355 



stantial concentrations for extended periods of time. In humans, chromium may 

 be linked to skin disorders, lung cancer and liver damage. 



8. Nickel. — Nickel appears to be similar to chromium in its toxicity and bio- 

 chemical actions. Dermatitis and cancer may be associated with nickel concen- 

 trations in humans. It generally has low toxicity in the aquatic environment, 

 but some of the lower forms of life appear sensitive to it. 



9. Copper. — Copper compounds appear to be biologically accumulative in the 

 marine environment, but their toxic effects are not fully understood. On the 

 other hand, concentrations of copper found in coastal waters in the New York 

 City area may have destroyed bottom-dwelling clams and worms, and substan- 

 tially inhibited photosynthesis in aquatic plants. The CEQ report of 1970 on 

 Ocean Dumping notes that 



"Copper was found in the waters of the New York Bight in concentrations 

 greater than 0.120 milligram per liter. These concentrations, found throughout 

 the water column, indicate widespread copper contamination. Concentrations of 

 0.1 milligram per liter killed soft clams in 10-12 days. Concentrations of 0.05 

 milligram i>er liter killed polychaete worms in 4 days. . . . Concentrations of 0.1 

 milligram per liter inhibited photosynthesis in kelp 70 per cent in 9 days." 



10. Vanadium. — Little is know^n about the toxic effects of vanadium in the 

 marine environment. High concentrations in humans may damage the gastroin- 

 testinal and respiratory tracts and inhibit cholestrol synthesis. 



b. Crude, fuel, and lubricating oils 



By quantity, petroleum and its products are probably the most widespread pol- 

 lutants of the oceans. While the greatest volume of oil products discharged into 

 the oceans from vessels is produced by maritime casualties or by such vessel oper- 

 ating procedures as tank washings and bilge pumpings. the dumping at sea of 

 oily wastes generated on land may also cause potentially serious environmental 

 effects. 



Oil slicks may kill seabirds directly through ingestion, or indirectly through 

 the coating of feathers, causing drowning, starvation or fatal loss of body heat. 

 Fish and shellfish may be killed by the ingestion of toxic hydrocarbons in oily 

 substances, or by the coating of epithelial tissues. Oil coating may taint the flesh 

 of fish and shellfish, rendering them unfit for consumption, and may disrupt 

 propagation and reduce resistance to infection and stress. Bottom-dwelling orga- 

 nisms are particularly subject to those effects, since toxic hydrocarbons may per- 

 sist in bottom sediments long after surface slicks have disappeared. 



Oil pollution may also severely damage algae and planktonic life, an important 

 source of food and fish populations, and may alter the ecological balance of a 

 marine area through changes in bacterial composition and interference with 

 reaeration and photosynthesis. 



One of the more exhaustive summaries of what is known about effects of oil 

 on marine ecosystems appears as an appendix to Volume 4 of the "Final Environ- 

 mental Imipact Statement — Proposed Trans-Alaska Pipeline, U.S. Department of 

 Interior 1972. That Appendix is reproduced in its entirety as Attachment V to this 

 Statement. 



c. Organohalogen compounds 



Chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as DDT, dieldrin, endrin, polyhalogenated bi- 

 phenyls, polychlorinated biphenyls. and toxaphene, appear to have acute and 

 chronic toxic effects on marine life when exposed in sufficient concentrations. 

 Some toxic effects on planktonic life, including decreased growth rates, develop- 

 mental failures and increased mortality, have been observed under laboratory 

 conditions; more important, perhaps, is the effect that concentrations in plank- 

 tonic life have on organisms higher in the food chain. Laboratory experiments 

 appear to demonstrate that crustaceans and moUusks suffer serious mortality in- 

 creases and decreased growth rates with relatively small concentrations of DDT, 

 polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorinated pesticides and other chlorinated hydro- 

 carbons. These substances appear to concentrate in lipid fish tissues, such as the 

 ovaries, and to cause serious reproductive failures. Seaweed. moUusks, crusta- 

 ceans, fish and other life forms may also he killed by contact with significant 

 concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons in dumping areas. 



Deaths and severe reproductive failures of several species of birds have been 

 traced to the concentration of chlorinated hydrocarbons in their ti.ssues ; in par- 

 ticular, widespread shell-thinning, mortality and population decline of certain 

 species of fish-eating coastal birds, along the North and Baltic Seas have been 



