jeffrey brown has our book conversation. . >> for decades jacques cousteau explored life between the world seas and took television viewer as long and also took along members of his family including his eldest son jean-michel who dove with his father at an early age and later became part of the crew on the calypso, cousteau research vehicle. jacques died in 1997. his son himself an environmentalist and ocean explore certificate founder of the ocean future society and is also produced numerous films about sea life. jean-michel has just published a new book "my father the captain" about both the public life and private side of his famous father. we talked recently in the studios of serious xm radio. >> my father, the captain, my life with jacques cousteau, why did you want to write this book? >> i felt that i wanted to give the public who has been so supportive of everything we have done for decades now, the real captain cousteau, the real person. not just what we perceive publicly. but the behind the scenes. the father, the husband, team leader, and the fact, in my case, where i found

philip philippe cousteau, he's the president of earth eco international and grandson of jacques cousteauyou have a long intro, don't you? welcome. i have to say there's nothing that scares me more than a shark which i why i won't even take a bath. i think most people would say that it's "jaws" that ruined it for them. it's been, you know, two decades since "jaws." all of a sudden we're seeing in the news more and more great white sharks being sighted, like they said, in cape cod in new jersey. andy, why? >> we've done a great job at saving our seal populations in massachusetts. when you save the marine mammals which are food to great whites they're going to hone in on that and come back to feed. >> they're looking for seals and -- >> they are looking for seals. they're not looking for people. great whites don't feed on people. >> can't they tell, i have blond hair, bikini -- >> they can. that's why you haven't been bitten by a great white shark. >> because i don't go in water. i'm a sand girl. i want to talk to you, it was your tenth wedding anniversary. >> today is my wedding anniversar

he's the grandson of the explorer, you might know him, jacques cousteau. he joins us live.oing? >> i'm doing all right. >> how is the weather there? what are you hearing about trying to clean things up in light of these new storms coming through? >> it's a little stormy, if you can't tell behind me, it's a little overcast, we've had some rain this morning, so actually they've stopped drilling the relief well right now. that's only a temporary hold. of course, the cap is holding, so there's no more oil spilling into the gulf, and that's a good thing. however, there has been a lot of optimistic talk over the last few weeks and i think it's important to remember that this is still a long road ahead of us. there's still tens of millions of gallons of oil that's floating around the gulf. and this is far from over. this is just, at best, probably the end of the beginning. >> and it could take years if not decades to recover from the oil all over the entire environment there. but what was the gulf like and how was it doing before the spill? was it okay in terms of the environment,

brown has a book conversation with ocean explorer jean-michel cousteau about his famous father, jacques cousteau. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the president boasted of progress in iraq today as the american combat effort, if not the diplomatic one, winds down. mr. obama spoke to a disabled veterans convention in atlanta. >> as a candidate for president i pledge to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end. >> reporter: and today addressing the disabled american veterans, president obama declared the american-led war is nearing its end. >> shortly after taking office i announced our new strategy for iraq and for a transition to full iraqi responsibility. and i made it clear that by august 31st 2010, america's combat mission in iraq would end. (applause) >> and that is exactly what we are