OCEAN POLLUTION 



TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 1973 



U.S. Senate, 

 Committee on Commerce, 

 Subcommittee on Oceans and Atmosphere, 



Washington^ B.C. 



The committee met at 10 :03 a.m., in room 5110, Dirksen Senate 

 Office Building, Hon. Ernest F. Hollings (chairman of the subcom- 

 mittee) presiding. 



OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR HOLLINGS 



Senator Hollings. Good morning. The committee will please come to 

 order. 



I am pleased this morning to convene the Symposium on Ocean 

 Pollution of the Senate Commerce Committee, bubcommittee on 

 Oceans and Atmosphere. Our purpose is to compile information and 

 \\q\\} guide the Congress toward an improved understanding of the 

 special problems caused by mankind's pollution of the sea. 



On October 18, 1971, the noted undersea explorer and film maker 

 Jacques Cousteau told this subcommittee that if civilized man does 

 not act quickly to protect the fragile ecosystem of the world's oceans, 

 life in the sea may disappear in 20 to 50 years. This statement was 

 Captain Cousteau's personal opinion, based on his own observations 

 rather than any long-term coordinated scientific investigation. We 

 hope today to begin developing the information needed to deter- 

 mine the accuracy of that statement and to establish a direction 

 for the future. 



I am convinced tlmt we must begin to change our priorities if the- 

 sea and its resources are to be protected. Tliere is evidence that we 

 are indeed killing the oceans. It would be a cruel irony should man 

 eventually cease to exist on this planet, not because of nuclear war or 

 disease, but because he destroyed the life force of the world's oceans. 



Scientists and laymen are beginning to realize that every ])ollutant, 

 wliether in the air or on land, can end up in the oceans. The filth which 

 is flushed into the harbor in Hong Kong can wash up on the ]')eac]i at 

 Trinidad. The DDT and herbicides which flow into the Gulf of Mexico 

 from the Mississippi River eventually can be traced into the tissue 

 of the grey whale and polar bear above the Arctic Circle. 



We haA^e ahvays thousfht fhnt the oceans were a huge cesspool, 

 capable of assimilating all of man's waste. Now we know this is not 

 true. Pollution dumped into the oceans may remain for thousands of 

 years. Although the ocean has many currents and movements, many 



Staff member assigned to tliese hearings : John F. Hussey. 



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