So in 2009, I stood here as a TED prize recipient, given a chance to make a wish big enough to change the world. So what was that wish? (Video) I wish you would use all means at your disposal: films, expeditions, the web, new submarines, a campaign to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas. Hope Spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet. Sylvia A. Earle: So why did I make that wish? How much of the ocean should be protected? It's our life support system. We need to treat all of it with respect. Part of the reason for my wish was because of what I've seen, what I've explored, what I've come to know in a lifetime of diving in to see things in ways that most people will never get to see. To use systems that make it possible to stay underwater for days, weeks at a time. To explore places that most people will never get to see. And to be a witness to the change that's currently taking place. I've had the chance to use more than 30 different kinds of submarines. Sometimes sharing the view with government officials, such as the Minister of the Environment from Ecuador. (Laughter) He was a little apprehensive. (Laughter) But he warmed up to the idea thanks to a Mola mola who kind of whispered in his ear. I’ve also witnessed how we’re trashing the ocean -- more than just what we’re putting into the ocean, [but] what we’re taking out, how we are stripping the ocean of the wild creatures that maintain Earth as a habitable planet. When I voiced concerns, when I served as the chief scientist of NOAA in 1990, I was called the Sturgeon General. (Laughter) And I was told not to worry. But in a few decades, with billions of dollars in subsidies, we have dewilded the ocean, taking these wild animals to markets globally. Industrial fishing is simply too efficient, and the markets are too demanding. Wild animals don't stand a chance. Nothing in their history enables them to escape the mechanized killing. Their fleets move like cities across the high seas, taking and marketing wildlife. We almost succeeded in exterminating the great whales, but now we know we need whales, we need squid. We need the menhaden, the tuna, the shrimp, the sharks. Ocean wildlife. We need them alive. This is the carbon cycle in action. This is how the living planet works. Elements of the universe are moving from one creature to another, keeping Earth's chemistry within safe operating space. I was told 50 years ago to be afraid of sharks. Now I'm afraid because I don't see sharks when I go diving. We've eliminated more than half of them since I began diving.

In 2009, I wished for expeditions, films, the web, new submarines that inspire action. In [that] same week, Google launched the first 10 Hope Spots on Google Earth. In 2010, at a TED at Sea expedition to the Galapagos Islands, we gathered together about 100 big thinkers to figure out what can we do to change this trajectory of decline. On the spot, the commitment was made to protect the high seas starting in the Sargasso Sea. Sargasso Sea Hope Spot: the open ocean home for turtles and whales and sharks and thousands of other sea creatures. Another commitment was made to create a film, "Mission Blue." And another one, "Sea of Hope." “Oceans 5” and “Ocean Elders” were launched. Funds were created and secured to help protect the Galapagos Islands. Five years later, with climate [as] a top priority, TED at Sea 2 sailed to the South Pacific. Champions were enlisted to help with the protection of the top of the world, the high seas in the Arctic, and to stop the trade in wildlife like polar bears, for rugs and for trophies. Others were enlisted to bring about full protection for krill and other wildlife in the waters around the Antarctic continent, along with other great ideas to try to protect the ocean’s blue heart. Sometimes I'm asked, "So what's the best place to go diving?" And I say, "Almost anywhere 50 years ago." So much has changed these images of coral reefs. It's the way I remember the ocean. And there are some places where the ocean is still like this. They have top priority for protection. They can't put them back once they're gone. We can help restore some of the damage that we've inflicted, but there's nothing like a place that is still intact after the long history that preceded humankind. There is hope because around the world, people are doing what they can to restore what has happened to the coral reefs. There are Mission Blue champions in 29 Hope Spots that are growing and planting corals to help restore the damage. This is [a] before and after view. The before: where the corals are healthy, the system is healthy. And after: what’s happening on our watch. But there is reason for hope. In the Nusa Penida Hope Spot you can actually see the progression from a damaged reef after some time of care, and then restoration, to what looks pretty good as compared to where it started. (Applause) I'm working with champions who are helping to inspire protection for wild rivers and pathways in the sea for manatees, turtles, fish and whales. Today, there are 169 Hope Spots in 116 countries. (Applause) Here on this Esri map, you can see where action is taking place. These are not just dots on a map. These are people. They are people who are gathering data, sharing stories, enlisting kids to care. Diving in with partners. Connecting with others. Mangroves are being restored in 15 Hope Spots. Seagrasses in 12, turtles are being monitored in 26 places, 30 for sharks and rays. All of these places are creating awareness and enhanced protection.

