This weekend, veteran adventurer and diver Scott Cassell will attempt to push his mind and body to its limits in a record-breaking dive attempt. And while accomplishing this incredible dive may in fact be a world record, he’s putting his life on the line for an even greater cause: to help raise awareness around the state of the Pacific ocean along the Southern California coastline.

At 4am Saturday morning, Scott will enter the water at Catalina Island with plans to surface 15-20 hours later at the Cabrillo Aquarium Beach in San Pedro Harbor. Risks during the dive, according to Scott’s Kickstarter website, include “hypothermia, decompression sickness, equipment failure, extraordinary currents, physical exhaustion, swimming through a known great-white strike zone for an extended period, or an attack by Humboldt squid.” His only protection during the marathon dive will be a fence which will be towed underneath him to prevent sharks from attacking from below. According to Luminox, one of his sponsors, he’ll maintain a depth of between 20 and 30 feet deep during the dive.

Scott has witnessed the shark population drastically drop to an estimated 3% of its natural population over the years. Just twenty-five years ago the Catalina Channel was filled with a thriving sea life where divers would encounter anywhere from 40 to 100 blue sharks in a single dive. Now, Scott will be lucky to encounter just one or two during his 30-mile underwater trek.

“This problem is very real and very relevant. The absence of sharks in our oceans is a major concern for keeping overall balance in marine life. As top predators are wiped out then we must be prepared to deal with the next in line,” warns Cassell. “If we lose an apex predator from the food chain it causes other species to then have population explosions. For example, Sharks and Tuna are the natural predators of the Humboldt squid. If you kill off all the sharks, the squid population (each female can potentially have 20 million “babies”) will begin to overpower the part of the food chain below them. They will eat anything and everything. As they swarm for food they exhaust feeding grounds and fisheries as they move.”

Scott’s journey will be recorded and filmed in 3D by Global Reef to relay the alarming state of our oceans. One of Scott’s primary missions during the dive will be to attract as many sharks as possible in order to obtain an accurate estimate of how many sharks are still present in the area today. Footage from his dive will be captured and streamed on http://www.luminox.com/worldrecord-dive, giving viewers a first-hand experience of the dive during and after completion.

Watchmaker Luminox is joining Scott to bring his message to the world, and he also has support from Global Reef, Ocean Technology Systems, DeepSea Power & Light, GoPro, Sea Magazine and InnerSpace Corporation.

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California Diver Magazine will also be documenting Scott’s arrival at San Pedro. Be sure to check back here on Saturday for an update and photos of Scott’s dive.