After a decade of attempts to control pollution with broad, sweeping legislation on a national scale, recent efforts have recognized the need to evaluate waste disposal on a case-by-case or regional basis, incorporating new knowledge about the consequences of disposal. This book examines the major uses and effects of waste disposal in the ocean, paying particular attention to California's coastal waters. The contributors, representing public agencies, academe, and research institutions, take into account environmental concerns while they focus on developing management strategies of using the oceans for waste disposal. The book is a result of the 1982 symposium "Ocean Disposal in the 1980s," which was sponsored by the Southern California Academy of Sciences