463 



Mr. D' Amours. I see. 



Mr. CosTAKES. That is only part of it. 



Mr. D' Amours. Do you have anything you would like to add? 



Mr. CosTAKES. No. Except as I say, the environment itself, the 

 weather conditions. 



Mr. D'Amours. Yes, the weather and the gyre conditions in the 

 bank. 



Did you want to add something? 



Mr. FoY. Mr. Chairman, there are at least a couple of other dis- 

 tinguishing features. 



One, remember the Georges Bank is also a very prominent 

 spawning and breeding ground for fisheries. 



Mr. D'Amours. You mean migratory fish? 



Mr. FoY. Yes, sir. So you have the possible interaction of pollut- 

 ants with that spawning activity. In the Gulf of Mexico a lot of the 

 spawning occurs inshore and is not necessarily coincident with 

 where the rigs are. There has also been an interesting shift in the 

 nature of fish caught in the Gulf of Mexico over the past 30 or 40 

 years. The Gulf of Mexico used to be predominantly a food fish 

 catch. It has in the past 30 years turned to be predominantly a 

 nonfood fish catch. 



Mr. D'Amours. Predominantly? 



Mr. FoY. I believe the percentage catch is more nonfood fish now 

 than food fish in the gulf. Georges remains a food fish area. I don't 

 think there is any effort to catch the nonfood fish on Georges, al- 

 though they may do that. 



Mr. D'Amours. Thank you very much. 



I guess this question would be addressed primarily to Ms. Hughes 

 and Mr. Colgan. 



We have heard from biological task force through its current 

 chairman, and we have heard from the Department of Interior. 



By the way, is Mr. Danenberger still here? 



OK. 



Both of these witnesses testifed as to the day-to-day impacts of 

 OCS oil drilling as they are being monitored. 



What about the possibility of a major oilspill? 



Are the States studying this question and do you think the bio- 

 logical task force should be? 



Ms. Hughes. I am not sure I understand you, Mr. Chairman. Are 

 you asking me if the States are studying the environmental issues 

 surrounding the possibility of an oilspill or the technological likeli- 

 hood of one? 



Mr. D'Amours. I am thinking of both matters — the technological 

 likelihood, but also the state of readiness to deal with such an 

 eventuality. 



Ms. Hughes. Well, I can say that the States are studying it di- 

 rectly. I can't say, however, all of the New England States are rep- 

 resented on a regional response team that is overseen by the U.S. 

 Coast Guard which, as you know, has jurisdiction over an oilspill 

 offshore. 



The Coast Guard and the regional response team worked with 

 the Department of Interior prior to any drilling activity on Georges 

 Bank in order to assure as best can be that there were personnel 

 on the rigs offshore that were trained in the use of oilspill cleanup 



