Structural Falsification, Scientific Silence, and a New Research Strategy: A Critical Reconstruction of the Hector’s and Māui Dolphin Case
- 1Pollution and Diseases
- 2NEVG
Abstract
This paper examines the decline of Hector’s and Māui dolphins in New Zealand not only as an ecological problem but also as a methodological problem concerning the organisation of scientific knowledge. The study is motivated by the public release of the previously unavailable Groundwater Technology technical reports (1995–1996), which substantially expand the evidentiary basis for evaluating the chemical pollution hypothesis. Although these reports do not demonstrate that chemical contamination was the principal cause of population decline, they provide important information on historical contamination sources, groundwater, chlorophenols, phenoxy compounds, pesticides, solvents, contaminant transport pathways, environmental modelling. The paper argues that the emergence of these documents changes the structure of scientific inquiry. The central question is no longer whether the chemical hypothesis should replace competing explanations such as fisheries-related mortality, demographic vulnerability, infectious disease, or habitat change. Rather, the key issue is why evidence capable of substantially modifying the research programme remained outside active scientific analysis for almost three decades. To address this problem, the study employs a framework of critical reconstruction that examines both environmental processes and the organisation of scientific knowledge. Particular attention is given to structural falsification, understood as the long-term exclusion of significant evidence from recognised scientific knowledge.
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BibTeX
@article{gibbs2026structural,
title = {{Structural Falsification, Scientific Silence, and a New Research Strategy: A Critical Reconstruction of the Hector’s and Māui Dolphin Case}},
author = {Andrew Gibbs and Dmitry Nikolaenko},
journal = {Pollution and Diseases},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.66659/tms16797},
url = {https://doi.org/10.66659/tms16797},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Structural Falsification, Scientific Silence, and a New Research Strategy: A Critical Reconstruction of the Hector’s and Māui Dolphin Case
AU - Andrew Gibbs
AU - Dmitry Nikolaenko
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/30
JO - Pollution and Diseases
DO - 10.66659/tms16797
UR - https://doi.org/10.66659/tms16797
AB - This paper examines the decline of Hector’s and Māui dolphins in New Zealand not only as an ecological problem but also as a methodological problem concerning the organisation of scientific knowledge. The study is motivated by the public release of the previously unavailable Groundwater Technology technical reports (1995–1996), which substantially expand the evidentiary basis for evaluating the chemical pollution hypothesis. Although these reports do not demonstrate that chemical contamination was the principal cause of population decline, they provide important information on historical contamination sources, groundwater, chlorophenols, phenoxy compounds, pesticides, solvents, contaminant transport pathways, environmental modelling. The paper argues that the emergence of these documents changes the structure of scientific inquiry. The central question is no longer whether the chemical hypothesis should replace competing explanations such as fisheries-related mortality, demographic vulnerability, infectious disease, or habitat change. Rather, the key issue is why evidence capable of substantially modifying the research programme remained outside active scientific analysis for almost three decades. To address this problem, the study employs a framework of critical reconstruction that examines both environmental processes and the organisation of scientific knowledge. Particular attention is given to structural falsification, understood as the long-term exclusion of significant evidence from recognised scientific knowledge.
SN - 3029-9039
ER -