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Jacques Yves Cousteau

by David from Boca Raton

This is Jacques out on the ocean on a cold winter.
This is Jacques out on the ocean on a cold winter.

Jacques Cousteau is a well known oceanographer who made many inventions for divers that are used even today. People don’t  know him just for being an inventor, though; he also wanted to save our oceans. Before his invention, Jacques had a love for exploring underwater but he really couldn’t see it for very long at a time because he had to take breaths. To solve this problem he made a device called an aqua lung (scuba tank). It was a compressed air tank that a diver could carry on his or her back and stay under the water for longer periods of time. When he made the aqua lung, he was able to go to deeper depths and discover species that no one even knew existed. He also saw species that there were very rare. He then realized that he would have to save these wonderful creatures for others to see later on.

This is Jacques in the ocean. (google.com/images)
This is Jacques in the ocean. (google.com/images)

Jacques is also a very famous oceanographer. Oceanography is the exploration and scientific study of the ocean. In 1946 he became the founder of the French navy’s undersea research group. When he was in the group he bought a boat called the Calypso. Little did he know but that boat would later become very famous. He and other scientists could now discover medicines for people that were ill. He also wanted people to know that the oceans were a really important part of our planet and it was important to try and protect them. He began to see more fish in one area than another so he figured out that those places with less fish had not been protected. When people started seeing the same pattern he did, more people started cleaning up their acts.

This is Jacques' famous boat called the Calypso.
This is Jacques' famous boat called the Calypso.

When some people were still not cleaning up the oceans, Jacques kept persevering to encourage them. When he would do dives he would always find new species of rock coral or fish in different or the same places. He also began to see fewer animals in certain areas and other areas where there were no more of that species. Some reefs he went to were so polluted that the coral was starting to die and lose color because of the lack of sunlight they were getting. When more scientists and people got together to help the cause, the reefs and fish were starting to get better. Then sometimes they would start to get better and then all of a sudden they would be worse again. It was like a roller coaster in areas. Jacques even made his very own T.V. show called Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. This T. V. show was a way to show how he saw the oceans.

Jacques tried to get many people involved with saving the the oceans. Jacques Cousteau not only talked and made a T.V. show about the oceans, he wrote about it too. Now other people began to get people to save the oceans. One big step for everybody was not to litter. Even in cities miles from the beach, trash could go down drains that led right to the ocean.

Jacques Cousteau died in Paris, at age 87 on 25 June 1997. His work didn’t go to waste though. He had children who loved the ocean as much as he did so his personal influence is still here with us, trying to preserve it.

Jacques once said, “A lot of people attack the sea, I make love to it”. Jacques was showing that he cared about the oceans a lot, but knew that a lot of people still didn’t really understand it or care about it. This is why Jacques's family continues to make sure that others respect our oceans today.

Page created on 8/15/2010 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 8/15/2010 12:00:00 AM

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