Jacques-Yves Cousteau is the father of underwater sea exploration. Working with scientists and inventors to increase his capacity for underwater research, he was the first user of the Aqua-Lung; the world’s first underwater breathing apparatus that enabled humans to spend prolonged periods underwater.

Cousteau understood before others did how critical our Water Planet is to our survival. And he dedicated his life to learning about what lay beneath the sea… creatures, plants, entire ecosystems, all of the hidden treasures whose life cycles impact our own.

With global warming, increased shoreline development, pollution, plastic infiltrating our oceans, the mass extinction of species that have survived millennia, the mandate to protect what we love has never been as urgent as it is today. The only way to protect what we love is to understand the levers that keep it alive, resilient and sustainable.

The Cousteau Society has been exploring the seas since 1975, establishing protected areas for endangered species, advocating for the silent world which cannot advocate for itself, and educating children and adults so that they can carry on his legacy of protecting our Water Planet.

Now led by Jacques Cousteau’s widow, Francine Cousteau, the Society continues to be at the forefront of environmental protection and ocean research.