Long Island Sound should become the 14th National Marine Sanctuary, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Friday, joining areas such as the Stellwagen Bank off Massachusetts Bay and the Florida Keys in a special protected status for ecological and cultural resources.

Blumenthal, speaking at a Connecticut SeaGrant conference Friday at the University of Connecticut Law School, said the estuary could be named a National Marine Sanctuary through an act of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, which oversees the program through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Congressional action would not be required, he said.

The Sound needs the additional protection that sanctuary status would afford to preserve and enhance its value as an environmental and economic asset to New York, Connecticut and the whole nation, Blumenthal said. It would help prevent industrial projects such as the Islander East gas pipeline proposal and the Broadwater Energy liquefied natural gas plant from coming as close as they did to being located in the Sound, he said.

"That's not to say we should rip up the cables and pipelines that are there now," he said, "but that we direct (new ones) in a way that follows existing routes and avoids added damage.

"This would fill in the gaps and loopholes in the legal protections of the Sound," he said. "The Sound is vulnerable. Better to have a sanctuary or preserve that is established in legal bedrock so projects that betray the public interest are permanently and securely out of bounds. This would afford a secure protective boundary or fence that would be in the interests of the aesthetic and environmental value of this resource, and also its economic value for recreation, fishing and navigation."

Blumenthal said he would contact the commerce secretary about the proposal, and seek the support of the governors of Connecticut and New York and fellow Congressmen in helping move it forward. The process for designating the Sound as a National Marine Sanctuary would involve an environmental impact study, public hearings and several other steps.

Established in 1972 as the equivalent of the National Park system for undersea environments, the National Marine Sanctuary program now includes 13 sanctuaries and one Marine National Monument. A variety of marine habitats, such as deep ocean gardens, coral reefs, whale migration corridors, deep sea canyons, as well as underwater archeological sites have been named sanctuaries, ranging in size from one-quarter square mile in American Samoa to more than 135,000 square miles in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

While each sanctuary is governed by its own set of regulations, there are also regulations common to all these areas. These include prohibitions against all discharges; disturbances of the seabed through construction or other alteration; and disturbances of cultural resources. Exploration and new development of oil, gas or minerals are also prohibited.

j.benson@theday.com