BEAT’s interaction with other environmental groups continued in a big way on the weekend of October 27-29 in Wilmington with activities surrounding Greenpeace, Oceana, Save Our Seas, and many other environmental organizations. Representing BEAT in a variety of activities were Neil Gilbert, Dwight Willis, Sandy Ford, Barbara Kucinski-Gilbert, and Veronica Carter. Events included a tour of the Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, kayak action training in front of the Blockade Runner, a film screening of “An Inconvenient Sequel,” and lots of interaction with other key environmental groups. The primary purpose of the event was to draw attention to the dangers of seismic testing (blasting) and offshore drilling.

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According to Allison Ballard in Coastal Review Online (11/1/17), “More than 600 people took advantage of free tours of the ship Saturday and the crew hosted a variety of other events. The tour that started in New York and will end in Puerto Rico is also meant to offer scientists assistance in researching our coastal habitats. ‘We wanted to try to stop in places on the East Coast that are hubs in their area,’ said Cassady Craighill, media officer for Greenpeace USA. Wilmington was one of those, a place where there is already a lot of environmental awareness, and an access point for learning more about mid-Atlantic ecosystems.”

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There was also emphasis on scientific approaches to understanding environmental issues such as offshore drilling. Ballard wrote “One team from California-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography deployed acoustic monitoring equipment to study how marine life, especially little-known beaked whales, react to ocean noise. Also, a team of three from the Undersea Vehicles Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science are taking a remotely operated vehicle this week to explore the Snowy Grouper Wreck Marine Protected Area off the coast of Hatteras Island.”