A Legacy Deep Beneath The Surface – Fabien Cousteau

“My curiosity to explore unknown places and satisfy my desire for adventure drives me on a daily basis, but I also recognize my responsibility to engage the next generation in climate pursuits and make the ocean more of an accessible space to young people who want to get involved.”

Not many people can say exploring the underwater world is a natural thing for them nor can they boast about a family history of aquanauts that spans across decades. For Fabien Cousteau, a professional aquanaut, ocean conservationist, and documentary filmmaker, he can say just that.

As the first grandson of Jacques Cousteau, the famed oceanographic explorer, Fabien spent his early years aboard his grandfather’s ships Calypso and Alcyone, and learned how to scuba dive on his fourth birthday.

From 2000 to 2002, he was Explorer-at-Large for National Geographic and collaborated on a television special aimed at changing public attitudes about sharks called “Attack of the Mystery Shark”. From 2003 to 2006, he produced the documentary “Mind of a Demon” that aired on CBS.

From 2006–2010, Fabien was part of a multi-hour series for PBS called “Ocean Adventures” with his father, Jean-Michel Cousteau, and sister, Céline, which was inspired by his grandfather’s 1978 PBS series, “Ocean Adventures”.

In early 2009, Fabien began working with local communities and children worldwide to help restore local water ecosystems. He continues to pursue these initiatives through the ‘Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Centre’, his non-profit which he founded in early 2016. The NGO is dedicated to the restoration of the world’s water bodies through active community engagement and education.

Through an interview with Fabien, we took a plunge into the underwater world, got insights into his latest endeavours and listened to his story growing up among the greats of the earliest modern ocean explorers.

EARLY LIFE

Tell us more about your family background and share with us on what it was like growing up.

I was lucky to get to spend a significant amount of time with members of my family growing up, who ignited my passion for the ocean and environment, including my grandfather, father, and sister.

At an early age, my relationship with my grandfather in particular was similar to that of any other close family members. He was a source of inspiration and supported me in all of my interests, but it wasn’t until later on that I fully grasped the impact of what he was able to accomplish as a filmmaker, scientist, and explorer.

From that point on, my curiosity to explore the ocean grew and became one of the primary factors driving me forward.

How did your upbringing shape the person you are today?

I learned to scuba dive on my 4th birthday and spent considerable time with my sister on our grandfather’s research boats, the ‘Calypso’ and ‘Alcyone’. I grew up hearing tales of the underwater habitats that my family created, including ‘Conshelf 2’, which was essentially an entire underwater village.

It always fascinated me, and was clear from an early age that my life’s work would take a similar form. As my grandfather and father have also been involved in various media and filmmaking pursuits throughout their lives, I discovered my passion for that medium and have similarly strove to capture many of my expeditions and share them with the world however possible.

How would you sum up your childhood?

My childhood would probably have been considered unorthodox to many people. I was introduced to complex topics early on, and was also able to spend many of my early years travelling to different places, becoming exposed to a lot of adventure.

This ignited my curiosity, as I always preferred to be on field trips, experiencing things in person, as opposed to learning exclusively in the classroom.

JOURNEY

How and why did you choose to become an aquanaut, ocean conservationist, and documentary filmmaker respectively?

I fell in love with the ocean because I had amazing teachers in my family. I recognized the need to conserve the beautiful marine life and underwater ecosystems I’d seen from the time that I was young. I felt a calling to contribute in the way that we all have a responsibility to protect the forces that sustain our life on this planet.
As for documentary filmmaking, I have a strong interest in sharing my discoveries with as many people in the general population as possible, to show that environmentalism can and should be for everyone.

The more people we can get to be involved, the less it falls on any one of us individually and becomes a collective effort. When I was completing ‘Mission 31’ in the underwater habitat Aquarius, we were lucky enough to be able to broadcast every moment to hundreds of thousands of students in all six continents.

As much as I’m passionate about the ocean, I’m also interested in creating outward facing platforms for people to learn alongside me.

What were some hard decisions you had to make and challenges faced along the way?

One of my biggest challenges has been picking up where a pioneer left off and knowing there’s always a risk of being compared to my grandfather. That’s something that is just a reality and always a challenge, but my passion outweighs the difficulty.

