"NARRATOR:" "They cover two-thirds of our planet." "They hold clues to the mysteries of our past." "And they're vital for our future survival." "But the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL ROSE:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes!" "Yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "PHILIPPE COUSTEAU:" "We are doing some pretty un-charted research here." "LUCY BLUE:" "This is psychedelically purple!" "PAUL:" "We're here to try and understand the earth's Oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR: our oceans are changing faster than ever." "LUCY:" "I've never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on earth." "It's that way." "Something quite big." "LUCY:" "Who!" "PAUL:" "Yes, look." "Yes." "It's a whale here." "NARRATOR:" "The team is exploring a unique corner of the Pacific ocean, the Sea of Cortez." "TOONI MAHTO:" "Oh, my goodness." "PAUL:" "This is so beautiful, isn't it?" "TOONI:" "I think that those are fin whales." "And this is the first day, the first day at sea in the Sea Of Cortez." "It feels good, doesn't it?" "It certainly flipping does." "NARRATOR:" "The Sea of Cortez is a rich, fertile gulf separating the peninsula of Baja, California, from mainland Mexico." "This sea is an exceptional marine environment, home to the greatest variety of whales and dolphins found anywhere in the world." "But today, this ocean paradise is under threat." "In the last 50 to 100 years, humans have had a growing impact On the systems that make the sea so interesting, the health Of sea lions, sharks and sperm whales, you know, all these big animals" "that are found here in this little, young sea." "NARRATOR:" "Fishing, tourism and industry have triggered complex changes here and it's these that the team has come to investigate." "This is definitely On the edge." "NARRATOR:" "Environmentalist Philippe Cousteau will examine the shifting balance of this delicate eco-system." "PHILIPPE:" "Whoa, look at that!" "If you see an explosion Of squid, that is at the cost to some Other species." "NARRATOR:" "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue discovers how local people have found a way to protect our seas." "They are very aware that the seas Only have a limited resource." "They have to be farmed in a way that is sustainable." "Five sperm whales down there." "NARRATOR:" "Marine biologist and oceanographer Toni Math explores how life is responding, in a rare encounter with one of the largest carnivores on earth." "TOONI:" "I got sonar boomed." "I felt that boom going right through my body." "The Sea Of Cortez is a sea under change, and we are going to witness those changes and I think that's a fantastic mission for a diving expedition." "NARRATOR:" "This will be a voyage of discovery into a sea of change." "Expedition leader Paul Rose will head up their first mission, the search for an ocean predator that once dominated this sea." "PAUL:" "Hammerhead sharks." "As soon as we put together a Sea Of Cortez diving expedition, hammerhead sharks was the Only image that came to mind." "PHILIPPE:" "Is this the..." "PAUL:" "Yeah." "PHILIPPE:" "This is the hammerhead video?" "This is filmed right here, right underneath us." "NARRATOR:" "These pictures were taken 16 years ago in a spot directly beneath the expedition boat." "That was here!" "Yeah, right here." "Right here, that's spectacular." "And the..." "The research..." "NARRATOR:" "Across the world, sharks are in decline." "Tens of millions are caught each year." "The team has come here to see how that's effecting this once-thriving hammerhead population." "That's a fantastic shot." "PHILIPPE:" "That's a great shot, good lord." "There's no real evaluation Of how many there are left and what their habits are and how they're changing, and the scientists need more information, and the way we can do that is get sightings, study their behaviour" "and that all contributes." "It's all gold dust." "NARRATOR:" "Hammerhead sharks are easily spooked so Paul is using special kit that doesn't produce bubbles." "Re-breathers allow you to stay underwater much longer, but you need to be an experienced diver to use them safely." "There's a few different ways to kill yourself with these and they're all instant." "You don't seem..." "There don't seem to be near-misses with them." "If you haven't set something up right, it's going to kill you." "Serious business." "NARRATOR:" "This is the El Baja seamount, an extinct volcano." "It was once one of the best places in the world to see hammerhead sharks." "Now this looks like hammerhead territory." "These are Cortez stingrays, which hammerheads eat and these are barber fish that clean parasites Off their skin, so we're definitely in the right place." "NARRATOR:" "Hammerheads are vital to the health of the ocean." "They weed out the sick and injured and help keep marine life in balance." "But they've been heavily fished, so Paul doesn't know how many he'll find." "Our plan is to sit here still and quiet and hopefully the hammerheads will come by." "RADIO OPERATOR:" "Paul, surface." "Paul, surface." "NARRATOR:" "Unknown to Paul, he's gone silent for another reason." "The boat has Just lost radio contact." "RADIO OPERATOR:" "Paul, surface." "Paul, surface." "NARRATOR:" "With Paul 40 metres underwater, this could be a serious situation." "Obviously we've seen the kind Of equipment that he's working with." "If there is a problem, we've got no way Of knowing." "Paul, surface." "Paul, surface." "For the time being we don't actually know where he is Or what he's doing, which is not great." "NARRATOR:" "Richard Bull is in charge of dive safety." "It makes me very, very nervous, it really does." "Still if I can relax at all during a dive it's when I can hear them talking and they're calm and I haven't got any Of that now." "Paul, surface." "Try PTT." "PTT." "Paul, surface." "PAUL:" "Yeah, yeah!" "A sea lion!" "(WHOOPS)" "PAUL:" "He's beautiful!" "(LAUGHING)" "That's a nice surprise." "(LAUGHING)" "TOONI:" "Oh, Oh, laughter." "(PAUL LAUGHING)" "Well, something's very good." "(LAUGHING)" "I thought it was a shark." "The Rose chuckle, we like that." "NARRATOR:" "Paul's now been diving for hours but still no sign of sharks." "PAUL:" "This nutrient-rich current should help bring in the hammerheads but where the heck are they?" "And?" "It was an exciting dive, but no hammerheads." "Not a single One?" "Sadly, no." "I really felt that we would find them." "It felt like hammerhead territory, it was all there." "But no hammerheads." "NARRATOR:" "Paul dives the seamount again and again but still no sightings." "Just 20 years ago this was a hammerhead hotspot." "It's becoming clear this shark population is in severe decline." "Three days Of expedition time and, you know, didn't get a sniff Of One." "NO hammerhead." "I'm worried because there used to be hundreds Of them On the seamount like this and now we'd be very lucky to find One Or two." "There is a sense in me that says, well, maybe there's none here." "NARRATOR:" "In the Sea of Cortez thousands of hammerhead sharks are caught each year, mostly to satisfy the demand for shark fin soup in the Far East and there's further evidence of how destructive this trade can be, as Dr Lucy Blue has discovered." "LUCY:" "One Of the boat crew found this skull On a beach" "On One Of the islands here and as you can see, this is the hammerhead Of the shark and it's actually quite a small One." "It just shows that, you know, they're not fussy about what size, they'll take them small Or big, juvenile Or adult." "Once they've chopped Off all the fins, which is effectively what they're after, they discard the rest Of it." "The fins can reach something in the region Of like $100 for One kilo so you're talking big business, really." "And this is happening On a large scale, so, yeah..." "NARRATOR:" "In this sea hammerhead numbers have been dramatically reduced." "Some estimates suggest only 10% are left." "It's the demand for shark fin soup." "You know, it's barely credible, I think, you know, for someone from England, you think, well, shark fin soup?" "But that's what's