349 



The reports of the contractors for their first full year of field 

 studies, which began in July, 1981, are now in hand. In their search for 

 long-term effects of the exploratory drilling in Georges Bank, 

 ^contractors for three of four projects are continuing their work into 

 this second year. 



The major part of this program calls upon contractors to assess the 

 effects of the drilling discharges on animals and communities living in 

 the bottom sediments (benthic infauna); the contractors must also look 

 at effects in potential depositional areas for drilling fluids and 

 cuttings such as in submarine canyons. Carrying out this "Georges Bank 

 Benthic Infauna Monitoring Program," are the Battelle New England Marine 

 Research Laboratory, Duxbury, Massachusetts, and the Woods Hole 

 Uceanographic Institution, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 



The other parts of the monitoring program recommended by the BTF and 

 directed by the Department of the Interior include: 



- "Analysis of Trace Metals in Bottom Sediments," Dept. of the 

 Interior Geological Survey, Woods Hole; ~~' 



- "Analysis of Hydrocarbons in Bottom Sediments and Analysis of 

 Hydrocarbons and Trace Metals in Benthic Fauna," Science 

 Applications, Inc., La Jolla, CA; and. 



