Cousteau son plans new undersea films

The son of pioneering undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau is planning a new documentary series about oceanic life aimed at promoting conservation.

The series, to be entitled Ocean Alive, will consist of 12 documentary films and a feature. Mr Cousteau hopes to film all of them in 3D.

“We will help the audience to discover the beauty of the waters off California, and through them the challenges facing humanity in the conservation of the oceans,” Jean-Michel Cousteau said.

The documentaries, which are still at the financing stage, would be broadcast first on California public television KCET and then distributed internationally.

Mr Cousteau hopes the films will motivate viewers to be “better stewards of the marine ecosystem. Because if there is no water there is no life.”

“We will show this through our adventures and explorations,” he added.

Mr Cousteau, who lives in Santa Barbara, north of Los Angeles, heads the Ocean Futures Society, an organisation committed to oceanic research and conservation.

Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997) pioneered undersea exploration and photography, producing over 100 documentaries and 50 books about oceanic life and the impact of human activities on the fragile marine environment.