Marine expert Sylvia Earle on a lifelong mission to save the oceans
The 82-year-old oceanographer has dedicated her life to saving the oceans and is urging people to take action before it’s too late
OCCUPATION:
Oceanographer
INSPIRATION:
When I discovered the ocean, the things in the ocean that you don’t see anywhere else … I fell in love!
TIPS FOR BEGINNERS:
Sometimes it’s difficult for men to take you seriously as a scientist or an engineer. They are used to these fields being a men’s area. But if you treat others the way you would like to be treated, chances are you’ll have some success and be treated with respect. Rather than trying to act like a man, just be yourself.
Off the shores of the East Cape region of Baja California Peninsula in Mexico, the turquoise waters are home to more than 800 species of marine life, from corals, fish and sea turtles, to dolphins.
Having spent over 7,000 hours submerged in the sea, and with more than five decades of marine research experience, 82-year-old oceanographer Sylvia Earle, dubbed “Her Deepness”, should have seen it all. However, the marine biologist is still surprised by what she sees every time she dives into this part of the ocean, known as the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.
“I’ve been in Cabo Pulmo at least a dozen times over the years. Every time, I see something I’ve never seen before,” says Earle, who has been on underwater expeditions to oceans all round the world – from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and from the Indian to the Atlantic to the Pacific – for the last 50 years. “This time, it’s the sardines. I’ve never seen so many of these little fish gathered together. The other thing that is new for me even though I have spent thousands of hours underwater – I’ve never seen so many groupers together in one place. This was not a breeding aggregation. This was a feeding aggregation. They’re all there because lunch was being served.”
Before this part of the Gulf of California was declared a national marine park in 1995, the Cabo Pulmo sea – once called the “aquarium of the world” by legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau – was heavily overfished and ruined by unrestrained tourism activities. Thanks to the efforts of the local community and conservation groups, the area has been gradually recovering and is now recognised as a Hope Spot under Earle’s global initiative, Mission Blue.