How will our actions be judge in the future? JC seemed to be on the forefront of protecting the seas back then and his actions paved the way for where we are today.
Fabian Cousteau - A Phony? I think he is disgracing the family name!
- Thread starter Wayne at DiveSeekers
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DaleC
Contributor
It's also very different when one is simply a tourist to an area (which most divers are) or a local (which I think we cold consider JYC who lived and earned a living from the sea).
Tourists think "what a lovely place, I love that turtle". Locals think "how am I going to get enough to survive, I think I'll eat that turtle".
Tourists think "what a lovely place, I love that turtle". Locals think "how am I going to get enough to survive, I think I'll eat that turtle".
When I first read Moby Dick, I was struck by Melville's insistence that there was no way that the whaling industry could threaten the overall existence of whales. The ocean was so vast, and the hunting methods were so inefficient, that the whales would always exist in huge numbers. Even though he goes into great detail (and praise) for the factory ship systems of that day, he simply did not see any way humans could threaten the existence of so plentiful a species.
My father went to high school in the late 1930s, and he told me about the humiliating day his teacher ridiculed him in front of the class for writing an essay in which he dared suggest that human actions could threaten the continued existence of certain animals. Did he realize, the teacher asked him in wonder, how vast were those numbers and how puny were man's ability to diminish them?
That was not that long ago. My father graduated from high school only a few years before Cousteau first went under water with his aqualung and camera. We have since developed the ability to destroy ecosystems far beyond what we could have imagined only recently. When Cousteau first started diving, sharks were everywhere in abundance; it is only in the last few decades that we were able to kill 90% of them and see what a devastating effect that slaughter has created. It is only in the past few decades that fishing methods have become so effective that we are now able to strip the word's oceans of fish with little more effort than we are using now.
Unfortunately, the idea of an eternal abundance in the seas still lingers in the minds of many. Jacques may well have been infected with it still when he began his career, but his descendants have a completely different attitude now.
My father went to high school in the late 1930s, and he told me about the humiliating day his teacher ridiculed him in front of the class for writing an essay in which he dared suggest that human actions could threaten the continued existence of certain animals. Did he realize, the teacher asked him in wonder, how vast were those numbers and how puny were man's ability to diminish them?
That was not that long ago. My father graduated from high school only a few years before Cousteau first went under water with his aqualung and camera. We have since developed the ability to destroy ecosystems far beyond what we could have imagined only recently. When Cousteau first started diving, sharks were everywhere in abundance; it is only in the last few decades that we were able to kill 90% of them and see what a devastating effect that slaughter has created. It is only in the past few decades that fishing methods have become so effective that we are now able to strip the word's oceans of fish with little more effort than we are using now.
Unfortunately, the idea of an eternal abundance in the seas still lingers in the minds of many. Jacques may well have been infected with it still when he began his career, but his descendants have a completely different attitude now.
lamarpaulski
Contributor
The greatest conservationist...or at least the one who accomplished the most, was a guy who shot tons of big game..Teddy Roosevelt...different times...biologists used to 'collect' samples with fatal results...probably still have to sometimes. Cousteau was a huge factor in whatever progress exists in protecting the oceans. Who else has done as much ? Even close ? Dont let perfection be enemy to the good. Retroactive politically correct perfection at that. Lots of great men had mistresses...from Jfk to Patton to Mlk...
Wingy
Contributor
I think all the Cousteau's have made use of the family name - I think most people would do the same thing. Fabien has a degree in environmental ethics is active in lots of conservation work.
While JYC may have shown us not what to do he long recognised what we were doing to the oceans - his quote about man using the ocean as both his larder and his toilet has never rung truer.
While JYC may have shown us not what to do he long recognised what we were doing to the oceans - his quote about man using the ocean as both his larder and his toilet has never rung truer.
DaleC
Contributor
Our group has been conducting a fish study of a threatened/endangered species for almost five years now. We have a strict policy of observation only (we use photo and video to record setting and behavior) which coincides with the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) mandate of "no harm, no capture, no harass".
What is funny is that the limited biological knowledge the DFO has collected comes from trapping specimens and either killing them for study or holding them in tanks at the lab. There they either live out their life in captivity or are destroyed, because of the established practice of not reintroducing a captured specimen back into its natural setting (lest you cross contaminate habitat with a foreign pathogen).
Of course the no HHC policy makes sense when you have species at risk of mistreatment by many people and is a good thing.
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