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Virgin Island research habitat
Volume 19/Number 2/February 1988
Fire subsequently broke out on the ship apparently from overheating diesel generators left on board to operate pumps. Smoking and listing badly, Nella Dan was towed 3 miles out to sea and sank in water over 3000 m deep, taking with her over $400 000 worth of equipment, Nella Dan (2186 t) was built in Denmark in 1961 and had the distinction of having made more trips to the Antarctic than any other ship, averaging four per year. Plans to replace the 26 year old ship were already being made at the time of the accident with a $90 million build and charter contract going to P & O Polar for a new 7500 t ship to be delivered in 1989. The new ship will be designed as a multipurpose vessel for supply, research, and ice-breaking, capable of breaking ice of 1.3 metre thickness continuously. The vessel will provide Australia with a large increase in capabilities in these areas and will probably be used for 12 months in the year instead of the usual six months of the Antarctic summer,
The results of these studies have led the Hong Kong Government to infer that contaminated seafood caught locally contributes to the organochlorines ingested by the Hong Kong population, particularly due to the high consumption of seafood in Hong Kong. There is growing concern that the local population may be exposed to organochlorines and will suffer the adverse health consequences thereof. Monitoring will proceed. BRIAN MORTON
Virgin Island Research Habitat
plankton
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has placed an undersea research habitat on the floor of the Salt Water Canyon off the island of St Croix, US Virgin Islands. The research station Aquarius, which contains three compartments and is capable of housing up to six people, will allow scientists to examine the marine environment for a virtually unlimited time. During the next two years, scientists will use the habitat to study various fisheries and marine engineering problems, including the causes of coral bleaching. The station is 13 m (43 ft) long, 3.7 m (12 r) wide, and 5 m (16.5 ft) high and cost $5.5 million. The habitat is connected by an umbilical system to an unmanned surface support boat and functions without shore support. The habitat contains sleeping areas, a galley, and lab and computer facilities. Scientists can enter and exit the habitat through a lock-out chamber and can make observations through ports and through a video system that can monitor conditions on the sea floor and surface waters.
DDT in Hong Kong Breast Milk A little publicized report by H. M. H. Ip (1983) ('Breast milk contaminants in Hong Kong'. The Bulletin of the Hong Kong Medical Association 35, 1-16) concluded that Hong Kong human milk "contains more than twice the DDT complex and Beta BHC which have ever been found in human milk" and "contains levels of Dieldrin which exceeded those reported in most countries". This survey, conducted in 1976-77, has recently been repeated (1985) and the unpublished results indicate comparable levels (a study by D. J. H. Phillips, 1985). 'Organochlorines and trace metals in greenlipped mussels Perna viridis from Hong Kong waters: a test of indicator ability' (Marine Ecology--Progress Series 21, 251-258), demonstrated generalized contamination of Victoria Harbour by DDT and its metabolites and localized pollution by PCB's.
North American News M a r i n e D e a d Z o n e in G u l f o f M e x i c o A 'dead zone', which is substantially devoid of marine life, has been found in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast. Scientists at the Louisiana State University Marine Consortium are studying the 18 km wide swathe that is most pronounced in the summer and results from low oxygen levels associated with phytostimulation and insufficient mixing. Extending from the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans to the upper Texas coast, the plankton stimulation is theorized to be caused primarily by nitrate runoff from wastes and agricultural fertilizers. Studies have shown that nitrate levels in the Mississippi River and in the ocean off the river have almost doubled since the 1960s. The scientists are now trying to determine if there is a causal relationship between the low oxygen levels and the elevated nitrate levels or whether the low oxygen levels are part of a natural oceanographic cycle in the Gulf. Although research has been conducted on this zone since 1985, recent studies have revealed that the dead zone is larger than previously imagined, persists long (April through October), and somewhat shifts its position due to wind and oceanographic conditions. The researchers are primarily concerned with the effects this dead zone has on the extensive commercial fisheries of the area, since resource species cannot remain in this region during the low oxygen periods. Officials W a n t M o r e C o n t r o l o f O c e a n Management Legislators from the Western US states and territories passed several resolutions that urged the US Congress to enact legislation which would grant regional officials more input to, and control, over ocean management issues. Meeting at the Annual Western Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments, the legislators represented 13 Western states, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of t)ae Northern Mariana Islands. The resolutions passed by the conference urged the US Congress to 1. amend the Coastal Zone Management Act to require more state and federal cooperation in ocean management; 2. enact the National Seabed Hard Minerals Act and make NOAA an independent agency; and 3. approve 'environmentally sound' exploration and development of oil and gas resources in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (see Mar. Pollut. Bull. 18,263). 49
