WIGWAM FISH MONITORING PROGRAM Prior to the underwater test detonation (Operation Wigwam) of a small fission weapon in the eastern Pacific this past spring (May 1955) the Division of Biology and Medicine was directed to establish a fish monitoring system on the west coast. The basic reasons for activating the program were twofold, (a) to establish beyond a doubt that no com-~ merically caught fish in the eastern Pacific, landed at west coast ports, were contaminated by dangerous amounts of radioactive fission products, and (b) to reassure the public and the twenty-two fish canners in the event of any adverse, sensational publicity, that the fish were not con-= taminated. The Federal Food and Drug Administration was requested to cooperate in establishing the program in view of their mass=testing tuna program following the H=bomb test in 195), existing public confidence in the agency, and their specific responsibility of guaranteeing that all fish and fish products landed at west coast ports were free of all con= tamination. Thirty-two personnel were assigned to the operation. (a) Food and Drug assigned the Los Angeles and San Francisco Districts Chiefs and five food inspectors. (b) The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project furnished eighteen enlisted men and two officers from the lst Radiological Safety Support Unit. The men were sworn in by Food and Drug as deputy food inspectors, and worked in white coveralls. All had appropriate clearances. (c) The UCLA-AEC Project assigned three scientists from their (d) The Division of Biology and Medicine assigned one man from Health Physics Branch and personnel to train the enlisted men, and officers, and five Food and Drug inspectors. the Instruments Branch and one from the Biclogy Branch. Automatic rate meters, Nuclear Instrument 1619, Esterline~Angus recorders, and alarm systems (MR=14) were installed in specially con- structed moisture controlled boxes at the large canneries at Terminal Island and San Diego. The boxes were built and the instruments assembled by and at the UCLA-AEC Project. Twelve unloading lines were monitored by AEC automatic instruments, and ten lines by instruments owned by the cannery at seven of the largest canneries. AEC personnel assisted the canners in modernizing and calibrating their instruments.