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[beep]
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[static]
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[beep]
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[indistinct speech over radio]
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[David Attenborough] Just 50 years ago,
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we finally ventured to the moon.
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For the very first time,
we looked back at our own planet.
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Since then, the human population
has more than doubled.
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This series will celebrate
the natural wonders that remain
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and reveal what we must preserve
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to ensure people and nature thrive.
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Immense shoals of fish
throng our shallow seas.
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These are anchovies.
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Small fish, in turn, sustain bigger ones.
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Hunters, such as giant trevally...
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and mobula rays.
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When hunters such as these work together,
they become extremely efficient.
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The rich coastal seas
are the fishing grounds of our planet
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and can provide an abundance of food
for wildlife and humanity.
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The seas fringing land make up
less than a tenth of the world's oceans,
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yet, astonishingly,
90 percent of all marine creatures
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live in these coastal waters.
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This superabundance
is due to the fact that the seafloor here
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is within reach of sunlight.
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Everglades National Park
in southern Florida.
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Fields of seagrass
carpet the shallow tropical waters.
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Like savannas on land,
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these lush marine meadows
support a great variety of animal life.
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Stingrays search for prey
hiding in the seagrass.
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The Everglades
are also the hunting grounds
of the coasts' most ingenious fishermen.
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[dolphins clicking]
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Bottlenose dolphins.
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They search for food using echolocation,
a type of sonar.
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[dolphins clicking]
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Ahead of them, a shoal of mullet.
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These particular dolphins
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have developed their own special way
of catching their prey.
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They carefully herd the fish
into just the right place.
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Then one dolphin stirs up a ring of mud
that encircles the shoal.
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The fish panic and take to the air.
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Most escape.
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Catching flying fish isn't easy.
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But the dolphins move on
and take another helping.
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People aren't allowed to fish commercially
within the national park,
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so there's plenty for the dolphins.
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Only from the air can we really appreciate
the industry of these master fishermen.
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The shallow seas are vitally important
in the fight against climate change.
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Seagrass absorb
35 times as much carbon dioxide
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as the same area of rainforest,
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and that reduces the damage
caused by the recent warming of our seas.
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Mangroves often border
the seagrass meadows.
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These remarkable trees
are the only ones that can cope
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with the varying saltiness
of coastal waters.
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They not only protect our coasts
from the destructive forces of hurricanes
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but also, like seagrass,
capture carbon dioxide.
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Their tangled roots
create safe nurseries for young fish,
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which will eventually leave the mangroves
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and make their homes in the tropical seas'
most magical wonderlands,
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coral reefs.
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These reefs cover
less than one percent of the seafloor,
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yet they are home
to a quarter of all marine species.
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None of these creatures would be here
were it not for the coral.
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Corals create the structures
that provide food and shelter,
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on which the entire community depends.
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Every resident has a role to play
in maintaining the health of the reef.
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Unfortunately, few reefs
are as pristine as they once were,
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and most are now missing
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one extremely important member
of the community.
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Sharks.
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Relentless overfishing has reduced
shark populations around the world
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by over 90 percent.
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Today they only thrive
in anything like their former numbers
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on the very remotest of reefs.
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French Polynesia,
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
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Here, at least,
sharks are fully protected.
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By day, gray reef sharks
hang in the current.
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They let little wrasse
pick their teeth clean
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in readiness for the night's hunt ahead.
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These sharks prefer to hunt in darkness,
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when their acute senses
give them an advantage over their prey.
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Nightfall.
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Time for small fish to take refuge
within the nooks and crannies of the reef,
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beyond the reach of the gray reef sharks.
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The sharks can detect
the slightest movement.
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Breaking cover is dangerous.
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Stay motionless
and the sharks may not detect you.
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A little fish may outmaneuver
a single shark,
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but with so many hunters
there is little chance of escape.
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Sheltering within the coral branches
is usually the safest option,
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but the arrival of a second hunter
changes everything.
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Whitetip reef sharks.
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Slender and more agile,
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the whitetips can get into hiding places
other hunters can't reach.
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Those that are not caught by the whitetips
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are flushed out
to the waiting gray reef sharks.
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With both kinds of sharks
hunting in partnership,
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there is little respite,
even within the reef.
