Sylvia A. Earle

I was told 50 years ago to be afraid if I saw 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.

We can stop trashing the ocean.

We can stop industrial fishing.

We must never allow mining 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 not only can choose the future we want we must

Just as I was about to lift off the bottom, I saw what I thought at first was like a big bag full of trash.

And I turned and looked and then I saw it had eyes.

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?

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.

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.