1 But my idea here was more, for example, are the results of the 



2 Georges Bank monitoring program applicable to canyons? Is there 



3 something special about those fauna that would make the "no effect" that 



4 you saw there applicable or different in the canyon. 



5 DR. NEFF: From what we have heard, I think there is substantial 



6 evidence that these fauna are fairly well adapted to high suspended 



7 sediment points. There is a fair amount of suspended particles in the 



8 canyons naturally. 



9 DR. BUTMAN: So, they might be unique fauna, but they also might 



10 be uniquely adapted-- 



11 DR. NEFF: To suspended sediments. Now, obviously, if you dump 



12 several tons on them, you're going to destroy them, but that's a 



13 different story altogether. 



14 DR. COOPER: Dick Cooper. We haven't talked anything about 



15 temperature and I bring this up because it is common knowledge amongst 



16 off-shore lobster fishermen fishing this time of year, the coldest time 



17 of the year there is, in the heads of these canyons, that the lobster 



18 catches are very high out there. 



19 It is common knowledge in their ways of thinking from what few 



20 measurements they have made that the bottom water temperatures in the 



21 heads of these canyons are 1, 2, 3 degrees higher, warmer, than in 



22 adjacent shelfs. That's why the lobsters of these canyons are active, 



23 feeding, shedding, molting, mating and trapping right through the 



24 coldest part of the year. 



25 Do we know anything about the temperature regimes of these 



26 canyonheads? I've seen some data on this in past years either from USGS 



27 or from our fisheries and I can't remember what the source was. 



28 DR. BUTMAN: All the measurements we've made have temperature. We 



29 haven't tried to directly compare the average water temperature in the 



30 canyon and the water temperature on the slope. I think that's a good 



31 point, that we need to have some good working hypotheses about it. 



32 Barbara and I were talking about this last night. What are the 



33 mechanisms for higher biomass or higher diversity? Is it temperature? 



34 Is it suspended matter? What are the actual mechanisms that cause it to 



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