Tym grew up in the central Oregon high desert town called Sisters. At first the population was about 500 counting the cats and dogs, but that has changed. In this desert he wanted to be an Oceanographer, probably from watching all those episodes of “Sea Hunt” and “Jacques Cousteau”. Go figure! 

Years later when living Hawaii I did manage to get into ocean research but is was quite different than he expected. His goal of being a scientist didn't pan out but hhis trade skills as a machinist did. He started out working for a small engineering company developing a very deep diving remote operated vehicle (ROV). This later lead to another job with the University of Hawaii's manned submersibles program aptly, named HURL. For many years HURL sailed the Hawaiian waters counting fish, retreiving military things that got lost overboard, and then to diving into undersea volcanos.

He later went to New Zealand with a submersible project in Milford Sound south island, then to working with James Cameron filming “Aliens of the Deep”. After this he did several other undersea documentaries that needed sub pilots and technicians, (think NHK/Discovery, Sharks, and Search of the Giant Squid).

In 2023 he was involved with the Ocean Gate expeditions when it ended in tragedy. He was contracted to be safety diver and LRT operator, After the implosion he participated in the search, and after the remains were found he stayed on site to join Pelagic Research Services to help with recovery. A very sad time.

Now, he designs and builds science packages sampling devices for various operations. He was honored to share his experiences with such a harsh yet amazingly wonderful and place.

Cheers,

Tym Catterson

tymcatterson@gmail.com

Dr. Diane Thomson and Dr. Sam Cook of Biosphere 2 talk about the groundbreaking research and results happening at Biosphere 2.