There’s always risks involved in every expedition, but the more experience you have in a field, the more you can mitigate some of the challenges that come along with it. I’m confident that all of my past ventures have prepared me well for all of the expeditions and challenges I’ll take on in the future.

Share with us some experiences or memories that you think are significant to your journey so far.

In recent history, Mission 31 is one of my most significant memories. For this project, I embarked with a team of six aquanauts to the underwater habitat Aquarius off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. We stayed for 31 days in order to pay tribute to my grandfather, whose previous record was 30.

It was incredible to be experiencing the world from this vantage point. I was immersed in the ecosystem and did not have to come up after a few hours – like you do when you’re scuba diving. I also really valued the opportunity that I could share with the world, particularly students who were interested in learning about my particular area of expertise.

I was also able to partner with Aquatica Submarines on an expedition to the bottom of the great Belize Blue Hole. We piloted multiple manned submarines to collect scientific data, focusing on creating a complete sonar scan in order to promote ocean conservation and awareness.

It’s incredible to be one of the first and only people to explore these areas, and it gives me a great sense of responsibility to share my findings with the rest of the world.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Which achievements/milestones are you most proud of and why?

Mind of a Demon is an achievement that I’m very proud of. For this project, we built a shark-shaped submarine. That project took me three years to finish and we ended up on primetime CBS, which was the first time an ocean documentary ended up on network television in roughly 25 years. We got the second highest rating in that prime spot, so that was a huge achievement I’m very proud of.
Going back to the Amazon rainforest 25 years later with my father and sister, where we spent 11 months comparing what’s changed over 25 years, was also very significant. I’ll also be very excited to add PROTEUS™ to my list of milestones in the next few years.

What do you think are the key ingredients to your success?

The key ingredients to my success are perseverance, always keeping a metaphorical compass in my pocket, ignoring the word impossible, and surrounding myself with amazing, talented people.

What lies ahead in terms of your goals and ambitions?

PROTEUS™ is just the first in a series of underwater structures in the course of that project. Beyond that, what’s core to my mission is to keep going out there and satisfying my curiosity.

Connecting people with the ocean will always be one of my main priorities, so I’d love to continue accomplishing that through any type of media series that allows me to share my discoveries. In years to come, I hope to still be inviting people around the world along, virtually speaking, on my adventures.

PERSONAL (LIFE)

To you, what are the most important things in life?

Beyond the people in my family and other close individuals who I tend to keep private, the most important things in my life are passing my passion for the ocean on to the world (especially the next generation), never losing my will to explore, and sharing my biggest milestones with those who are closest to me.

What’s worth mentioning on your life’s bucket list that you have not done?

Executing project Proteus and using it to make headway in critical scientific research is probably the primary item on my bucket list, but it doesn’t end there.

If everything goes according to plan, there will be several additional habitats that we’ll install elsewhere, hopefully benefiting communities and giving them a stronger sense of the environmental circumstances that they’re facing.

Beyond that, I’d love to continue documenting my exploits through any sort of media series or project that allows me to spread the word and share what I’m doing with the world.

Why do you do what you do? (What drives you everyday)

My curiosity to explore unknown places and satisfy my desire for adventure drives me on a daily basis. But I also recognize my responsibility to engage the next generation in climate pursuits and make the ocean more of an accessible space to young people who want to get involved.

I wouldn’t have been able to pursue so many of the dreams I accomplished without those before me who paved the way, so it’s up to me to pass the excitement on.

Who are the role models and influences in your life?

I’m obviously very inspired by the people who came before me and gave me the tools to pursue this type of work, specifically those in my family.

I’m also inspired on a daily basis by the members of my team who support my efforts, those at the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Centre, Proteus Ocean Group, as well as all of the aquanauts and ocean explorers who have been a big part of my expeditions.

What are some things that many people don’t know about you?

Something that might be surprising to people is that I had a hard time in school growing up because I was diagnosed with mild dyslexia. At first they thought it was a learning disability, but I see it more from a different perspective.

In general, I feel a little bit different than most people because of my exposure to the ocean and the way I’ve gotten to see the world from a different lens, which maybe distracts me from the day to day mundanities.

