{"id":41060,"date":"2023-01-19T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T08:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/?post_type=custom_news&p=41060"},"modified":"2023-01-25T08:48:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T16:48:35","slug":"discovering-what-is-already-known","status":"publish","type":"custom_news","link":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/news\/discovering-what-is-already-known\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering What Is Already Known"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 20, 2022, news broke of an extraordinary discovery. In press releases, interviews, and Instagram stories, the French foundation 1 Ocean and UNESCO announced finding a pristine coral reef hidden off Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia. The story quickly went viral. \u201cSprawling Coral Reef Resembling Roses Is Discovered Off Tahiti,\u201d read a New York Times<\/em>\u00a0headline<\/a>. \u201cPristine coral reef unblemished by warming oceans found off Tahiti,\u201d Reuters wrote<\/a>, while the Washington Post<\/em> announced hope for the oceans in its story<\/a>. Amid news of droughts and floods, the world rejoiced; maybe you did, too. But one word from the PR blitz raised the ire of Tahitians: discovery.<\/p>\n

Located off Tahiti\u2019s southeastern coast, the reef is impressive. It stretches three kilometers, reaches a depth of 65 meters, and, despite the damage other reefs have felt from warming oceans and bleaching events, this reef is thriving. Some coral colonies are so big\u2014meaning, so old\u2014that they could cover a king-sized bed. The corals resemble giant pencil shavings, alien chanterelle mushrooms, or simply, as UNESCO put it in a press release<\/a>, \u201ca work of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw the pictures, and we were like, \u2018We know that rock,\u2019\u201d says Dell Lamartini\u00e8re, a commercial fisher who visits the reef every week. \u201cI live really close by. I\u2019ve been fishing there since I was little.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Tahiti, reactions were strong. The French Polynesian government called<\/a> the use of the word \u201cdiscovery\u201d annoying, noting that it suggested the need for \u201cthe intervention of certain people to finally discover the world\u2019s wonders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not long after the news broke, a petition with support from some local authorities circulated seeking to prevent 1 Ocean and UNESCO from conducting future missions to the reef. On social media, some locals boiled with fear, rage, and racist outbursts that ultimately targeted not only the international expedition but also popa<\/em>\u2019a <\/em>(foreigners)\u2014and scientists\u2014in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember hateful comments posted by my intern,\u201d says an anonymous biologist who handles projects for different organizations all over French Polynesia. A popa\u2019a scientist herself, she feels the reaction against the mission undermined her own credibility. For the past four years, she has been working to improve locals\u2019 inclusion in her scientific projects whenever possible. Moves like 1 Ocean\u2019s, she argues, nurture mistrust. \u201cWe spend years earning people\u2019s trust. We don\u2019t want everything to be ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tahitian-born marine biologist Vetea Liao also relies on locals to help study coral spawning. Liao\u2019s nonprofit, Tama No Te Tairoto, draws on dozens of observers to monitor reefs at 80 sites. The knowledge collected through the project flows both ways, as Liao regularly publishes pictures and public reports.<\/p>\n

Liao remembers being asked by the 1 Ocean divers about coral spawning habits on the reef. He shared a few tips, hoping the team would bring back useful data for the nonprofit. But when 1 Ocean eventually published its report, Liao kept his distance. \u201cI didn\u2019t want the nonprofit to be associated with the buzz,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The problem, according to Thomas Burelli, an environmental law researcher at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, is that the case evokes terra nullius attitudes\u2014not mapped, doesn\u2019t count. Throughout history, mainstream Western science has often overlooked the voices and interests of local populations, an ongoing trend that manifests as thefts of traditional knowledge, parachute science<\/a>, and every variation in between. Such positions \u201ctend to \u2018invisibilize\u2019 communities,\u201d Burelli says.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of Alexis Rosenfeld, 1 Ocean\u2019s leader and photographer, the backlash is \u201cridiculous\u201d and \u201codious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were Tahitians on the team,\u201d Rosenfeld says. \u201cWithout locals\u2019 knowledge, these stories wouldn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Rosenfeld, the controversy derived from journalists distorting words. \u2018\u2018We didn\u2019t talk about a discovery, that\u2019s not us. We talked about a scientific<\/em> discovery.\u201d (In social <\/a>media posts<\/a> and a press release<\/a>, however, 1 Ocean and UNESCO did refer to the discovery of the reef itself.)<\/p>\n

Offended citizens should have reached out, Rosenfeld says, noting that the data 1 Ocean collected is to be shared with everyone: \u201cIt\u2019s common heritage.\u201d Rosenfeld also notes that 1 Ocean had the permission of the French Polynesian government to conduct the work.<\/p>\n

For this mission, 1 Ocean partnered with the French Centre of Island Research and Environmental Observatory (CRIOBE), based in French Polynesia. In 2014, CRIOBE became the first lab in France to implement an ethical code<\/a> outlining key steps to avoid unethical research when working with, and within, local communities\u2014steps such as informing populations in a familiar language before starting a research project and collecting resources in a way that is not perceived as offensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure they took the time to implement all these steps,\u201d says Tamatoa Bambridge, a Polynesian anthropologist at CRIOBE who focuses on ethical research practices. To him, ignorance can\u2019t be an excuse for researchers to neglect these guidelines: \u201cIt\u2019s our duty to be informed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been first contacts, epidemics, nuclear tests conducted without consulting communities. You have to take this into account. [These events] are part of the people\u2019s heritage,\u201d Bambridge explains.<\/p>\n

One year after their pronouncement, 1 Ocean\u2019s planned follow-up research to the reef is on hold. Laetitia H\u00e9douin, a coral researcher at CRIOBE who initially told 1 Ocean about the reef after a diving club showed her the spot, says she\u2019s \u201ctaking a step back.\u201d The controversy, which she deems unfair, hit her hard. \u201cThis breaks my heart. I really think there are extraordinary things to discover,\u201d H\u00e9douin says.<\/p>\n

She acknowledges that the word \u201cdiscovery\u201d was misused. If she had to do the mission again, she wouldn\u2019t do it that way. \u201cThough I don\u2019t know how,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we prepared the mission, nothing was inconsistent with how we usually function,\u201d H\u00e9douin says. Being a biologist, she argues, she lacks the skills, local contacts, and time to follow Bambridge\u2019s lead. \u201cSometimes when we offer to talk about research, people don\u2019t come. What am I supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, H\u00e9douin and CRIOBE will embark on more missions with 1 Ocean in French Polynesia\u2014to other reefs. Though this time, she says, \u201cWe\u2019ll be more careful with words.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 20, 2022, news broke of an extraordinary discovery. In press releases, interviews, and Instagram stories, the French foundation 1 Ocean and UNESCO announced finding a pristine coral reef hidden off Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia. The <\/p>\n

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