Organochlorines in the sea

same direction, (v): alone is 1600 cm/s -~and (u + v)-~is 6400 cm/s:. Thus, the wave-induced horizontal orbital velocity, when equal to the stead), current, can increase

when evaluating potential sites for waste disposal in the

the unit drag force by 16o0 = 4, a 400% increase in drag force. If empirical information was available on the critical maximum panicle velocities required to induce oscil. latory movements of various submerged containers it would be possible to estimate from Hogben and Lamb's sea state observations and other avaLlable data the proportion of time during which thi.~ motion would occur at various depths. Such empirical information is high]), desirable, but even in its absence it is obvious that the particle velocity necessa~ to induce oscillatory movement in a cylindrical object (such as the 200 1 oil drum) is relatively small if the oil drum happens to be lying on its side on a smooth hard bottom. Although the recovered containers were weighted by a 10 cm layer of concrete, they are carefully filled to ensure sinking. Thus the centre of gravity of the drum is not expected to be displaced much. It would appear that the probability of the containers falIing on their sides upon discharge into the sea is high. One obvious way to minimize displacement of dumped waste containers would be to use some form of rectangulax solid shape rather than a cylindrical configuration. In addition, it is conceivable that partial or complete burial of properly designed containers could be achieved on continental shelves where soft sediments are prevalent. This would tend to minimize displacement by combined wind and current effects.The concept has already been suggested by Renn (1956) for certain radioactive wastes. In general it should be recognized that extreme storm conditions can produce exceptional}y large waves and the combination of steady currents and wave forces on subnm-ged ob~:ts on the bottom can result in large increases in the wave force, It is suggested that this combined force may have been responsible for the displacement and subsequent recover), of waste containers dumped in areas remote from active fi~hing grounds in the North Sea. In any event, it seems desirable to take into account the combined effects of currents and wave forces

Secretariat, lntergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, UNESCO. Place de Fomenoy, 75 - Paris - 7e. France.

se&. S. B. SAtL~

References Anon. (1968), Radioactive Waste Dispoml Operation into the Atlantic, 1967, Organization for Economic Co-operatioN

and Development, European Nuclear Energy Agency. Berge, G., Ljeen, R., and Palmork, IC H. (1970). The disposal of conta£ners with industrial waste into the North Sea: A problem to fisheries. FAO technical conference on marine

pollution and its effects on living resources and fishing, Rome. FIR- MP/70/E-73. Carruthers, J. M. (1926), Fishery Invest. (London) 9, 1. Cole. H. A. (1969), Report o/ the ICES Working Group on Pollution o/ the North Sea. ICES Cooperative Research Report Series A. No. 13. Defam, A. (1961), Physical Oceanography, Vol. II, p. 16 (Pergamon Press). Draper, L. (1965), Marine Geol., $, 133. Duursma, E. K., and Hoed¢ (1967), Netherlandx J. Sea Rex., 3, 423. Gienapp, H., and Tom¢~Jk+ G. (1968), Helgolimder WisL Meerestmters., 17, 94. Han~n. W. (1966), The reproduction of the motion of the sea by means of hydrodynamical-numerical methods, Inst. Meereskunde, Univ. Hamburg, Rpt. 5. Hogb=n, N. and Lamb, F. E. (1967), Ocean wave statistics, p. 263 (D. g . Hillman and Sons). Kalle, K. q(1949), Die waaser~hte Gieederung und die Tiefen des Meeres, (Handb. Seefisch. Nordens) I, h. 1, 10

(Scheweizerhart,Stuttgart).

Lee, A. (1970). Oceanog. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev., | , 33. Lee, A. and Ramster, J. f1968), Helgoltmder Wiss. Meeresunters,

17, 44.

Myers, J. J., Holm, C. H , and MeAllL¢~, R. F. (1969), Handbook o/ Ocean and Underwater Engineering, 12-24 to 12-56 (McGraw Hill). Renn, C. E. (1956), !. Araer. Water Works Ass., 4g, 535. Seha~hter, O., and Serwer, D. (1971), Amer. 7. Intern. Law., Jan. 1971, p. 84. Sverdrup, H. U., Johnson, M. W , and Fleming, R. H. (1949), The Oceans, p. 1087 (Prr.atice Hag). Waldichuk, M. (1960), Containment of r a d i o a ~ v e waste for sea dispo~l and fmheries off ~he Canadian Pacific coast, in Disposal of Radioactive Waste, Vol. 2. Conference Pro¢¢adings, Monaco. I A E A : 60-77. Wiegel, L. (1964), Ocetmographieal Engineering, p. 532 (Prentice-Hall).

Exploitation of the Oceans

Organoehiorines in the!Sea

The Proceedings of the International Colloquium on the Exploitation of the Oceans, held in Bordeaux in March 1971, have now been published in eleve~ volumes. Each of the five themes at the conference occupy two volumes and the eleventh volume contains the speeches at the inaugural session and the conclud. ing reports. The five themes were: industrial development of the sea coast; marketing marine products and aquaculture; equipment and the industrial development of the continental shelf; exploration of the deep oceans and the possibilities for their exploitation: and measuremerit systems at sea for the analysis and forecasting of environmental conditions. The Proceedings can be obtained from S6cretariat d'Organisation du Colloque de Bordeaux, CNEXO, B.P.107, Paris, 16e, France at 20 francs a volume or 200 francs the complete set.

