estimates, and now, shared jurisdiction with Canada, and different national 

 philosophies on petroleum development and fisheries management, there is 

 heightened interest in the region. And, to most people, Georges Bank means 

 "fish." 



Ray: I see some hypocrisy here. There should be an environmental impact 

 statement on the different fisheries. In truth, there are many tradeoffs 

 involved with the fish that goes on your dinner table. Fishing tears up the 

 environment and, because of the by-catch, is often very wasteful. 



People aren't being honest with themselves. On the one hand, they're 

 talking about hypothetical impacts, and on the other, they're overlooking 

 actual impacts and damages that are quite routine. 



Hughes: The science of fisheries management is as inexact as is the 



predicton of the effects of oil and gas activities. The public is realizing 



that there are questions about the conduct of the fisheries and on 

 conservation and management efforts. 



Vild [on the subject of trying to avoid conflicts between the industries 

 or with the environment]: How about directional drilling in canyon areas? 



Ray: Industry prefers straight drilling in the exploratory phase, but 

 development could use directional drilling. 



Cooper: Looking at the fisheries in general, the likely impact 

 (negative) of oil and gas drilling operations on the commercial fisheries of 

 submarine canyons is greatly overshadowed by living resource losses. These 

 losses are due to man's inability to wisely manage the fisheries, the 

 industry, or the ocean-floor environments that support a major portion of the 

 fishery, for example the groundfish (flounder, hake, cod, lobster, etc.) 

 fishery. At some point in the future, when oil prices rise, and our 

 production is lower than it is now, what will we do then? The issue now is a 

 relatively easy one--compared perhaps to the future. 



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