1 the damage that's going on in that environment, the benthic environment 



2 that's being torn up, the resuspension of tons and tons of sediment, it 



3 goes on and on, the bycatch, the tens of thousands of pounds of fish 



4 that go back over the side because they've hit quota and they don't dare 



5 come to port with it because they'll be fined, it goes on and on and on. 



6 The people, either they don't realize or they don't want to know 



7 in that industry, which is an important industry, hey, I like my seafood 



8 like everybody else, but people aren't being honest with themselves. 



9 Here we are here today dealing with hypothetical impacts, things 



10 we may or may not be able to measure, dealing with extreme subtleties, 



11 and yet we're talking about a particular activity and industry that 



12 we're talking about millions of pounds of biomass, of other species 



13 killed routinely, everyday in the operations of different fisheries, and 



14 it's an acceptable thing. 



15 So, I guess as part of the public and looking at it from a 



16 scientific standpoint, I find kind of objectionable some of the fishing 



17 practices we do and the damage that it causes to the environment. 



18 It's interesting that we can talk and we can separate these 



19 different. ... I'm doing it from a pragmatic scientific standpoint, not 



20 the public perception, the political standpoint. 



21 I understand the point you're making, but I'm just saying that 



22 it's a real interesting hypocritical situation that we can accept and 



23 overlook those damages as routine, but yet we're over here dealing with 



24 some of the oil and gas issues which we're regulating on. 



25 Anyway, that's my kicker to stir the pot. I know Pat's ready to 



26 jump up here now. 



27 MS. HUGHES: No, I'm not going to jump on you. I think that a 



28 point to be made is that a lot of the things that you raised, things 



29 like bycatch and what some people may find as over exploitation of the 



30 stock, et cetera, Dick can talk about it and Bruce Higgins can, the 



31 science of resource assessment, and predicting the strength and weakness 



32 of a stock size or of a year class, or what are the actual impacts on 



33 recruitment and on spawning, et cetera, are as inexact as the science of 



34 predicting the impacts of oil and gas activities on resources. 



141 