A Panel on Monitoring Persistent Pegicides in the Marine Environment was set up in the spring o~ 1970 by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on Oceanography under the chairmanship of Dr Edward Goldberg. The Panel has now published its report under the title "Chlorinated Hydrocarbons in the Marine Environment". The report examines the source, distribution and effect of DDT residues and PCBs in the marine environmerit, attempting so far as possible to quantify its statemerits at least to an order of magnitude. It is concluded that as much as 25 per cent of DDT compounds that have been produced to date may have found their way into the sea and in view of the long half-life of the more persistent compounds, it is possible that much of the remaining 75 per cent will in time also be trans127

The Marine Pollution B u l l e t i n is published monthly and sets out to oover all aspects of the fight for the life of lakes, estuaries, sees and o ~ a n s . It Includes news, comment, reviews mid remmrch reports not only on the thres,te of noxious s u b s t a n c ~ to rrmrine life but also on the mmlagement and productivity of the marine environment in genoraJ. It publ~hes accounts of new and propolled research progmmmea as well am the results of thoee in progrmm. ~ o n t r i b u t J o n s rosy be in the form of short notes not e x c e ~ l n g 650 wor¢Is or articles of 1500-2000 words and should be submitted to the editor in double-spaced typescript. They should be given a short one-line title and the text should be broken by short sub-heedingLAil m e u u r e ments must be given in metric (S.J.) units. R e p r h t t 8 of srticles (:an be supplied after publication and an order form for them is sent to contributors. Bulk orders of copies of the entire imme in which an s r t i c ~ appem~ can be supplied at a reduced rate to the author, provided they ure ordered in advance of publication. E d i t e d by:. Professor R. B. C;ark, Department of Zoology, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. Publlshedby: Macmillan Journals Ltd, Lit~e Essex

Strest, London,WC2. SubscHIgtlons: M1~rnillan Jourrmhl Ltd, Subemtptions Depm'tment, Brunet Roed, Blmingstoks, Hwlts, F..nglsnd. Advertl4mment enquirte&. T. G. SCott & Son Ltd, I Ctement*s inn, London, WC2. Annualsubscriptlon: £3.50;, $10.50 USA (Air Freight}; $11.50 Canada (Air Freight},

ferred into the sea. "The more the problems/a¢ studied, r ~ more unexpected effects are identified. In view of the findings of the past decade, our predictions of the potential hazards of chlorinated hydrocarbons in the marine environment may be vastly underestim,*~=" Three recommcBdations follow from this review. First, a massive effort should be made immediately to reduce drastically the escape of persistent toxicanU to the environment with a view to stopping it altogether. Second, baseline studies on the present dim'ibution of the pollutants in the environment should be instituted. Third, laws relating to the registration of chemical subs-mnces and the release of production figures by govern. ment should be examined and, where necessary, amended. This final r e c o m m e n d a t i o n springs f r o m the difficulty

of discovering much about the production, particularly of PCBs. Monsanto Chemical Company is cited as an example of a large producer which has refused to disclose its production figures for PCBs although requested to do so by many scientists and government officials, making it impossible to form realistic estimates of the global production and loss to the environment of these compounds which are now known to be widely distributed and chmaging.

The report is accompamed by an outline of a proposed baseline sampling programme and. also a proposed set of baseline measurements to identify other globally distributed wastes in the marine environment. Both appendices have a si~ificance well beyond the immediate question of chlorinated hydrocarbon pollution. Copies of the report may be obtained from Ocean Affairs Board, National Research Council, 2101 Constimtion Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418, U.S.A., but the supply is limited.

Benthic Bibliography The Intenmtional Biological Progrmnme was devised to ensure that world.wide studies of the biological basis of organic production were initiated and carried on. One of its best achievements has been to bring some order to the methodological chaos that existed previously, when, although a good deal of work was in in various parts of the world, much of the impact was lost simply because the wide variety of methods in use made it difficult if not impossible to compare the results of different investigators. One of the tint tasks in many of the sections of IBP was to produce a series of handbooks of recommended methods and these have already had a beneficial nnit~ing e~ect. The mariue productivity section of IPB was in a more fortunate position than most because to some extent this need bad been or is being met by other international bodies. One omission that it saw and has made good was a Handbook on Methodz for the Study of Marine Benthos, edited by N. A. Holme and A. D. Mcintyre, which was published earlier this year by Black'weLl. This has now been supplemented by a comprehensive bibliography on methods of studying the marine benthos, edited by A. D. McIntyre. which appears as FAO F'mheries Technical Paper No 98. Copies may be obtained from Research Information Section. Fishery Resource Division, FAO, 00100 Rome, Italy. The bibliography contz~ns nearly 1,400 entries under the headings Benthos surveys. Position fixing. Physical and chemical properties of the medium. Observation and collection of fauna, Extraction from the sediment, Phytobenthos and primary production, and Secondary production. A useful adjunct to the bibliography is a checklist of benthos sampling gear, excluding underwater cameras, television and diving methods. It is based largely on four ~mprehensive reviews previously pubfished by G. Gunter, N. A. Hoime, T. L. Hopkln~ and G, Thorsen. and gives page references to descriptions of each of the samplers. A supplementary list gives references to benthos samplers described since 1963 or omitted from the earlier reviews. It is reco~niT~-d that in a rapidly moving field, biblio. graphies become out of date very quickly, and it is hoped by the Marine Productivity Section of IBP to revise this b~liography at intervals. There is a suggestion that geographic, taxonomic and other indices will be produced in due course. The present version is by no means exhaustive, as the compilers reco~ize, but at least it provides a convenient guide to the literature and the user of it will not find that he is left unaware of the more important works in this field.

,~ lq71 Macmillan JoumaJs Led. Printed ;n Great Britain by $. R. Vetstage & Sons Ltd.. Rankine Road. Basinpcoke. Hamz~thite.Tel. Basinwstoke3326.