Earth Day is an ideal time to consider the natural and economic benefits Georges Bank provides, and to voice our support for extending the moratorium that now prohibits potentially destructive petroleum activities on the Canadian side of Georges Bank, just as we have on our side of this natural treasure.

Georges Bank is an expanse of sand-bottomed shallows that stretches from Newfoundland to southern New England and sits about 150 miles off the coast. It is a rare place where nature has formed a change of life able to support varied species in great abundance.

It can sustain scallops, haddock, yellowtail flounder, and other valuable commercial species. Endangered species including the right whale, humpback whale and sei whale rely on Georges Bank and the surrounding area for feeding and as a migratory pathway.

And most important to shaping the history of New England, it supports, once in great numbers the Atlantic cod.

More than 500 years ago Basque fisherman are believed to have made the dangerous sail across the Atlantic just to fish the then-bountiful waters of the Georges Bank.

When Englishmen John Cabot explored the region in the 1490s, it was reported that the "sea there is swarming with fish which can be taken not only with the net but in baskets let down with a stone" and settlers in the New World wrote of "codfish as big as men."

Massachusetts built an economy and a way of life on this bounty. Now, of course, the great fish of Georges Bank are gone, like the buffalo from the open range of a century ago.

To give the ecosystem every chance to return to its full vibrancy, the U.S. and Canada enacted moratoria on oil and gas activities in Georges Bank.

The American moratorium originally established by Congress in 1994 and then strengthened and extended by President Bush and President Clinton, expires in 2012. It was crafted with the support and input of the scientific community, conservationists and fishermen, who argued eloquently and passionately that the protection of the natural environment and commercial fisheries must be given priority over petroleum interests.

Unfortunately, the Canadian moratorium is set to expire on Dec. 31, 1999, and the officials are now considering whether to open the Canadian portion of the Bank to oil and gas exploration or to extend the moratorium. As with our public debate, the scientific community, conservationists and fisherman have joined together to support an extension of the moratorium, while oil and gas interests, reportedly including such industry giants as Chevron, Texaco and Amoco, are pressing for access to the Bank.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency charged with protecting marine resources has warned that oil and gas exploration in either the Canadian or the U.S. portion of Georges Bank will threaten what remains of the habitat and the commercial and endangered species it sustains. NOAA and others have pointed out that despite advances in drilling muds, seepage and other sources.

Given the availability of other fossil fuel energy and the technological advances in renewable energy production, it seems that petroleum exploration in the unique and extremely valuable habitat of Georges Bank posses unnecessary economic and environmental risk.

It is clear that the decision the Canadians will make this year will directly impact Massachusetts. Marine exports caution that strong waves and currents will inevitably carry spilled petroleum into U.S. waters. Further, as NOAA has warned, haddock and other species harvested by U.S. fishermen in U.S. waters spawn on the Canadian side of Georges Bank.

If the spawning cycle of haddock were to be disrupted in Canadian waters, U.S. fisherman, many from our state, may face dire consequences. Much of Georges Bank, on both the Canadian and U.S. sides, is now closed to harvesting as part of ongoing recovery efforts, and the proposed exploration only threatening to undermine these efforts.

Faced with these risks, I and others in the Massachusetts congressional delegation have urged the Canadians to extend their moratorium on oil and gas exploration in Georges Bank.