A run on Georges Bank

THE CLASH between food and fuel is already occurring in the Midwest, as ethanol producers lay claim to an increasing share of the corn crop. Now a new front is opening on Georges Bank, as oil companies seek to drill beneath this highly productive source of fish. Until now, the concern was for the US portion of the bank, but Canadian officials are also eyeing their much smaller section.

The United States cannot stop drilling on the Canadian side of the boundary. What the United States can do is lead by example. In any proposals for drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, US officials should make sure that vulnerable fishing grounds like Georges Bank will remain covered by the drilling moratorium Congress started in 1982.

A major spill or just routine leaking could devastate struggling fish populations, whether in Canadian or US waters. Haddock and other species there already face the threats of overfishing, climate change, and shifts in the Gulf Stream; the last thing they need is more environmental stress.

Despite improvements over the years in rig and drilling safety, one equipment malfunction or operator error would be enough to ravage this fishery. In the bank's relatively shallow depths - as little as 13 feet at a point 120 miles east of Boston - marine life receives enough sunlight to produce one of the planet's most fruitful fishing areas.

There might be substantial reserves of oil or natural gas under Georges Bank, although the wildly overoptimistic estimates of gas from sources off Nova Scotia should keep bullish projections in perspective. But the world's declining supply of oil is matched by its depleted fisheries. Both Canada and the United States should keep drilling rigs away from Georges Bank.