Amendment ID: S3050-222-R1

Redraft Amendment 222

Overcoming coastal and environmental acidification and nutrient pollution

Messrs. Fernandes and Cyr, Ms. Lovely and Mr. Tarr move that the proposed new draft be amended by inserting after section 10 the following section:-

“SECTION 10A. Section 4C of chapter 21A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “change”, in line 21, the following words “, ocean acidification ”; and

by inserting after section 72 the following section:-

“SECTION 72A. (a) The secretary of energy and environmental affairs shall coordinate implementation of an ocean acidification monitoring system to study the threat posed by ocean and coastal acidification by: (i) engaging with and, to the extent practicable, coordinating public and private monitoring efforts of ocean acidification; (ii) harmonizing data collection; (iii) providing, where available, monitoring hardware and technical assistance; (iv) recommending mitigative interventions for coastal stressors or adaptive technologies for aquaculture, prioritizing nature-based solutions to manage stormwater and reduce nutrient pollution; (v) aggregating ocean acidification data from available public and private sources with other available ocean monitoring data, including, but not limited to, salinity, temperature and nutrient composition; and (vi) working with local ocean monitoring groups to analyze monitoring needs; provided, however, that the analysis of monitoring needs shall identify appropriate monitoring technologies and specific coastal waters where ocean acidification monitoring equipment would need to be placed to enable modeling for long term pH changes in coastal waters and permit short-term monitoring of aragonite saturation in variable and sensitive coastal waters to protect critical habitat and shellfish; and provided further, that data derived from the monitoring system shall be made publicly available in a dashboard and in a standardized format for research.

 (b) Annually, the secretary shall issue a report on ocean acidification based on data derived from the ocean acidification monitoring system established pursuant to this section, commencing 1 year after the implementation of the ocean acidification monitoring system. The secretary shall issue an updated ocean acidification reports as an appendix of each ocean management plan.

(d) In carrying out this section, the secretary shall avoid duplicating regional efforts and shall incorporate best available science with data from the ocean acidification monitoring system established in this section and data from local and private monitoring efforts, where available, and shall employ methods which shall include, but shall not be limited to: (i) modeling ocean and coastal acidification trends in coastal waters and project acidification trends; (ii) studying the effects of acidification on marine species that are ecologically or economically important or understudied, including an examination of the impact of multimodal stress and shall include, a study of acidification effects on the American lobster, Eastern oyster, sea scallops, quahogs and fin fish; (iii) clarifying any causal relationship between nutrient pollution, eutrophication and coastal acidification in coastal waters; (iv) determining how different coastal stressors contribute to coastal acidification; (v) estimating the economic impacts of modeled and projected acidification on the commonwealth’s economy; (vi) determining if current total maximum daily loads under the Massachusetts estuaries project are sufficient to keep acidity in Massachusetts embayments within the ranges required by 314 CMR 4.05 through 2050 and proposing changes to 314 CMR §§ 4 and 5 and total maximum daily loads if needed, taking into account ocean and coastal acidification as particularized stressors; (vii) performing cost-benefit analyses of intervention strategies to determine where pollution reductions will most efficiently resilience acidification; and (viii) developing best adaptive practices for the shellfishing industry to use to adapt to acidification.”.