Progress Report of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



Radiobiological Laboratory, Beaufort, N.C., 



Fiscal Year 1968 



T. R. RICE, Laboratory Director 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Radiobiological Laboratory 



Pivers Island 

 Beaufort, N.C. Z8516 



ABSTRACT 



Research activities included studies in estuarine ecology, biogeochemistry, 

 pollution, and radiation effects. 



REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



T. R. Rice 



Radioecological research at the Bureau of 

 Connmercial Fisheries Radiobiological Lab- 

 oratory is concerned with three general prob- 

 lenns: (1) the fate of radioactive materials in 

 the estuarine environment, (2) the effect of 

 radiation on marine organisms, and (3) the 

 application of radioactive tracer techniques to 

 fishery biology. To obtain the data pertinent to 

 these problems three approaches have been 

 used: (1) in the past we have collected many 

 data in the laboratory to enable us to predict 

 the fate of radioactive materials introduced 

 into the marine environment; (2) more recently 

 we have used tanks and ponds to test question- 

 able findings obtained in the laboratory; and 

 (3) we are now observing the cycling of radio- 

 isotopes in certain natural bodies of water, 

 restricted from the public (some such studies 

 have been completed). We believe that data 

 collected by these three approaches, when in- 

 tegrated and correlated, will make for a better 

 understanding of the role of plants and animals 

 in the cycling of radioactivity in estuaries and 

 nnarine areas. At the present time, this re- 

 search is being carried out under the following 

 four programs: Estuarine Ecology, Biogeo- 

 chemistry, Pollution Studies, and Radiation 

 Effects. 



In addition to the radioecological research, 

 pesticide research is also a responsibility of 

 the Radiobiological Laboratory. On May 1, 

 1968, the Bureau of Connmercial Fisheries 

 Biological Laboratory at Gulf Breeze, Fla., 

 which for many years has been concerned 



almost entirely with pesticides in the marine 

 environment, was made a Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries Biological Field Station of 

 the Radiobiological Laboratory. This consoli- 

 dation will strengthen research and facilitate 

 the solving of problems on estuarine pollution, 

 since radioactive materials and pesticides have 

 similar effects on some plants and animals. 

 The Field Station will continue research to 

 determine the effects of pesticides on the 

 ability of marine organisms to survive, grow, 

 and reproduce. Also, the cycling of pesticides 

 through the water, sediments, and food chains 

 of the estuary is now under study. T. W. Duke, 

 Assistant Director of the Radiobiological Lab- 

 oratory, is Chief of the Field Station at Gulf 

 Breeze, Fla. 



For most of the year, the Acting Chief of 

 the Estuarine Ecology Program , R. B. 

 Williams, has been on educational leave at 

 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, 

 Tenn. This training consisted of course work 

 in mathematics and systems ecology at the 

 University of Tennessee, and work with J. S. 

 Olson (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) on a 

 study supported by the Ford Foundation on the 

 applicability of systems analysis to resource 

 management. Williams has, in addition, be- 

 come familiar with the use of analog and digital 

 computers. This training and the computer 

 facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

 were used in the analysis of previously gathered 

 data on the standing crop and growth of needle 

 rush, J uncus roemerianus . a dominant 



