Comment on “Science and Sociology Butt Heads in Tomography Experiment in Sacred Mountains”] Learning Lessons From Science Experiments

Abstract

I am writing to comment on the article by Baldridge et al., “Science and Sociology Butt Heads in Tomography Experiment in Sacred Mountains” (Eos, September 30,1997). I strongly support their conclusion that scientists must learn to communicate with the public if we are to continue to receive taxpayer support for our projects.I am lead principal investigator of the interdisciplinary project ACCRETE (funded by the Continental Dynamics program of NSF), which also involved what could easily have been perceived to be an environmentally and culturally invasive seismic experiment. We proposed to take the 240‐foot seismic ship R/V Maurice Ewing through the inland waterways of southeast Alaska and British Columbia, firing airguns every 20 seconds for 10 days, all within “earshot” of marine mammals and fish. Consider the permitting challenge involved with two countries engaged in a fish war and three ethnically distinct First Nations who are in the midst of land claims negotiations. In addition, we had to deal with commercial fishing interests (imagine sailing a ship with 4 km of towed instruments through a couple hundred fishing boats with their nets out), marine mammal protection groups, a wilderness area, and a nuclear submarine base. We had many of the experiences Baldridge et al. report, but nevertheless were able to do our experiment as planned, without any modification imposed by local groups.