Summer has reached its zenith. Days are long and temperatures are soaring, ensuring plenty of folks are blasting the AC, getting outdoors, and, for those of us lucky enough to live along the coasts, heading to the beaches to beat the heat.

But the sea doesn’t exist solely for human enjoyment. It is home to a myriad of ecosystems that house disparate, fantastic creatures from tiny, vibrantly colored mandarin dragonets to 60,000 pound grey whales and produces more than half of the world’s oxygen. It is vital that we work to protect our sea-dwelling neighbors, who are at risk from overfishing, climate change and pollution.

Our speakers bureau has been a proud partner of Heal the Ocean Santa Barbara, which combats harmful ocean dumping practices that lead to pollution as well as contributing data to studies on sea level rise due to global warming. We would also like to recognize and highlight some of the amazing keynote speakers who dedicate their lives to conserving and protecting our beautiful, mysterious seas.

Guy Harvey is an artist, keynote speaker and conservationist who has been fascinated by the ocean since he was a small boy. A skilled underwater photographer and videographer, he has contributed to several documentaries, and even founded the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation to help fund educational programs and engage the public in environmental efforts.

Lecturer of Polar Marine Ecology at the University of Canterbury, Michelle LaRue is an accomplished keynote speaker on sustainability, studying and reporting on how climate change effects the lives of predator animals in the Southern Ocean. Her dual passions for science and communication make her a speaker you don’t want to miss.

A record-setting freediver who has instructed over 500 others in the art, Johannesburg native Hanli Prinsloo has become a passionate advocate for ocean conservation, founding the I AM WATER Ocean Conservation Trust and putting to use her former career as a documentary filmmaker. In recent years, she has also become a sought-after keynote speaker.

Jean-Michael Cousteau has spent over sixty years studying the world’s oceans and sharing his knowledge via over 80 films and a multitude of articles, books and lectures. The Founder of the Ocean Futures Society, Jean-Michael is invested in bringing about positive change in partnership with the public, speaking on the connections between humanity and nature, the lives of sharks and killer whales, and the vital role the sea will play in our continued survival.

Claire Nouvian is a film-maker, environmentalist and speaker who is devoted to protecting the deep sea. An advocate who works to protect the ocean from deep-sea fishing and trawling, Claire has been named “the planet’s guardian angel” by GEO Magazine, and her message has reached over one billion people.