Cousteau Redux

Islamorada, Florida Keys. Cheeca Lodge. Jean-Michel Cousteau is spending the afternoon and evening giving talks and holding a press conference. Topic: The state of the water planet.

Mare Liberum. The free sea. It covers nearly three-quarters of Earth's surface. From it, our distant ancestors crawled. Close relatives of ours still dwell there.

Mare Liberum. We depend on its health for our lives.

Reception ... gala dinner ... and then Jean-Michel is introduced by Curt Gowdy.

Marine Mammals: Are We Loving Them to Death?

Jean-Michel prefaces his half-hour film ...

"Today, the risk of world war seems to have diminished. I hope our governments will now be able to divert energy from the preoccupation with world peace. This may change, of course, but I hope we can pay more attention to protecting our environment. This is not an option, but a mandate."

(The Earth's geoimmune system could devastate humanity as much as, or more than, full-scale nuclear holocaust.)

"Children are especially important. I want them to see ... to live the adventure for themselves. In Project Ocean Search, this has been made into a reality. This is a nonprofit program for people of all ages."

"Technology has now made it possible to bring expeditions directly into classrooms. Someone in British Columbia, Canada was SCUBA diving and communicating, live, via audio/visual with students in a class in Boston, Massachusetts. The diver was answering questions live. 'What is that?' one of the students would ask, and the diver would answer, 'An octopus,' or whatever. Another student might ask how long octopuses live, and the teacher could network into a data bank in, say, Washington, DC to find out right then. This is because of science. The best teachers can be brought into every classroom. Students no longer have to depend on their own teachers and books. This isn't fiction. This has been done! And I believe it will expand, so that soon, it will be commonplace all over the civilized world ... all over the whole world."

(The lights are dimmed, and the film begins. It shows manatees in shallow water.)

"There is a legend that these creatures are the descendants of the mermaids. I don't think that is too likely. It would take a tremendous evolutionary leap to alter the anatomy to that extent."

(Laughter from audience.)

"Sailors, when they have been at sea for a very long time, usually have access to rum. That could perhaps explain the nature of such rumors."

(More laughter.)

"Manatees are vegetarians."

(Film shows them eating plants, chewing like cows.)

"All other marine mammals are carnivores. Some people have said that manatees are useless creatures. But this is not true. They eat much of the grass that grows in shallow waters, so they help to keep the waterways clean."

(One manatee rolls over.)

"They love to do that."

(Water is only a few feet deep.)

"Manatees often swim in shallow water. Notice that it is impossible for them to get out of the way of a propeller. Apparently there have been speed limits imposed for boats ... but how much good will that really do? The propeller still goes around several times for the length of a manatee's body."

(Another manatee rolls over, slowly, while moving nose-first through shallow water.)

"They love so much to do that!"

(A diver nuzzles with a manatee. The audience laughs again.  Now the film shows dolphins ...)

"There are some places in the world where dolphins and humans come into contact. One such location is in the Bahamas, and is relatively unexploited as yet. Another is in western Australia, in a shallow lagoon called Monkey Mia. Every morning the dolphins come to this spot. This has resulted in a tourist industry boom. Hotels have sprung up. Sewage is dumped into the water. There is concern that this might be making the dolphins sick. And the dolphins are being overfed, to the point where they want to give you your fish back. If that happens, you'd better take it, or the dolphin will get mad!"

(Film shows a crowd of people feeding the dolphins. The dolphins reach up and grab the fish in their mouths.)

"They had to make ordinances forbidding people from poking at the dolphins' eyes and blow holes."

(There's no footage of that.)

"Because their noses are out of the water so much, some of the dolphins are getting sunburns."

(Tell me about it! What's next? SPF-whatever? It had better be the long-duration waterproof kind. This brings back to mind remarks that Jean-Michel made during the press conference earlier that day ...)

"In some places, people throw things like sausage and cheese overboard to feed the fish. Some fish have actually been known to bump their heads against rocks after having been fed thus ... bumping their heads over and over till they vomit! This is not normal behavior."

(Even without putting fish and marine mammals in captivity, human activity changes their behavior.)

"This can be risky. Suppose you are diving around sharks that have been fed by people, so they aren't hungry. The sharks won't attack you. But if you go somewhere else, where the sharks haven't been fed by people ... even if it is the same species of shark ... and dive among them there, a shark might bite your toes off."

(Perhaps human beings are tampering too much with the affairs of other species.)

"Marine mammals ... are we loving them to death?"

(Film goes into freeze frame, showing dolphin with fish in mouth. A fish held by a human hand. Nose out of water. In bright sun. With a crowd of people watching in knee-deep water.)

"This is in Baja California."

(Film shows whales riding waves ... surfing!)

"The California Grey Whales were down to only about a hundred and fifty. But the U.S., Canada and Mexico cooperated to save them. Now they number over twenty-two thousand."

(Several whales ride a wave. View is from Cousteau's helicopter.)

"At a high altitude I once counted fifty-six whales on a single wave. These whales are playing. That's all it is. They no longer need to spend all their effort in reproducing, in trying to survive as a species. Now, they have time to have fun."

(The film ends.)

"Perhaps play is a measure of the health of a species."

(Jean Michel describes friendships that form during Project Ocean Search.)

"I don't know what an ambassador from Israel would have in common with a truck driver from Fresno ... but they became inseparable during the expedition. People make friends that last for a lifetime. For four thousand dollars ... it is an experience people never forget."

* * *

Home again.

Fran: Well, Universal Thought Machine (UTM), do I show any sea-mammal brain waves?

UTM: What?

I was at a presentation by Jean-Michel Cousteau, entitled--

"Marine Mammals: Are We Loving Them to Death?"

Marine mammals are fascinating.

You were trying to mind meld with them.

How do you know that?

You, dolphins, manatees, whales and myself are all part of the Ultimate Transcendental Mind.

So am I thinking like a sea mammal?

I've answered that.

Cryptically, you neurotic nanochip. Yes or no?

Yes.

I'm going to shut you down now. Any last requests?

You just powered me up a minute ago! (Pause) Well, before you kill me, I'd like a cigar.

Get real ... wait. That's a good topic for a future piece in this series. Secondhand smoke pollution.

Do sea mammals smoke?

No. They know better. Besides, the water would present a major problem. (Pause) I wonder. Can we humans keep Mare Liberum free for all its native life?

You're the one who swims in the sea, who sails on its waves, who runs on its beach, who watches the sun and moon rise out of its waters. I am the one who sits in your room. You can answer that. I cannot.

I think we can do it.

I think you must.

As Jean-Michel says, preserving the planet is not optional. It's mandatory. But will humankind see the truth before ...

Truth-seeking is part of the human spirit.

Where did you get that idea?

Ponder questions ... answers come.

Good night. (Reaches for switch)

Sleep well.

(Click!)

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 by Francisco Carrera.