“Sherman’s Lagoon” Series on The Aquarius Underwater Laboratory
Last week, cartoonist Jim Toomey introduced a two-week storyline where the characters of SHERMAN’S LAGOON discuss the closing of the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory, the world’s only underwater ocean laboratory presently located in a sand patch adjacent to deep coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, at a depth of 63 feet. Due to budget cuts and funding, The Aquarius Underwater Lab is in jeopardy of closing at a time when more investment in science is needed—not less.
“Aquarius Reef Base is a unique platform for doing ocean research. It should be thought of in the same vein as Gemini, Apollo, and Curiosity,” states Toomey. “What I’ve tried to convey in my comic strip series about Aquarius is the importance of this research asset, and the importance of ocean research in general. The human impact and benefit is potentially much greater than that of space research.”
This week, Sylvia Earle, legendary underwater explorer and National Geographic’s Explorer-In-Residence, makes a cameo appearance in SHERMAN’S LAGOON expressing the importance of this one-of-a-kind underwater ocean lab’s research. In fact, in one strip, Earle’s cartoon character states, “You know, for 1% of the cost of our current search for life on Mars, we could fund our search for life in the ocean.”
To follow the series, visit the official SHERMAN’S LAGOON website.