It’s also part of the reason why it’s so important for me to try to share the perspective I’ve grown up with in regards to our species on this planet.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind?

I hope to inspire people to seek out answers to questions that may initially seem impossible. I’d also like to make massive concepts like the ocean feel a bit more accessible to the general public and demonstrate that things that often appear distant are actually a lot closer and more impactful than we realise.

Ultimately, I want to make people see that, without a healthy ocean, our lives won’t be able to continue the way we’ve come to expect, so it’s up to every one of us to commit to educating ourselves and contributing to the fight in some way.

What are some life lessons you will take to your grave?

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the past several years is that it’s important to take on projects and challenges with brilliant people who have the same goals and values as I do.

Surrounding yourself with people who possess a variety of different skills means that you’re constantly learning, and you’re gaining multiple perspectives that you would lack if you tried to tackle everything yourself.

I’ve also greatly benefited from learning to push myself past boundaries that have been set by others and not let what’s been accomplished before stop me from pursuing something of my own.

 

VIEWPOINTS

What does it feel like to walk in the footsteps of your famous grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and how do you hope his legacy can be carried on?

I was incredibly lucky to have a grandfather who supported and inspired me the way that all mentors hopefully can for the young people in their lives.

He’s largely responsible for my life taking the trajectory that it did, as I grew up hearing about all of his exploits and accomplishments. However, it can also be intimidating to feel like you have to follow a figure of that magnitude and pick up where he left off.

In addition to continuing his work as an ocean conservationist, I hope to share everything we’re working towards with the world and get as many people involved as possible.

You founded the ‘Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center’ back in 2016 with a goal to protect and preserve our planet’s waters, coastal areas, and marine habitats. Why do you think this is important and how do you think more people can contribute to this goal?

It starts with something I always emphasize, which is “no ocean, no life.” Going from there, that mantra extends to “no healthy ocean, no healthy future.”

The only reason we exist as a species is because we are living on a very unique oasis in space. It’s our life support system for many reasons. It provides every breath that we take. It allows us to have weather patterns that are conducive to farming, sustaining life, and making food for ourselves.

It provides us with all of the things we love, cherish, and depend on. Therefore it becomes imperative that each of us connect with the ocean in a way that helps us understand that it’s our life support system. We must treat it like we treat ourselves.

We are seeing the repercussions of our abuse and our inaction. And if we are to imagine a future for our children where they enjoy what we’ve taken for granted, then we must care about the ocean and protect it.

From 2000 to 2002, you were an ‘Explorer-at-Large’ for National Geographic and collaborated on a television special aimed at changing public attitudes about sharks called “Attack of the Mystery Shark”. Are there still common misconceptions today, what are they, why do you think this is the case and how can these challenges be overcome?

I think the misconceptions about sharks are part fantasy, part legend, part fear and part ignorance of facts. This is because we subconsciously love to be scared, to have the image of a villain and us being the heroes.

The reality is that we have, at this juncture in history, eliminated virtually all threats to humankind except for ourselves. We are now our own worst enemy. Sharks, to their very core, are essential for a healthy ecosystem in the ocean.

They’ve been around for over 400 million years but because of our hatred, ignorance, and fear, we have dwindled them down to less than 10% of their original numbers, which is extremely dangerous.

Like any ecosystem, you need the garbage cleaners. You need the foragers. You need the web of life to be balanced, and sharks are an integral part of that. We have to remember that the ocean is their home, not ours. That’s something we forget way too often.

The other aspect of it is that, because of the human global population exploding, there’s a huge pressure on sharks as a food source. This is a problem because we’re annihilating the species, which are very valuable for the ecosystem and tourism. They’re also the kind of animals that accrue all of the toxic chemicals that we dump in the ocean, so they’re extremely toxic to eat.

At the end of the day, whether we like sharks or not, they must be a part of the ecosystem in healthy numbers if we’re to have a healthy ocean. It’s difficult because many cultural practices involve sharks, but sometimes it’s worth re-evaluating certain customs.

Most of the information we know about sharks is pretty topical and surface level. Modern science knows a lot more about sharks than we did even ten years ago, but there’s over 400 species of sharks. Many of them are rare and difficult to study, so we all have so much more to learn from them. We discover new species every few years.