ISLAMORADA, Fla. (AP) — Like viewers worldwide, Fabien
Cousteau was entranced by his famous grandfather’s films about marine
life and human exploration underwater. Now he’s adding to his family’s
sea stories with a 31-day underwater expedition in the Florida Keys.
Cousteau
is set to dive Sunday to Aquarius Reef Base, a school bus-sized
laboratory 60 feet below the ocean’s surface, a few miles off Key Largo.
He plans to spend more than a month living underwater with a
five-person crew, making a documentary and leading science experiments
on the nearby coral reef.
The idea for "Mission 31" came to
Cousteau two years ago when he visited Aquarius during a fundraising
push to save the lab, which federal budget cuts had threatened to
permanently close.
"It reminded me that I’ve always wanted to live underwater," Cousteau said Saturday at his
training base in Islamorada.
"Mission
31" builds on the legacy of Conshelf II, the 30-day underwater living
experiment in the Red Sea that Jacques Cousteau filmed in 1963 for his
Oscar-winning documentary "World Without Sun."
The younger
Cousteau can do something his grandfather could not: broadcast the
entire adventure live online and communicate with the public through
social media and video chats with classrooms on land.
"For the
first time I’m able to invite the world on a Cousteau expedition in real
time," said Cousteau, who has filmed documentaries on sharks and other
marine life.
Jacques Cousteau was revered worldwide for exploring
the ocean in a multitude of documentaries and books, as well as for
pioneering the advanced scuba diving techniques used at Aquarius. While
he developed underwater living experiments out of the belief that an
overpopulated world might drive humans to live in the oceans, interest
in the habitats waned through the decades until Aquarius was the last
underwater research lab.
His grandson believes interest in the oceans is reviving as climate change threatens to disrupt life on
land.
"Whether
you care about economics, in your personal life or your business life,
whether you care about your health or your child’s health, whether you
care about saving creatures, it all pertains to making sure that our
oceans are healthy. And our oceans are not," Cousteau said.
Throughout
the expedition, Florida International University and Northeastern
University researchers will study the effects of climate change and
pollution on the coral reef. The crew will experiment with new
technology that uses sonar to create three-dimensional video images,
allowing them to gather data and footage without lights that would
disrupt the fish.
The 400-square-foot pressurized Aquarius lab has
six bunk beds and allows scientists to live and work underwater and
scuba dive for extended periods of time, without needing to return to
the surface or decompress. It’s owned by the U.S. government and
operated by FIU.
Astronauts train at Aquarius to simulate living
and working in outer space. The lab’s technological edge doesn’t extend
to its kitchen area. "Unfortunately for me as a French person, the food
also will be simulated. Freeze-dried, astronaut type of food, canned
foods, things like that," Cousteau said, grimacing.
Cousteau plans to resurface July 2.
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Online:
Mission 31: www.mission-31.com
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