Famed oceanographer Sylvia Earle warns that humanity is ‘perilously close to tipping in the wrong direction’ when it comes to our seascape — and can never bring back the oceans we had — but, she tells Julia Musto, we can still save the deep ocean with exploration
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When most people think of submarines these days, they probably recall the 2023 Titan disaster. The submersible vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion 3,500 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in its attempt to visit the husk of the Titanic, killing all five people on board.
The tragedy greatly diminished Americans’ interest in submersibles and actually fueled greater fear of traveling to the ocean’s dark depths, resulting in an inquiry by the U.S. Coast Guard and leading the exploration company OceanGate to shut down operations.
But pioneering ocean conservationist Dr. Sylvia Earle — the first person to walk untethered on the deep seafloor, who lived underwater for seven months on a research project — is trying to change that.
Her company DOER Marine, which designs underwater vehicles, has been working on a new class of submersible. The sub, named “Honu” after the Hawaiian word for turtle, will make its first dive in French Polynesia later this year, and can send three passengers 1,000 meters deep for eight hours at a time.
Earle firmly believes that going to great depths in a sub is "safer than flying" as long as companies are "certified by agencies who are in business to make sure you stay safe —unlike that little submersible that tragically didn’t come back from a trip to the Titanic."
In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent, the 90-year-old deep-sea expert discussed her connection to the ocean and what humanity can do about threats to our health.
Earle made history as the first female chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1990 and was one of the four women who lived underwater in the U.S. Virgin Islands Tektite II experiment in 1970.
But it all started on a beach in southern New Jersey. That’s where she first fell in love with the water, an obsession further fueled later on while diving in Florida.
“I first met the ocean when I was 3,” Earle recalled. “My parents had a family vacation on the Jersey Shore. And I remember first hearing the ocean, the waves crashing on the beach, and there was a certain smell that I had not noticed before.”
She still dives in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary near the Texas and Louisiana coastline.
There’s a coral reef there, teeming with life about 80 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Diving is something pretty much anyone can do, Earle said. Her mother waited until she was 81 to try it.
“So if you're 81, it's not too late. If you're 91, it's still not too late. If you're alive, it's not too late,” she explained. “And if getting into the water really isn't your thing, get into a submarine.”
