1 at face value that we will have an impact and say, we might wipe out a 



2 population in one canyon, what effect is that going to have over a 



3 longer term? 



4 Now, I am bringing up the concept of stock populations. You don't 



5 have high enough densities of a lot of these animals out on the slope; 



6 you may or may not in the canyons, depending on which canyon you are 



7 talking about and which population. 



8 I guess one of my concerns is the concept of a stock population, 



9 in that even though you may be wiping out only one one-thousandths of a 



10 continental margin area, are you wiping out 50 percent of a possible 



11 stock population? 



12 These are questions I feel are hard to answer. I don't think we 



13 know enough biologically about these populations. The other thing is 



14 you are dealing with sessile populations. Why do we only find some of 



15 the soft substrate organisms in the canyons themselves? 



16 Why don't we find them on the slope? Are they not settling there 



17 or are they settling there and not surviving? Here, my concern with 



18 regard to settling cues would be in the canyons. Are we going to change 



19 the physical characteristics of the substrate? 



20 Are we going to change the chemical characteristics of the 



21 substrate? What is important in terms of settling, in terms of a 



22 settling cue, at least from shallow water, coral work, that I'm aware 



23 of--here, we are going way back--it would be the chemical cues are very, 



24 very important as are physical cues. 



25 Then, there are also the cues with regard to whether there are 



26 adults there and chemical cues, also, saying, "Hey, this is a good place 



27 to settle down." I think that is a question that is not answered with 



28 regard to physical characteristics. 



29 I do know that right in the immediate vicinity of the drill site, 



30 you are going to change the physical characteristics of the sea floor, 



31 the immediate vicinity. I don't know how far out that goes. I don't 



32 know what level of change may be acceptable or may not be acceptable. 



33 Another question is: What concentration would alter -- you know, 



34 what concentration of a difference, what percent of difference would 



232 



