University of California, and the Applied Fisheries Laboratory,
University of Washington.

The findings of Operation Troll, the 17,419 mile cruise
of the Taney from February 25 to May 3, 1955, were summarized
as follows:
1.

Sea water and plankton samples show the existence

of widespread low-level activity in the Pacific Ocean.

Water activity ranged from 0-570 d/min/liter and plankton from 3-140 d/min/g wet weight.
2. There is some concentration of the activity in the
main current streams, such as the North Equatorial Current.
The highest activity was off the coast of Luzon

sveraging 1390 d/min/liter down to 600 m (April 1, 1955).
3.
Analyses of fish indicate no activity approaching
the maximum permissible level for foods.
The highest

activity in tuna fish was 3.5 d/min/g ash, less than 1
percent of the permissible level.

4,
Measurements of plankton activity offer a sensitive
indication of activity in the ocean.

5.
Similar operations would be valuable in assessing
the activity from future tests and in gathering valuable data for oceanographic studies.

The Division of Blology and Medicine of the U. 8. Atomic
Energy Commission requested the Applied Fisheries Laboratory

of the University of Washington to conduct surveys of the open

sea during 1956 to determine "(a) the levels of introduced radioactivity resulting from the tests in the water,

plankton,

and fish, and (b) how far the activity extends westward in the
North Equatorial current.”

Select target paragraph3