Category: science news

An Inquisitor column from August 4, 1976

Evidence provided the State Assn. of Sludge Producers and Dumpers indicates that the massive fish kills off the Jersey shore are an example of mass suicide among the lower animals.

“They killed themselves,” said Dr. Jack C. Robbin, a biologist retained by the association, “and that’s all there is to it.”

“Dr. Robbin’s findings lay to rest, once and for all, the fallacious rumor that sludge dumping kills marine life.” said Harold Slyme, president of the association.

The reasons for the catastrophic deaths of fish, lobsters, clams and other ocean creatures have been hotly debated.  The ecology-minded have blamed it on sludge-dumping, while others have attributed it to natural causes.

The arguments pointing to sludge as the culprit were strong.  Sludge can smother clams and other burrowers by clogging up their air holes, can poison fish that feed on sludge-coated plants and tiny animals, and may carry bacteria whose activities can upset the oxygen balance in the water.

“The infamous ‘Dead Sea’ is not our fault,” declared Slyme, referring to a 20 square mile patch of ocean floor off New Jersey which is now devoid of life.  “Dr. Robbin sent several divers down there, and the ones who came back reported that no sludge was present.”

(Environmentalist groups have called that statement “an out-and-out lie” and advised interested observers to “ask any oceanographer.”

One of the divers, Arthur Kill, described a scene on the ocean floor just off the mouth of the Manasquan River.

“It was horrible,”  Kill said, “I saw several lobsters crouched in a hara-kiri position, just like a bunch of little Japanese generals.  Dozens of clams had closed up their shells and literally starved themselves to death, and fish were belly-up everywhere.”

The fish, he explained, had apparently committed suicide by refusing to circulate water through their gills.

“We knew it wasn’t sludge,” said Slyme.  “After all, we’ve been pumping sludge into the ocean for years, and there are still more fish in it than you can shake a stick at.  Until Dr. Robbin finished his investigation we would’ve bet on the natural-causes theory as the answer.”

The Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center, which maintains a laboratory at Sandy Hook, postulated several causes for the disaster.

“A number of environmental factors including temperature extremes, low oxygen, disease and toxic substances can contribute to fish and shellfish mortalities,” reads a press release from the center.   Ruling out disease and temperature change, fish scientists found a very low concentration of oxygen in the water where the fish kills occurred.

The scientists said the low oxygen level could have been caused by an excessively high bloom of plankton (small plants and animals).  When the plankton die and sink to the bottom, the report continued, bacteria will feed on their remains and in the process, use up oxygen.  If there were an excess of dead plankton, there could be an excess of oxygen-using bacteria which would cause an oxygen shortage.

“Some people were trying to blame us for causing the excessive plankton bloom in the first place,” said Slyme.  “Here and there crackpots were saying that the presence of sludge made the bacteria population explode.  But now we know that’s a lot of bull.”

The State Assn of  Sludge Dumpers and Producers was formed several months ago to combat the bad publicity which has been growing up around oceanic waste disposal over the years.  Various municipalities, sewerage authorities and manufacturers have joined.

The association has entered the fight against a recent EPA order intended to eliminate sludge dumping by 1981, and Slyme said that Dr. Robbin’s findings would be presented as evidence that sludge-dumping causes no harm to marine life.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”  Slyme said.  What are we supposed to do with all the sludge and other noxious wastes our society produces–make perfume out of it?  If you want progress, you have to mess up the environment a little.  At least if we dump the sludge into the ocean, nobody has to worry about stepping in it.”

“Oceans cover about 70 per cent of the earth’s surface,” Dr. Robbin said, “Furthermore, nobody lives in the ocean.  It’s only common sense to dispose of waste in the ocean where you have all that room, than on land where you have less and less open space every year.”

Many scientists have expressed doubts about Dr. Robbin’s findings.  Even if the fish did commit suicide, they argue, what would make them do it?

“Beats me,” conceded Dr Robbins.  “I can’t read a fluke’s mind. Maybe the lobsters figured it was better to do a job on themselves than to sit around and wait to get caught and boiled alive.”

But many remain unconvinced.  Indeed, one scientist interprets the suicides as damning evidence against sludge dumping.

“You’d think about killing yourself, too, ” the scientist said, “if somebody kept dumping all that crap on your head.”