Ocean Conservation Quotes

"The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat."

- Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

"The sea is the universal sewer."

- Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

"We must plant the sea and herd its animals using the sea as farmers instead of hunters. That is what civilization is all about - farming replacing hunting."

- Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

"Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans."

- Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

"I said that the oceans were sick but they're not going to die. There is no death possible in the oceans — there will always be life — but they're getting sicker every year."

- Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

"The real cure for our environmental problems is to understand that our job is to salvage Mother Nature. We are facing a formidable enemy in this field. It is the hunters... and to convince them to leave their guns on the wall is going to be very difficult."

- Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer

"Without water, our planet would be one of the billions of lifeless rocks floating endlessly in the vastness of the inky-black void."

- Fabien Cousteau, Grandson of Jacques Cousteau

"It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist: the threat is rather to life itself."

- Rachel Carson, Marine Biologist

"All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never gather up all the plastic and put the ocean back together again."

- Charles Moore, Marine Researcher

"Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest."

- Charles Moore, Marine Researcher

"I hope for your help to explore and protect the wild ocean in ways that will restore the health and, in so doing, secure hope for humankind. Health to the ocean means health for us."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"No water, no life. No blue, no green."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"It is the worst of times but it is the best of times because we still have a chance."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"Many of us ask what can I, as one person, do, but history shows us that everything good and bad starts because somebody does something or does not do something."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"Our past, our present, and whatever remains of our future, absolutely depend on what we do now."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"I hope that someday we will find evidence that there is intelligent life among humans on this planet."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you're connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

"I had fought on behalf of man against the sea, but I realized that it had become more urgent to fight on behalf of the sea against men."

- Alain Bombard, Biologist

"If man doesn't learn to treat the oceans and the rain forest with respect, man will become extinct."

- Peter Benchley, Author of "Jaws"

"We owe it to our children to be better stewards of the environment. The alternative? - a world without whales. It's too terrible to imagine."

- Pierce Brosnan, Actor

"We know that when we protect our oceans we’re protecting our future."

- President Bill Clinton