Anita Conti (Armenian: Անիթա Գոնթի;[1] née Caracotchian) (17 May 1899 – 25 December 1997) was a French explorer and photographer, and the first female oceanographer in her country.

[3] Her father was Léon (Leven) Caracotchian, a physician in the field of obstetrics of Armenian origin[2] who owned a clinique in Paris.

Her Parisian workshop notably welcomed Pierre Mac Orlan, who nicknamed her "the one who listens to books speak".

For a time, they lived in the 16e arrodissement in Paris and their house was thought to be home to monkeys, birds, foxes, toucans...[7] He left her free to travel and write her own reports.

[9] In 1934, Anita Conti was hired by Eduard Le Danois, a French zoologist, at the OSTPM (today called IFREMER) as "propaganda manager".

Gradually, the whole team built up a first oceanographic database as they travelled between Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Iceland and Spitsbergen.

[1] She has left many photographies documenting life on board and has set a series of parameters (water temperature, salinity, etc.)

At the outbreak of the Second World War, from November 1939 to January 1940, she was employed by the National French Navy on minesweepers in Dunkirk.

[14] During ten years, she worked to develop better conservation techniques, trained artisanal fishermen with new fishing methods and installed artificial dens and dryers for further studies.

Gradually, she became more and more conscientious of the misuse of natural resources by European fishing industries and the major waste that could be prevented.

When French institutions stopped subsidizing her initiatives, Conti created her own company in Conakry, Guinea, with the aim of continuing her research, promoting local fishing and improving conditions.

[4][11][16] In her book Racleurs d'Océan (1953), Anita Conti denounces the desastrous exploitation of halioeutic ressouces used by these boats.

Indeed, she was outraged by the waste she saw on board the ships, which threw large quantities of fish into the sea trapped in the nets because they had no commercial value.

On the 27th January 1986, Anita Conti met 30 year old illustrator Laurent Girault, on a parisian peniche owned by Jacques Rougerie for the publishing of his book Les Enfants du Capitaine Némo.

[17] Louis Le Pensec, French Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries at the time, wrote: "Anita Conti - our great lady of the sea - has left us in Douarnenez on a stormy night that was also a Christmas Eve".

This piece was inspired by thousands of photos taken by Anita Conti during her trips, in particular those taken during the Newfoundland campaign on board the vessel Bois Rosé in 1952.

[23] Anita Conti famously said: "La mer est un miroir qui nous ramène à notre propre ignorance".