Captain Nemo's Dream

摘要

When the seas have been depleted of whales and seals ... we shall then have our waters cluttered with octopi, jellyfish, and squids, which will create hotbeds of infection in the absence of those huge mammals, whose stomachs were intended by God to keep the oceans clean! - Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1870. These words come to me often when at sea.They are from Jules Verne's visionary book written in 1870. In a story that has captivated me for decades. Captain Nemo commands a futuristic submarine with a loyal crew in a battle against humans who mercilessly exploit the oceans. Nemo was the first marine conservationist in history. It took scientists more than a hundred years to understand what he already knew: that man has been killing and consuming everything large and, unintentionally, fostering the growth of small animals and microbes.