
As part of the U.S. EPA's National Coastal Report Card's
(also known as Coastal 2000) multi-year partnership
among EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD),
EPA's Office of Water (OW), EPA's Regional Offices, and
the coastal states and selected territories, EPA has
developed a coastal monitoring program with EPA Region 1,
the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management
(CZM), the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, and the
University of  Massachusetts. This joint effort will permit,
for the first time, a comparison of conditions of coastal
resources in Massachusetts with other U.S. coastal states
and provide a  nation-wide assessment of coastal resources.
This effort is being coordinated by the National Health and
Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's Atlantic
Ecology Division in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
Coastal  2000 Strategy
Coastal 2000 is a strategic partnership with all coastal
states in the country.  Each state uses a compatible
probabilistic design and a common set of environmental indicators (see Table below) to
independently survey its coastal resources and assess their condition. These estimates can then be
aggregated to assess conditions at the EPA Regional, biogeographical, and National levels. All data
will be made available for public access on the Internet.  The map shows the coastal areas included
in the survey and the number of sampling sites intended for the Massachusetts coast.
Water Quality
dissolved oxygen
Salinity, •temperature, depth
pH
Nutrients
Chlorophyll
Sediment Quality
Grain size
Total organic carbon
Sediment chemistry
Benthic community structure
Sediment toxicity
Biota
Benthic community structure
Fish community structure
Fish external pathology
Fish tissue analyses
Further Information
For further information, please contact Christian Krahforst at the Massachusetts Office of Coastal
Zone Management at (617) 626-1216 or chrJStian.krahforSt@State.ma.US; or Ray Thompson at
the New England Regional Laboratory at (781) 860-4372 or thompson.ray@epa.gov; or Jerry
Pesch at the National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory's Atlantic Ecology Division at
(401) 782-3007 or pesch.gerald@epa.gov.

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