Pollution Monitoring: Its Role in Marine Environmental Management

In 1980-1981 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set out to determine the potential role of the federal government in ocean pollution monitoring. A series of monitoring workshops were conducted and the results are being analyzed to determine a suitable role for the Federal Government. By using the preliminary findings from the workshops, a summary of prior and ongoing pollution monitoring attempts, overall goals and objectives for a national monitoring scheme are presented. Recommended as a first step is that an agreed upon set of sediment sampling measurements be adopted and serve as the nucleus of the proposed national monitoring network. This data will serve as an integrating element to which other local and regional monitoring elements can relate. The resultant monitoring information must subsequently be translated into a form which assists decision makers having authority to manage oceanic resources.