dredging & coral spawning

[Susan Burr]

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island's (CNMI- Saipan) Coastal
Resources Management office has a permit condition that requires all
dredging operations to cease during and five days after the yearly hard
coral spawning event.  They have recently been asked by a permittee to
provide scientific justification for this permit condition.  The dredging
operation in question is an archaeological excavation that will be using a
suction dredger to remove sand and a clamshell dredger to remove boulders.
The immediate site has approximately ten percent coral cover and the
adjacent reef has 10-60 percent coral cover.  The site has a relatively
strong longshore current and wave action is high.

Does anyone know of any citations to justify or refute this permit
condition?  Is the CNMI's condition more or less stringent than other
jurisdictions?  Should dredging operations be required to cease during the
soft coral spawning as well?

Thanks for everyone's help.  You can reply directly to me at
susan.burr at saipan.com.
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|       Susan Burr                                                 |
|       CNMI Division of Environmental Quality |
|        PPP 171  Box 10000                               |
|        Saipan, MP  96950-9504   USA            |
|                                                                            |
|        Phone:  670.234.1011                            |
|        Fax:  670.234.1003                                  |
|        E-mail:  susan.burr at saipan.com       |
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