happened." "I mean, shark fin soup's supposed to have some fantastic properties but it's not worth decimating a whole species for, is it?" "NARRATOR:" "The decline in the number of sharks is shifting the balance of life in the sea." "Later in the expedition the team will explore the surprising consequences which that's having here." "Did you see that?" "NARRATOR:" "Next morning this corner of the Pacific ocean offers the expedition a welcome lift." "PHILIPPE:" "There's a whole pod Of them." "TOONI:" "Look at them go." "PHILIPPE:" "SO fast." "TOONI:" "I think we're seeing a pod Of common dolphins" "but there's quite a lot Of them." "There are." "But they seem very small so I don't know..." "It looks like they're young teenagers who are Out for a laugh." "PHILIPPE:" "Showing Off." "NARRATOR:" "More than 30 species of whales and dolphins are found here." "The loss of sharks has reduced competition for food so dolphins are actually doing well." "It shows how the balance of life is more complex and surprising than it first appears." "TOONI:" "Man, they're so lovely." "NARRATOR:" "For the next dive, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, grandson of explorer Jacques Cousteau, hopes to investigate another part of the puzzle." "We're headed Off to Loss Islets to go diving with sea lions, which I have to say is One Of my favourite things to do in the world." "NARRATOR:" "Large breeding colonies of California sea lions are found here but as commercial fishing increases in this sea it's starting to affect them." "PHILIPPE:" "Now there's been a lot Of Over fishing" "Of their traditional food, like sardines, in the Sea Of Cortez so a lot Of the sea lions are suffering because Of that." "NARRATOR:" "The animals of Los Islets are a mysterious exception." "Somehow these animals are thriving." "Marine biologist Toni Math will be helping to unearth their secret." "The first aim is to check out how healthy this colony is." "He came close!" "(WHOOPS)" "Like speeding bullets." "Their manoeuvrability underwater kind Of puts us to shame, I feel." "That One Over there is a bit Of a big boy." "I think he's One Of the males." "Oh, and he's certainly coming round to check me Out." "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah, that is a big male, that's for sure." "He's awesome." "You can see that huge, bony crust On their head." "They use that to reverberate sound so that everybody can hear them and let them know that they are in the territory and they're in charge." "NARRATOR:" "Blowing bubbles is a way of saying, "Keep your distance. "" "TOONI:" "Hello." "This looks like the nursery area to me, with all the juveniles." "SO apparently, the pups here is this particular population spend an awful lot longer with their mothers than pups Of the same species in different areas." "SO they go and fish with their mothers, so they learn that behaviour." "NARRATOR:" "The number of pups in the water is a sign this colony is doing well, as it means the females are healthy enough to breed regularly." "PHILIPPE:" "There were about 30 pups a year in the early '90s and now there are more than 100 a year." "That is a real success story, which is good news." "NARRATOR:" "But with many fish stocks declining, the mystery is why this colony's doing so well." "Something else must be going on." "They look so..." "They look so incongruous On land, don't they?" "And then as soon as he's in the water, he's absolutely perfectly streamlined." "Amazing." "Master Of his environment." "NARRATOR:" "Gathering sea lions' droppings, or scats, might give Toni clues about their diet." "Sea lion poor number two." "Essentially I'm doing the scientific equivalent Of panning for gold." "I'm looking at the sea lion poor and what we're looking for are the fish Eoliths, which are the ear bones Of fish, and from the Eoliths we can identify what the sea lions have actually been eating." "Oh, there's One." "Gold!" "I have gold!" "NARRATOR:" "These ear bones could reveal the answer." "And it seems Toni really has struck gold." "TOONI:" "What we've found here is the fish Utility from a deep water sea bass that lives pretty much between 75 and 265 metres, so that instantly shows that this population has, at some stage, adapted to fishing at much deeper depth." "NARRATOR:" "California sea lions normally hunt at depths of around 70 metres, catching fish such as sardines." "But the ear bones Toni's found prove the animals at Los Islets have been able to change their hunting patterns." "And that is the reason why that population seems to be doing so well." "NARRATOR:" "Because of this crucial adaptation, the Los Islets sea lions no longer have to compete with fishermen and they're flourishing." "PHILIPPE:" "The fact that this particular colony has been able to adapt to the threats and challenges that are facing it and thrive is a great story." "Hopefully, if this colony can exhibit this kind of behaviour, then others can follow suit and there might be a bright future for the California sea lion." "NARRATOR:" "Although life is changing fast here, change itself is nothing new to our seas and oceans." "In fact, their size and shape are constantly shifting." "oceanographer Toni has brought the team west to the Bay of Conception because here you can actually see that process in action." "Beneath these calm waters is a giant fracture in the earth's crust." "It's part of the infamous San Andreas fault line and it created this sea." "The Sea Of Cortez is quite young in geological terms." "The peninsula split away from the main coastline Of Mexico about five million years ago, so it basically started tearing apart and the great thing I like so much is the fact that it's still moving." "The whole Of the Baja peninsula is moving pretty much west at a rate Of five centimetres a year." "NARRATOR:" "This bay offers Toni the chance to look for evidence that this sea is getting bigger." "And Paul's hoping she'll cook a snack in the process." "Luis, could we have six eggs, heaves, would that be Okay?" "Good man, good man, thanks very much, thank you." "Don't forget these, yeah." "Mind your head!" "Good luck, happy cooking." "Thank you." "NARRATOR:" "Toni and Lucy are swimming over part of the San Andreas fault line." "As the earth's crust is being ripped apart beneath them, heat and gas from the centre of the planet are escaping through cracks called hydrothermal vents." "TOONI:" "Oh, look, look at all these bubbles coming through." "LUCY:" "Oh, God, yeah." "NARRATOR:" "It's rare to see a hydrothermal vent in five metres of water." "They're normally found deep beneath the surface." "TOONI:" "Oh, look, you can see the heat shimmer." "This is the shimmering water where the hot water is coming Out Of the ground and mixing with the colder seawater around it and that is the evidence Of all the hydrothermal activity, accompanied by all the bubbles." "Oh, that's..." "That's hot!" "That's really hot." "It's actually burning my fingers." "NARRATOR:" "This hot water is over 90 degrees centigrade." "It once trickled down through cracks in the earth's crust towards the furnace of the inner earth." "There it was super-heated and forced out into the Sea of Cortez." "Right." "SO we've brought Our eggs with us, and we're going to bury them here 'cause it's really, really warm here, and then we're going to take them back On board for lunch." "We're cooking in the sea floor." "It's not right." "NARRATOR:" "Hot, mineral-rich water like this is only found in places where fault lines are tearing the earth apart." "It proves that directly below the team the earth's crust is slowly moving and this sea is steadily growing." "Seas and oceans are thought of as immovable features of our planet." "This dive has shown they're anything but." "It's quite amazing to think that this action" "Of the tearing apart Of these two landmasses is a continuum and it's been going On like that for Over five million years." "NARRATOR:" "But although this process created the Sea of Cortez, it will also destroy it." "As Baja, California, continues to move northwest, it will eventually break away from the mainland to become a giant