7. Fossil fuel compounds, the hydrocarbons and other organic compounds of 

 petroleum, natural gas, coal, and oil shale. In addition there are the products of 

 their combustion and transformation through chemical, photochemical, 

 microbial, or metabolic actions. 



8. Litter, a collective of materials that can be defined as any anthropogenic or 

 natural solid product that is out of place in the marine environment. The 

 product may be composed of plastic or other synthetic organic materials, glass, 

 wood, petroleum components in the form of tar or grease balls, and natural 

 articles resulting from improper disposal. 



9. Dredged materials that may contain some of the pollutants listed above and 

 large volume wastes such as sewage sludges and industrial discards. 



Clearly, any given coastal water body will not be subject to insult by all collectives 

 of these polluants. Surveillance activities usually involve only a very few substances. 

 The tactics of monitoring depend not only upon the pollutants of concern but also 

 upon economics. Analyses of seawater are expensive. Assaying accurately for most 

 of the pollutants, especially those in extremely low concentrations, taxes the 

 resources of even the best analytical facilities. The collection of large volumes of 

 water without contamination and the subsequent assay schemes require sophisti- 

 cated sampling equipment and analytical instrumentation. An additional difficulty 

 with water assays is that they give instantaneous levels, whereas often an average or 

 integrated value over a longer time period is desired. 



The major surveillance programs have utilized sentinel organisms or sediments, 

 usually directed at members of only one or two of the pollutant sets. The organisms 

 integrate the pollutant exposure levels for periods of days to years while the sedi- 

 ments can often reveal exposure levels averaged over a year. In both cases there are 

 restricted groups of pollutants amenable to measurement. For example, Holden 

 (1973) directed an international cooperative study of organochlorine and mercury 

 residues in wildlife, utilizing mussels, herring, pike, and eel as the sentinel organisms 

 and the eggs of heron, eider, tern, and pelican. Twenty-six laboratories from 12 

 countries were involved. Butler et a l.( Butler and S chut z man n. 1978 and Butler et al., 

 1978) have utilized estuarine mollusks and fish to monitor 20 organochlorine and 

 organophosphate pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in U.S. programs 

 beginning in 1965. 



Perhaps the most extensive program has involved the use of bivalves to survey 

 annually the levels of chlorinated hydrocarbons, artificial radionuclides, metals, and 

 fossil fuel compounds at somewhat over a hundred stations around the coast of the 

 United States (Goldberg et al.. 1978). 



The collections included the mussels Mytilus edulis and M. californianus and the 

 oysters Crassostrea virginica and Ostrea equestris. Populations of sufficient size 

 were sampled such that only an insignificant number of the members were used. 

 Organisms of uniform size were taken, usually 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 in) long, although 

 larger oysters were often utilized. Where possible samples were collected from rock, 

 sand, or mud environments. Pilings or metal buoys were avoided to minimize uptake 

 by bivalves of paints, creosote, or other materials that might have been applied to the 

 substrates. Immediately after collection, the samples were placed in plastic bags (for 

 heavy metals or radionuclide assay) or aluminum foil (for petroleum hydrocarbons 

 and synthetic organic assay) and frozen. Samples were airshipped to the partici- 

 pating laboratories in styrofoam-lined cardboard shipping containers with dry ice. 



A single scientist operating from a camper made the collections from June to 

 December starting in southern California and traversing the west coast of the United 

 States. Then a trip across the country took him to the east and gulf coast sampling 

 sites. The use of a single scientist provided uniformity in sampling and preserva- 

 tion techniques. 



Collection costs in 1978 averaged about SI 000 per station, including air shipments 

 to laboratories and the maintenance of library specimens from all stations. 



