This body of legislation reflects the great importance society places on preserving 

 the cultural, recreational and commercial values of fish and wildlife resources, 

 ['ollution and loss of habitat are now widely recognized as key determinants in 

 maintaining those resources. For example, the impact of acid rain on fisheries 

 resources of lakes in Scandinavia and northeastern North America has emerged as a 

 pollution control question of major international importance, in its first State-of- 

 the-Parks report issued in 1980, the National Park Service- reported on a survey 

 which identified and characterized threats that endanger natural and cultural 

 resources of the national parks. The survey concluded that environmental threats 

 from outside of the parks, such as air and water pollution, were as significant to the 

 future protection of park ecosystems as the more traditionally recognized internal 

 impacts associated with heavy visitor use. 



On a positive note, pollution abatement has been closely linked to the successful 

 restoration of the Atlantic salmon fishery in the Connecticut River and other New- 

 England streams. The role of DDT in the decline of peregrine falcon, bald eagle, 

 pelican, and -other bird populations, and the subsequent recovery of these 

 populations following the ban on DDT in the U.S. is well-known. 



in addition to their intrinsic value and their contribution to the quality of life, fish 

 and wildlife often have a direct relation to public health. Contaminants accumulate 

 in the food chain and the public is exposed, particularly through the ingestion of 

 seafood. .Sometimes biomagnification has disastrous consequences, such as the 

 outbreak of "Minamata Disease" in Japan, which was associated with mercury 

 contamination of seafood products. Fish are often contaminated with metals and 

 chlorinated hydrocarbons and cannot now be safely harvested in many areas. 



Recent research on polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCBs) in Great Lakes food chains 

 highlights this complex issue. PCBs accumulate in fish tissue, and consumption of 

 contaminated fish has been identified as a major route of human exposure to this 

 chemical in the Great Lakes region. Based upon measurements of PCB levels in 

 various components of the environment, it has been estimated that consumption of 

 one pound of Great Lakes trout would provide the same exposure as five years of 

 breathing ambient air and drinking local water. Further, preliminary studies in 

 Michigan have indicated that levels of PCBs in human blood samples were in direct 

 proportion to the amount of fish consumed.' 



Fish and wildlife are sometimes referred to as barometers of environmental 

 quality. Biomonitoring is a valuable tool for assessing the overall buildup of 

 contaminants in the environment. Aquatic organisms can also play an important role 

 in screening effluents and chemical mixtures for toxicity. EPA has sponsored 

 development of a marine monitoring system called Mussel Waich in which mussel 

 tissue is analwed to assess the buildup of contaminants in the marine environment. 



On a more speculative note, a report of the National Science Foundation^ on long- 

 term ecological measurements identified seabird populations as potentially 

 important indicators of marine environmental quality. Marine birds are long-lived 

 and widely dispersed much of the year but highly concentrated during their nesting 

 season. They are thus amenable to reasonably accurate statistical sampling. Because 

 they are high in the food chain, they are potential accumulators of contaminants as 

 well as integrators of ocean ecosystem conditions. It might be feasible to design long- 

 term sampling programs that combine reliable monitoring of nesting areas through 

 aerial photography, species composition studies, and sampling of tissue and eggs for 

 contaminants, as a way of detecting widescale environmental changes in the oceans. 

 Seabirds might thus be used to meet a recognized need for an early warning system to 

 detect potential contamination of the oceans. 



The importance of maintaining life support systems and genetic diversity is likely 

 to receive increased scientific recognition during the coming decade. This is best 

 expressed in the recently issued World Conservation Strategy prepared by the 

 International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources^ and 



