15 



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communities and the entire ecosystem have been influenced by 

 contaminants, because such effects are subtle and they 

 generally require more sophisticated, expensive field sampling. 



Aiiioiiy the iiiOSL oLivlous impacts of ocean duii'i,;.ii>C4 1j Lho 

 closure of virtually all of the Apex to the taking '■f bivalve 

 mollusks for human consumption (Figure 2). This closure is 

 based on contamination by coliform bacteria and precludes 

 harvesting of surf clams and ocean quahogs. A circular area 

 11 kilometers in radius, centered on the sewage sludge dumpsite, 

 was closed to shellfishing by the Food and Drug Administra ion 

 (FDA) in 1970 and expanded to the Long Long Island and New 

 Jersey shorelines in 1974. The later extension of the closure 

 area was caused primarily by bacterial contamination via ocean 

 outfalls from municipal sewage treatment plants and the seaward 

 flow from the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. There is no evidence 

 that bacterial loads from ocean dumped materials contribute 

 directly to bacterial concentrations on Long Island or New 

 Jersey beaches of the Bight. 



Other pathogen indicators also suggest the influence of 

 sewage sludge across extended protions of the inner Bight. 

 Sewage sludges dumped at the 12-mile site contain the indicator 

 bacteria Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens . Patho- 

 genic Vibrio spp. and a pathogenic protozoan, Acanthamoeba , 

 have also been isolated from the sludge dumpsite. Recently, 



