processing establishments and examines seafood products that are 

 shipped in interstate commerce. FDA has close cooperative activities 

 with State and local seafood control agencies to ensure safe and 

 healthful seafood for the consuming public. In this age of consumer 

 protection, FDA is further improving inspection techniques and 

 laboratory methods to detect harmful chemical and biological 

 substances that may be in our Nation's marine food supply. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service, DOC, and Environmental 

 Protection Administration are cooperating with FDA in surveillance 

 and monitoring of certain environmental contaminants that could 

 enter the marine food chain and render seafood unfit for human use. 



Atomic Energy Commission 



The AEC marine sciences research program is directed toward 

 determining those environmental factors which influence the 

 movement of radioelements through the marine environment, the 

 possible means and rates of return of radioactivity to man through 

 marine food webs, and basic ecological processes. Within this broad 

 program are studies on biological, physical, and chemical 

 oceanography, and studies related to operational activities such as 

 the impact of waste heat from nuclear power stations on local 

 ecosystems at such sites. 



The AEC supports multidisciplinary studies of nuclear power 

 plant siting, including the environmental effects of such siting and 

 subsequent power plant operation. The research encompasses 

 investigation of trace element cycling, modeling of water circulation, 

 biological production, and the effects of waste heat on ecosystems. 

 Estuarine and coastal zone research is carried out on both the east 

 and west coasts of the continent, including Alaska. An example of 

 the nature of coastal zone work is the environmental study, begun in 

 1961, to determine the properties, distribution, and movement of 

 Columbia River water and its dissolved and suspended load in the 

 Northeast Pacific Ocean. 



The AEC also supports research in the world oceans. Advances 

 have been made in subjects such as circulation rates within the 

 mixed layer of the oceans, vertical microstructure in the oceans, and 

 abyssal water circulation. 



As nuclear power plant siting in the estuarine and coastal area 

 increases, studies must be accelerated on trace element cycling, 

 modeling of water circulation and sedimentation, productivity at 

 various levels of the food web, and the effects of waste heat and other 

 non-nuclear discharges on ecosystems of the region. Insight into the 

 physical and biological dynamics of the system is essential in order 

 to predict the response of the marine ecosystem to man-induced 

 stresses. 



Several specific areas of research (in addition to those above) are 

 required in problems of power plant operation for which information 



108 