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More and more sharks arrive,
attracted by the commotion.
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Such numbers of sharks were once common
on reefs around the world.
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And while so many predators
may seem damaging,
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sharks, in fact, assist
in maintaining the health of the reef.
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They help to keep a balance
in the fish community
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by hunting the predators
that feed on small grazing fish.
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The grazers, in their turn,
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keep the corals
free of seaweeds and parasites
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that would otherwise overgrow the reef.
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A balanced community,
with sharks as top predators,
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gives a coral reef much greater resilience
in the face of damage and disaster.
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But today, even healthy coral reefs
are facing a greater threat.
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With climate change, our seas are warming.
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Microscopic plants
that live within the tissues of the corals
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give them both their color
and most of their nourishment.
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But if seas temperatures rise
by just a degree or two,
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the corals expel their plant partners.
So they lose their main source of food...
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and turn white.
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Here, on Australia's Great Barrier Reef,
unusually warm seas
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have caused many of the reefs
to bleach in this way.
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It may look hauntingly beautiful,
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but if temperatures remain high
for a few weeks,
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the corals will starve
and eventually die.
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The carbon dioxide
that causes global warming
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is also making the seas more acidic.
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No reefs can survive both changes.
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And without living corals,
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many of the reef's residents
will also perish.
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During 2016 and 2017,
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over a thousand kilometers
of the Great Barrier Reef bleached.
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Six months later,
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and many of the corals are dead.
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The community destroyed.
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Worldwide, half of all shallow coral reefs
have already died.
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The rest could be gone
over the next few decades.
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Away from the tropics,
in higher latitudes,
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the seas are much cooler.
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Storm-lashed waters bring essential
nutrients to the surface.
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The enriched water,
combined with long summer days,
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make these
the most productive seas on the planet.
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Fur seals thrive
and even have time to ride the waves.
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Spring off the coast of California
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and fronds of golden kelp
floating on the surface
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hint at the riches hidden beneath.
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A magnificent submarine forest.
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These stands of giant kelp
are as important to the oceans
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as trees are to the land.
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Like a rainforest,
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the dense canopy provides food and shelter
for an abundant community.
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In the cool, rich seas,
giant kelp can grow 50 meters high.
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Air-filled floats lift the fronds
towards the sunlit surface.
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Nestling in this canopy,
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a sea otter.
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His thick fur keeps him warm
in the chilly water.
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Blowing air into it
gives him extra insulation.
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Sea otters
have the densest fur of any animal,
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and such a luxuriant coat
requires a great deal of attention.
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They need to eat a lot to keep warm
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and consume up to a quarter
of their body weight every day.
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Sea urchins are a favorite food.
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There's one.
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And a second.
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And then the otter is out of breath
and must return to the surface.
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An urchin
looks like a rather prickly meal,
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but if you can break the shell,
there's a feast inside.
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Sea otters are crucial
to the health of the kelp forest
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because they keep down
the number of sea urchins.
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The urchins graze on kelp,
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munching through their tough stems.
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Left unchecked, they spread
across the seafloor like a plague.
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Fortunately, the otters have a helper
in the fight against these spiny grazers.
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Sheephead wrasse.
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They have powerful teeth
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and can make short work
of the smaller purple urchins.
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The larger black urchins
are more of a challenge,
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especially for smaller wrasse.
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Only the very largest sheephead
can tackle them.
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But it still has to get past
those long spines.
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The urchin has to be flipped over
to expose its vulnerable underside.
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Not easy when you have no hands.
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Success at last.
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And everybody benefits.
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These fish and otters,
living within marine protected areas,
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keep the kelp grazers under control.
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But just outside these sanctuaries,
the urchins graze unchecked...
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and fell the kelp forest.
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All those that depend on the kelp
have disappeared.
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In California, kelp forests
grow abundantly in protected areas
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where the whole marine community
can live without pressure from people.
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Here, at least, sea otters
can chill out Californian style.
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[bird caws]
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Three thousand kilometers further north,
in Alaska,
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spring arrives much later in the year.
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After a cold, hard winter,
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the first rays of the sun
trigger a great annual event.
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Immense shoals of herring
rise up from the depths
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and move into shallower waters.
