Commencement Bay is located at the southern end of the Main Basin of Puget Sound. It serves as a natural deep water port for the City of Tacoma. Located along the southeastern shore are eight commercial waterways, one of which is the Puyallup River, the principal source of fresh water to the Bay. The nearshore land areas are heavily industrialized. Serious concerns have been raised about the effects of current and past waste disposal practices and their effects on the marine environment. For several years, investigations to determine the sources, distribution, fate and effects of toxic wastes have been conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Washington State Department of Ecology, and the Environmental Protection Agency. These studies have documented elevated levels of contaminants, toxicity to bottom-dwelling biological organisms, increased incidence of diseases fish, and accumulation of some contaminants in edible portions of fish and shellfish.

"July 1983."