September 5, 2018 by Roy Kimhi
“Cabin vent valve is closed, request permission to vent,”
I reported to the surface officer while the waves were crashing over the submersible dome.
My co-pilot for today is Fernando Alvarado, Minister of Tourism of Ecuador, and we are about to explore a newly discovered dive site called “Darwin’s Cave.”
When you explore a dive site for the very first time, it might take a while to find the interest spots, you never know what the ocean holds for you. It was one of the most important dives of the expedition, and I hoped the mission will go as planned. After all, this is why we came here.
Submarines have been around since 1775 and had two main purpose - military and science.
It was reserved for the very few who had the chance of immersing this unknown realm of our planet. Today, the old-fashion submarines have evolved to what known as “mini-subs,” or submersibles, which offers tourism, research and filmmaking missions, while having Cutting-edge technology and wider view than ever before.
Regardless to the unique deep-sea adventure that tourists could now experience, submersibles can gather valuable data, collect samples from the deep, film species new to science, and provide a unique underwater perspective - all without even getting wet.
It’s the end of 2015, and I’m on the Galápagos Islands with "Pristine Seas" project, the largest National Geographic initiative dedicated to environmental preservation. It was founded by Dr. Enric Sala in 2008 and has a very clear goal - protecting 20% of the oceans by 2020.
“Submersibles can gather valuable data, collect samples from the deep, film species new to science, and provide a unique underwater perspective - all without even getting wet.”
The Galápagos Islands are a hotspot of biodiversity and home to over 2,900 known marine species. Although fishing was regulated to some extent, there weren’t any no-fishing areas, which was one of the primary reasons Enric brought us here.
The project has a fascinating strategy, it collects scientific data of the biodiversity and ocean habitats, film it to showcase the importance of the habitat and influence local government to commit to legal acts of protection.
It’s a compound of scientific surveys, media coverage, economics and partnerships with country and business leaders, NGOs, local governments and communities.
The submersible played a crucial role in the scientific and media coverage, we dove to depths of up to 400m/1300ft. We found pristine deep-water anemones, corals, sponges, even a likely new species of a cat shark, and many endemic Galápagos fishes as you can watch here:
Mission accomplished!
The minister was highly impressed with his submersible dive. The "Pristine Seas" leader met the President of Ecuador the following month to show him the results of the expedition, and only two months later (February 2016), the government of Ecuador has announced the “Galápagos Marine Sanctuary" a 40,000 square kilometers of no-taking fishing area around the islands of Darwin and Wolf.
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