Preface 



The scientific results of a two-year research program, Effects of 

 Pollutants on Marine Organisms Program, is described in this vol- 

 ume. This Program is a part of the Environmental Quality Program 

 of the National Science Foundation, Office for the International Dec- 

 ade of Ocean Exploration. The volume summarizes the deliberations 

 of a workshop meeting of the Program participants and invited scien- 

 tists which was held in Sidney. British Columbia, Canada, on August 

 11-14, 1974. Due to time and space limitations the extensive data 

 presented by the participants is not given here. The reader may write 

 participants for publications or copies of the detailed preworkshop 

 paper which each investigator contributed to the workshop. 



Research in the Effects Program has focused on determining sub- 

 lethal effects of low levels of chemical pollutants on bacteria, micro- 

 algae and animals. The chemical pollutants studied were petroleum, 

 trace metals, chlorinated hydrocarbon and phthalates. In the case of 

 petroleum, a highly complex mixture, research has been done to iso- 

 late and identify toxic components. Selection and laboratory culture 

 of appropriate marine organisms has been a major initial research 

 task. In addition to selecting appropriate physiological parameters by 

 which to measure biological effects, research was begun to discover 

 the mechanism of pollutant damage for selected organisms. During 

 the two years of this Program the investigators have made progress in 

 all of these areas so that well documented facts are becoming available. 



The community of marine scientists has been called upon by society 

 to answer the very complex question of the effects of pollutants on 

 life in the sea when the state of our knowledge does not really answer 

 the question as to how life functions under normal conditions. The 

 support provided by NSF/IDOE has allowed these scientists to ad- 

 dress the fundamental aspects of this important applied problem. The 

 Workshop was organized into two working groups. Jack Anderson 

 was chairman of the group dealing with animals and Chase Van 

 Baalen of the group concerned with plants and bacteria. 



We thank Dave Menzel, Tim Parsons and the resident staff of the 

 Controlled Ecosystem Pollution Experiment (CEPEX) for serving as 

 host for the Sidney Workshop. Dave and the staff at the Skidaway 

 Institute of Oceanography get special thanks for putting together the 

 preconference workshop volume. Martena Baker's work during the 

 Workshop earned everyone's gratitude. 



Patrick L. Parker 



