Superintendent Craig MacDonald also told the subcommittee Thursday — to the frustration of a number of the eight members — that he might not be ready to unveil his plan for the "ecological research area," somewhere inside the 843 square miles between the tips of Cape Ann and Cape Cod, to the meeting of the full Sanctuary Advisory Committee set for Sept. 14 in Dedham.

"I'm a little bit weary of waiting," said David Pierce, the deputy director of marine fisheries for the state. Pierce is a member of both the subcommittee and New England Fishery Management Council, which regulates fishing inside Stellwagen.

"We have identified an area that we think is appropriate" to be the research setaside, the superintendent announced at the meeting, but deflected repeated attempts to elicit or draw from him details.

MacDonald also flatly refused to give a rough estimate of the size of the research area he has in mind.

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