|
An ocean pioneer, Capt. Scott Cassell is the President and Founder of The Undersea Voyager Project, a five-year mission to circumnavigate the Earth underwater – over 27,000 miles, to become the world’s longest subsea scientific transect. Scientists from a multitude of disciplines will perform readings and experiments on Cassell’s submersible to learn the current condition of the Earth’s ocean and how they affect climate change, fisheries, limnology, and the ocean’s general health. The findings will be made public via the Internet offering the world fresh data on the future of our water planet and even our species. The first mission, performed in Lake Tahoe, was a resounding success. The team made 58 submersible dives and 33 SCUBA dives and discovered five previously unknown ancient trees, 2,000 years old, and still standing underwater. They also found new species and evidence of a 300 ft. Tsunami that was generated by a combination of earthquake and glacial collapse 7,000 years ago. Diving since 1977, Cassell has accumulated over 13,000 hours of dive time. His experience ranges from being a commercial diver, explorer/filmmaker, and a 20-year veteran of closed circuit rebreather technology. He is also an accomplished cave diver with hundreds of hours in the deep caves of the Yucatan peninsula. A USCG Qualified Submersible Pilot with approximately 900 dives on the SeaMagine SeaMobile, he holds the world record for longest distance traveled by a diver-52 miles in 9.5 hours non-stop. Cassell taught at the College of Oceaneering and is one of only 10 advanced medical technician instructors in the U.S. He is one of the few civilians to earn the U.S. Navy Diving Supervisor and Dive Medical Technologist ratings, and worked in maritime counter terrorism in high risk regions of the world. His film and documentary credits include undersea cameraman and host-presenter for over 20 docs on several networks including Disney, MTV, the Discovery Channel, The Space Channel, Spike TV, Animal Planet, BBC, and The History Channel. Cassell is widely known as the first person who successfully filmed the Giant Squid in the wild ocean in 2006. The footage of the 40-foot squid was aired on a History Channel docu-drama entitled Monster Quest: Giant Squid Found!
|