Documents signed by de Jean-Michel Cousteau (1972)

The oceanographer activist Jean-Michel Cousteau negotiates the conditions for a Sea Museum project in France, in 1972.

1. April 27, 1972. Letter from the Living Sea Corporation to Louis Merlin about the Sea Museum project in France. A typed page in French, with the signature of Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau. 21 cm x 29.7 cm. Great condition, except the lower left corner is stained. Single piece.

extracts

(...) Given the European market, the location of your project and many other considerations, based on my personal experience of European and American public attractions, I confirm that I believe it is a good idea to make Bonheurville an amusement park with different themes, probably three, one of them being about the theme of the sea.

(...) Therefore, if this park were named after my father (I spoke to him, he agrees), we would like to have control over the quality of the theme about the sea.

(...) Attached, you will find the first results of the “Jacques Cousteau´s Living Sea” event, which took place aboard the Queen Mary cruise ship.

2. August 29, 1972. Another letter from the Living Sea Corporation to Louis Merlin about this same Sea Museum project in France. Two typewritten pages in French. 21 cm x 29.7 cm. Great condition. Signature of the representative of Jean-Michel Cousteau. Single piece.

Extract

(...) from December 11, 1971 to July 31, 1972, 932,984 entries were registered, generating a revenue of 2,397,684 dollars.

Attached is a spreadsheet in English showing the entries and corresponding recipes for the attraction "Jacques Cousteau's Living Sea" aboard the famous Queen Mary cruise in Long Beach, California, and a newspaper article in French, dated November 14, 1971, with the title "le commandant Cousteau partisan d´un musée de la mer sur un terrain à vague", in medium condition, yellowed, torn paper and some drafts.

Both Jean-Michel Cousteau (born 1938) and his famous father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910 - 1997), are two exceptional personalities in the history of ocean discovery. They were also pioneering ecologists in raising people's awareness, especially children and adolescents, about the need to preserve the environment. The books and films produced by the Cousteaus have fascinated many generations around the world.

Jean-Michel Cousteau created the Ocean Futures Society in 1999

Our mission is to explore our global ocean, inspiring and educating people.
Worldwide to act responsibly to protect it by documenting
The critical connection between humanity and nature, and celebrating the
The vital importance of the ocean for the survival of all life on our planet.

Born in Toulon (South of France), he also spent 20 months, from 1981 to 1983, with his father and family in the Amazon. At the time, the Amazon region of Manaus had very few inhabitants. In 2006, the environmentalist returned to the region and found it with 2 million inhabitants, affecting the Negro River and the Amazon River.

When you look at the Amazon, which I call the root of the ocean, you can see that these rivers are distributed across nine different countries.

In short, for Jean-Michel Cousteau, it is urgent to learn to manage these resources in the same way as a company is managed, to enjoy the profits without spending the resources.

If you spend more than income, you go bankrupt. At this point we are currently. Nobody wants to get there. The Amazon is a treasure that you have in your country.

This set of documents is also interesting because it shows the development of a large project, including the negotiation part. Here it is understood that the name of Cousteau, a prestigious brand with restricted use rights, cannot be used in any way.