8 



site, closed to shellfishing by the FDA in 1970, and was expanded 

 to the Long Island and New York-New Jersey shorelines in 1974. 

 The later extension of the closure area was caused by bacterial con- 

 tamination from municipal sewage treatment plants and seaward 

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

 that this contributes to bacterial concentrations on New Jersey 

 beaches or Long Island beaches of the bight. 



Toxicants from sewage sludge disposal in the bight have been 

 identified as contributing causes of environmental degradation and 

 ecological effects. The relative importance of sewage sludge re- 

 mains uncertain. It is probable that the contaminant contribution 

 of sewage sludge to environmental loadings, body burdens, and eco- 

 logical effects for a given toxicant is approximately proportional to 

 the sludge imput to the bight as a whole. 



Approximately 0.3 tons of mercury enter the estuary bight eco- 

 system per day. Seventy percent of this is contributed by municipal 

 wastewater, 4.5 percent by sewage sludge dumping, 4,5 percent by 

 dumping of dredged material, 13 percent by rivers, and the remain- 

 der by various sources. 



Sewage sludge may contribute more than 10 percent of total 

 loadings for two toxicants. At least in the recent past, this ap- 

 peared to be true for PCB's. A second possible exception is DDT 

 and its metabolites. However, there are insufficent data on total 

 loadings of this family of compounds to be certain of the relative 

 contribution of these materials made by sewage sludge. 



During the late seventies, ocean dumped sewage sludge was esti- 

 mated to contribute roughly 30 percent of total PCB's to the bight 

 and dredge material approximately 70 percent. Recent information 

 suggests that decreased PCB's in the late seventies may not be re- 

 flected in lower PCB levels in municipal sewage sludge. 



The city of New York has recently analyzed PCB levels in the 

 samples from 12 sewage treatment plants. If these PCB values are 

 representative of all 19 New York-New Jersey sewage sludges, the 

 mass loading of PCB's to the bight region from ocean-dumped 

 sewage sludge may now be comparable to that of other contami- 

 nants, that is, within the 1 to 12 percent range. 



PCB's have been found in tissues of fish which live totally within 

 the bight apex as well as in migratory forms taken up to 200 kM's 

 offshore. Concentrations in organisms seaward of the Hudson-Rari- 

 tan Estuary are generally low compared to those of the estuary per 

 se. Based on existing data, the flesh of organisms collected in bight 

 water and commonly found in the human diet contain low levels of 

 PCB's and present no health hazard to the average person. A re- 

 cently completed study for the New Jersey Department of Environ- 

 mental Protection substantiates this with the exception of bluefish. 

 Several bluefish taken in the apex exceeded the FDA action level. 

 However, because of the highly migratory nature of this species, 

 body burdens of PCB's cannot be directly associated with areas of 

 capture. 



The incidence of disease in fish and shellfish is elevated in the 

 New York Apex relative to other sites in the mid-Atlantic. Diseases 

 include fin erosion in a range of demersal and pelagic species, 

 ulcers in red hake, and skeletal anomalies in shellfish including 

 crabs, lobsters, and shrimp. A link has been postulated between fin 