island." "Then the Sea of Cortez will disappear forever, engulfed by the rest of the Pacific ocean." "Hey, hey!" "I know what you're holding behind you." "You can't fool me." "Boiled eggs." "Hard-boiled eggs, soft-boiled eggs?" "You know what I'm struggling with is soldiers." "I don't know what Spanish is for soldiers." "PAUL:" "They look..." "That looks perfect." "PHILIPPE:" "It does look good." "A hard-boiled egg." "That's a perfect, perfect hydrothermal vent-boiled egg." "I'm going to..." "Is it Okay to eat?" "Of course it's all right to eat." "It's blooming great." "You could do it like an Oyster, couldn't you?" "TOONI:" "What?" "In One?" "(GROANS IN DISGUST)" "That's absolutely brilliant." "TOONI:" "Did you just down an egg in One?" "It's absolutely brilliant." "Well, I thought it was worth a go." "You're disgusting!" "Sea Of Cortez, eating eggs cooked by Lucy and Toni On a hydrothermal vent." "PHILIPPE:" "Awesome!" "PAUL:" "Oh, cheers, mate." "NARRATOR:" "At the start of the expedition, the team saw how hammerhead sharks were being decimated." "Now they plan to investigate a surprising knock-on effect." "The invasion of another fearsome predator." "They are ugly creatures." "NARRATOR:" "A few decades ago, there were no Humboldt squid in the Sea of Cortez." "Now there could be over 20 million." "TOONI:" "They've taken Over in a really short space Of time and that's to do with the amount Of fishing that's gone On in this particular sea." "SO they've taken Out the top predators and now the Humboldt squid have basically filled in the giant empty space." "NARRATOR:" "Growing to over two metres long, these are ferocious, cannibalistic hunters." "PAUL:" "Look at the beak." "That is so strong." "You see it Overlaps?" "Yeah." "If you imagine that..." "That is kind Of hooked Over so if your finger's in there, it's gone." "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah, and look at the eye." "TOONI:" "Ouch, that's too eerie." "NARRATOR:" "Humboldt squid are thought to have excellent vision and are armed with over 30,000 barbed hooks inside their suckers." "PHILIPPE:" "You can feel them." "They are properly sharp, these hooks." "NARRATOR:" "The team wants to find out what impact the squid invasion is having." "Honestly, that is nasty." "TOONI:" "True." "NARRATOR:" "And that means seeing them hunt." "Humboldt's live in the depths of the ocean." "Local fishermen say catching one tempts others up from the deep." "We've got a squid here." "(ALL CHATTERING)" "We've got squid in the area!" "We've been fishing about two hours and we've run into a huge pile Of squid and what's really interesting is that every single time we put a hook down, it brings up a squid that's got marks and rips and bites all Over it." "A number Of the Ones that we pulled up have actually been eaten so this is demonstrating the sort Of cannibalistic habits Of the squid, which is really quite unnerving." "You know, watch your mate get caught On a line and then eat him On the way up." "NARRATOR:" "To see how they hunt there's only one option, to dive in." "I don't particularly want to get in there with a whole load Of arms and suckers and teeth." "NARRATOR:" "Dive safety supervisor Richard Bull is also worried." "BULL:" "Yeah, I agree." "There are some very serious reports Of people getting grabbed by them, divers getting grabbed by them." "One grabs them, another One grabs them, then another One grabs them and if you don't react quickly, then you are On your way down to the deep." "This is to keep us safe." "In case something goes wrong, the rest Of the crew can grab..." "There'll be a line tied to this and they can grab us and bring us up." "NARRATOR:" "It's now past midnight and the weather has started to deteriorate." "The waves are coming in strong." "It's really rough." "The wind is picking up." "This is definitely On the edge." "BULL:" "If you're not in five minutes, it's Off." "We've got to watch..." "BULL:" "Cur, look at that current." "GO." "Okay." "TOONI:" "Flipping heck!" "PHILIPPE:" "That was a very rough entry in the water." "Whoa!" "Look at that." "TOONI:" "I can see squid." "They're right here." "Look." "There are loads Of them." "PHILIPPE:" "Look, there's One." "Oh, my goodness!" "We can see the squid, which are kind Of racing and pulsing Out Of the darkness." "NARRATOR:" "As they come closer, the squid seem to be doing something peculiar." "PHILIPPE:" "There are several Of them flashing their colours and we can see these ghostly light shadows that are flashing red." "You see the colour Of him?" "That red, red flash." "NARRATOR:" "These flashes may be a form of language that could possibly help groups of squid to communicate as they hunt." "PHILIPPE:" "They are definitely attracted to the lures." "TOONI:" "Oh!" "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah, there it is." "TOONI:" "God, they move quick." "NARRATOR:" "The squid have started to attack the team's bait in a pack." "PHILIPPE:" "There's, like, 10 Or 20 Out here." "TOONI:" "Invertebrates don't normally hunt together like this." "But Humboldt squid are intelligent." "By flashing, they might be Organising themselves into a hunting pack." "NARRATOR:" "And that's helping them to devastate local fish stocks, eating an estimated 10,000 tons a night." "Underwater, Toni and Philippe are unaware of how windy it's become on the surface." "It's kicking up." "It's getting pretty rough..." "It's definitely deteriorating, Paul." "I'm thinking we're On the edge, it's my job to say no." "Agreed." "We've put Our men at the edge Of Our capability and the seas have picked up and the weather is Obviously getting worse, so time to bring them back." "NARRATOR:" "The rough seas will now make for a dangerous exit from the water." "(ALL TALKING EXCITEDLY)" "PAUL:" "Get him Over to that ladder quickly." "Well done, mate." "TOO rough really, wasn't it?" "(PANTING) It was One heck Of a dive, that's for sure." "TOONI:" "Oh, man." "Are you all right, mate?" "I'm popped." "What time is it?" "3:10." "SO we've been squid digging since 8:00, 8:00 this evening." "(EXCLAIMS)" "NARRATOR:" "The success of the Humboldt squid is having a radical effect on this ecosystem." "PHILIPPE:" "If you're seeing an explosion of squid, that is at the cost to some other species." "They'll eat their way down the food chain till there's nothing left down there." "NARRATOR:" "And this problem isn't Just affecting the Sea of Cortez." "Many invertebrates, like squid, are booming throughout our oceans." "The expedition has witnessed one of the great changes affecting life in our oceans today." "After the late night, Paul gives the team some time off." "It's a very good part Of the expedition, right in the middle Of it, and in the thick Of it." "TOONI:" "I'm loving this sea." "Just looks like it holds those hidden jewels that essentially we are all here to try and find." "PHILIPPE:" "Now I have this real sense Of Ownership and it saddens me to think that anything at all is being done to harm this special, beautiful place." "NARRATOR:" "The team has already seen some of the surprising effects of man's impact here, but there's more to explore in this remarkable sea." "There's still a lot Of challenges ahead." "We've got sperm whales coming up yet." "All these great things we've still got to do in the northern part Of the Sea Of Cortez." "NARRATOR:" "For maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue, oceans aren't Just about the creatures living within them." "For me, it's the connection between the people in the past, their relationship with the sea and what that can tell us about people living today." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy's been researching a shipwreck that tells a tragic story of man's relationship with the ocean." "It's a boat that was smuggling migrant workers with the aim Of trying to get into the Unites States Of America." "It is a bit like an investigation into, you know, the lives Of these people as they took this treacherous journey across the sea." "Was this a transport ship Or what?" "Yes, exactly, a transportation Of people." "And there will be clues left within the shell Of that boat to give us an indication Of what life On board was like." "LUCY:" "You can just see it emerging Out Of the bottom Of the sea." "This is the wreck Of the Fang Ming, sort Of eerie as you swim around these abandoned pieces Of decking and rotting ropes." "The Fang Ming was formerly a working vessel in China, possibly a fishing vessel, and then she subsequently crossed the Pacific carrying this cargo Of Chinese migrant workers." