Stellwagen Bank is a shallow area at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. Because it is shallow, it cuts off most of the deep water flow from the greater Gulf of Maine. The shallowest section of the bank (its southwest corner) is only 65 feet deep. However, most of the bank averages 100 feet in depth. The bank drops off on each side to about 300 feet in Massachusetts Bay to the west of the bank, and 300 feet on the east (the continental shelf).
Stellwagen Bank was selected as a sanctuary because of the high productivity there. Colder bottom waters from the Gulf rise up along the bank, providing nutrients to the phytoplankton which thrive in the sun-lit waters. This phytoplankton feeds the small animals or zooplankton, which in turn feed small fish, such as sand lance and herring. Humpbacks are attracted to these fish foods -- and therefore have made Stellwagen Bank and other shallow areas around Cape Cod a stopping place on the northward migration. The whales were probably one of the most important reasons for the designation of Stellwagen Bank as a National Marine Sanctuary.
The National Marine Sanctuary program is a system of special marine areas around the United States. In all, there are12 areas that have been designated as sanctuaries because they have significant ecological or historical resources.
Other sanctuaries include the Monitor site off North Carolina (the famous Civil War fighting ship), Gray's Reef off Georgia, the Florida Keys, Flower Gardens Bank off Texas, the Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones/Cordell Bank in California, the Olympic Coast of Washington, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary, and Fagatele Bay in American Samoa.
Anne Smrcina Education Coordinator Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
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