216. 
tied directly to the sewer sludge and dredge spoil areas. I also have 
photographs and slides. These are microphotographs showing the — 
disease in gills of crabs and lobsters. 
Mr. Dincett. Would you submit those to the committee together 
with such appropriate explanatory material as would be appropriate. 
We would appreciate it if it would be done in such fashion as to be 
included in the record of the committee. 
_ Dr. Pearce. Yes. You can also have a bottle containing a preserved 
crab. I have one with me. 
Mr. Drncexu. I am not sure we can put a preserved crab in the 
record. 
Dr. Prarcr. You have pictures. 
Mr. Kirzmittmr. We do have such pictures. 
Dr. Prarce. And Mr. Howard also has them, so they can be made 
available. This is, as I say, a very serious problem. You see this 
cisease In a wide variety of stages. As the crabs move initially into the 
sludge area, they are characterized by having dirty feet or black feet, 
and while in some situations black is beautiful, in this case it looks 
rather ugly. Superficially the crabs have a very debilitated appearance ; 
when you dissect the animal, you find the gills are completely black- 
ened rather than being clean white as they normally appear. The 
crab that I have with me today is in an early stage of this. I can show 
it to you after the hearings or give it to Mr. Everett so that it can be 
passed around for inspection. 
Mr. Dineen. We would appreciate having that. It may be useful 
when we have this later on the floor. 
Dr. Pearce. Yes. A substantial number of these crustaceans move 
through the dump areas. As you see on the chart, on the left you have 
the dredge spoil disposal area. The circle on the right with the black 
dot is the sewage sludge area. The Hudson Canyon runs between those 
two areas. The Hudson Canyon is though to be a topographic feature 
which is ecologically important; many fish are known to move up 
through the bottom waters of the canyon. They move along the canyon 
as though it were a road, and other investigators when diving have 
observed that the walls of submarine canyons indeed contain numerous 
crustaceans. It is suspected that as the crabs and lobsters move into 
deeper waters they must cross the two dumping areas to migrate from 
the shallow or shoal areas into deeper waters. This is another factor 
about the offshore waste disposal that has been widely considered; 
what is the effects of the dumping on the canyon itself? 
Mr. Drneez. Can you make comment as to whether or not moving 
this dumping area to a less harmful ecological place might be a matter — 
of importance to this committee in arriving at an appropriate action 
that should be taken by the Federal Government ? 
Dr. Pearce. When the interim report came out, there was very little 
positive or absolute evidence to suggest that the sludge materials were 
moving on shore. We had indirect evidence that the sludge materials 
as they are dumped tend to be carried to the northeast, and further 
studies of the hydrography, that is the water movements, confirms this, 
that this material may be moved toward the shores of Long Island. 
There were authorities who felt that the evidence was not sufficient. 