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy wants to find out where the Chinese workers were kept during the crossing." "LUCY:" "Wow!" "You first." "It's like walking into a deserted building." "It feels a little bit like a slavery ship Or a prison." "NARRATOR:" "This was meant to carry boxes of fish." "Instead, in this tiny, dark space, 88 men and seven women were kept for weeks at sea." "Imagine what it would have been like all crammed in here." "It must have been quite horrific." "Apparently, there were actually people employed On the boat to control them, to keep them crammed in these confined quarters." "NARRATOR:" "The Chinese workers were just hours from their destination when the Fang Ming was seized by the authorities." "Everyone on board was sent back to China." "In 1999 the Fang Ming was sunk, to become the first artificial reef in Latin America." "LUCY:" "All these Old pipes and walls have just been colonised by marine life, so it's just completely taken it Over." "NARRATOR:" "But for Lucy, the Fang Ming will always be a reminder of a deeper human story." "LUCY:" "You start to think about, you know, they had reasons to put their lives at risk in that way, to endure that experience and it's sort Of representative" "Of migrant workers, illegal immigrants, you know." "The sea is providing an access for people to move around the globe, for reasons that we wouldn't have necessarily seen in the past." "NARRATOR:" "For anyone navigating these waters, the weather can be dangerously unpredictable." "The expedition arrived just after a hurricane and now the weather's threatening again." "TOONI:" "Whoa!" "LUCY:" "Hey!" "That's a bit Of a bolt." "Yes, first time we've seen this weather, isn't it?" "LUCY:" "Absolutely." "Does that mean the hurricane's coming back?" "PAUL:" "I checked with the captain a couple Of hours ago and he said the weather's going to be all right." "The wind's going to pick up, but no hurricane, he said." "What about the thunder and lightning, where does that fit into the whole equation?" "PAUL:" "He didn't mention it, he just talked about wind." "(ALL LAUGHING)" "LUCY:" "There's going to be no wind but we're going to be struck down by lightning." "Yeah." "I don't know, I'd better check again." "Yeah, amazing." "LUCY:" "I didn't think it rained here..." "Oh, my goodness." "It's funny, I was just thinking about, you know, a passage making brief, you know, get Ourselves Organised for the big crossing." "I'd better incorporate some severe weather briefing, I think." "NARRATOR:" "Paul was hoping to move north but because of the weather the team is stuck here." "PAUL:" "We really are, you know, squeaking every possible thing into this expedition." "We don't really need too much bad weather, that's for sure." "SO we're going to anchor for probably at least five hours and then, say, at 3:00 Or 4:00 in the morning, make way again." "(THUNDER RUMBLING)" "(RAIN PELTING)" "NARRATOR: once the storm has blown through, they set sail again." "The team is heading north to meet one of the most isolated tribes in Mexico." "They're known as guardians of this sea and Lucy's keen to find out why." "This is the area where the Seri Indians live so they're basically indigenous people who live here and fish the seas and so it's that sort Of symbiotic relationship between what's happening around the edges Of the Ocean" "and the people that live there and how they, sort Of, work with the Oceans and fish the seas, etcetera." "NARRATOR:" "Just over 450 Series exist today." "Lucy's been invited to see their approach to managing this sea." "PAUL:" "That must be Chap then, yeah?" "Chap, hello, Chap?" "My name is Paul." "Lucy." "Lucy." "Chap, thank you so much for your help." "NARRATOR:" "Eighty-three-year-old Chap Barnett is the village shaman or Holy Man." "He still fishes with his son Raymond." "Okay, thank you." "NARRATOR:" "They work in a notorious area called Hell's Channel, so Chap asks the sea gods for a safe passage." "(CHANTING)" "(NOISEMAKER RATTLING)" "Chap and Raymond are going to collect scallops." "Lucy wants to see how they go about it." "LUCY:" "He's basically walking along the seabed with the bag between his legs and it looks like he is gathering them in the way that you might harvest crops." "Quite a nice comparison, harvesting Of the land and harvesting Of the sea." "NARRATOR:" "In Just a few minutes, Raymond has almost filled his bag, but the Series are careful to manage the stocks." "Well, I spoke to Raymond." "He implied that they basically do crop rotation." "If they feel that they're Over harvesting One area, they move to another area and maybe fish Octopus, so the principle is sustainable." "NARRATOR:" "This approach clearly works." "In Hell's Channel, the scallop beds are productive and healthy year after year, a stark contrast to the rest of the Sea of Cortez, where shellfish production is collapsing." "CHAPO:" "For you." "Oh, thank you, sir." "Thank you." "Mom, that is delicious." "CHAPO:" "Yeah." "I'm never going to cook a scallop again, that is absolutely gorgeous." "Oh, yeah, no kidding." "May been, thank you." "Thank you." "NARRATOR:" "The Seri Indians demonstrate a technique that balances the needs of people with the health of the sea." "PAUL:" "Okay, anchor?" "LUCY:" "They are living in a modern world." "They have to compete with large commercial fishing Operations and yet they're also very aware that the seas Only have a limited resource." "They have to be farmed in a way that is sustainable." "NARRATOR:" "For the last target of the expedition, the team aims to carry out pioneering research on one of the planet's largest carnivores." "I've asked a couple Of sperm whale scientists who work specifically within the Sea Of Cortez to come and join us for a few days On board." "PAUL:" "How are you?" "NARRATOR:" "Dr Karin Acevedo-Whitehouse and Dr Diane Gadroon are experts on whales." "Welcome, thanks for joining Our expedition." "NARRATOR:" "With the scientists on board, the team prepares for the challenge ahead." "PAUL:" "I'll show you around." "Sperm whales, that's all we care about." "We can't even speak Or think Or do anything clearly because we're full Of sperm whales." "TOONI:" "There are certain experiences that could stay with you for the rest Of your life and I think if we do manage to snorkel with the sperm whales" "I don't think I'd ever, ever forget that." "Ever." "NARRATOR:" "Next morning, the search begins." "Relatively little is known about sperm whales." "They live far off shore and are hard to find." "Locating them is the first task." "SO Our plan is to go about another hour northeast and begin Our search pattern and see what we can find." "NARRATOR:" "Sperm whales dive for up to 40 minutes at a time." "Diane and Philippe are using a directional microphone to try to track them underwater." "Anything within this spectrum Of the cone, it's going to pick up." "Anything Outside, like here, like my voice, which is quite loud right next to it, it doesn't pick up." "It's pretty cool." "Let's see what we can hear." "NARRATOR:" "Sperm whales are amongst the loudest animals in the world." "Their clicks reach 220 decibels, louder than a shotgun blast, so they can be heard for many miles under water." "SO you can hear the sperm whales clicking." "As soon as I turn it Off Of where the sperm whales are, the sounds, the clicks go away." "DIANE GENDRON:" "SO that way, we know where to go, right?" "KARINA ACEVEDO-WHITEHOUSE:" "Yeah, they are this way." "PAUL:" "Rogers, that's all copied." "SO do you have an estimate On numbers in the group, Over?" "ROGER:" "Got a pretty broad sweep all along the port side." "It seems like there would be more than one group." "That's great news." "Whales, we've actually come right Onto a really large group, so we're timing this pretty perfectly." "A very exciting time." