Cousteau passed away when Pierre-Yves was only 16 years old, but he left him with his passion for the sea.
Pierre-Yves Cousteau and the Cousteau Society
Today, he plays a significant role, not only in preserving his father's legacy but also in continuing the work that took so many years of his life. In addition to being the CEO of the foundation his father established back in 1973, he strives every day to carry out three fundamental missions alongside his entire team:
- Environment. They conduct expeditions to study human impact on marine ecosystems, with the primary aim of investigating causes and seeking solutions. They focus on coral reefs and coastlines, marine mammals, and advocate for sustainable fishing practices.
- Sharing knowledge. One of their key functions is education, through which they disseminate the results of their studies to raise public awareness. Among other initiatives, they run the "Cousteau in the Classroom" project, where they visit schools to teach younger generations.
- Technological tools. They develop cutting-edge materials for scuba diving boat trips. The best and most comprehensive information in what they call "modern diving."
Pierre-Yves Cousteau in Madrid
On the occasion of the Dive Travel Show, which you can read more about here, held last March, we had the opportunity to meet Cousteau's son, and he granted an interview to our Yumping France team. If you speak French, you can check out the interview here ;)
During it, he spoke about his "Cousteau Divers" project, through which he is bringing together divers from around the world to become agents of marine protection and research. Part of this initiative is dedicated to non-scientists who report on the state of the ocean and its species during their dives.
How can they participate? They have a social network where users can upload their photos and videos, with this material being geo-tagged, dated, and including details such as the location of species, types of fish found in the area, etc.
One of Pierre-Yves' main concerns is preserving the marine environment and building a community where divers worldwide contribute their share to collectively gain a clearer picture of the current situation. Through this data collection, they aim to develop ways to mitigate human-caused damage and protect marine species.
