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Some disposal operations may even be beneficial. Ground fish tend 

 to concentrate near natural reefs and artificial reefs have been created 

 in several coastal areas by dumping old car bodies and rubble. The 

 fishing over these artificial reefs is said to be better than tliat over fiat, 

 level bottoms, presumably because tlie fish congregate on these reefs 

 for protection from their natural enemies. 



Municipal solid wastes present a constantly increasing problem. 

 Areas suitable for sanitary landfill are becoming evermore scarce 

 near our major cities. It has been proposed to compress and bale these 

 wastes for disposal at sea. 



There are obvious problems to be solved, such as insuring that the 

 density of the bale is greater than that of sea water so that it will 

 sink and that floatable materials will not be released from the bale. 

 These are comparatively easy. 



However, there have been no tests of the long-term effects of such 

 a disposal on the marine environment and ecological systems. With 

 our present knowledge on tlie marine environment and ecological sys- 

 tems, it is impossible to predict witli any degree of certainty what 

 the effect of such a disposal operation would be. 



Would sucli disposal act as an artificial reef and improve the en- 

 vironment or would it have detrimental effects. Will materials grad- 

 ually leach out of the bales and have a delayed effect on the ecology 

 of the area ? How fast will the organic materials decompose? 



Recent experiments have shown that this process is very slow in 

 the deep sea, and disposal of waste material there may merely preserve 

 it for posterity. 



These examples illustrate the fact that the impact of waste disposal 

 at sea can vary widely from severe damage to potential benefits. For 

 many of the waste materials which are being dumped at sea today there 

 have been no scientific studies or monitoring of the environmental 

 effects. 



It appears obvious that a great deal of basic ecological research in 

 the marine environment is needed before the Administrator of the 

 Environmental Protection Agency can make wise decisions concerning 

 the acceptability of many proposed waste disposal operations. 



It is apparent to those of us who have studied these problems that 

 the ocean has a considerable capacity to assimilate waste materials 

 and to recover from abuse. 



Once this capacity is exceeded, however, the quality of the en- 

 vironment may deteriorate rapidly. Some of the effects may be subtle 

 and may develop over a long period of time so that monitoring of 

 the effects of each disposal operation will be essential to observe the 

 impact of the operation and to give advance warning when the capac- 

 ity of the marine system to recover is being reached. 



Several research needs were given in the report to the President 

 prepared by the Council on Environmental Quality entitled "Ocean 

 X)uinping — a National Policy," October 1970. 



I would be pleased if authorization could be included in this bill 

 for funds to support the needed marine ecological research. Equally 

 important would be funds for research on alternative methods, in- 

 cluding recycling and reuse of the materials. 