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy catches the first glimpse." "Oh, is it going to turn?" "It's going, it's going, it's going." "(LUCY EXCLAIMS HAPPILY)" "PAUL:" "Here we go, look." "(PAUL WHOOPS)" "Did you see that?" "I hope these guys saw it as well." "A fluke." "A big fluke!" "You couldn't book him, could you?" "NARRATOR:" "This is the team's chance to take a closer look." "Learning more about sperm whales is important because they're a vital part of the ocean's food chain, particularly here in the Sea of Cortez where their main diet is Humboldt squid." "We've decided to pop in the Pang and kind Of get a bit closer and see how they respond to us being around them and maybe getting in the water with them." "And we've got some dolphin escorts here that are swimming right around the Pang, right next to us." "You could almost reach Out and touch them." "NARRATOR:" "Then the moment Toni's been waiting for." "TOONI:" "Oh, my goodness, look at these." "NARRATOR:" "The whales rise up to breathe." "Part Of the challenge in studying these animals is that you really Only get the briefest glimpse Of their lifecycle by witnessing them Only On the surface, so the Opportunity to try and get underwater and film them is very important." "NARRATOR:" "But that's not going to be easy." "TOONI:" "NO, he's diving." "PHILIPPE:" "NO, he's diving." "(TOONI LAUGHING)" "Gone." "Seeing as it's the deepest diving mammal On Our planet, we could be here for some time." "NARRATOR:" "Sperm whales can dive to over 2,000 metres so until they re-surface, studying them underwater will be out of the question." "Right, we do Our absolute utmost to get to swim with sperm whales and as soon as they see us, they're just like, "You know what?" ""I'm not interested today,"" "and that's it, with One flick Of the tail..." "Gone." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy and Karin want to find out how healthy these whales are." "Good luck!" "NARRATOR:" "Their sheer size makes taking blood virtually impossible, so Karin is the first scientist to try to capture a sample of the whale's breath in the wild." "KARINA:" "SO we take the lids Off, basically, Once we are really close." "Well, actually, we are very close." "NARRATOR:" "Germs in the whale's breath will tell Karin if they have any infections in their lungs." "But taking a sample is easier said than done as the sample dishes have to be held right over the whale's blowhole." "Oh, no!" "NO!" "TOONI:" "Please, please, don't." "NO, no, no, no, no, no, no." "Oh, how very disappointing." "Reel her back in." "Next time." "Yes, next time." "NARRATOR:" "They fail to capture a single sample." "But Karin has an ingenious plan B." "PAUL:" "Oh, wow!" "What a superb looking thing." "It's a fabulous idea to link science collecting with a small miniature helicopter." "Wow!" "NARRATOR:" "With sample dishes attached, the helicopter can fly straight through the whale's breath without disturbing them." "But pilot Augustine Pane has strong winds to contend with." "AUGUSTINE:" "Oh, the wind, the wind, the wind." "NO problem." "It's a very tricky thing to fly this." "We're moving up On some whales right now, nice and slowly to parallel their course and then he can swing this in and collect a sample Of the blow so it's all a matter Of timing." "GO, Augustine, it's perfect, man!" "GO, buddy!" "Just a bit further Out, Augustine." "He's going to dive." "Yeah, can you believe it?" "NARRATOR:" "Toni and Philippe aren't having much luck, either." "TOONI:" "I think there's a whole load Of sonar conversations going On down there at the moment, which is basically the sperm whales telling each Other there is a bunch Of wannabes knocking around On a boat and to get the heck Out Of here." "You can just see them." "They're all just diving all around us." "PAUL:" "Okay, Augustine, get in there, buddy." "NARRATOR:" "Despite the strong winds, they're finally getting closer with the helicopter." "PAUL:" "Good man, get in there." "Forward, mate." "Now, now." "(PAUL WHOOPS)" "That's the sample, he's got it." "NARRATOR:" "The germs caught in the dish will help reveal more information about the health of the sperm whale population here." "PAUL:" "Well done, that's perfect." "AUGUSTINE:" "Can you..." "PAUL:" "Yeah." "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "And with each sample so hard to collect, this one will be important for Karin's research." "Thank you." "Perfect, thanks very much." "KARINA:" "Okay, that was a good sample." "PAUL:" "And what is it that you're specifically looking for with these?" "KARINA:" "Micro-bacteria, for example, the agent that can cause tuberculosis." "Haemophilic." "That's a very common germ that causes infection in the lungs." "It can cause severe problems, even meningitis." "It's just a list Of germs to start with." "NARRATOR:" "Karin's early findings suggest whales could have caught some of these bacteria from humans, perhaps through activities like whale watching." "PAUL:" "Ready?" "KARINA:" "Okay, go." "Her groundbreaking work has highlighted this problem for the first time." "It might be an important development in protecting sperm whales." "Look, One, two, three, four..." "NARRATOR:" "After almost five hours the whales finally seem to be staying at the surface." "Philippe and Toni are desperate to observe them underwater." "I'm Off." "TOONI:" "There's five sperm whales down there." "NARRATOR:" "The large females in this group are over nine metres long and can weigh more than 12 tons each." "Now you can see how they just turn around and touch Other and so, so social." "NARRATOR:" "The whales are socialising." "This is a rare sight." "It suggests their food stocks are plentiful as they can afford to take time out from hunting." "It shows the explosion of Humboldt squid might actually be benefiting these animals." "Suddenly Diane spots something astonishing at the surface." "(DIANE WHOOPS)" "DIANE:" "That's a big male." "This is amazing." "NARRATOR:" "A large, mature male has Joined the group." "This giant in the centre of the pack could weigh over 40 tons." "Male sperm whales have the largest brain of any animal that's ever lived." "DIANE:" "We don't see that every day." "NO, seriously, this is..." "You're lucky." "It's a treat." "NARRATOR:" "Adult males usually live in small groups in the cold waters around the poles, so this one has probably come here to breed." "After a short time, he grows sexually aroused and starts courting the females." "This behaviour is seldom seen and it shows how important the Sea of Cortez is as a breeding ground for sperm whales." "More than any other, this dive has illustrated why the health of this sea is so vital to the life within it." "I'm blown away." "I must be One Of the luckiest people On the planet right now." "There just aren't words to explain how incredible that feeling is." "I got sonar boomed." "I heard and felt that pulse just, boom, going right through my body, as it was doing the kind Of X-ray scan Of what the heck I was." "I want a hug." "Oh, man, I felt like crying." "Which is a really strange reaction, but you feel like crying when you watch them." "NARRATOR:" "It's a spectacular end to the expedition." "How was it?" "Oh, my God, it was fantastic!" "Paul, Lucy..." "NARRATOR:" "A voyage that's offered a remarkable window into the world of our changing oceans." "PAUL:" "Well done, well done indeed." "The Sea Of Cortez is a place in flux and there's so many things we don't know and so many things that we're doing carelessly, and what is that doing to the natural balance?" "NARRATOR:" "This sea has revealed how destructive man's impact can be." "But it's also shown us we can live in harmony with the ocean." "And that in the face of great change, life can adapt and even thrive." "The Sea Of Cortez at the moment still seems to be an incredibly rich place so, yes, it's changing, but I personally feel like the sea finds its Own equilibrium." "NARRATOR:" "This shifting