The sea receives an enormous variety of wastes from direct discharges or, indirectly, from rivers or by rain or precipitation from the atmosphere.In some areas, toxic wastesaccumulate in sufficient quantity to create a threat to human health or to damagefisheries or other natural resources.It is necessary to be able to measure the effects ofpollution in the sea.This paper is concerned with the problems of assessing the impactof marine pollution on biological systems.