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Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters: Bioassessment and Biocriteria Technical Guidance Document; Notice of Availability

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: January 9, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 6)]
[Notices]
[Page 1674]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09ja01-63]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6930-7]


Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters: Bioassessment and
Biocriteria Technical Guidance Document; Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the availability of the Estuarine and
Coastal Marine Waters: Bioassessment and Biocriteria Technical Guidance
document developed and published pursuant to section 304(a)(8) of the
Clean Water Act (CWA). This technical guidance document helps fulfill
CWA section 101(a) which states, in summary, ``The objective of this
Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological
integrity of the Nation's waters.''
    To help protect the biological integrity of the Nation's waters,
this technical guidance provides an extensive collection of methods and
protocols for conducting bioassessments in estuarine and coastal marine
waters and the procedures for deriving biocriteria from the results.
Case studies illustrate the bioassessment process and biocriteria
derivation procedures. The document outlines physical classification of
estuaries and coastal marine waters, and discusses sampling methods and
candidate metrics for four core groups of biological indicator
assemblages: benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, aquatic macrophytes, and
phytoplankton. Three sampling tiers are developed, increasing in
sampling effort, precision, and diagnostic ability. Alternative data
analysis methods are introduced for biological index development, and
the document ends with eight case studies illustrating the
implementation of the methods.
    Many natural resource agencies throughout the United States are
using bioassessments and biocriteria for small rivers and streams and
some States are beginning work in lakes and reservoirs. EPA issued
guidance documents for these water bodies in 1996 and 1998,
respectively (Biological Criteria: Technical Guidance for Streams and
Small Rivers (EPA-822-B-96-001) and Lake and Reservoir Bioassessment
and Biocriteria Technical Guidance Document (EPA 841-B-98-007)).
    With the use of this guidance State/Tribal and Federal water
resource managers will be able to better protect and restore the
biological integrity of coastal and estuarine resources. This guidance
is not a regulation and does not impose legally-binding requirements on
EPA, States, Territories, Tribes, or the public.
    Availability of Documents: The guidance is published with the
following title and EPA document number; Estuarine and Coastal Marine
Waters: Bioassessment and Biocriteria Technical Guidance, (EPA 822-B-
00-024), dated December 2000. The document and a summary Fact Sheet are
available on the EPA website at www.epa.gov/ost/biocriteria/. Paper
copies can be obtained from the U.S. EPA, Water Resource Center by
phone at: (202) 260-7786, or by sending an e-mail to the Center at
center.water-resource@epa.gov, or through conventional mail by sending
a letter of request to U.S. EPA Water Resource Center, Ariel Rios
Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Swietlik at (202) 260-9569 or
by e-mail at swietlik.william@epa.gov or Laura Gabanski at (202) 260-
5868 or by e-mail at gabanski.laura@epa.gov.

    Dated: December 22, 2000.
Geoffrey H. Grubbs,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 01-573 Filed 1-8-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P

 
 

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