The Second Half of the 20. Century: Ocean Awareness John McCabe

Intro North America Environment Ocean Awareness Mariculture •U.S. Agencies •Chesapeake Bay •Willapa Bay Asia Europe •France Navigational option: Focus on France Focus on Chesapeake Bay Focus on Willapa Bay

Louis Boutan built the first underwater camera in France back in 1899. By the first half of the 20th century, the movie maker John Ernest Williamson (1881-1966) had already produced a number of outstanding underwater adventure films such as a cinematic rendering of Jules Verne's 1870 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916). The extensive submarine warfare of WW1 and WW2 was well remembered. In 1954, Disney released its own cinematic interpretation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was (and still is) a splendid, big-budget action movie. Actually, mixed in with lots of action, Jules Verne, Williamson and Disney had already managed to clearly suggest the great potential of the oceans. Captain Nemo (James Mason), referring to the ocean floor from his splendid fictional 19th century submarine (the Nautilus), noted "All this was once an island. Although it is now sunk, it is nevertheless fertile. We do our hunting and farming here." Professor Aronnax (Paul Lukas) replied: "Underwater?" Nemo: "The sea supplies all my wants." The well known satirist and poet Jonathan Swift once concluded that "He was a brave man who first ate an oyster." One might wonder, what Swift would have had to say about the "pudding" ("Fillet of Unborn Octopus") Nemo proceeded to serve his guests. Whatever that may have been, the mere thought of such a "desert" left the unruly Ned Land (Kirk Douglas) and likely much of the cinema audience squirming in their seats. The impetus to go out and farm the oceans for more of such "culinary treats" was likely not an immediate consideration that came to mind. Most people at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century continued to know very little about the oceans. Thanks to television, this would all soon change rapidly.

In 1946, only 0.5% of U.S. households had a television set. By 1954, about 55% owned one. In 1962, 90% of the U.S. households had one. By 1964, a little over 3% of the television households had already traded in their black and white sets for expensive color sets. By the early 60s, the stage was finally set to reach millions of people right in the comfort of their living rooms with entertainment, news and other information, usually pervaded with (more than) plenty of advertising. Information and entertainment pertaining to the oceans was now also starting to splash out of TVs on a regular basis,

In 1943, a device called the "Aqua-Lung" was invented by the Frenchmen Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan. It was a underwater breathing apparatus based on compressed air contained inside a cylinder. Cousteau developed a deep passion for oceanography and ultimately became an international champion of many marine ecological causes. In the 50s, he began mesmerizing people around the world with spectacular film footage of the undersea world. For decades to follow, he produced many fascinating television documentaries about the oceans. Cousteau and his crew, aboard the famed ship Calypso, riveted countless families all over the globe their TV set. For many, missing just one of his great documentaries was almost a little ecological disaster in itself. Starting in 1958, a television series called "Sea Hunt" aired for several years. Weekly, the unforgettable "Mike Nelson" (Lloyd Bridges) took millions of Americans along on adventurous trips into the world below the waves with these "Aqua Lungs". Diving with compressed air as a sport (SCUBA) started to become popular in the 60s.

Confronted with the now obvious riches of this amazing underwater world, some people started to seriously explore the concept of large scale farming of organisms that live in water, such as fish, shellfish, and algae for human use, a practice soon to become well known by the name "Aquaculture".