158 
General, the committee wishes to thank you for your presence and — 
very helpful testimony. It is assumed you will submit those answers 
in writing at your earliest convenience for inclusion in the record. 
General Groves. Thank you. 
Mr. Drncetu. Our last witness this morning is Dr. William Aron, 
Director of Oceanography, of the Smithsonian Institution. 
We are grateful to you for your presence and particularly appre- 
ciative of your presence. 
STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM ARON, DIRECTOR OF 
OCEANOGRAPHY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Dr. Aron. Mr. Chairman, as a fisheries biologist, it is particularly 
an honor for me to be testifying before you. 
Mr. Dinertt. We are privileged to have you, Doctor. You have a 
distinguished report in this area. 
May the Chair ask, do you have any associates or members of your 
staff you would like to have present with you at the table? 
Dr. Aron. No, sir. 
Mr. Dincetx. If you do, you certainly have the permission of the 
Chair so to do. 
Dr. Aron. I am William Aron, Director, Oceanography and Lim- 
nology Program, Office of Environmental Sciences, Smithsonian — 
Institution. 
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee on Fisheries and 
Wildlife Conservation, I am pleased to be here today to discuss sev- 
eral bills that have been referred to the Committee on Merchant Ma- 
rine and Fisheries. 
These bills, H.R. 15827 (introduced by Mr. Ottinger), H.R. 17603 
(introduced by Mr. Murphy and Mr. Casey) and H.R. 18454 (intro- 
duced by Mr. Harrington) have an objective in common—the im- 
provement of our coastal environment. 
The three bills clearly reflect the Congress’ significant concern 
about environmental quality. As a marine scientist, I am particularly 
gratified to see this attention paid to an area that has been used, and 
abused, both consciously and oftentimes without awareness (particu- 
larly in the case of those people whose waste products enter rivers a 
great distance from the sea) by the majority of our population with- 
out realization of the full impact of their actions. The oceans are an 
important resource from an economic, recreational and esthetic point 
of view. No area of the ocean is more valuable, however, than the 
coastal zone. 
As chairman of a scientific advisory committee, established by the 
Smithsonian Institution at the request of the Corps of Engineers to 
provide the corps with advice on the problem of coastal disposal, I 
have become acutely aware of the existing and growing problem of 
near shore pollution. 
For example, the Sandy Hook laboratory of the Bureau of Sport 
Fisheries and Wildlife, in a Corps of Engineers sponsored study, 
well demonstrated the severe damage to the biology of sites used for — 
solid wastes disposal in the New York Bight. 
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