Sylvia Alice Earle (born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer.

[1][2] Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,[2] and was named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998.

[3] Earle gained a large amount of publicity when she was featured in Seaspiracy (2021), a Netflix Original documentary by British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi.

Her writings are so sensitive to the feelings of fish, birds and other animals that she could put herself in their place, buoyed by the air or by water, gliding over and under the ocean’s surface.

After receiving her Ph.D. in 1966, Earle spent a year as a research fellow at Harvard, then returned to Florida as the resident director of the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory.

In 1969, she applied to join the Tektite Project, an installation fifty feet below the surface of the sea off the coast of the Virgin Islands which allowed scientists to live submersed in their area of study for up to several weeks.

[19][20] By 1986, Deep Rover had been tested and Earle joined the team conducting training off Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas.

[19] Earle left the company in 1990 to accept an appointment as Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she stayed until 1992.

She also provided the DeepWorker 2000 submersible used to quantify the species of fish as well as the space resources utilized within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

[17] Given her past experience with the Exxon Valdez and Mega Borg oil spills, Earle was called to consult during the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

In July 2012, Earle led an expedition to NOAA's Aquarius underwater laboratory, located off Key Largo, Florida.

The expedition, entitled "Celebrating 50 Years of Living Beneath The Sea", commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf I project and investigated coral reefs and ocean health.

[26][27] Earle made a cameo appearance in the daily cartoon strip Sherman's Lagoon in the week starting September 17, 2012, to discuss the closing of the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory.

[32] With TED's support, she launched Mission Blue, which aims to establish marine protected areas (dubbed "Hope Spots") around the globe.

[36] Past expeditions include Cuba in 2009,[37] Belize in January 2010,[38] the Galápagos Islands in April 2010,[39] Costa Rica and the Central American Dome in early 2014[40] and the South African Coast in late 2014.

[43] It focuses on Earle's life and career as her Mission Blue campaign to create a global network of marine protected areas.

[49] In June 2024, DENR Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga convened a dialogue with Earle, Ambassador MaryKay Carlson and Senator Loren Legarda, inter alia, to advocate Philippine Marine Biodiversity Protection and Conservation.