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Concentrations of contaminants in sediments of the Bight are elevated 
relative to pristine continental shelf areas. With respect to the 
Bight as a whole, the extent to which sewage sludge contributes to 
observed sediment, water column, and body burden loadings is consid- 
ered to be roughly proportional to its percentage of all introduced 
contaminants--generally 1-10 percent depending on the specific con- 
stituent under consideration. 
Published reports of a "dead sea...devoid of normal populations" are 
unfounded. Stable benthic (bottom dwelling) communities are estab- 
lished at the sewage sludge dumpsite, although they are abundant in 
pollution tolerant species as expected. 
The incidence of many fish diseases in the New York Bight appears to 
be much lower than previously indicated. Many of the early 1970s 
monitoring reports circumstantially associated fish diseases with 
sewage sludge disposal in the ocean, basing their conclusions on 
extremely limited databases. However, a 1981 NOAA survey report on 
the health of the northeast coastal ees utilized a higher quality 
database and concluded that the occurrence of infectious and non- 
infectious disorders in the region is very low. The survey revealed 
the apparent good health of most of the fish examined. 
Recent scientific literature indicates that the incidence of many fish 
and shellfish diseases reported in the New York Bight is not attribu- 
table to the ocean dumping of sewage sludge. Continued use of the 
12-Mile Site for sludge disposal would not be expected to increase the 