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They're gathering to breed.
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But predators are waiting for them.
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Steller's sea lions.
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So intent on their mission,
the herring make easy prey.
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Sea lions drive the fish to the surface,
within range of aerial hunters.
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Bald eagles, normally solitary birds,
have assembled in numbers for the feast.
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In places, the herrings reach shore,
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and there the eagles
don't even need to take to the air.
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Humpback whales.
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[whale lows]
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They have come
all the way from the tropics,
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hoping to get their first meal in months.
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These whales have a remarkable way
of collecting this seasonal bounty.
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They work as a team.
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The lead whale dives first...
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and blows a curtain of bubbles
to concentrate the fish.
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[whale calling out]
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A call synchronizes the attack.
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[whale song increases in volume]
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By cooperating in this way,
each whale can eat a ton of fish a day.
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Yet the herring are so abundant
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that, in spite of the whales,
most managed to reach the shallows.
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And here they spawn.
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The females lay their eggs
on the seagrass.
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The males follow,
fertilizing the eggs with clouds of sperm.
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Once, herring thrived here in an abundance
we can barely imagine today.
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They used to turn shorelines white
with spawn,
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right across the North Pacific
from Japan to California.
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With industrialized fishing techniques
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it's all too easy
to overexploit these breeding stocks.
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This is one of the few places
where a fishery still survives.
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Pacific herring populations
are greatly reduced.
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A mere fraction of what they once were.
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This sorry tale of unsustainable fishing
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has been repeated time and again
around the world.
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Many of the world's fish stocks
are now in serious decline.
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A third of them have collapsed altogether.
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In coastal seas,
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jellyfish are taking over waters
that were once dominated by fish.
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Compass jellyfish have an ethereal beauty,
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but they provide very little sustenance
for other wildlife or us.
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These immense swarms
are becoming increasingly common.
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A worrying sign of a serious imbalance
in our shallow seas.
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Unless we start to fish sustainably,
our seas, once so bountiful,
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00:37:15,985 --> 00:37:22,116
will be filled with little more
than vast swarms... of jellyfish.
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But the future
does not have to be like this.
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On the Pacific coast of South America,
we can see how the oceans can recover.
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The Atacama, the world's driest desert.
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00:38:07,411 --> 00:38:12,124
Inland it's barely able
to sustain life of any kind,
244
00:38:16,754 --> 00:38:19,506
and yet the coast
could not be more different.
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00:38:26,847 --> 00:38:31,643
For centuries, seabirds have gathered
in millions on these desert shores.
246
00:38:37,649 --> 00:38:41,320
But 50 years ago
the great colonies disappeared
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00:38:41,403 --> 00:38:44,365
because we overfished the local waters.
248
00:38:47,743 --> 00:38:51,914
Controls were introduced ,
and now the fish stocks are recovering.
249
00:38:52,664 --> 00:38:59,171
So today, three million guanay cormorants
assemble each year to raise their young.
250
00:38:59,254 --> 00:39:01,256
[cawing]
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00:39:11,767 --> 00:39:14,728
Each morning the birds head out to sea.
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00:39:35,207 --> 00:39:39,795
The colonies are so vast
they take over an hour to empty.
253
00:39:55,519 --> 00:39:58,689
Joining the procession, Inca terns.
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00:40:06,905 --> 00:40:08,574
Peruvian boobies.
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00:40:17,583 --> 00:40:22,671
A great caravan of hunters,
all searching for the same thing.
256
00:40:34,183 --> 00:40:35,309
Anchovies.
257
00:40:44,818 --> 00:40:47,571
These little fish are so abundant
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00:40:47,654 --> 00:40:51,366
that they support
the greatest fishery on our planet.
259
00:40:57,998 --> 00:41:02,002
Astonishingly, they can account
for a tenth of all the fish
260
00:41:02,085 --> 00:41:05,130
we harvest from our oceans every year.
261
00:41:16,642 --> 00:41:19,603
Sea lions are first to find the shoals.
262
00:41:38,038 --> 00:41:44,503
As fish are driven to the surface,
they come within range of pelicans.
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00:42:12,155 --> 00:42:15,033
Cormorants dive to grab their share.
