151 
Answer. The consequences of ocean disposal on the quality and quantity of wastes 
and the method and location of discharge. Knowing the actual or projected quantity 
and chemical/physical characteristics of all wastes slated for disposal at a given site 
should allow estimation of the steady-state and accumulating distribution of con- 
tamination, as will sound knowledge of the physical and biological characteristics of 
the disposal site. 
Once wastes are in the ocean, it is more different to differentiate among several 
which may have been discharged at the same site. The site should be managed on a 
total use basis, not with each potential waste being considered independently of all 
others. This implies that comprehensive regional waste management plans be 
drawn up that consider total waste identification and source control. 
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY Mr. BiaGGi AND ANSWERED BY NOAA 
Question. Is the New York Bight Apex among the most intensively studies areas 
of the world’s oceans? 
Answer. Although it would be difficult to rank areas in absolute terms, the Apex 
and surrounding area is generally recognized by scientists and environmental man- 
agers to be among the most intensively studied coastal regions in the world, both in 
terms of level of activity and breadth of scientific and managerial inquiry. 
Question. During the period when the New York Bight has been subject to scien- 
tific study, has there been any indication that there is progressive degradation? If 
so, please list the type of progressive degradation observed and provide details as to 
how such progressive degradation of the Bight has been determined? 
Answer. During this relatively short period there has been so detectable increase 
in the areal extent or intensity of degradation. The less than 10 years of intensive 
research in the Bight follows more than 100 years of domestic and industrial waste 
inputs. On balance, the waste inputs to the Bight have remained somewhat similar 
for at least twenty years. The lack of a detectable increase in degradation could 
mean that the Bight is approximately in steady state with regard to pollution, or 
the variations in its state may be large enough to obscure any trend which does 
exist. 
Question. If sewage sludge dumping at the 12-mile site were to cease would there 
by any measurable improvement in the New York Bight Apex within one year? 
Five years? Twenty years? 
Answer. If sewage sludge dumping were to cease at the 12-mile site some relative- 
ly minor improvements would probably occur over a five to 20 year period. 
A possible decrease in human pathogens at and around the 12-mile site might 
lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider reopening some areas to 
shellfishing (but the region around the dumpsite is not a major bivalve-producing 
area). But it is also possible that existing pathogens would persits in the sediments 
for years and preclude reopening the inner Bight to shellfishing. 
A definite improvement should occur in public confidence and assurance in using 
New Jersey and Long Island beaches. Water quality at beaches and beach quality, 
per se, will not be improved, however, as they are determined by local activities and 
by stranded materials from widespread sources. 
Concentrations of artifacts derived from sewage sludge dumping will probably de- 
crease in the topographic lows north of the Christiaensen Basin. 
There should be measurable decreases in the amounts and concentrations of 
PCBs, and bacterial pathogens and indicators in sediments and in associated biota. 
The slight amelioration of measurable impacts will occur over a limited geograph- 
ical area—some 200-1,000 km? (80-400 mi?. 
The benthic community in the small area immediately west of the sewage sludge 
site should tend to become more normal, but the benthic degradation over wider 
areas (80-400 mi?) may not change noticeably. 
Question. Was sewage sludge dumping a major causative factor in either the 
anoxia of 1976 of the beach contamination of that same year? 
Answer. Sewage sludge dumping was not a major causative factor in either of 
these 1976 environmental episodes. Both episodes have been the subject of consider- 
able study by NOAA and others. A MESA Special Report entitled ‘Long Island 
Beach Pollution: June 1976” was published February 1977 and a NOAA Professional 
Paper (No. 11) entitled “Oxygen Depletion and Associated Benthic Mortalities in 
New York Bight, 1976” was published in December 1979. Natural, but anomalous 
meterological conditions were found to be the important factors which affected the 
transport and accumulation of material in both instances. Evaluation of the origin 
of material found on Long Island beaches showed most to be floatables from numer- 
ous sources, the majority of which were located within the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. 
