Earle spent the day on the decks of the Ferrel talking about marine conservation, watching Mead make her 13th dive in the DeepWorker and waiting her turn for a night dive. And she said she hopes to spread a new conservation ethic about the seas. But Earle is not one to spread doom and gloom about the world she so loves without offering hope, too. The seas can recover if the natural systems are allowed to function without interference, she said. One of the keys is sharing knowledge about the ocean.
People seem to see themselves as separate from the seas.
That's let them dump into and take from the oceans in a way they no longer do on land, Earle said. That's what Sustainable Seas is about. About Gray's Reef Gray's Reef lies in waters 60-70 feet deep, about 17 miles southeast of Sapelo Island. It is one of the largest near-shore sandstone reefs in the Southeast. The area earned sanctuary designation in 1981 and was recognized as an international Biosphere Reserve in 1986.