balance will create winners and losers, but as yet it's impossible to predict who they'll be." "Next time, the team braves the wild Southern ocean and explores its unique underwater world." "TOONI:" "Very, very strange creatures, aren't they?" "NARRATOR:" "Parts are warming twice as fast as other oceans, pushing marine life to the brink." "The expedition sees what can be done." "Oh, it's lobster everywhere!" "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet." "They hold clues to the mysteries of our past, and they're vital for our future survival." "But the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL ROSE:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes, yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year, the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "PHILIPPE COUSTEAU:" "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "LUCY BLUE:" "That is psychedelically purple." "We are here to try and understand the earth's oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR:" "Our oceans are changing faster than ever." "TOONI MAHTO:" "I'Ve never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on earth." "NARRATOR:" "The team has travelled to the edge of the mighty southern Ocean, a vast body of wild, cold water." "Home to the infamous Roaring Forties, it's swept by the strongest winds in the world which create some of the roughest and most unpredictable seas." "PAUL:" "And around those cliffs, there's just great boomers coming in, seas with a real Vengeance that you just feel are out to get you personally." "NARRATOR:" "The southern Ocean flows around the bottom of our planet, completely encircling Antarctica." "The Oceans team is braving some of the most remote and least chartered waters in the world." "Hidden beneath their surface are unique marine environments, home to species that exist nowhere else on earth." "And the southern Ocean can give us an insight into the future of all our oceans." "it's on the front line of global climate change." "parts of it are warming more than twice as fast as any other ocean." "The team has come to investigate the impact that's having." "PHILIPPE:" "Climate change is happening, and understanding how it's affecting the Southern Ocean is critical to understanding what's going to happen over the next few decades and centuries, for this planet and to us." "NARRATOR:" "Environmentalist philippe cousteau is grandson of ocean pioneer Jacques cousteau." "On this expedition, he will be investigating the profound effect that changing seas are having on the marine life here." "PHILIPPE:" "Look at it." "There's not a single living piece of plant material anywhere." "NARRATOR:" "Tooni mahto is a marine biologist and oceanographer." "she'll be searching unique marine habitats for scientific discoveries." "TOONI:" "It's quite exceptional for a biologist to get to see these things." "We normally only see them in several hundred metres of water." "NARRATOR:" "And maritime archaeologist, Dr Lucy Blue, will help to reveal the human cost of these violent seas." "The weather effectively dictates the Very huge seas that can be generated in the Southern Ocean, and as a result there are lots of shipwrecks." "Only a few have actually been discovered here, and not many of them have been explored extensively." "This one has just been crushed by the power of the ocean." "NARRATOR:" "Their first task is to investigate the impact of the warming seas here." "so they've come to Tasmania, a rugged island lying south of the mainland of Australia." "it's home to the biggest marine plant in the world, giant kelp." "Kelp forests are one of the most important marine ecosystems here." "They're vital to support life in this ocean." "The kelp should be clearly visible from the air." "so, expedition leader paul will survey the area by helicopter." "I haVen't seen anything yet at all, nothing." "NARRATOR:" "Only 10 years ago, kelp forests stretched the entire length of this coastline, so dense that they formed thick algal mats on the surface of the sea." "Yeah, here we go." "I think I'Ve got something." "It's probably about, you know, 400 metre square patch or something like that, but it normally would have been an extensive kelp forest." "They use that great term, kelp forest, but that definitely is not a forest." "NARRATOR: paul radios the coordinates through to the team." "Tooni, Tooni, Paul." "You know, it's a real shocker, this, and it really is a patch." "It's just a small patch." "But it's the very best i can find from up here." "Okay, got that." "I'll join you later and see you on board." "over." "NARRATOR:" "Along the east coast of Tasmania the size and number of giant kelp beds has declined dramatically over the past 10 years." "in places, only five percent of the original area remains." "Environmentalist philippe wants to find out why." "PHILIPPE:" "I mean, I'm really kind of curious as to what's going on under there, you know." "From the surface the kelp looks pretty pathetic actually." "I mean, this is not much of a kelp forest and it's an absolute tragedy to think of what's happened and how quickly." "MAN:" "Okay, five, four, three, two, dive." "NARRATOR:" "Like rainforests on land, these towering seaweeds provide food and shelter for a rich array of marine life." "PHILIPPE:" "You do get that sense of flying, flying through trees." "NARRATOR: in good conditions, giant kelp can grow 30 metres high and shoot up half a metre a day." "But these are not good conditions." "PHILIPPE:" "And I haVe to say I'm not seeing much evidence for a Very healthy kelp forest down here." "There's not a lot of young kelp that looks Very healthy that's going to be growing to the surface to replace this more mature kelp that will be dying off relatively soon." "It's not a great sign." "NARRATOR: measuring the water temperature suggests a possible reason." "I'Ve got the temperature reading, 14 degrees centigrade." "PHILIPPE: 57 degrees Fahrenheit, actually quite warm." "NARRATOR:" "Giant kelp can only thrive in cold water, growing best between six and 14 degrees centigrade." "TOONI:" "So it means at the moment, they are growing right at the upper range of their temperature limit." "NARRATOR:" "But then, they make another even more worrying discovery." "PHILIPPE:" "Whoa!" "And some big black spiny sea urchins." "Tooni, this is not a good sign!" "And this may help to contribute to the fact that these kelp forests are declining." "These sea urchins are covering the rocks and they feed on the baby giant kelp before they have a chance to grow large." "Oh, Tooni, I got to tell you, this is not good." "NARRATOR:" "This water should be too cold for these sea urchins to survive, but as it's warmed up, they've been able to migrate here and destroy the young seaweed." "As the kelp is wiped out, so too is the crucial bio-diversity of these waters." "And it's happening fast." "TOONI:" "Ten years to go from great kelp forests to that is excessive." "It just means nothing's got a chance to evolve or adapt to warmer conditions." "It's just complete..." "It's wave bye-bye." "devastation, devastation." "NARRATOR:" "The water temperature along these shores has risen one and a half degrees in the last 50 years." "The impact on the giant kelp has been enormous." "A one and a half degree rise in water temperature in this region has pretty much caused the decline of 95./. of these kelp forests." "It just seems like such a microscopic change, but the point about the kelp ecosystems is that they're such a great example of how a tiny, tiny change in such an important parameter, such as temperature," "can have a completely decimating effect." "NARRATOR:" "The loss of vast areas of Tasmania's kelp forests is also threatening the marine life that depends on them." "The most vulnerable species are those which are so well adapted to the kelp they can survive nowhere else." "philippe and Tooni are about to go in search of one of the most extraordinary." "We are here to dive in water which hopefully harbours a quite unique and mysterious animal." "Yes, it's well camouflaged within their environment, so it's going to be a