OCEANOGRAPHY AND FISHERIES 



83 



This chapter contained detailed recommendations for research needed to develop policies and 

 regulations controlling the introduction of radioactive materials into the oceans. 



The report pointed out that estuaries and coastal waters must inevitably be of vital con- 

 cern. They are the areas most likely to become contaminated and are the regions where the 

 greatest hazard to human populations may arise. The deep waters of the open ocean, because 

 of their isolation and tremendous volume, may ultimately prove useful for the disposal of 

 large amounts of radioactive materials. Studies of both the shallow coastal areas and the open 

 ocean will involve intensive field measurements as well as laboratory experiments. 



TABLE 2. 



Comparison of Permissible Sea Water Concentrations Computed in Table 1 with Values 

 Published in NAS-NRC Publications 655 and 658, and with MPC Values for 



Drinking Water in Handbook 69. 



* Corrected after publication for change in MPC for drinking water. 



Coastal and Estuarine Environments 



A large number of internal and external factors combine to determine the characteristics 

 of an individual estuary or coastal region. Studies of a single estuary, or of a single coastal 

 area, will not suffice to provide general, basic concepts applicable to all inshore environments. 

 However, enough is now known about estuarine environments that it is possible to deduce the 

 circulation pattern from a knowledge of the fresh water inflow (which, in case of excess 

 evaporation, may be negative), morphology, tidal flow, and salinity distribution. On the basis 

 of these parameters, estuaries can be grouped into characteristic types. Detailed studies 

 should be made of at least four estuaries representing the characteristic types around the North 

 American continent. 



The same general arguments can be applied to the coastal waters, including continental 

 shelves and offshore banks. Coastal waters are highly variable in both space and time and 

 must be classified in terms of such factors as the character of the coastline, the bottom topog- 

 raphy, the tidal currents, the general circulation, and the land run-off and climatic features. 

 Systematic studies should be made of at least five coastal areas characteristic of the different 

 types of waters bordering the North American continent. 



These investigations can best be accomplished by individual agencies concentrating upon 



