Cousteau Divers

Crowdsourcing a community of divers to monitor the health of the ocean

The Problem

A multitude of environmental pressures are pushing the oceans to the brink of disaster. From global climate change to coastal development, poaching and overfishing to pollution, man-made threats are already devastating marine and coastal ecosystems and putting a large number of marine species at risk of extinction.

The Solution

Cousteau Divers unites a global community of divers who are concerned about the marine environment. The organization's “participative science” program turns volunteers into "active agents of the study and protection of the oceans," equipped to record and publish their observations of marine life. Divers hunt for indicator species "like a detective searching for clues of the health of the dive site," and help the organization to monitor the health of the seas worldwide. "We are the only 'users' of the ocean's beauty,” their web site reads. “We can become an immune system for our oceans."