685 
and dredged material dumping as principal contributors to elevated 
PCB levels in the sediments of the Bight (West and Hatcher, 1980; 
O'Connor et al., in press b; ERCO, 1981). MacLeod et al. (1981) 
reported PCB levels of up to 1500 ppb in the sediments of the 
Christiaensen Basin, a topographic low that lies between the sewage 
slude and dredge materials dumpsites. This is in contrast to 
levels as low as 0.4 ppb in sediments from the outer Bight (MacLeod, 
1981). Aromatic petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in selected 
apex sediments and perhaps in waters are sufficiently high to cause 
suspicion of ecological damage, particularly in benthic communities 
(Anderson, in press; Michael, in press). Several other specific 
indicators of sewage-derived material (e.g., coprostanol) are also 
concentrated in topographic lows of the Bight where fine sediments 
accummulate (Hatcher, et al., 1977; Hatcher and McGillivay, 1979). 
Elevated concentrations of several toxic materials are also 
found in Bight organisms, particularly sedentary ones, with these 
concentrations increasing aS one approaches the apex and New York 
Harbor from offshore (see for example, Hall et al, 1978; O'Connor 
and Rachlin, in press; O'Connor et al., in press b). Similar 
trends have been observed in organisms from the coastal waters of 
the Southern California Bight (Young, in press a, b). 
Large nutrient and organic carbon additions to coastal waters 
from waste disposal activities increase the likelihood and severity 
of ecologically damaging declines in dissolved oxygen concentration. 
Such additions did not cause but may have exacerbated the 1976 
anoxia event in the New York Bight, a major economic setback to the 
New Jersey commercial and sportfishing industries (Swanson and 
Sindermann, 1979). 
Biological Effects: 
Viable strains of bacteria, resistant to normally-toxic concen- 
trations of metals and antibiotics, are found in the apex (Koditschek 
and Guyre, 1974; Timoney et al., 1978; Litchfield et al., in press). 
