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CNN Live Today
The Remote Islands
Aired July 28, 2003 - 11:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The name Cousteau is pretty much synonymous with ocean exploration. And like father, like son. Jean- Michel Cousteau spends his time traveling the world, visiting some of the planet's most incredible undersea attractions. This summer he's working on a documentary film, "The Voyage to Kure." It is a trip to the most remote islands on Earth. And he is there right now. You can see on his Web site where he is on the map, the little blinking red arrow.
Jean-Michel Cousteau joins us now. He's using a satellite phone from his boat from these remote islands.
Good morning. Thank you for being with us.
JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU, SEA EXPLORER: Very good morning.
And it's a great time to celebrate,since we've reached our destination, and that is the island of Kure, which is in the middle of the Pacific, at the end of the chain of the northwestern Hawaiian islands.
KAGAN: Now, Jean-Michel, let me ask you about this, because when we talk about the Hawaiian islands, I think people think of places like Maui or Oahu, Honolulu. This is not what you're talking about. The same chain, but very far away.
COUSTEAU: That is correct. What's amazing is that these islands, the chain of islands, and imams (ph) and coral reefs represent a length of over 1,200 miles from the islands of Hawaii, which everybody has heard of. And although they belong to the state of Hawaii, most people have never heard of it, except for the island of Midway, which was so critical during the war.
But these islands have had very little attention, although the National Fish and Wildlife service has done a lot of work here for several decades and protected those islands from the impact of civilization, we're still baffled by as you are in the middle of the pacific, by the amount of debris which reached those islands and affect the marine life, as well as the bird life on land. So we're doing a documentary, which will highlight the beauty of those islands and the coral reefs, the fact that here in Kure, we're in the northernmost coral atoll anywhere in the world, and very little is known about it, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) below 40 or 50 feet of depth. So we're diving relatively deep. We have equipment to do that. And it's a new adventure, new discoveries, and we hope to have this presentation to the public next year. KAGAN: Let's talk a little bit about the technology you're using to take the work that your father did and take it to the next step into the next century, first of all, the Internet, using that to spread the word about trying to save the seas and to educate people. And also, what's this thing called a rebreather? How does that work?
COUSTEAU: Well, rebreather means that you can recycle your own breathing without making any bubbles, and that gives you with a mixture of different gasses which, depending on how deep you're going to go, can vary. And you are not an intruder by making all these bubbles and noise, which regular scuba divers do. And it allows you to stay for much longer periods of time. And I am sure my father would have loved to have access to all this modern equipment.
Here we are on the research vessel, Searcher, which is a wonderful, very well-equipped with communication, sounding equipment, to go places. As we noticed this one -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we were doing it with Calypso, but with that equipment, we can pick up the phone and still stay in touch with the rest of the world and communicate our findings and images on our oceanfeatures.org Web site, which allows people to be in touch with everything we do on a daily basis. And so that's, you know, modern adventure, discoveries.
KAGAN: Your dad probably would have been like a kid in a candy store to get to use all this technology.
I want to ask you this, Jean-Michel. On this day when we're learning about the loss of Bob Hope, the legendary entertainer, your father was the legendary captain of the seas. And yet his spirit and his life work lives on through you and through others. How is it, and how important is it to keep your father's memory alive and keep that work going?
COUSTEAU: I really appreciate your question, because it is essential to continue to highlight the importance of the ocean in our daily lives, and this is for every human being on the planet. The ocean is our life-support system when it comes to breathing, when it comes to the weather pattern, when it comes to resources, and most people really have not completely understood that if we destroy the ocean, we're destroying ourselves.
So what my dad did was to open the door to this understanding, and we have the responsibility to continue to not only honor his philosophy, but to continue with modern technology the work that he started, and it's not over yet.
Fortunately, there are more and more young people who are intrigued and want to go into this field for the bettering of the quality of life for human beings, and that's what he started.
KAGAN: Well, he planted incredible seeds all across the world, and your work continues. We wish you good luck with this journey and all the good work still ahead.
