the I'eef front. Places with great expanses of 

 shallow tidal area are far more vulnerable to 

 any type of contamination. Secondly, the fact 

 that oil was unable to pass from the inner har- 

 bor to the lagoon. Wake Island, of course, 

 does have a relatively shallow area in the la- 

 goon vulnerable to contamination. Had the 

 heavy concentration of fuels which accumulated 

 in the harbor entered the lagoon, a near ''total 

 kill" with long-lasting effects probably would 

 have occurred. Third, a large percentage of 

 the spillage entered and was trapped in the 

 small boat harbor where it could do relatively 

 little damage to marine life. Had this oil been 

 able to spread along the outside reefs, the kill 

 would have been greater. 



After the typhoon a Navy salvage team found 

 that the wreck had broken into three sections. 

 All her tank tops were open to the sea and 

 apparently all of her cargo had been removed 

 by sea action. 



The portion of the wreck remaining above 

 water was considered hazardous to the instru- 

 ment landing system on the runways, so the 

 wreck was flattened to the waterline with ex- 



plosives. During the course of the demolition 

 operation there was minor weeping of petro- 

 leum products that formed a slick extending 

 about 1.5 km offshore. With northeasterly trade 

 winds prevailing there was no more shoreline 

 pollution. 



Poor weather and shortage of the time limited 

 the scope of this survey, but the major short- 

 comings of the investigation were that we ar- 

 rived too late to get the full picture of the 

 damage, and that we had no clear concept of 

 the normal pre-pollution situation in the areas 

 we surveyed. We suggest that if at least two 

 trained teams of biologists, including special- 

 ists in fish and invertebrates, were located at 

 suitable laboratories on the Pacific and Atlantic 

 Oceans, we could enhance our knowledge of the 

 effects of oil pollution more efficiently. The 

 teams would have suitable survey equipment 

 readily available and could be dispatched im- 

 mediately to any area where a petroleum pol- 

 lution threat is anticipated or already exists. 

 If possible, the group would reach the scene in 

 time to survey the environment and biota before 

 the oil arrives. 



12 



GPO 999-027 



