Full document / COSOC-W-86-002 - the National Sea Grant Library

485
Estuarine and Coastal Management - Toolsof the
Trade. Proceedingscf theTenthNationalConference
ofThe CoastalSociety. October 12-15,1986. New
Orleans,LA. Copyrightby TheCoastalSociety
1987.
HOW WELL DOES SCIENCE SERVE MANAGEMENT
John Gniber, Lee Kossin, and Harold Ward
Center for Environmental Studies
Brown University
Providence, Rl 02912
The Narragansett Bay Project (NBP) provides a rich opportunity to
observe thetensions which develop when scientists are funded to provide
the Information base to support a management plan. The NBP Is
authorized by the Hater Quality Renewal Act of 1984 to spend $1,500,000
each year for the four fiscal years beginning in fiscal 1985. The Hater
Quality Renewal Act is quite explicit in its statement (in Sec. 46b) of
the purpose of grants from theso funds:
"The Administrator shall.. .sake a grant far purposes of
assessing the principal factors having an adverse effect on
the envirrasxartal quality of the Narragansett Bay, as
perceived by both scientists and users, in conjunction with
ctavoloping and Ittplfinpntlng a managcoont tu.uur.da to improve
the Bay's water quality... .The applicant will.. .not Inter
than it"**** yaazB sxccr nanilpfflt* of ^**** section, jnjalGDGSTti
BBnagetacnfc ptactioes.*." (emphasis supplied)
It is iiiportant to notice two points particularly in the legislation:
that the word "research" nowhere appears in the authorizing legislation
and that the results of the NBP are expected to be applied almost
immediately, far faster than basic research typically can reach
fruition. Congress was as clear as it could have been that these funds
are to be used for applied work and not for basic research.
Public statements and interviews with several individuals concerned with
the NBP reveal two very different views of the proper method of
responding to the Congressional instruction. One, which we will call
"Science First" holds that the preferred approach is to gain the best
possible understanding of tho physical and biological systems which
operate in the Bay. This understanding provides the basis for