A conversation with Pierre-Yves Cousteau

Robbin Whachell -

I had the pleasure of meeting Pierre-Yves Cousteau during his recent trip to The Bahamas to promote and educate on shark conservation. He came to Grand Bahama with a senior associate of the PEW Environment Group, and two members of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) based in Nassau.

He was visiting the Bahamas to show his support for the BNT’s campaign to strengthen the protection of sharks in The Bahamas, and he gave a public talk at Trust's Rand Nature Center on January 10th.

We met for breakfast the morning he was to head back to Paris where he lives and I had the pleasant opportunity to pick his brain.

Pierre-Yves Cousteau is the youngest son of famed oceanographer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau. I recall many memories from my childhood sitting in front of the TV watching documentaries on the underworld of the sea, all thanks to such a man as Cousteau. He certainly broadened our knowledge of the wet world below.

Cousteau speaks with a clear, almost full American accent, and when I questioned him on his near extinct French accent, he told me that it was due to attending an American school in France for the first part of his life. Pierre-Yves has a striking resemblance to his father, and although many believe him to be the grandson, due to his young age of 29, he is indeed the son of Jacques.

"My father was 72 years old when I was born," he said. "My father created the Cousteau Society in 1973," started Pierre, "to not only protect life on earth, and in the seas, but so his work would continue after his death.

He nominated my mother as the president of that organization, and today my mother and I are the only two Cousteaus working in the Society. The other Cousteaus are still involved with the environment, but not directly affiliated with my father's society."

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Photo Robbin Whachell

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