There was another issue Philippe wanted to talk to about. As we sat in the morning sun on the foredeck, watching flying fish leap from under the ship's bow and glide away across the water, he explained his concern and frustration with my diary article of yesterday. A reader might easily get the impression scientists aboard are not concerned about the environment, he said, yet nothing could be further from the truth. The whole reason the ship is here is to help gain a better understanding of the earth and its environment. Philippe, like the other scientists, is acutely aware that government funding for these expensive drilling expeditions ultimately depends on public support.
Nobody wants it suggested that fish are bothered by the testing instruments.
It's a sensitive issue. Scientific ships regularly conduct seismic surveys of the ocean floor using underwater sound guns much more powerful than that used yesterday with no apparent harm to ocean life. But elsewhere in the world, survey ships have been excluded from certain areas by fishermen claiming disruption to their livelihoods. Philippe assured me, though, that the air guns are certainly preferable to early seismic measuring techniques that used dynamite to create an underwater shock wave. Testing methods have come a long way, as has environmental awareness.