Son of legendary ocean conservationist opens US headquarters at USF

By Marcia Biggs

With a Mediterranean headquarters and dive center established in Spain, Cousteau Divers quietly opened its U.S. headquarters on May 21 in a small non-descript office at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science on the St. Petersburg waterfront.

It was a giant step for St. Petersburg toward its goal of building an internationally known center for marine research and conservation in the region. Uniting a worldwide community of divers who act as “citizen scientists” by recording and uploading their underwater observations, Pierre-Yves Cousteau hopes to continue the legacy of ocean study and marine conservation begun by his legendary father Jacques Cousteau.

“We are going to be developing and working with recreational divers to record the health of the oceans,” said Cousteau. “I selected St. Petersburg as my North American headquarters because I realized just how powerful the research programs and education and businesses are that relate to the ocean. … We’ll be working on getting real-time diagnostic readings along the coast, in the gulf and the Caribbean.”

The story of how Cousteau came to St. Petersburg is one of happenstance, vision, fortitude and a remarkable coming together of local business, education and marine science communities. The initial cog that started this wheel in motion clicked in late 2010 when Peter Betzer, president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, met Pierre-Yves, the youngest son of Jacques Cousteau, in Spain during a business trip.

“The history of the partnership has always been to take on major projects that would improve our downtown in some way,” explained Betzer. In Cousteau Divers Inc., he saw an ocean of possibilities for St. Petersburg, not only in business partnerships with the city, but also for the USF College of Marine Science and tourism as well.

“I told him the city of St. Petersburg has the greatest collection of sensor development people for the marine environment that I know of and suggested he think about paying us a visit,” said Betzer.

In November of 2011, Cousteau flew to St. Petersburg where he was welcomed by a contingent of Tampa Bay movers and shakers, including the Dali Museum’s chief architect Yann Weymouth, Tampa restaurateur Maryann Ferenc, Pier Aquarium President E. Howard Rutherford, and Betzer. During a visit to Canterbury School of Florida in St. Petersburg, where marine studies is an established program for students in kindergarten through high school, Cousteau was impressed with what he saw.

Betzer suggested that Cousteau partner with the school, thereby creating a mutually beneficial relationship: the students could help in his research while he would bring the school international recognition, as well as help to educate a new generation of ocean conservationists.

On January 20, Cousteau announced Canterbury School of Florida as the first Cousteau Divers partner school in the world. The newly dedicated Cousteau Center for Marine Studies is a state-of-the-art 2,800- square-foot marine studies facility open to all students at Canterbury. In May, the same weekend that his new office officially opened, two dive boats filled with students, Boy Scouts and staff traveled with Cousteau five miles off the coast to the St. Pete Beach Artificial Reef. For many students it was their first time diving; for Cousteau it was the beginning of his North American program.

Over at the USF College of Marine Science, Mark Luther, the director of the USF Ocean Monitoring and Prediction Lab, offered Cousteau office space in his lab. Here, scientists and students collect data from stations on winds, waves, currents, tides, temperatures, salinity and nutrients which is then provided to NOAA.

“I saw Cousteau Divers’ mission as being an extension of what we do,” said Luther, “but using the divers themselves as platforms of opportunity to collect data. One of our main focuses will be figuring out how to take the kinds of data that Cousteau divers collect on their logs and get it into this global data system.”

Presently, a Mediterranean dive course and dive log is available. Developing a dive log that can be specifically used for the Caribbean and North America is the task of new US Coordinator Stephanie Stefanski. In addition, a dive log app for cellular phones is being researched.

“We’re developing dive logs and guidebooks in English, French and Spanish,” she explained, “so any member diver can do a dive, fill out the log, and upload their information to our site.”

Cousteau’s passion for ocean conservation is a driving force in his quest to study and protect the marine environment. “In relation to the gulf, you are blessed here with amazing natural resources,” said Cousteau during his May visit. “We hope to be working on several conservation projects here as well. For example, there is not a single protected marine area along the entire west coast of Florida. We’ll work on getting some sanctuaries established.”

Long-term, Cousteau plans to open a series of certified Cousteau Diver centers around the world’s oceans, where trained instructors will teach new and experienced divers or snorkelers how to gather and upload data for the database.

Certified divers can sign up for membership in Cousteau Divers on the web site and upload their underwater images and observations by going to www.CousteauDivers.org