When I first ventured into the Gulf of Mexico in the 1950s, the sea appeared to be a blue infinity too large, too wild to be harmed by anything that people could do.
SYLVIA EARLETen percent of the big fish still remain. There are still some blue whales. There are still some krill in Antarctica.
More Sylvia Earle Quotes
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Look at the bark of a redwood, and you see moss.
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For heaven’s sake, when you see the enemy attacking, you pick up the pitchfork, and you enlist everybody you see.
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My mother was known as the ‘bird lady’ of the neighborhood.
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I personally have stopped eating seafood.
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The ocean certainly got my attention! It wasn’t frightening, it was more exhilarating.
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I’m not against extracting a modest amount of wildlife out of the ocean for human consumption, but I am really concerned about the large-scale industrial fishing that engages in destructive practices like trawling and longlining.
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By the end of the 20th century, up to 90 percent of the sharks, tuna, swordfish, marlins, groupers, turtles, whales, and many other large creatures that prospered in the Gulf for millions of years had been depleted by overfishing.
SYLVIA EARLE -
Forty percent of the United States drains into the Mississippi. It’s agriculture. It’s golf courses. It’s domestic runoff from our lawns and roads. Ultimately, where does it go? Downstream into the gulf.
SYLVIA EARLE -
It’s akin to using a bulldozer to catch a butterfly, destroying a whole ecosystem for the sake of a few pounds of protein. We wouldn’t do this on land, so why do it in the oceans?
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We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
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All through college, I had frequently been the only girl in a science class – which wasn’t such a bad deal.
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I’ve had the joy of spending thousands of hours under the sea. I wish I could take people along to see what I see, and to know what I know.
SYLVIA EARLE -
The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask question and have a sense of wonder.
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I actually love diving at night; you see a lot of fish then that you don’t see in the daytime.
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There are some who would like to see the oil rigs removed right down to the ground once their job is done, and there are others, and I count myself among them, who think that once they are in place they begin to be adopted by life in the ocean as a habitat.
SYLVIA EARLE






