Land under Salt Ponds

(1) Preamble. Land under salt ponds is significant to the protection of marine fisheries and wildlife habitat and, where there are shellfish, to the protection of land containing shellfish.5 Land under salt ponds provides an excellent habitat for marine fisheries. The high productivity of plants in salt ponds provides food for shellfish, crustaceans and larval and juvenile fish. Salt ponds also provide spawning areas for shellfish and are nursery areas for crabs and fish. In addition to the many birds which feed on fish found in salt ponds, waterfowl also eat invertebrates such as mollusks and crustaceans, which in turn depend on bottom sediment and vegetation. Some bird species also eat rupia and eel grass which may be rooted in land under salt ponds. When a proposed project involves the dredging, filling, removing or altering of land under a salt pond, the issuing authority shall presume that such land is significant to the protection of marine fisheries and wildlife habitat and, where there are shellfish, to the protection of land containing shellfish. This presumption may be overcome only upon a clear showing that land under a salt pond does not play a role in the protection of marine fisheries or wildlife habitat or land containing shellfish, and if the issuing authority makes a written determination to such effect. When land under a salt pond is significant to the protection of marine fisheries or wildlife habitat, the following factors are critical to the protection of that interest: (a) water circulation; (b) distribution of sediment grain size; (c) freshwater inflow; (d) productivity of plants; and (e) water quality. (2) Definition. Salt Pond means a shallow enclosed or semi-enclosed body of saline water that may be partially or totally restricted by barrier beach formation. Salt ponds may receive freshwater from small streams emptying into their upper reaches and/or springs in the salt pond itself. WHEN LAND UNDER A SALT POND IS DETERMINED TO BE SIGNIFICANT TO THE 5 For regulations concerning land containing shellfish, see 310 CMR 10.34. PROTECTION OF MARINE FISHERIES OR WILDLIFE HABITAT, 310 CMR 10.33(3) THROUGH (5) SHALL APPLY: (3) Any project on land under a salt pond, on lands within 100 feet of the mean high water line of a salt pond, or on land under a body of water adjacent to a salt pond shall not have an adverse effect on the marine fisheries or wildlife habitat of such a salt pond caused by: (a) alterations of water circulation; (b) alterations in the distribution of sediment grain size and the relief or elevation of the bottom topography; (c) modifications in the flow of fresh and/or salt water; (d) alterations in the productivity of plants, or 10.33: continued (e) alterations in water quality, including, but not limited to, other than normal fluctuations in the level of dissolved oxygen, nutrients, temperature or turbidity, or the addition of pollutants. (4) Notwithstanding the provisions of 310 CMR 10.33(3), activities specifically required and intended to maintain the depth and the opening of the salt pond to the ocean in order to maintain or enhance the marine fisheries or for the specific purpose of fisheries management, may be permitted. (5) Notwithstanding the provisions of 310 CMR 10.33(3) and (4), no project may be permitted which will have any adverse effect on specified habitat sites of rare vertebrate or invertebrate species, as identified by procedures established under 310 CMR 10.37.