Students were urged last week to dive in and appreciate the greatness that Bermuda?s waters have to offer ? but they were warned to also protect the country?s marine assets.

This was the message of inspiration from one of the world?s leading marine biologists, Dr. Sylvia Earle, when she spoke to local senior school students last week.

Often known as ?Her Deepness?, Dr. Earle was in 1998 the first scholar National Geographic recognised in its esteemed explorer-in-residence programme as well as a former head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

As a marine biologist and a revolutionary in underwater exploration, Dr. Earle has clocked more than 6,000 hours underwater in the 50-plus expeditions she has led in her ?water-breaking? research on marine ecosystems.

But for her unceasing call for conserving our ocean as a life source for the planet, Dr. Earle was named Timemagazine?s first ?hero of the planet? in 1998.

Visiting Bermuda for the first time since 2003, Dr. Earle was the the special guest of the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and lectured on ?Exploring the Deep Frontier? on Friday night at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

Earlier on Friday, the petite Dr. Earle made a special appearance at the Bermuda?s Aquarium and Zoo to urge around 50 of Bermuda?s students to never stop exploring their environment.

?This is the most exciting time ever and the most revolutionary period in history,? she told the students. ?In the next ten years we will come to terms with all of the great discoveries and technological advances which have come into focus during the past century and especially the last 50 years.

?When I was a little kid I was doing all the right things to become an explorer in residence,? she said.

Exploration is a key word, she said, to describe scientific research.

?Every scientist is like a little kid,? she said. ?They are the people who are always asking the questions and are never content with not knowing the answers.?

But sometimes life seems to throw obstacles in the way of succeeding, she said.

?Some people get it in their head that they can?t,? she said. ?But I guarantee you, you can.?

Dr. Earle?s words come from deep within her own life experiences.

Born on a rural New Jersey farm in 1935, Dr. Earle remembers her first experience with the ocean when she was only three. ?I was swept off my feet by a wave when I was three and have been in love with the sea ever since.?

In the New Jersey surf, she said, she discovered creatures she never imagined in the little pond on her farm.

But it wasn?t until she moved to Florida that she could follow her passion.

?I was about 12 or 13 before I got my first piece of dive gear: a mask,? and with a poet?s voice she described her seeing the ocean?s wealth clearly for the first time. ?I was completely hooked.?

By 1966, Dr. Earle had supported herself through her undergraduate degree at Florida State University and earned a PhD. and a master?s degree from Duke University by which time she was married and had two children.

She made a splash with a botany-focused PhD. dissertation, but the brilliance of her research was often dimmed by scientists and institutions caught up with her gender.

In the 1969 she applied to the US government?s Tektite project which allowed scientists to spend two weeks living 50 feet under the surface of the Caribbean Sea.

With more underwater hours than any other applying scientist, Dr. Earle was chosen to head up a team ? an all-women?s team.

?They didn?t like the idea of women and men living together. It was unthinkable in 1970,? she said.

In the years since then, the dominance of males in the sciences has not held Dr. Earle back, and she spoke with enthusiasm about all the discoveries which are still to be made.

?There?s so much of Bermuda that we don?t know about,? she said.

A pioneer in the development of underwater vehicles and heads of the Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technology companies, Dr. Earle showed video footage of 1,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Dr. Earle encouraged the students to imagine a future in which they will use such a submarine to explore 8,000 feet down to the ocean floor off of Bermuda.

But Dr. Earle emphasised how urgently we need to be aware and promote the health of the oceans.

?With knowing comes caring and with caring comes hope that we find an enduring place for ourselves alongside a healthy marine world,? she said.

Noting the over-fishing of Bermuda?s groupers, as well as the world-wide depletion of fish populations due to over fishing and pollution, Dr. Earle called for the young people to open their eyes to long-term conservation. ?Near-term vision blinds us to the long-term prospects of our ocean,? she said, emphasising that modern man is willing to swindle his/her environmental assets.

Calling for a preservation of the fish in their breeding grounds, Dr. Earle said that so many of us have grown accustomed to depleted numbers of marine life. Shifts in base line populations have been accepted as the norm, she said, and that is a major danger if we ever hope for fish, turtle and whale numbers to grow to the size they once were.

?If today you go out and see 150 fish, just imagine what it was like to see thousands of fish in the same waters,? she said

But she said she was filled with hope, despite the apparently dismal forecast for the ocean?s health.

?Individuals make a difference,? she said. ?You must all use what your talents are to push the world further. Don?t imagine that you are powerless or useless.?

Remembering the inspiring letters and painted pictures she received from countless children while the head of NOAA , she said: ?Kids have power, it?s just knowing how to use it.?

Asked what Bermudians can do in their everyday life to care for their ?ocean backyard? Dr. Earle was quick to answer: ?Be aware that what you do on the land affects the ocean.?

Of special concern, she said, was remaining vigilant in what you eat.

?When you eat fish, remember that many types that you eat are in precarious point, such as grouper and snapper,? she said. ?And with fish like tuna and swordfish, we have to remember the effects of toxins like mercury?, which she said were reaching dangerous levels.

?We have a choice.We can eradicate these fish and lose them forever, or we can put an effort into saving them,? she said.

Bermudians should be aware of the scientific value of the Island?s location, for the research which the BBSR carries out, as well as a site for monitoring climate.

?It?s funny because, from a scientific point of view, if Bermuda didn?t exist we would have created a biological research site here,? she said.