Undersea Voyager Project - Catalina Island

For the next 6 weeks the Undersea Voyager Project will be at depth in and around targets on Catalina Island. This is the second video in a series featuring the deepest and longest dive to date.

Submarine commander Scott Cassell will also be looking for unique shark species as well:

Undersea Voyager Project - Catalina Island

For the next 6 weeks the Undersea Voyager Project will be at depth in and around targets on Catalina Island. This is video from one of their first targets, a vintage CIA Lockout Chamber when, during the Cold War, listening stations to track Soviet era submarines were stationed all over the oceans.

Submarine commander Scott Cassell will also be looking for unique shark species as well:

Scott Cassell - Undersea Voyager

The Undersea Voyager Project is one of our favorite submersible/conservation efforts right now. Recently the team was in Lake Tahoe making news and discoveries:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A team of submariners that spent the month of May exploring Lake Tahoe and examined, among other things, evidence of an earthquake fault that may have ruptured thousands of years ago, is hoping the operation is just the beginning of their underwater explorations.

Scott Cassell, the sub's captain and founder of the non-profit Undersea Voyager Project, says his team has plans for a five-year mission to gather information and develop ideas to help restore endangered bodies of water around the world.

The goal, Cassell says, is to collect data and attract sufficient attention to prompt people and governments to halt pollution and overfishing and take other actions to protect threatened bodies of water.

A two-person submarine spent the past month cruising Lake Tahoe, examining earthquake faults, ancient submerged trees and beds of invading clams that threaten the lake.

"I think it's a very useful tool," said John Kleppe, a University of Nevada-Reno scientist who for years has researched submerged trees, some more than 3,000 years old, in Fallen Leaf Lake just west of Lake Tahoe. The trees, which grew when the lake level was lowered by lengthy drought, provide a "very good record of climate change," Kleppe said

Undersea Voyagers Project - Tahoe

We got the following update from Scott Cassell today who has been in Lake Tahoe for the past month:

Greetings D.E.L.I.V.E.R. Team,

I am proud to announce to the D.E.L.I.V.E.R. Team that the first mission of the Undersea Voyager Project (TAHUV) was a success.

With Bob Oberto resigning from the UVP the UVP Team pulled together and scrambled to put a new list of scientists and researchers together quickly. They were successful and integrated the new science team seamlessly into 11 submersible dives.

We achieved much, made several discoveries (i.e. 3 ‘new’ ancient trees were discovered, and potentially a new species of Protist) and we had a lot of fun. I am extremely proud of the UVP Team.

Dive targets successfully explored with scientists in situ ranged from:

• Two Earthquake Faults (Dr. Schwickert, UNR)
• River/Lake interface (Geoffrey Schladow, UCD)
• Volcanic Mud Flows and Tsunami Mega Ripples (Neil Rondorf, SAIC)
• 2,000-year-old ancient trees (Dr. Andrew Klesh, UM, Dr. Daniel Brothers, UCSD, Dr. Letti Ramirez, CSUEB)
• Possible discovery of a new species (or re-finding an old one) of Protist (Dr. Christopher Kitting, CSUEB, Scott Valentine, LTCC).

And from the original list of scientists the UVP Team was able to dive Dr. Graham Kent, SIO, UCSD on the ancient trees as well.

A total of 58 submersible dives were performed and 33 SCUBA dives.

The UVP team was also successful with performing two live broadcasts from the submersible underwater! One on Fox 40 Morning Show and one on Good Day Sacramento. In both live broadcast, the reporter was able to dive in the sub and talk to the Anchor team back at the broadcast stations whom watched in real time.

Media attention was amazing! I was on the following programs promoting the UVP mission:

• Australian Broadcasting Network News
• KTHO AM 590 with Tom Singerline
• Wave Magazine
• Fox 40
• Fox News
• KOWL Radio with Howie (twice)
• Good Day Sacramento (Twice)

I am writing 8 articles at the moment about the TAHUV for both printed and Internet magazines and several TV groups have approached us to be on their talk shows over the next month.

I also initiated the ‘Youth Undersea Ambassador’ program. Three teenage kids were selected based on scientific programs they are active in, personality and support from parents and their principals. These kids performed a series of dives in the submersible (including piloting it) and were involved in data collection and observations of targets. Each was also trained in being a ‘Submersible Support Swimmer’ which included venting the submersible’s ballast system for the beginning of each dive and blowing the ballast system for surfacing and recovery. They are obligated to deliver lectures to their student peers and/or community based on the UVP mission on “What it is like to be a young Explorer / Scientist” three times this year. The program has been highly successful and the community of Lake Tahoe has been greatly supportive of it.

The TAHUV was filmed in both High Definition and in 4K Red Camera. We will use this outstanding footage for promotion (including for the D.E.L.I.V.E.R. program if the Team wishes) of the UVP, the production of two documentaries and one short IMAX teaser.

