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Further, there have developed deep concerns about the alteration of natural 
populations of marine organisms through the entry of waste materials. The 
decimation of some bird and sea populations has been attributed to the dis- 
semination of DDT and its degradation products to the marine environment and 
with the restricted usage of this and other biocides the recovery of reproduc- 
tive abilities has been witnessed. Recommendations to public officials have 
been made to restrict the entry of such pollutants to the oceans. 
Formidable problems still confront the scientists with respect to the 
abilities of the oceans to accept a part of the increasing wastes generated by 
populations using more and more materials. Whereas in the past, the cause-effect 
relationships of pollutants and living organisms could be identified, the complex 
nature of the variety of materials entering coastal waters makes such investiga- 
tions difficult, if not impossible. Methyl mercury in seafoods caused a rather 
unique neurological disturbance, the so-called Minimata Bay disease. DDT altered 
the calcium metabolism of birds resulting in very thin egg shells, easily 
broken, and in poor reproductive successes of the creatures. Now, many dis- 
tinguished members of the marine science community are seeking the insults or 
stresses upon organisms created by numbers of different unidentified pollutants 
introduced by man. Several possible field measurements of measuring such stresses 
are being evaluated. For example, the abilities of marine organisms to convert 
their food into protoplasm, the scope for growth measurements of our British 
colleagues, varies by a factor of ten between polluted and non-polluted estuaries 
in England. Others are studying the detoxifying mechanisms of marine inverte- 
brates for excess levels of heavy metals. The work is in progress, and I predict 
important break-throughs in the next few years in our abilities to measure 
stresses upon the marine biosphere by alien substances or incréased amounts of 
Naturally occurring materials. 
Although objectivity is sought in seeking measurements of insults, sub- 
jectivity does enter into the utilization or interpretation of the results. We 
speak of the "'assimilative capacity" of coastal waters as the amounts of materials 
that can be introduced per unit time without the loss or unacceptable change in 
renewable resources. But what is an unacceptable change? 
The domestic wastes from eleven million inhabitants of California, ex- 
tending from Santa Monica to San Diego, enter the Southern California bight 
region, about 8 billion liters per day. Increased amounts of some metals and 
some plant nutrients are evident in the bight waters. Alterations in the nature 
of the bottom communities near the outfalls are evident. Perhaps around five 
percent of the total bottom area of the entire marine region have altered com- 
munities of organisms. Still, the indigenous organisms appear to reproduce 
successfully. But is a change in five percent of the bottom flora and fauna 
acceptable or not? What if the change were twenty-five percent? And what is 
the basis for the decision? Marine biologists still are unable to define 
natural variations in communities. What is an unacceptable unnatural one? 
About five percent of the fish collected between Santa Monica Bay and Dana 
Point, off the coast of Southern California, were affected with external abnor- 
malities such as fin erosion, tumors, color anomalies and attached macroparasites. 
