Presenter: Geoffrey Manchester
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Wil Rivers
Phone Extension: 6252  gamanc01@stlawu.edu

Through her diving and experiments, Dr. Sylvia Earle has contributed almost half a century of effort towards oceanography and recreational diving.  With a career spanning the major part of SCUBA diving development, Dr. Earle has lead many underwater expeditions that have left her beneath the surface for almost 7,000 hours.  She has spent her life researching the sea and has built up a strong basis for what is going wrong in the oceans.  Over fishing and under caring for our surrounding waters could lead to a catastrophic event for land creatures if ocean creatures become extinct. Earle's message is to show everyone the facts of the deteriorating ocean life.  Earle became fascinated with spending prolonged periods of time studying underwater habitats starting in 1970 when she joined a team of women to observe the underwater realm for two weeks.  This event brought lots of attention to underwater exploration, which was competing with space travel at the time. From doing deep-water experiments and observing fish in a sea lab for weeklong periods, Earle has seen many exotic fish, eels, and various types of crustaceans, coral and trash.  She observed luminescent lights down deep from the creatures that bring a lighted array of life to the dark ocean.  Earle's concern for the ocean comes from what she has observed dozens of soda cans at 1,000 feet underwater shows how much trash is being thrown into the world's most expansive ecosystem.  Earle is pushing for further exploration of the ocean, which holds many secrets left to be discovered.