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This paper explores inherent tensions between two democratic ideals: citizen representation and accountability of the state. Specifically, I argue that the method by which state officials make themselves accountable-through their creation of the appearance of transparency-results in the exclusion of alternative, non-scientific ways of knowing, including those that are gendered, local and indigenous, because these ways of knowing often employ non-standardized methods which are not 'transparent' in the same way as science and therefore easily dismissed by state officials as indefensible to citizens' questioning. I explore this tension by drawing on examples from ethnographic work I completed with two groups of knowledge practitioners, Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations (Native American) traditional marine harvesters and government biologists, both of whom work with clams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]