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trophic levels, including fishes, mammals and birds. Although our ultimate concern 

 relates to the public health effects, understanding the oceanographic and ecological 

 processes is a key to evaluating the hazard. 



From the oceanographic perspective, the first priority must be the understanding of 

 the sources of and distribution of the radionuclides and other pollutants. At this time, the 

 scientists who are considering these questions do not have "hard" information on the 

 present distribution of the radioactive materials in the ocean. A practical approach to 

 satisfying this need is the procurement of existing Russian data, followed by the 

 acquisition of new data through collaborative work with Russian scientists. 



The circulation of the Arctic Ocean is such that materials accumulating on the Barents 

 Sea shelf are likely to be transported northward into the Arctic Basin,' but it is unlikely 

 that this transport will immediately impact Alaskan shores. There is a much greater 

 potential for danger to Alaska from materials entering via the vast northward-flowing 

 rivers of Russia. The East Siberian Current, which flows eastward along the North 

 Siberian arctic coast transports materials and organisms originating in coastal fresh and 

 marine waters of the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas eastward. We do not know 

 whether they are likely to reach the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. It is possible that pollution 

 fixjm the easternmost rivers, such as the Lena, could. This needs to be evaluated. 



The Bering Sea also might be subject to some hazards, and, as the most productive 

 fishing ground in the world, needs special consideration. The food production from the 

 walleye pollock captured in the Bering Sea provides a mechanism for transferring 

 pollutants released into the Siberian and Kamchatka Peninsula waters to people 

 worldwide via the commercial fishery and to Alaskan Natives via subsistence harvest 

 Pollock are also very important in the diets of sea birds and marine mammals, which 

 provide a second pathway for radionuclides and toxic materials to enter Native peoples 

 who rely heavily on marine birds and mammals for subsistence. The Anadyr River enters 

 the western Bering Sea, an immensely productive area, and moves northward, primarily . 

 to the west of St Lawrence Island onto the western portion of the northern Bering Sea 

 shelf and through the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea. These areas are the most 

 productive within the Bering Sea, and in fact within the entire western Arctic. They are 

 the principal feeding grounds for the majority of Alaska's walrus population. Walrus feed 

 on bottom-living organisms, which accumulate materials from the sediments, providing a 

 direct link to human food. Furthermore, walrus feeding in the Chukchi Sea in areas under 