Jean-Michel Cousteau joining us from a very, very far point on the chain of the Hawaiian islands. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 28, 2003 - 11:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The name Cousteau is pretty much synonymous with ocean exploration. And like father, like son. Jean- Michel Cousteau spends his time traveling the world, visiting some of the planet's most incredible undersea attractions. This summer he's working on a documentary film, "The Voyage to Kure." It is a trip to the most remote islands on Earth. And he is there right now. You can see on his Web site where he is on the map, the little blinking red arrow.
Jean-Michel Cousteau joins us now. He's using a satellite phone from his boat from these remote islands.
Good morning. Thank you for being with us.
JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU, SEA EXPLORER: Very good morning.
And it's a great time to celebrate,since we've reached our destination, and that is the island of Kure, which is in the middle of the Pacific, at the end of the chain of the northwestern Hawaiian islands.
KAGAN: Now, Jean-Michel, let me ask you about this, because when we talk about the Hawaiian islands, I think people think of places like Maui or Oahu, Honolulu. This is not what you're talking about. The same chain, but very far away.
COUSTEAU: That is correct. What's amazing is that these islands, the chain of islands, and imams (ph) and coral reefs represent a length of over 1,200 miles from the islands of Hawaii, which everybody has heard of. And although they belong to the state of Hawaii, most people have never heard of it, except for the island of Midway, which was so critical during the war.
But these islands have had very little attention, although the National Fish and Wildlife service has done a lot of work here for several decades and protected those islands from the impact of civilization, we're still baffled by as you are in the middle of the pacific, by the amount of debris which reached those islands and affect the marine life, as well as the bird life on land. So we're doing a documentary, which will highlight the beauty of those islands and the coral reefs, the fact that here in Kure, we're in the northernmost coral atoll anywhere in the world, and very little is known about it, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) below 40 or 50 feet of depth. So we're diving relatively deep. We have equipment to do that. And it's a new adventure, new discoveries, and we hope to have this presentation to the public next year. KAGAN: Let's talk a little bit about the technology you're using to take the work that your father did and take it to the next step into the next century, first of all, the Internet, using that to spread the word about trying to save the seas and to educate people. And also, what's this thing called a rebreather? How does that work?
COUSTEAU: Well, rebreather means that you can recycle your own breathing without making any bubbles, and that gives you with a mixture of different gasses which, depending on how deep you're going to go, can vary. And you are not an intruder by making all these bubbles and noise, which regular scuba divers do. And it allows you to stay for much longer periods of time. And I am sure my father would have loved to have access to all this modern equipment.
Here we are on the research vessel, Searcher, which is a wonderful, very well-equipped with communication, sounding equipment, to go places. As we noticed this one -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we were doing it with Calypso, but with that equipment, we can pick up the phone and still stay in touch with the rest of the world and communicate our findings and images on our oceanfeatures.org Web site, which allows people to be in touch with everything we do on a daily basis. And so that's, you know, modern adventure, discoveries.
KAGAN: Your dad probably would have been like a kid in a candy store to get to use all this technology.
I want to ask you this, Jean-Michel. On this day when we're learning about the loss of Bob Hope, the legendary entertainer, your father was the legendary captain of the seas. And yet his spirit and his life work lives on through you and through others. How is it, and how important is it to keep your father's memory alive and keep that work going?
COUSTEAU: I really appreciate your question, because it is essential to continue to highlight the importance of the ocean in our daily lives, and this is for every human being on the planet. The ocean is our life-support system when it comes to breathing, when it comes to the weather pattern, when it comes to resources, and most people really have not completely understood that if we destroy the ocean, we're destroying ourselves.
So what my dad did was to open the door to this understanding, and we have the responsibility to continue to not only honor his philosophy, but to continue with modern technology the work that he started, and it's not over yet.
Fortunately, there are more and more young people who are intrigued and want to go into this field for the bettering of the quality of life for human beings, and that's what he started.
KAGAN: Well, he planted incredible seeds all across the world, and your work continues. We wish you good luck with this journey and all the good work still ahead.
Jean-Michel Cousteau joining us from a very, very far point on the chain of the Hawaiian islands. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
