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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
@
U. S. ATOMIC
Y COMMISSION
Washington, B.C,
INFORMATION FOR THE PRESS
FOR AFTERNOON NEWSPAPERS
No. 129, September 20, 1948
Thursday, September 23, 1948
Tel. ST 8000, Brs. 307, 308
EXPEDITION COMPLETES SURVEY OF MARINE
LIFE AT BIKINI AND ENIWETOK
An expedition sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission and assisted
by the Navy Department has completed a survey of the effects of atomic ex-
plosions on marine life at Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls in the Pacific Ocean.
The survey was conducted in July by a party of civilian scientists
headed by Dr. Lauren R. Donaldson, Director of the Applied Fisheries Laboratory
at the University of Washington, Seattle. Evaluation of the data and specimens
accumulated by the expedition will be made by the Applied Fisheries Laboratory
and will consume a period of many months. When the study has been completed,
those portions of the findings which do not contain restricted data will be
made public.
The expedition operated under a contract with the AEC's Office of
Hanford Directed Operations, Richland, Washington, and general technical
direction was provided by the AEC's Division of Biology and Medicine in
Washington, D.C. The Navy provided forward area support, including surface
craft, transportation and housing.
1947.
Dr. Donaldson headed a previous expedition to Bikini in the summer of
The results of the two surveys will be correlated and combined to provide
a continuing picture of the effecte of the 1946 Bikini atomic bomb tests on
plant and animal life in the lagoon, The marine life survey at Eniwetok was the
first conducted there since the atomic weapons tests this spring.
In addition to Dr. Donaldson, the members of the expedition were:
Theodore H, Bullock, Assistant Professor of Zoology,
University of California at Los Aygeles.
John R, Donaldson, Student and Research Assistant,
University of Washington.
Edward D. Held, Biology Department, University of
California at Los Angeles,
George J. Hollsnberg, Bifogy Department, University
of Redlands, Redlands, California.
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