tion and is proving very useful. Spectroradiometer 

 observations can be made either from an airplane 

 or from shipboard. 



Recommendation: No effluent which may cause 

 changes in turbidity or color should be added to, or 

 discharged into, inshore or coastal waters unless it has 

 been shown that it will not be deleterious to aquatic 

 biota. 



Settleable and floating substances 



Settleable solids entering coastal waters include 

 various products of forest industries such as saw- 

 dust, bark chips, wood fibers, sewage solids, 

 and many industrial wastes. The old practice of 

 dumping sawdust into tidal rivers was discon- 

 tinued long ago, but its effect is still visible in 

 the rivers of Maine. For instance, an area of the 

 bottom of the Damariscotta River was still cov- 

 ered with a loose layer of sawdust about 2 to 3 feet 

 deep in 1940, although operation of the lumber 

 mills responsible for this deposition had ceased 

 more than 50 years previous. The Damariscotta 

 kitchen-midden on the banks of the river contains 

 a huge accumulation of river oyster shells and 

 some artifacts left here by the Indians who lived 

 there for several centuries of pre-Colonial times. 

 The habitat was so completely changed by pollu- 

 tion that at present there is hardly any benthic 

 organism found on this formerly productive bot- 

 tom (Galtsoff and Chipman, unpublished report). 



Decay-resisting organic matter from wood fibers 

 and waterlogged bark and chips constitutes, in 

 places, a serious handicap to aquatic life. Settle- 

 able materials from mining operations and gravel 

 and sand washing make the bottom unsuitable for 

 aquatic life in the affected areas of the receiving 

 bodies of water. Silting may be so heavy that the 

 sediment brought in may completely fill the bay. 

 One can see this in the eastern branch of Mata- 

 gorda Bay, Tex., an area that has been completely 

 obliterated within the last 25 years by the Colo- 

 rado River. 



Dredging of bays and tidal rivers for improve- 

 ment of navigation occasionally presents serious 

 problems. Benthic communities in the area near 

 dredging operations may be destroyed or damaged 

 by spoil deposition, increase in water turbidity, 

 release of toxic substances accumulated in the mud 

 of the polluted areas, and by changing the pattern 

 of currents in the dredged area. 



Careful studies of the effects of dredging on 

 oyster-producing bottoms of the Santee River, 

 S.C, were made in 1936 by G. Robert Lunz, Jr. 

 (unpublished report), for the U.S. Corps of Engi- 

 neers. No deleterious effect on oyster-producing 



bottoms was found. An examination made by the 

 Bureau of Fisheries Laboratory at Woods Hole of 

 dredging operations to deepen and enlarge the 

 Cape Cod Canal disclosed that several productive 

 oyster beds near the site of dredging were covered 

 by 2 to 3 feet of sand and silt. The oysters were 

 destroyed, but the grounds soon were re-populated 

 by hard-shell clams and the productivity of the 

 area restored. 



Disposal of the huge quantities of garbage ac- 

 cumulated by large cities presents a special and 

 difficult problem. The old practice of barging this 

 waste out to sea and dumping it is highly objection- 

 able. Incineration seems to be the answer. This 

 creates, however, the problem of proper incinera- 

 tion of large quantities of materials without in- 

 creasing air pollution over the metropolis. The city 

 of Boston disposes of large amounts of accumu- 

 lated garbage and trash by incineration and by 

 dumping the ashes into the sea at a distance from 

 shore. State and Federal authorities are engaged 

 presently in a study of the chemical composition 

 of ash and its possible effect on aquatic life in the 

 sea. Preliminary analysis of an incinerated sample 

 made by Ronald Eisler (personal communication) 

 of the National Marine Quality Laboratory of the 

 Federal Water Pollution Control Administration 

 shows that aluminum, iron, and calcium were most 

 abundant, followed by zinc, sodium, potassium, 

 and lead. Other metals comprising more than 1 

 percent of the fraction soluble in 6nHC1 include 

 barium, chromium, and magnesium. It is evident 

 that ash from this waste contains a fairly large 

 percentage of heavy metals which may be accumu- 

 lating in the bodies of fish and shellfish. The effect 

 of ash on the behavior of fish is now being studied, 

 but the results are not yet available. 



Examples of industrial effluents containing ma- 

 terials that precipitate in sea water are the waste 

 from titanium paint plants or the soap portion of 

 the effluents from Kraft pulp mills. This fraction of 

 the black liquor is precipitated from solution by 

 salt, carried by the current of the receiving river, 

 and evenmally deposited on the bottom (Galtsoff, 

 et al., 1947). Waste from several plants extracting 

 titanium dioxide from ilemenite (ferrous titanate) 

 produces serious pollution in the lower Patapsco 

 River area near Baltimore. Because of the re- 

 stricted circulation of water in the upper Chesa- 

 peake Bay, the effect is quite pronounced. Ferric 

 hydroxide flocculation in the Patapsco River has 

 been found detrimental to plankton. Diatoms were 

 destroyed by flocculation and removed from 

 plankton by settling with the iron particles. Con- 

 siderable amounts of iron accumulated on the 

 bottom and iron precipitate was found coating the 



76 



