Jean-Michel Cousteau Click photo for larger image.

The health of the oceans is essential to our survival. No one knows this better than explorer, environmentalist, author and filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau. His famous father, Jacques Cousteau, inspired a generation to put on a mask and flippers and explore the sea. Today Cousteau's mission is urgent. He's concerned about melting ice caps, overfishing and the ear-splitting sonar piped through ocean waters by the U.S. Navy that can harm marine mammals. He has produced more than 70 films. For more information on Oceans Future Society, founded by Jean-Michel, go to www.oceanfutures.org. He will be guest speaker at the Pittsburgh Voyager benefit Thursday. Call 412-231-2712 for tickets, which are $75 ($150 for a VIP reception that precedes the luncheon).

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Q. Did your father give you any tips after he threw you overboard to learn to dive when you were 7?

A. [Laughs.] Well, yes and no. I remember my brother and I wanted to talk to each other all the time, so we kept taking our mouthpieces out. And he kept putting it back in. That was the education. It was called a quick course.

Q. Were you at all intimidated by your father's legacy?

A. Absolutely not, because when I was a kid he was completely unknown. He was in the French navy, and I was more impressed with his uniform than I was with anything else. That's the way I was raised -- in a family of pioneers, of people who were interested in, let's say, other things than most people were interested in. Really, only until television started airing his shows massively in the U.S. and in Europe, people stopped him and asked for his autograph and so on ... well, I was 30 years old and part of the team.

Q. What about the sudden attention to the melting ice caps?

A. Unfortunately, it's not all of a sudden, but all of a sudden we are starting to talk about it. Dad and I, we started speaking about it 20 years ago. But we were speaking in the desert. When ... nations were about to open it for exploitation for mining, we mounted a campaign. It was a subtle campaign like we always do, and that is to have dialogue with decision makers. We sit down with them and share the pros and cons.

Q. Other than raising the sea levels, how will the melting impact the oceans?

A. We really don't know at this point. I think it's going to move certain species in different locations because the water temperature is changing. Coral reefs are suffering in certain parts of the world because the temperature is too high.

Q. What about the skeptics who think global warming is a myth?

A. You would think that by having ice melting, the temperature of the water would cool off, but that's not the case. With complete lack of control of our emission of CO2 we are losing the battle in the sense that nature, which has a formidable way of adapting and restoring itself, is overwhelmed by our activities and cannot handle it. The situation is not under control at all. We are losing species; over 30 percent of the tropical coral reefs of the world are dead. I go back to places where I used to be 30 years ago, and it is changed. When people put a mask on and do it for the first time, they think it's beautiful, but I have seen the changes, and it's not as beautiful as it used to be.

Q. What about the huge problem of underwater noise pollution?

A. That's a major issue we are battling. We've joined forces with NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council]. We had an order from a judge for the United States Navy not to do [sonar testing] with the low frequencies in places where the whales evolve. In the meantime, there are at least five other navies doing it, which include France and the U.K. and Germany and Spain and Italy. We are working now in Brussels with the European Union to try to implement the same regulations with the European navies.

There are 11 documented cases of whales having died because of underwater noise pollution.

Q. And then there is overfishing.

A. It makes me laugh every time because I guess we'll never learn from our own mistakes. We've done the same thing on land. As far as the ocean is concerned, we are emptying the ocean of everything as fast as we can. I am on the side of the fisherman. I like fish, but we are heading toward bankruptcy right now at a very, very fast pace. We are talking about feeding the world, and there are not enough fish. Independent organizations, including the government, have once and for all established that we have removed 90 percent of all the large pelagic fish from the ocean. So is that the end of the world? Maybe not, because there is still 10 percent left. Properly managing those stocks could [help restore them]. But I don't believe we are going to do it because we are so greedy and desperate, and the system is such that if you don't make your payment for the fishing boat, the bank takes your boat away.

Q. They are thinking in the now.

A. Right, which is a very primitive way of thinking. We are still using the ocean as a garbage can. I don't want my investment to be destroyed by an oil spill or some release of radioactive materials, which are coming out of the 45,000 drums we dumped off San Francisco, that normally have a 20-year life span before they burst open.

Q. How shortsighted is that?

A. It is stupid, but that's what we have done. So instead of addressing the issue, we close our eyes, we don't want to hear about it. Until there is a catastrophe.

Q. So what was your most exhilarating moment under water?

A. Every time I put a mask on, I look below the surface, I find peace. I recharge my batteries and I face up the human species and the stupidity and hope for a wakeup call [laughs]. That is where I find the energy. Everything is fascinating the minute you put your head under water.

Q. So do you still want to build your underwater city?

A. I would love to do that. It may take another life. You know, I want to be an astronaut, I want to be a farmer. I mean, there are so many things I want to be. But I have to finish what I'm doing as well as I can. So I'm stuck for now [laughs].