Costeau A Family Legacy Lives on

Fabien Cousteau is a man on a mission. That mission is to save Earth’s magnificent oceans. By title, Fabien is an aquanaut, oceanic explorer, conservationist, and documentary filmmaker. His mission is the continuation of a family legacy that started with his grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau; the French naval officer, explorer, filmmaker, scientist, photographer, and author of a series of books that document his underwater research, took his grandson along on many of his adventures teaching him scuba diving and how to explore the world below.

Fabien is well known for his study of sharks in the early 2000s, with National Geographic as well as several other nonprofit organizations dedicated to restoring our waters. His most recent venture is Mission 31—the longest science expedition to take place in the world’s only underwater marine laboratory. He hopes to document the process for a feature film and eventual book about these adventures. Fabien broke new ground by spending 31 days 63 feet beneath the sea.

RAINE: What is the premise behind Mission 31? What are some major differences between your expedition and that of your Grandfather, Jacques Cousteau?

COUSTEAU: The target was a broadcast platform for the world’s oceans for 31 days—a communication platform highlighting the thrills, fragility, and connectivity between humans and the oceans. At the end of the mission, we had over 20 billion impressions and reached 70 thousand students within the classrooms, live via Skype. We also used phones provided by Nokia to upload photos to our website, to show the mission in real-time. The major difference between this expedition and that of my grandfather is that he didn't have the live element.

RAINE: Can you talk about your experience studying and filming great white sharks in a custom built sub called Troy?

COUSTEAU: Troy was an equally crazy project from a few years ago that accomplished a dream of mine, to become a shark, and approach them in a way that has not been done before.

RAINE: It has been reported that our oceans are in trouble due to a number of factors. What are the biggest challenges we need to confront and what steps do we take to reach our goals? 

COUSTEAU: Our ocean support system is crumbling and dying, and it's due to one species—us. It’s due to our actions and inactions. There are a lot of challenges, including a depletion of resources, pollution, corrosion of coral reefs, etc. The good news is that we can change the course that we set for ourselves; we have seen this in smaller, localized efforts within communities and governments around the globe.