Fire subsequently broke out on the ship apparently from overheating diesel generators left on board to operate pumps. Smoking and listing badly, Nella Dan was towed 3 miles out to sea and sank in water over 3000 m deep, taking with her over $400 000 worth of equipment, Nella Dan (2186 t) was built in Denmark in 1961 and had the distinction of having made more trips to the Antarctic than any other ship, averaging four per year. Plans to replace the 26 year old ship were already being made at the time of the accident with a $90 million build and charter contract going to P & O Polar for a new 7500 t ship to be delivered in 1989. The new ship will be designed as a multipurpose vessel for supply, research, and ice-breaking, capable of breaking ice of 1.3 metre thickness continuously. The vessel will provide Australia with a large increase in capabilities in these areas and will probably be used for 12 months in the year instead of the usual six months of the Antarctic summer,
The results of these studies have led the Hong Kong Government to infer that contaminated seafood caught locally contributes to the organochlorines ingested by the Hong Kong population, particularly due to the high consumption of seafood in Hong Kong. There is growing concern that the local population may be exposed to organochlorines and will suffer the adverse health consequences thereof. Monitoring will proceed. BRIAN MORTON
Virgin Island Research Habitat
plankton
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has placed an undersea research habitat on the floor of the Salt Water Canyon off the island of St Croix, US Virgin Islands. The research station Aquarius, which contains three compartments and is capable of housing up to six people, will allow scientists to examine the marine environment for a virtually unlimited time. During the next two years, scientists will use the habitat to study various fisheries and marine engineering problems, including the causes of coral bleaching. The station is 13 m (43 ft) long, 3.7 m (12 r) wide, and 5 m (16.5 ft) high and cost $5.5 million. The habitat is connected by an umbilical system to an unmanned surface support boat and functions without shore support. The habitat contains sleeping areas, a galley, and lab and computer facilities. Scientists can enter and exit the habitat through a lock-out chamber and can make observations through ports and through a video system that can monitor conditions on the sea floor and surface waters.
DDT in Hong Kong Breast Milk A little publicized report by H. M. H. Ip (1983) ('Breast milk contaminants in Hong Kong'. The Bulletin of the Hong Kong Medical Association 35, 1-16) concluded that Hong Kong human milk "contains more than twice the DDT complex and Beta BHC which have ever been found in human milk" and "contains levels of Dieldrin which exceeded those reported in most countries". This survey, conducted in 1976-77, has recently been repeated (1985) and the unpublished results indicate comparable levels (a study by D. J. H. Phillips, 1985). 'Organochlorines and trace metals in greenlipped mussels Perna viridis from Hong Kong waters: a test of indicator ability' (Marine Ecology--Progress Series 21, 251-258), demonstrated generalized contamination of Victoria Harbour by DDT and its metabolites and localized pollution by PCB's.
North American News M a r i n e D e a d Z o n e in G u l f o f M e x i c o A 'dead zone', which is substantially devoid of marine life, has been found in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast. Scientists at the Louisiana State University Marine Consortium are studying the 18 km wide swathe that is most pronounced in the summer and results from low oxygen levels associated with phytostimulation and insufficient mixing. Extending from the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans to the upper Texas coast, the plankton stimulation is theorized to be caused primarily by nitrate runoff from wastes and agricultural fertilizers. Studies have shown that nitrate levels in the Mississippi River and in the ocean off the river have almost doubled since the 1960s. The scientists are now trying to determine if there is a causal relationship between the low oxygen levels and the elevated nitrate levels or whether the low oxygen levels are part of a natural oceanographic cycle in the Gulf. Although research has been conducted on this zone since 1985, recent studies have revealed that the dead zone is larger than previously imagined, persists long (April through October), and somewhat shifts its position due to wind and oceanographic conditions. The researchers are primarily concerned with the effects this dead zone has on the extensive commercial fisheries of the area, since resource species cannot remain in this region during the low oxygen periods. Officials W a n t M o r e C o n t r o l o f O c e a n Management Legislators from the Western US states and territories passed several resolutions that urged the US Congress to enact legislation which would grant regional officials more input to, and control, over ocean management issues. Meeting at the Annual Western Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments, the legislators represented 13 Western states, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of t)ae Northern Mariana Islands. The resolutions passed by the conference urged the US Congress to 1. amend the Coastal Zone Management Act to require more state and federal cooperation in ocean management; 2. enact the National Seabed Hard Minerals Act and make NOAA an independent agency; and 3. approve 'environmentally sound' exploration and development of oil and gas resources in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (see Mar. Pollut. Bull. 18,263). 49