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The Marine Monument is this
beautiful, wondrous, mysterious

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place, right off our coast at
the exact point where two

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currents merge. The Gulf Stream
actually comes up as a surface

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current and it's a lot of warm
water and bringing nutrients

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but the cold climate actually
keeps those surface currents

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from transporting too far. It's
mixing almost creating like a

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turbine with these seamounts.
And that's when that Dulf

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Stream actually forms eddies
and then proceeds then eastward

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into the Atlantic Ocean. There
are canyons that are deeper

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than the Grand Canyon. And the
extinct underwater volcanoes,

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the seamounts are higher than
any east of the Rocky

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Mountains. Because of those
combinations, it's just this

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magnificently rich environment
that so many species rely on.

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There's this incredible
landscape that just plays out

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underneath the sea and it's
filled with water and that

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water is filled with life. The
marine mammal species that pass

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through this marine monument,
whether it's the right whale,

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the blue whale, the variety of
dolphin species, skates and

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rays, sea turtles, but also the
corals. They can be hundreds to

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over a millennia in age. They
can be as tall as trees. And so

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when they go down to do dives
on the monument and shed light

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on these amazing places, you
really get to see the beauty.

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We can take actual trips to the
deepest parts of the ocean and

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we can do this remotely with
remotely operated vehicles. I

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can sit in my office and look
at my computer screen and see

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the video live from an
underwater vehicle, talk to the

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scientist on the ship and to
other scientists around the

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world. There have been numerous
times where all of these

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scientists have just not been
able to describe what species

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this is and this is potentially
then a new discovery of certain

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species whether it be coral or
sponges or new fish that we

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didn't know previously existed
in this area. You know, I often

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describe every dive with an ROV
into the deep ocean. There's

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always some gift from nature.
Uh there's something new that

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we learn or something
incredible that we see and it's

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not always what we expect.
There are mammoth skulls

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sitting at the canyon heads
because guess what? Wooly

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mammoths were roaming in the
canyons. Probably only 50% of

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the species in the marine
monument itself have been

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identified. We still have a lot
left to be discovered. The idea

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that there's nothing left to
explore is is fantasy. How

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animals behave, how they
interact, how they hunt for

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prey, how they avoid becoming
food for others, how they

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reproduce or all these
fundamental questions that we

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want answers to in part from a
intellectual curiosity

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perspective but more important
from being able to understand

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how life is distributed, what
it takes to survive in order to

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conserve them for the future,
given human impacts to the

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planet.

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By preserving it and putting
these places aside for

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conservation and preservation
and just maintaining the

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integrity of these spaces, it's
gonna help to sustain the life

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of those species around it,
those species that pass through

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it, and then the people and the
cities and the areas that all

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rely on that, that connection
to this magnificent place. This

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isn't an a place just for me and
my colleagues. This is a

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national resource for people to
be able to study life in the

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oceans. Even seagulls. We hope
that this information can

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contribute for years to come
for future scientists as well

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as inspire other young
generations to continue

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research and exploration in
their own ways. All that is

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leading to preserved lands,
wildlife species, and

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everything else. For future
generations, that are gonna

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look at these areas that are
set aside and conserved and

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protected and saying, thank
goodness, this is here. If it

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wasn't for them, putting it
aside, I wouldn't get to have

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this experience. Growing up as
a first generation American, my

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parents really fought for my
siblings and I to have that

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pursuit of passion where we're
able to study what we truly

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love and we're here to inspire
the next generation. Hopefully,

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twenty, 30 years from now and
long into the future, these

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canyons remain protected. The
communities of animals are

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abundant and diverse and
resilient and that knowing that

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this place exists makes people
feel better as as Americans and

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as global citizens. It helps
people connect to the mysteries

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of our world and feeling like
we're part of something. The

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mysteries are endless. We just
have to take some time and

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discover 'em.