63 
3. Unless these other sources of pollution are eliminated, 
many of the proposed Recreation Area beaches and other surrounding 
beaches will be closed to swimmers. Breezy Point has the only 
unpolluted ocean beaches, while Sandy Hook's seafront is margin- 
ally polluted, as is the beach at Great Kills. Jamaica Bay, 
Rockaway Inlet, and Raritan Bay are heavily polluted with waste 
discharge, and New York Harbor is largely a cesspool of industrial 
and human waste. 
Preliminary studies by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and 
Wildlife, under contract to the Corps of Engineers, 6/ suggest 
a potential threat to beaches along the southern tip of Long 
Island from dredge and sludge disposal sites. However, routine 
sampling by local public health officials does not yet indicate 
a serious condition and the Jamaica beaches have never been 
closed because of pollution. Pollutants that have been detected 
may have originated from recreational craft, sewer outfalls, and 
river discharges, though pollution from these sources might mask 
the presence of pollutants originating in the offshore disposal 
grounds. 
6/ Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory, 1970. The effects of waste dis- 
posal in the New York Bight--Interim Report, U.S. Bureau of 
Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Sandy Hook, Highlands, New Jersey. 
40 