bit of a hunt for a Very, Very inconspicuous animal, but apparently they're incredibly exquisite." "So, it's definitely worth doing." "(ALL CHATTERING)" "MAN:" "five, four, three, two, dive, dive, dive!" "TOONI:" "So, we're looking for something about 50 centimetres long that looks exactly like a piece of seaweed." "I'm having a good look right down underneath everything because the way that they protect themselves from predators is to get right in amongst the kelp." "Any luck, Philippe?" "PHILIPPE:" "No, so far, I haVen't found anything, Toon." "Of course, that's the idea for them anyway." "Stay hidden and survive." "(TOONI CHUCKLES)" "They're doing a damn good job of it, if I do say so." "TOONI:" "Apparently you'Ve got to look for the eye movement, Philippe." "You can just see the little eye movement amongst the kelp fronds." "NARRATOR:" "These rare animals are so perfectly evolved to blend in with the seaweeds that spotting one is incredibly difficult." "Just keep looking." "PHILIPPE:" "I got one, I found one!" "I found one, I found one!" "(TOONI WHOOPING)" "PHILIPPE:" "Oh, my God, it's beautiful!" "Tooni, I'Ve got a sea dragon over here." "Come and look at this." "NARRATOR:" "Found only in the kelp forests of south Australia and Tasmania, this is the weedy sea dragon." "PHILIPPE:" "So brilliant!" "The blue and green and red!" "TOONI:" "They're related to the sea horses, but they're a slightly different species." "PHILIPPE:" "And how effortlessly they swim through this, as we're getting tossed around like we're in a washing machine." "TOONI:" "You see its fins all moving." "It just looks as though nothing is actually propelling it at all." "Very, Very fine fin on its tail there." "You can see why it's such a perfect camouflage, and they'Ve evolved just to look exactly like the kelp that they live in." "And it protects them from predators 'cause they're not particularly fast swimmers." "It will not only use its camouflage for evading predators, but also for sneaking up on its prey, small little crustaceans and Zooplankton." "Things in and amongst and around the kelp floating in the water column." "(PHILIPPE EXCLAIMS)" "NARRATOR:" "To help them catch prey, sea dragons have eyes that can move independently." "While one eye looks forwards, the other can look backwards." "This is a very rare sighting." "Like their cousins, the sea horses, weedy sea dragons are under threat." "TOONI:" "It's just so sad, isn't it?" "With the decline of the Tasmanian kelp forests, that actually means that the habitat for these beautiful creatures is getting smaller and smaller." "The thing is, with something so perfectly adapted to one particular ecosystem, it's got nowhere else to go." "PHILIPPE:" "I think it's time to let her go on her way." "Wow, what a gift!" "NARRATOR:" "As our oceans continue to warm as a result of climate change, the devastation of this unique marine habitat offers a warning to others around the world." "But these waters are warming much faster than any other ocean." "The mystery is why, and will it continue?" "The team is on its way to help find out." "There are signs it could be because of a shift in an important warm water current, the East Australian current." "This is part of a huge ocean circulation system that transports warm water from the equator down the east coast of Australia." "The way ocean circulations work is they work in these sort of giant gyres, they're called, and it's just a huge movement of water in a circular motion." "so, the Eastern Australian current is actually bringing warmer water from around the equator, but with changes in ocean currents, it's bringing the warmer water further and further south down the coast of Tasmania." "NARRATOR:" "The shift southwards is thought to be responsible for the rapid rise in water temperatures off Tasmania, but will it carry on?" "Yeah, yeah." "MAN:" "Pretty much." "TOONI:" "Precious cargo?" "MAN:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Today the team is working with scientists at the forefront of ocean current research to trial a piece of cutting-edge technology." "This glider will gather vital information about the current and whether it's continuing to move south." "LINDSAY MACDONALD:" "I'm getting some communication from the glider now." "five, four, three, two, one, launch!" "PAUL:" "She's in and looks good at the moment." "NARRATOR:" "The glider will collect data from deep within the East Australian current." "This will be for the first time." "Until now, only surface readings have been taken by satellite." "Now we'll set her on a mission to dive." "NARRATOR:" "Oceanographer Tooni is working with senior engineer Lindsay macdonald as the glider needs to perform a successful test flight before it can start its first mission." "LINDSAY:" "So we'll just load that mission and send it on its merry way." "diving, starting to dive." "Paul, it's starting to dive, it's starting to dive." "PAUL:" "Yes, she's away, Tooni." "It's looking good." "Six metres now, Tooni." "It's interesting with a diver in the water to know what depth it's at, 'cause I haVe got no idea until I download the data." "We can give you real time information." "Yeah, you can." "PAUL:" "And she's levelled off at eight metres, and she's now heading back up." "LINDSAY:" "Okay, it's talking." "What does it record when it's in the water?" "It records scientific data." "So temperature, salinity..." "Temperature, salinity, and there's an oxygen sensor in the tail." "LINDSAY:" "For the oxygen content in the water." "TOONI:" "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "Temperature, salinity and oxygen levels give each current its own unique signature." "The glider will measure these over a series of voyages to find out how far and how deep the East Australian current goes, and if it's still moving further south." "Well, this looks really good." "She's made a whole series of descents and ascents perfectly as planned." "That's exactly what she should be doing." "NARRATOR:" "The glider is now ready for its first month-long mission." "it'll soon be providing information to help discover how ocean currents here are changing." "And that's vital because changes in this ocean could have a much wider impact." "PHILIPPE:" "The southern Ocean touches three other oceans." "it touches the pacific, the Atlantic and the indian." "And it carries currents all the way around the southern part of this planet." "You disrupt those and it's going to have a domino effect." "And it needs to be understood further because it is on the front lines of the change that we are facing in this world." "And as it changes, so too will everything else." "NARRATOR:" "For their next task, the team is going in search of evidence of the most fundamental change the southern Ocean has ever experienced, its creation." "That evidence lies within some of the highest sea cliffs in the world." "These towering columns of basalt rise 300 metres out of the ocean." "They are riddled with a vast network of underwater caves, carved out over millions of years by the southern Ocean's pounding seas." "Those same seas make diving here perilous." "PAUL:" "The problem is with this big sea rolling it's going to be booming up in those caves and I'Ve been hung up in sea caves before, and you just can't be messing around in them." "Hold it there, Pete!" "NARRATOR:" "Rather than put the rest of the team at risk, paul decides to check them out first." "MAN:" "Okay, Paul." "NARRATOR:" "He's been diving for 40 years and has made over 6,000 dives." "PAUL:" "Wow!" "There's a lot of water moving round here, boys." "It's Very, Very hard to keep in position." "Just look at that." "(EXCLAIMING) Blimey!" "Hanging on to the weed." "The Southern Ocean has got me in some kind of mad, industrial wash cycle at the moment!" "There's no way I can get in that cave right now." "NARRATOR:" "The team has been thwarted by the power of the southern Ocean." "There's just no way." "You get near it and it's just..." "Really got to try and work to come back here." "You know, watch the waves, watch the weather, dive it at night, dive it at 3:00 in the morning." "Do