Mar 9, 2023
NOAA proposes to designate Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary in eastern Lake Ontario to recognize the national significance of the area's historical, archaeological, and cultural resources and to manage this special place as part of the National Marine Sanctuary System. The national significance of the area within and around the proposed sanctuary will benefit from long-term protection, management, and interpretation. The proposed boundary is a 1,724 square-mile area containing 43 known shipwrecks, including the historic schooner St. Peter, and one aircraft.
Over the past few months NOAA has held a series of public meetings at municipalities along the south and east shore of Lake Ontario, which included the town of Wolcott, to describe the proposed rule making and accept public comments. A virtual webinar was also held by NOAA on March 8th which was attended by Lori Furguson and Jeff Auser. It was learned that Oswego, Sodus, and Fair Haven will be granted “exemptions” from the proposed rules that will allow them to continue their channel dredging. Given that Port Bay was not specifically listed as an exempted site, this has created concern regarding our ability to continue our seasonal channel dredging activities. During the public comment portion of the webinar both Lori and Jeff stressed the importance of maintaining our ability to perform channel dredging on behalf of the 400+ property owners around the bay. While we have recently received some preliminary feedback that our dredging will not be impacted by the proposed rulemaking we will continue to monitor this closely.