APPENDIX A 



COMMENTS SUBMITTED BY WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS BASED 

 ON REVIEW OF THE FINAL SUMMARY REPORT 



These comments are appended separately rather than incorporated into the body 

 of the report as they reflect individual input and not necessarily a workshop 

 consensus. 



Page Reviewer 

 79 James Ray 



80 



James Ray 



87 



James Ray 



89 



James Ray 



Comment 



Although the workshop focuses on the shallower 

 parts of canyons because of the amount of 

 oceanographic information available, the 

 discussions of probable impacts were a little 

 broader. 



There was a specific point made that many of the 

 smaller "canyons" weren't really canyons, but 

 small embayments of the shelf. This delineation 

 is important with regards to the number of areas 

 that people perceive as truly unique canyons. 



This [regarding statement on potential for 

 contaminant accumulation in canyons with fine- 

 grained sediments] is a little misleading. To 

 say that this is an accumulation zone is 

 questionable, especially with deposition of all 

 similar size particles from shelf and slope co- 

 depositing. The "scavenging" theory is based on 

 limited data. There is virtually no data to 

 support the suggestion that ionic species of 

 contaminants above background levels would be 

 drifting in the water mass at any significant 

 distance downstream from a platform. The 

 possibilities of this being a mechanism for 

 concentrating rig pollutants in a canyon seems 

 questionable based on the present information. 



[Regarding contaminant concentration by filter 

 feeders.] The concept of "contaminant 

 concentration" by coelenterates, e.g., corals 

 and gorgonians, is much different than the 

 accumulation process in bivalve mollusks, which 

 are for the most part missing in the canyons. 

 [There is some question about] the above theory, 

 and [there may not be] any data to support it. 

 I believe it is a nonmechanism for canyon 

 concentration of contaminants. [Pages 218 and 

 219 of the verbatim transcript for February 8, 

 1989 address this topic. --Ed.] 



A-1 