The UVP team consisted of:

Scott Cassell, President, Founder and Chief Sub Pilot
Shawna Meyer, Co-Founder (not present)
Will Kohnen, President of SeaMagine Hydrospace & Interim Vice President
Peri Best, Expedition Manager
Reds Regan, Expedition Coordinator, Artist
Julie Regan, TRPA Liaison Officer
Professor Scott Valentine, South Lake Tahoe College, Science Liaison
Dr. Jeff Wachs, D.O. UVP Team Medical Doctor
Dr. Andrew Klesh, Team Engineer, Space & Sea Interface Officer
Jenna Whisenand-Palacio, Media & Public Relations
Tom Loomis, Local Tahoe Region Liaison
Greg Mikolesek, Photographer and Diver, Viking & VR Liaison
Ivo Kocherscheidt, UVP Historian and Photographer
Steffen Schultz, Film Maker, Producer, Strange Media Productions
Robert Alan Martin, Film Maker, Producer, California Academy of Arts, Sausalito, CA
Nathan Garofalos, Film Maker, Producer Red Camera (IMAX Teaser)
Ildiko Nemeth, Foreign Affairs Officer
Paul Wilton, Machinist
Leslie Wilton, Artist
Steve Blair, Icthyologist, Assistant Curator - Aquarium of the Pacific

Youth Ambassadors
Nichole Phelan, Marine Biology, Geology student
Sid Loomis, Marine Exploration, Geology student
Mattie Ordway, Marine Biology, Ecology student


Support Volunteers
Dr. Andrea Donnellan, Website Designer and Master
Jim Phelan, Tahoe City Marina General Manager and Nichole’s Father
Adam & Wendy Muskovitz, Best Rent Tahoe
Jeanne Merkelbach, Tahoe Keys Resort and Marina
Ed Roe, Fire Fighter - Engineer, City of South Lake Tahoe
Carey Loomis – Transportation, Logistics and Sid’s mother
Robert Ordway – Diver and Maddi’s father
Adam Compton, relief Sub Pilot – SeaMagine

I am currently still in Lake Tahoe assisting in the editing of a short ‘trailer’ for the UVP and writing the documentary with Nathan Garofolos (which he will edit over the next three months)

We are in the planning stages of the one-month-long California Undersea Voyage (CalUV) in which we will perform survey dives completely around the Channel Islands with scientists and teachers from local institutions. Many of these dives will be broadcast in real-time to educational institutions and classes. Estimated time for this expedition is late summer.

The UVP is now open for business and I am proud to be a part of the D.E.L.I.V.E.R. Proposal. This will be a good year!

All the best to you all,

Scott Cassell
Founder
Undersea Voyager Project
www.underseavoyager.org

RTSea on the Undersea Voyager Project

From RTSea Blog today:

I had the pleasure of attending a press event for the Undersea Voyager Project that was held at one of my regular stomping grounds, the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. It's great to attend these events as you get to meet new people with similar interests, concerns, and passions for marine conservation.

The Undersea Voyager Project is headed up by Scott Cassell, who has done considerable study and research on the Humboldt Squid - a particularly voracious predator typically found in deeper water but makes more local appearances from time to time. The primary thrust of the Project is an ambitious program involving submersibles and a variety of different marine science projects, culminating in the development of a larger submersible that will act as an undersea classroom bringing science to the general public in a very real and as-it-happens way.

I find this very exciting because throughout my involvement in marine conservation as a filmmaker and giving screenings and lectures, I have found that there is a tremendous amount of scientific data that does not get effectively translated into issues, implications and solutions for the general public to understand and appreciate. As an example, we have decades of data documenting climate change - and yet there are still many people who refuse to accept it.

Organizations like the Undersea Voyager Project can be of tremendous benefit in enlightening the public, young and old, to important issues regarding our oceans. Marine conservation must not be obscure or vague; it must be made real and tangible to all people: to the general public, to the decision-makers, and to the future generations of scientists-in-the-making.

Check out the Undersea Voyager Project web site and give it your support.

Editors Note: We would also like to lend our weight to Scott Cassel. He's one of the genuine articles.

Undersea Voyager Project 2009

The Undersea Voyager Project is a multi phase program developed by undersea explorer, Capt. Scott Cassell, founder and CEO of Undersea Voyager Project (a non profit research, and undersea exploration company). The Undersea Voyager Project is designed to utilize manned submersibles to take a physical look at the first 100-1,000 feet of seawater, (which is the largest environment on Earth) on a five year continuing mission to explore the unseen as they circumnavigate the Earth underwater. The UVP will break several existing world records and set even more.

It has been suggested this project equals man's first steps on the moon. The focus is on the seas relationship with the global climate, and the discovery of new life. To explore to further man's knowledge of the most hostile environment on Earth, the deep sea.

Scott will speak of this past experiences in undersea marine research (including his work with giant squid), his present work at Undersea Voyager and future plans for ocean exploration.

Scott Cassell
Captain Scott Cassell, President and CEO of Undersea Voyager Project. Since 1977, Scott has accumulated over 12,000 hours of drive time. He is a USCG Qualified Submersible Pilot/Captain with over 1200 dives. A former Advanced Diving Medical Technician Instructor (1 of 10 in the USA), Commercial Diving Instructor, and Hyperbaric Medical Technician Instructor he taught for years at the College Of Oceaneering. He is also a PADI Instructor. His film and documentary credits include undersea cameraman for nearly 20 documentaries and host / presenter on several documentaries on several networks including Disney, MTV Wildboyz, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC and the History Channel.