has dedicated his life to studying and protecting
the marine mammals of Argentina. Our goal was
to gather scientific information and produce a
film to lay the groundwork for a new protected
marine reserve in Argentina’s waters.
Creating such reserves—national parks of the
sea—is my life’s work. Over the past decade, our
Pristine Seas team has partnered with local allies
to help governments protect more than two mil-
lion square miles of ocean from fishing and other
threats. Our expeditions have taken us diving all
over the world, from coral reef islands in the vast
Pacific to the frozen archipelagoes of the Arctic.
The expedition to the tip of Tierra del Fuego
was especially important to me—not just for
what we might be able to achieve but also
because of a personal connection to the place.
Back in 1973 Paul Dayton, my friend and sci-
entific mentor, conducted groundbreaking
research here. Braving polar winds, hail, and
snow, and wearing only old-fashioned wet
suits—as opposed to our modern dry suits—
Paul and his buddies dived around Thetis Bay
and Isla de los Estados (Staten Island) just to the
east. They measured and counted giant kelps
and the invertebrates living under the kelp for-
est canopies fringing the shores. Nobody had
studied these underwater habitats, and part
of our mission was to redo Paul’s surveys. I’ve
seen firsthand the dramatic changes in other
parts of our oceans caused by overfishing and
climate change, the most conspicuous being
This article was supported by Pristine Seas donors and
the Wyss Campaign for Nature, which is working with
the National Geographic Society and others across the
globe to help protect 30 percent of our planet by 2030.
THE SEA AT THE END OF THE WORLD 103