264
00:42:25,794 --> 00:42:28,547
Boobies strike from heights of 20 meters.
265
00:42:40,892 --> 00:42:44,146
They hit the water
at a hundred kilometers an hour.
266
00:43:24,978 --> 00:43:29,524
Today, the lives of five million
cormorants and boobies
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00:43:29,608 --> 00:43:31,943
depend on the great shoals.
268
00:43:38,116 --> 00:43:41,119
Yet, if we allow the anchovies
to fully recover,
269
00:43:41,703 --> 00:43:45,957
they could sustain
the 25 million seabirds they once did.
270
00:43:52,631 --> 00:43:54,299
It is a vivid reminder
271
00:43:54,383 --> 00:43:58,428
of the astonishing riches
our coastal seas can support.
272
00:44:08,313 --> 00:44:12,943
And, when given the chance,
they can recover surprisingly quickly.
273
00:44:17,656 --> 00:44:21,785
The islands of Raja Ampat
in Southeast Asia.
274
00:44:23,787 --> 00:44:28,333
These seas were largely stripped
of sharks and other large fish
275
00:44:28,417 --> 00:44:31,086
by years of unregulated fishing.
276
00:44:35,465 --> 00:44:40,137
This lagoon was once occupied
by a shark fishing camp.
277
00:44:45,559 --> 00:44:49,646
Now it's a nursery for baby sharks.
278
00:44:56,069 --> 00:45:00,782
The seas around Misool
were fully protected in 2007,
279
00:45:00,866 --> 00:45:04,035
and the recovery has been miraculous.
280
00:45:06,580 --> 00:45:11,084
Today there are 25 times more sharks
than a decade ago.
281
00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:20,427
Turtles that used to be hunted
now peacefully graze on the seagrass.
282
00:45:33,148 --> 00:45:35,692
Sharks are returning to local reefs,
283
00:45:36,568 --> 00:45:39,279
helping to restore the balanced community,
284
00:45:39,863 --> 00:45:43,867
giving them a greater resilience
against the effects of coral bleaching.
285
00:46:03,887 --> 00:46:06,515
Ocean-going manta rays.
286
00:46:17,859 --> 00:46:20,862
Seven meters from wing tip to wing tip.
287
00:46:28,245 --> 00:46:30,372
These endangered giants
288
00:46:30,455 --> 00:46:33,708
spend most of their lives
roaming the high seas.
289
00:46:36,962 --> 00:46:39,923
But now they are returning
to this sanctuary
290
00:46:40,006 --> 00:46:42,759
to seek the attention of cleaner wrasse.
291
00:46:51,142 --> 00:46:57,732
Misool is one of the few places on Earth
where biodiversity is actually increasing.
292
00:47:02,696 --> 00:47:06,491
Since protection,
there are three times more fish
293
00:47:06,575 --> 00:47:08,243
than just ten years ago.
294
00:47:20,672 --> 00:47:24,384
Fishermen working nearby waters
profit from the overspill.
295
00:47:25,844 --> 00:47:28,889
They now catch more fish for less effort.
296
00:47:42,110 --> 00:47:45,280
We have far too few marine sanctuaries,
297
00:47:46,031 --> 00:47:49,492
and in many
commercial fishing is still allowed.
298
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:58,293
We need to turn
a third of all our coastal seas
299
00:47:58,376 --> 00:48:00,879
into properly protected areas.
300
00:48:08,803 --> 00:48:12,766
If we do that,
our planet's fishing grounds would recover
301
00:48:13,266 --> 00:48:18,647
and help sustain both humanity
and the rest of the natural world.
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00:48:33,745 --> 00:48:36,039
Please visit ourplanet.com
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00:48:36,206 --> 00:48:40,627
to discover what we need to do now
to restore our coastal seas.
304
00:48:43,213 --> 00:48:48,969
♪ I can hear the whole world
Singing together ♪
♪ I can hear the whole world
Say it's now or never ♪
305
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:04,776
♪ 'Cause it's not too late
If we change our ways ♪
306
00:49:04,859 --> 00:49:08,655
♪ And connect the dots to our problems ♪
307
00:49:08,738 --> 00:49:14,786
♪ I can hear the whole world
Say we're in this together ♪