HELFRICH AND RAY 



tions of nuclear technology. There was a need for more 

 complete knowledge of the dynamic biogeochcmical 

 processes which might lead to the transp)ort of radioactive 

 contaminants in the atoll system to man. More fundamental 

 was the acknowledged inadequacy of our understanding of 

 the systematics and ecology of the highly diverse atoll 

 biota. Early records of environmental monitoring during the 

 test series included entries such as "red fish" and "green 

 filamentous algae," reflecting the lack of any pertinent tax- 

 onomic descriptions of the local biota. The College of 

 Fisheries of the University of Washington, under contract 

 to the AEC, had conducted studies at Bikini and Enewetak 

 of the interaction of environmental radioactivity with vari- 

 ous species and had made substantial contributions to the 

 literature regarding these nuclear-affected atolls (Mines, 

 1962). There remained, however, a need for a broader 

 base of information about the systematics, ecology, and life 

 history of the atoll flora and fauna. 



Details of the discussions leading to the establishment 

 of EMBL are unavailable. In the early 1950s, however, the 

 eminent biologist, H. Burr Steinbach, then of the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago and later of Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution, was asked by Sidney Caller of the Office of 

 Naval Research to travel to Enewetak Atoll to explore the 

 feasibility of establishing a marine biological laboratory. 

 Steinbach's trip and his subsequent report recommending 

 the establishment of a laboratory on Enewetak Atoll were 

 instrumental in AEC's action to contract with the Univer- 

 sity of Hawaii to establish and operate the EMBL. 



The contract, signed on June 3, 1954, required the 

 university to manage the laboratory and to direct and coor- 

 dinate its scientific programs. Policy direction and sponsor- 

 ship were provided "by the Division of Biology and Medi- 

 cine of the AEC Headquarters in Washington, D. C. 

 Robert W. Hiatt, Director of the Hawaii Marine Labora- 

 tory, became the first director of EMBL. The first orders 

 of business were to provide supplies, equipment, and work 

 areas for visiting investigators and to establish a reference 

 collection of animals and plants with an ecological index 

 for their use. 



To facilitate scientific investigations of terrestrial and 

 intertidal biota, two islets on Enewetak Atoll — Ikuren and 

 Mut — were set aside as reserves for the exclusive use of 

 EMBL scientists. This was done to ensure that a continu- 

 ously available source of typical fauna and flora would be 

 protected, to the extent possible, from proving ground 

 activities. During these early years, EMBL scientists were 

 permitted to use the laboratory only in the intervals 

 between test series. However, marine scientists from the 

 University of Washington Applied Fisheries Laboratory, 

 under separate contract to the AEC, were in residence 

 during the actual test events. Their work at Enewetak and 

 elsewhere in the Pacific is recounted by Hines (1962) and 

 is reported in numerous published papers. 



The laboratory was first quartered in a rectangular 

 metal building, with an aquarium lanai, located on the 

 southwest shore of Medren Island. The building was 

 equipped with a simple seawater system, a single air- 



conditioned instrument room containing microscopes, a 

 small library, and an assortment of nets, diving gear, and 

 other field equipment. Being a sponsored tenant in the 

 proving ground — which in peak periods accommodated 

 hundreds of scientists, technicians, and supp)ort per- 

 sonnel — the laboratory enjoyed superb facilities for dining, 

 housing, recreation, and medical care. 



During the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, the labora- 

 tory was operated on a part-time basis, with the active 

 periods generally dictated by university class schedules. 

 Thus, most investigators visited during the summer months 

 and the periods of winter or spring academic holidays. 

 Also during this period, visit authorizations were restricted 

 to male U. S. citizens who had passed a security screen- 

 ing. Travel to Enewetak from Honolulu was by military or 

 military charter aircraft. The flight time from Honolulu to 

 Enewetak was about 10 hours, usually with stops at John- 

 ston Island and at Kwajalein and/or Wake Island. It is 

 noteworthy that, despite considerable resistance to the 

 invasion by women of what had been traditionally an 

 exclusively male territory, arrangements were made to 

 accommodate the eminent zoologist E. Alison Kay at the 

 Enewetak Laboratory in December 1970. Her arrival sig- 

 naled a new era in which the merits of the scientific 

 research proposed were the only criteria for acceptance of 

 a researcher at EMBL. 



Initially, the research emphasis at EMBL was toward 

 the establishment of a reference collection of the local 

 marine flora and fauna. This was accomplished by special- 

 ists, who made extensive collections of particular groups of 

 animals and plants, identified the individual specimens 

 (including those new to science), labeled, cataloged and 

 preserved them, and placed them in the laboratory collec- 

 tion room. To complement the reference collection, a small 

 library was established on site, providing convenient access 

 not only to published references and texts but also to the 

 works, both published and unpublished, of visiting investi- 

 gators. Notices placed annually in the journal Science 

 served to call this facility and its superb atoll environment 

 to the attention of the community of marine scientists. 

 This early research and subsequent publicity regarding the 

 EMBL facility, combined with the availability of modest 

 research grants, brought an enthusiastic response. From 

 1954 until this writing, 1028 scientists have worked at 

 Enewetak, many returning for several periods of field col- 

 lection and investigation. Notable was the response of tem- 

 perate zone biologists who had not previously worked in 

 the tropics. Entering the strikingly clear lagoon waters for 

 the first time, with no more complex equipment than a 

 face mask, was an exciting experience. Examination of a 

 coral pinnacle, with its enormous diversity of organisms, 

 brought a whole series of new dimensions to the work of 

 these scientists. The limitations of the physical facilities 

 and the remoteness of the EMBL field station were offset 

 by an abundance of exciting research opportunities and vir- 

 tual freedom from the pressures and distractions of cam- 

 pus life. These features resulted in a level of scientific pro- 

 ductivity unequaled in the experience of most researchers. 



