The Marine Monument is this beautiful, wondrous, mysterious
place, right off our coast at the exact point where two
currents merge. The Gulf Stream actually comes up as a surface
current and it's a lot of warm water and bringing nutrients
but the cold climate actually keeps those surface currents
from transporting too far. It's mixing almost creating like a
turbine with these seamounts. And that's when that Dulf
Stream actually forms eddies and then proceeds then eastward
into the Atlantic Ocean. There are canyons that are deeper
than the Grand Canyon. And the extinct underwater volcanoes,
the seamounts are higher than any east of the Rocky
Mountains. Because of those combinations, it's just this
magnificently rich environment that so many species rely on.
There's this incredible landscape that just plays out
underneath the sea and it's filled with water and that
water is filled with life. The marine mammal species that pass
through this marine monument, whether it's the right whale,
the blue whale, the variety of dolphin species, skates and
rays, sea turtles, but also the corals. They can be hundreds to
over a millennia in age. They can be as tall as trees. And so
when they go down to do dives on the monument and shed light
on these amazing places, you really get to see the beauty.
We can take actual trips to the deepest parts of the ocean and
we can do this remotely with remotely operated vehicles. I
can sit in my office and look at my computer screen and see
the video live from an underwater vehicle, talk to the
scientist on the ship and to other scientists around the
world. There have been numerous times where all of these
scientists have just not been able to describe what species
this is and this is potentially then a new discovery of certain
species whether it be coral or sponges or new fish that we
didn't know previously existed in this area. You know, I often
describe every dive with an ROV into the deep ocean. There's
always some gift from nature. Uh there's something new that
we learn or something incredible that we see and it's
not always what we expect. There are mammoth skulls
sitting at the canyon heads because guess what? Wooly
mammoths were roaming in the canyons. Probably only 50% of
the species in the marine monument itself have been
identified. We still have a lot left to be discovered. The idea
that there's nothing left to explore is is fantasy. How
animals behave, how they interact, how they hunt for
prey, how they avoid becoming food for others, how they
reproduce or all these fundamental questions that we
want answers to in part from a intellectual curiosity
perspective but more important from being able to understand
how life is distributed, what it takes to survive in order to
conserve them for the future, given human impacts to the
planet.
By preserving it and putting these places aside for
conservation and preservation and just maintaining the
integrity of these spaces, it's gonna help to sustain the life
of those species around it, those species that pass through
it, and then the people and the cities and the areas that all
rely on that, that connection to this magnificent place. This
isn't an a place just for me and my colleagues. This is a
national resource for people to be able to study life in the
oceans. Even seagulls. We hope that this information can
contribute for years to come for future scientists as well
as inspire other young generations to continue
research and exploration in their own ways. All that is
leading to preserved lands, wildlife species, and
everything else. For future generations, that are gonna
look at these areas that are set aside and conserved and
protected and saying, thank goodness, this is here. If it
wasn't for them, putting it aside, I wouldn't get to have
this experience. Growing up as a first generation American, my
parents really fought for my siblings and I to have that
pursuit of passion where we're able to study what we truly
love and we're here to inspire the next generation. Hopefully,
twenty, 30 years from now and long into the future, these
canyons remain protected. The communities of animals are
abundant and diverse and resilient and that knowing that
this place exists makes people feel better as as Americans and
as global citizens. It helps people connect to the mysteries
of our world and feeling like we're part of something. The
mysteries are endless. We just have to take some time and
discover 'em.