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Testimony 



Delivered by Frederick Grassle, Director 



Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 



Rutgers University 



Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans 



Subcommittee on Military Research and Development 



Wednesday, December 6, 19 95 



Chairman Saxton, Chairman Weldon, and distinguished members of the 

 Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans and Subcommittee on 

 Military Research and Development, thank you for the opportunity to 

 discuss the potential use of the deep-ocean environment as a 

 repository for certain types of waste, particularly contaminated 

 dredge material. For the last 3 years I have been among the 

 relatively few scientists to study processes on the deep-ocean 

 floor, and, especially, the living organisms on or in the deep-sea 

 bed. Since coming to Rutgers University in 1989, I have led the 

 development of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and 

 have continued my interest in the deep ocean. In conjunction with 

 scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the U.S. 

 Geological Survey, and two other universities, and with support 

 from the NOAA National Undersea Research Program, I have led 

 several deep-diving submersible expeditions to study the fate and 

 effects of municipal sludge disposal at the 106 -mile Deepwater 

 Municipal Sludge Site at a depth of over 1.5 miles on the 

 continental rise off New York and New Jersey. Our Institute has 

 also played a role in issues associated with dredging and 

 management of contaminated sediments in the NY/ NJ Harbor Estuary 

 and we have held three conferences for the Port Authority of New 

 York and New Jersey on sediment remediation and dredging 

 technologies. I had the opportunity to give testimony before the 

 House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee on these subjects in 

 1993 . 



Marine scientists have only recently appreciated the richness of 

 life found in the deep ocean. Indeed, the dark, cold and 

 inhospitable environment of the deep sea has previously been 

 thought of as a desert -like habitat that is largely devoid of any 

 life. Very few individuals have had the opportunity to observe the 

 diversity of deep-sea life and even fewer have the knowledge to 



