studies on North Atlantic submarine canyons had been underway for some 

 time, data were available, and a number of publications on the topic had 

 recently been completed. For this reason, submarine canyons were identified 

 as an appropriate topic for a new studies program approach--that of focusing a 

 workshop on a given topic. 



THE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM 



Historically, the role of the Environmental Studies Program has been 

 contracting for studies aimed at acquiring field and laboratory data and for 

 literature summaries or bibliographies. The scientific studies and literature 

 summaries are designed to: 



■ enhance the leasing process by providing information for prediction of 

 impacts, 



■ provide information on ways impacts to human, marine, biological, and 

 coastal environments can occur, 



■ ensure that available information is in a form useful to decision 

 makers, and 



■ provide a basis for future monitoring of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

 activities. 



We no longer need to focus entirely on these traditional types of 

 studies, but need to do more with risk perception and communication. At 

 present, there is a growing trend toward synthesis reports and open-forum 

 discussions. 



WORKSHOP HYPOTHESES 



To provide a basis for the workshop and to stimulate discussion, two 

 hypotheses were proposed: 



