16 HELFRICH ANG RAY 52 successful research dives between July 7 and Sept 29, ° unuing studies at the atull There is every indication that?: of the Western Society of Naturalsts in Los Angeles in December 1982 and were published in Bulletin of Marine ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1981. The results were presented in a special symposium Science (Harrison, 1985). | The wisdom and foresight of H. Burr Steinbach and g& position as a permanent fixture in that community was not to be. At a time of constrained research dollars in the DOE, and with support grants from all sources limited, the cost of maintaining a resident staff and operating the MPRL facility as a self-sustaining field statton became prohibitive. Support from the Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research was terminated in 1982, whereupon DOE's Nevada Operations Office sought and obtained funding for one more year through the DOE Office of Defense Programs. This additional year of funding permitted an orderly phase down of the laboratory activities and the preservation cf some of MPRL’s unique assets. The reference collection which had been started during Hiatt's early tenure had groun and had been well cataloged. For severa]l years this was accomplished through a contract with the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, under the able supervision of the late Dennis M. Devaney. The collections were carefully packaged and shipped to Hawaii to be placed in the temporary custody of the Bishop Museum. Early in 1985, negotia- tions were completed by the DOE with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and with the Bishop Museum for the permanent transfer of the reference collection to the latter institution. The MPRL’s library and much of the laboratory equipment were transferred to Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. The remaining U. S. government activity at Enewetak is now conducted on a campaign basis, usually supported by the research vessel Liktanur. At this writing, however, two DOE contractor employees remain at the atoll, and the field station remains intact and capable of limited support. Philip Helfrich retains the utle of Director of MPRL and, with modest funding from DOE, entertains inquiries from scientists who desire to explore the feasibility of con- 9002430 Research and the AEC who spawned and nurtured the & idea of a research facility at Enewetak deserve special note. Time has proven that the decisions to estabilsh, 2 maintain, and support EMBL andits successors were wise 3€: and fruitful commitments which resulted in important con #& tributions tc our knowledge -of atoll ecosysterns and more broadly to marine science. Assuredly, there arestill many x, ; unanswered questions. but just as surely new knowledge ¥ will continue to be built upon the foundation of about 250 & scientific papers which have resulted from} research conducted at Enewetak Atoll over the past 30%. published years. The writers of this chapter, who have been partners % in the administration and support of the laboratory for§ almost half of that period, record their hope that new ways will be found by interested scientists and their spon # sors to continue, ‘even on limited scale, the exciting and & rewarding experience of research at this remote and Iso§ lated atoll. REFERENCES Harrison, J. T. Ill, 1986. Recent Marine Studies at | Atoll, Marshall Islands. Badl. Mar. Sci, 38: 1-3. Hines, N. O., 1962, Proving Ground: An Account” of the ¢ Radiobiological Studies in the Pacific, 1946-1961, University ¢ of Washington Press, Seattle. | Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Enewetak Atoll Master Plan,¢ 1975, 3 volumes, Holmes and Narver, Inc., Anaheim, Califor¥ nia. U. S$. Atomic Energy Commission. 1973, Enewetak Radiological Survey, 3 volumes. Nevada Operations Office, Las Vegas, & - NVO-140 U. S. Defense Nuclear Agency, 1975, Environmental impoct § Statement: Cleanup, Rehabilitation, Resettlement of Ene-™ wetak—Marshall Islands. 4 volumes, Washington, D.C. oweBain, tad, aeibtter: Although the plans for an autonomous laboratory after the 1980 departure of ‘the cleanup forces were thoughtfully and thoroughly prepared and enthusiastically carried out, and despite the welcome that MPRL had received from the returning Enewetak community, its anticipated and £. Robert W. Hiatt and of those in the Office of Naval #¥ AN ERA ENDS. preserved the people of Enewetak would welcome such visits. je U.S. Department of Energy, 1979, Mid-Pocific Marine Laboro- j tory Contributions, 1 volume, Nevada Operations Office, Las” Vegas, NVO-628.1. . 1982, Enewetak Radiological Support Project Nevada Opera: ~~ tions Office, Las Vegas. NVO-213. U. S. Energy Research and Development. Administration, 1976, Eniwetok Manne Biological Laboratory Contributions, x volumes, Nevada Operations Office, Las Vegas, NVO-628-1. ‘