I wish I could tell you about all of them because the stories are really cause for hope. But let me just share a few. Chile's coast and shoreline offshores were among Mission Blue’s first Hope Spots. They're now a part of Chile's commitment to protect more than half of their ocean area. When I first went there, we found [a] Juan Fernández fur seal -- just one. It was thought that they were really gone. That was a cause for hope: we found one. But today, with protection, there are more than 100,000 of these creatures. (Applause) In the shadow of New York City, the Shinnecock Bay Hope Spot is a place where people and nature thrived for thousands of years. But 20th-century markets for seafood beyond the bay upended the system. More recently, the bay has been known for brown tides and the loss of seagrasses and oysters and clams that once filtered the water and fed people locally. Doctor Ellen Pikitch, a scientist at Stony Brook University, set out with her colleagues to do something about it, and they figured it would take 53 million clams to restore health, to filter the water [and] eliminate those brown tides. They’ve also calculated it would take $53 million, at a dollar per clam. They didn’t have $53 million, but they bought as many mom and dad clams as they could, and they planted them. Let the clams do the rest. Seagrasses began to grow again once the clams were back. The water became clearer. Creatures that live and need the seagrasses began to return. And now we can see that the place is delivering on the promise of hope. In French Polynesia, at the Tetiaroa Hope Spot, Richard and Mary Bailey are pioneering science-based tourism with a conservation twist. They have fiercely protected the sea turtle nests. They've really taken the action to try to restore a place that was losing the wildlife that the ocean needs to have a secure planet -- and it’s working. Just a few years ago, there were only a very few turtles. Now there are hundreds -- with protection. Protection works. With the Tetiaroa Society, the Baileys are engaging tourists and scientists, kids and CEOs in a business plan that couples tourism, revenue that is generated with exploration, research and conservation. It's a blue-green nature positive model that generates income and jobs in a healthy ocean.

A new class of submersibles is being built that will take scientists, visitors and curious kids into French Polynesia's twilight zone to explore a part of a vital global system of animals that migrate up and down in the water column every day, every night. Mission Blue is partnering with the Polynesian voyagers, with Nainoa Thompson and those who travel across the Pacific in traditional voyaging canoes like the Hōkūleʻa, following ancient pathways, depicted too, on traditional maps, like an octopus. The head of the octopus is in French Polynesia, but the arms extend to islands across the Pacific to Hope Spots that have been established in recent years. A three-year expedition is currently, right now, underway to connect people across the Pacific with ancient values of ocean care and respect. With the subs for the first time, they can go see who lives under the canoe. This is, after all, the lower sunlight shines where it's cold, it's dark, it's high pressure, but it's where most of life on Earth actually exists. The merger of new technology and ancient wisdom. My wish was inspired by the keen desire to build a safety net of Hope Spots, large enough to really understand and protect the ocean that protects all of us. At the time, 99 percent of the ocean was open for exploitation. Today, 97 percent is still open for exploitation. It's time to seriously scale up. Hope Spots are helping. Townsville AI is visualizing Hope Spots with global data on temperature, chemistry, fishing pressure, wildlife migration routes, land-based information, to better understand the problems in the context of the whole world. Now we know. Planting trees, planting corals and clams -- it helps. We can stop trashing the ocean. We can stop industrial fishing. We must never allow the mining of the deep seas to sweep away the security the living deep ocean provides to all of us. Armed with greater knowledge than has ever existed before, we are the luckiest people ever to have arrived on Earth. We can choose the future we want. We can. Dinosaurs could not. Truly, we have a choice. We can find an enduring place for ourselves within the natural living systems that make possible our existence. Systems that sustain us. Hope Spots are helping. And you can, too. Hope is contagious. Hope is an idea worth spreading. Thank you. (Applause and cheers)