For sixteen months we have been waiting for this moment. It is a very exciting time and I want to tell you that without all of you, we would not be here. I look at this as a puzzle and now that all the pieces have been put together, we can sail. So you are all a part of this expedition. It is a very important time for us and the people who have put the pieces together painstakingly, and I would like especially to recognize Gary Lopez and Nancy Cook (Producers, Voyage to Kure.)
I think my father would be proud of every one of you. We are doing justice to the ocean. A lot has to be done and it is going to take a lot of work. But perhaps with this expedition we are going to highlight to the world the fact that it is not too late; that it is time to recognize that our life support system has problems and thus so do we. This expedition is going to allow us to highlight a place for once that does not need to be restored but needs to be protected. So we are in the mode of prevention. This is very unique compared to other expeditions we have made. Usually we go to devastated places just as we did in a dive yesterday off Waikiki, where we found a desert. I'll never forget what Randy (Dr. Randy Kosaki, Research Coordinator, NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve) told me when we came out of the water. He said "You know, my ancestors used these waters as the supermarket and today if we were to do that, we would starve to death." So something is wrong with how we treat, handle and take care of the marine world, our life support system.
This expedition is going to allow us literally to get a better understanding, to assist, to highlight what is already being done and what still needs to be done. We are working closely with other organizations and so, with their assistance, it is not the same kind of expedition as we have had in the past where we sail and we report in. In this case there will be results, and there is an enormous amount of responsibility -- the expanse of the NWHI is the same as the Great Barrier Reef and five times bigger than all the marine sanctuaries that the US has already created. The additional responsibility is absolutely monumental.
In addition we are dealing with history and dealing with a culture that I profoundly respect, a culture that has been bashed for centuries and is being restored and from which we can find the inspiration that perhaps we had forgotten. The Hawaiian culture, in my view, is experiencing a rebirth.
Not long ago when I was in Maui, a Hawaiian told me that when the wiliwili trees are in bloom, female sharks are a little nervous because they are protecting their children. And while sharks don’t protect their children, it is in fact shark-mating time and they are nervous. It really made an impact on me because these people have learned to read Nature over thousands of years and here we come equipped with all our modern technology but perhaps without wisdom, and often pretending to know everything, but we’d better also listen. We’d better listen because although we have a lot to offer and to complement, by listening to what these traditional cultures have to share and that we can rediscover, we can do a much, much better job. That is why I think the presence of the Hokule’a and the Polynesian Voyaging Society is so important. It is not just the matter of going to look at little fish and the birds and these beautiful waters. It is also a very spiritual experience. That is why I am going to take with me what Nainoa (Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian Voyaging Society) gave me--a piece of the Hokule’a. It will voyage with us. You will be with us in spirit and we are looking forward to meeting you out there in September and we look forward to the accomplishment of your success as you have dreamt it.
Ed (Ed Cassano, Ocean Futures Society Vice President, Exploration) and our captain will deal with their GPS. I know you are going to deal with nature. I know you are going to deal with the absence of the fuel and energy sources that we need to bring with us, but you will have the birds, the waves, the clouds, and the stars to guide you safely.
I want to thank our team because it has been difficult, but they have never failed to trust that we can do it. And this time, this moment, is very dear to me, and hopefully very dear to every one of you.
In these difficult times worldwide, we are in a communications revolution that allows us to communicate from one part of the earth to another, where we find out that everyone knows everything about everyone else. The political boundaries around the world are falling apart. We are reminded that whales and dolphins and birds do not have passports, they are citizens of the globe. Hopefully, our human society will follow in that direction as fast as possible because we cannot survive any other way than treating our world as one interdependent system and working together.
We are all connected to nature and we are all dependent on nature as our life support system. We have been entrusted with this extraordinary natural capital that we are obliged to manage professionally and economically so we can live off the interest of the capital and, with some wisdom, increase the capital itself. Otherwise, we are going to be bankrupt. We cannot allow that to happen. In the name of those who have not had the chance to make decisions or even to be born, we have the responsibility to make sure they have the same privileges that we have had. The task is so big and the time is so short and I all I can do with all the energy that I have is to go faster and faster.
I would like to close by saying thank you to all of you and to dedicate this expedition to a very special person who we are going to dearly miss who has helped us better understand the ocean, how much we depend upon it, has popularized it to a great extent, has made more of us ocean lovers, and has helped the diving industry to accomplish that. He is no longer with us and I will think about him every day of the voyage--Paul Tzimoulis, Publisher, Skin Diver magazine) who just left us a few days ago.
Thank you, Aloha, thank you for making us better people.
