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sea will not remain for long out of mind. The anonymous crime of 
conventional poison dumping is aimed at no one in particular, but 
it may bring about agonies around the world. The ultimate conceiv- 
able escalation consists in threatening not just other nations who 
are endangered by our recklessness but whole generations to come. 
To fulfill a moral obligation that the legacy of the oceans be con- 
tinued, our first concern must be directed to the future. Risks for 
our progeny must be weighted against anticipated short-term pro- 
vincial benefits. We have no right to draw checks to be paid by our 
descendants. We have no right to sacrifice their fundamental op- 
tions for present conveniences. Our responsibility toward them is 
overwhelming. 
Each one of the cells of our bodies is a miniature ocean. Poison- 
ing the sea will inevitably poison us. Let us act with wisdom, fore- 
sight, and prudence. Thank you. 
[The statement of Captain Cousteau follows:] 
PREPARED STATEMENT BY JACQUES-Y VES COUSTEAU, CHAIRMAN, THE COUSTEAU 
SOCIETY AND THE FOUNDATION COUSTEAU 
Mr. Chairman and Subcommittee Members: I am Jacques Cousteau, Chairman of 
The Cousteau Society, and of the Fondation Cousteau, two organizations devoted to 
giving the public, by means of the mass media, accurate information about the 
aquatic and marine environments of our planet. I am also Director of the Oceano- 
graphic Institute in Monaco. It is within my Institute that the International Atomic 
Energy Agency established the International Marine Radioactivity Laboratory 
which has studied the effects of radioactive elements on the marine environment 
and on the food chain for twenty years. I am Secretary General of the International 
Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean (ICSEM). This Com- . 
mission last year launched a ten-year program to study pollution in the open Medi- 
terranean Sea, which originates mainly from atmospheric fallout. 
I have been exploring oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and polar seas for 46 years, and I 
am still doing so. On board the Research Vessel CALYPSO, I recently conducted 
two marine environmental surveys in the coastal waters of nine Mediterranean 
countries and of Venezuela in the Caribbean. We are currently evaluating pollution 
in coastal waters as well as mechanical degradations, such as fishing abuses, land- 
fills, diversion of rivers, dredging for gravel and sand. 
For almost half a century, I have sponsored research for dozens of international 
marine scientists and experts, and have worked closely with them. In spite of the 
fact that initially I specialized in diving physiology and underwater acoustics, I have 
become a generalist, trying to put together parts of the gigantic puzzle to which sci- 
ence everyday brings another small piece. 
I do not pretend to be a specialist of pollution problems, and I believe that, in the 
present state of our knowledge, nobody can pretend to be, considering how complex 
and intertwined these questions really are. I am a modest witness who has observed 
nature through his own eyes as well as with those of his scientific colleagues and 
their instruments. 
Congressional consideration of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries 
Act, as passed in 1972 and subsequently amended, provides us with an opportunity 
to reassess some general considerations of ocean dumping problems. 
A decade ago, Americans were just beginning to learn that they needed to act if 
they wanted to preserve the integrity of the water that lapped on their shores. 
Marine pollution had indisputably damaged the environment; shellfish often con- 
tained hepatitis virus, polio virus and other pathogens; pollution had closed 20 per- 
cent of the commercial shellfish beds in this country; masses of sea creatures died; 
beaches were closed. 
In the past ten years, many protective regulations have been enforced, not just in 
the United States, which imposed the strict regulations we are reviewing today, but 
in other countries as well. Signatories to the London Dumping Convention—which 
the U.S. ratified immediately—have collaborated to reduce and prevent such pollu- 
tion. Even as we speak here in Washington, other matters of international impor- 
tance pertaining to the sea are under discussion in New York, and most partici- 