whatever we can." "We'Ve got to come back and dive it." "(MACHINE BEEPING)" "NARRATOR:" "There's now an anxious wait for tomorrow's weather forecast." "Tooni will be diving with paul." "They've both trained as cave divers." "MAN ON RADIO:" "A five will develop to the southwest of Tasmania today." "A weak, cold front is passing to the south..." "NARRATOR:" "The forecast is better but paul is still concerned about the dangers of this cave dive." "PAUL:" "All I can think about is Tooni and me getting shoved up into a narrow groove by the force of the Southern Ocean." "TOONI:" "Explain to me what the potential issues are." "What we're learning from the locals is that the surges come in and then they call it..." "every once in a while they get a king swell which is a great big one, and pushes..." "Then it can push us up and what I'm worried about is being up in the foam and I think we can get stuck and trapped on the surface in there." "LUCY:" "Well then, don't go!" "Well, I think time is so short that no matter what the conditions, almost no matter what the conditions, you and me need to get in and have a sniff of them, 'cause if we can pull it off, it'll be blooming great." "And even if we can't pull it off, we'll get an idea what it's all about." "It's worth going for." "TOONI:" "Yeah, I agree." "NARRATOR:" "Next morning they set out for the sea caves and a dive that could allow them to investigate the birth of the southern Ocean." "Every metre they descend will take them further back in geological time." "They're searching these cliffs for fossils of ancient sea creatures that lived over 300 million years ago and might hold clues to the southern Ocean's formation." "TOONI:" "We're kind of looking for small boulders that we can pick up because the idea is to bring them back out of the caves, send them up on a lift bag and then have a look at them on the back of the deck" "because our time down there is so limited." "NARRATOR:" "This time the surge is much more manageable." "PAUL:" "This is the entrance, this is it." "NARRATOR:" "But the power of this sea can never be underestimated." "TOONI:" "I can feel myself being pushed in by the waves." "NARRATOR:" "Once they enter the cave system, all communications with the surface will be lost." "TOONI:" "Gosh, it's so narrow." "PAUL:" "Yeah, you're right." "It looks Very tight indeed but I do think it's worth going for." "NARRATOR:" "They only have enough air to dive for 30 minutes so they need to find the fossils as fast as these treacherous tunnels will allow." "TOONI:" "It's hard work swimming against this surge." "NARRATOR:" "With metres of solid rock above them, escape to the surface is not an option." "TOONI:" "It's pretty tight in here as well." "There are now 40 metres of tunnels behind them." "They've got just 20 minutes of usable air left." "But then they emerge into a much bigger cave strewn with rocks." "PAUL:" "The trick with finding these fossils is I'm not quite sure what to look for because there's just loads of boulders." "TOONI:" "Well, we spot them by looking for something exactly like that." "PAUL:" "Oh, hey!" "TOONI:" "There's a great depression in that one." "Looks exactly like the markings of a cockle, doesn't it?" "See?" "That's exactly what we want, an indication that there is something more enticing inside." "NARRATOR:" "This is a fossil brachiopod, a type of shellfish that lived over 300 million years ago." "it's an important clue to the southern Ocean's past." "TOONI:" "Look at that one." "It looks like a mollusc almost, it looks something like a scallop." "PAUL:" "I think that's probably enough." "It's quite heavy, that." "I'm just going to put some air in this bag and lift them a little bit." "They're too heavy for us to swim it up." "Perfect, come on, buddy." "Paul, surface." "This is Lucy." "have you found the fossils." "over?" "Yeah, hi, Lucy, we're about to send her up actually." "Here she goes!" "LUCY:" "Here they are, here they are!" "You'Ve got them?" "Here they are." "Wow, well done." "Was it good, was it good?" "Oh, it was a great dive." "PAUL:" "There's the one, there it is." "TOONI:" "You can see pretty much every crenulation of the shell." "PAUL:" "Yeah, that's fantastic." "I wonder, can we hit into these?" "PAUL:" "You might find..." "We're just going to stick our masks on quick so look out for your eyes, Lucy." "PAUL:" "That is a beauty." "You can see the real delicate pattern in the shell." "LUCY:" "What is it?" "Those are brachiopods and they used to be Very, Very abundant in sort of shallow seas, basically where you find a lot of mussels now." "NARRATOR:" "But there's something else that's remarkable about these fossils." "They're identical to fossils found in Antarctica, almost 2,000 miles away, clear evidence that this coast and Antarctica were once joined together." "So as Tasmania split from the Antarctic, that was the birth of the Southern Ocean and we'Ve found evidence of it." "NARRATOR:" "The separation of these two land masses started around 53 million years ago." "They took 15 million years to tear apart." "This was the final stage in the southern Ocean's formation and it created a body of water with some of the most unpredictable weather in the world." "PAUL:" "It feels like five minutes ago it was a beautiful day." "You can't guarantee a day's perfect weather here in the Southern Ocean." "Yeah, just as soon as we turn around we get more weather coming in and that's exactly what's happened so we are going to have to pull out of here 'cause it's going to be rough." "It's amazing." "I mean, I knew it was going to change quick, but maybe not quite that quick." "From now it'll be a bit dodgy and then it'll ease off again." "Ease off?" "Yeah." "As you can see there is clear sky coming again now." "NARRATOR:" "The extreme weather is largely caused by one unique feature." "With the south pole at its centre, the winds and waves of the southern Ocean circle continuously eastward without any land to slow them down." "Here, the world's longest current flows around the globe for 13,000 miles, driven by the world's strongest winds." "it creates the notorious Roaring Forties from 40 to 50 degrees south." "One of the things that is significant about the context of the Southern Ocean is these incredibly strong winds, the Roaring Forties." "And as a result of that, you know, she has taken many Victims as it were." "There are literally, you know, hundreds of shipwrecks around the shores of Tasmania, let alone the bigger ocean, and only a Very small number have actually been located." "NARRATOR:" "maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue has been researching the wreck of the Nord, an eighty metre long cargo vessel which sank while trying to evade a violent storm in 1915." "You can see over here, these are the Hippolytes and she tried to navigate between the large one and the smaller one, and basically hit a small rock that's just..." "Look, you can see there where the water's breaking on this rock just below the surface." "So she obviously didn't see it, thought that she could get through and... (LUCY EXCLAIMS)" "NARRATOR:" "The captain tried to steer the Nord to safety but huge seas swamped the ship's engines." "she sank fast." "You know, these waters are dangerous waters and I can't help but imagine what it was like that night when she went down." "It would have been absolute pandemonium on board." "I'm going to think of those men while I'm on it." "NARRATOR:" "The Nord lies in deep water." "it's a dive only paul has the training and experience to make." "Lucy will be monitoring his exploration from the surface." "They want to know how the Nord is faring after nearly 100 years beneath the southern Ocean's merciless seas." "PAUL:" "Well, this is it." "This is the wreck of the Nord." "And just look at this thing." "You can get an idea of the extent of the damage here." "'Cause some shipwrecks on the bottom look like perfect ships, you know, but this one has just been crushed by the power of the ocean." "Just look here, how the superstructure has sheared off so cleanly." "LUCY:" "As the skipper of a vessel, you're thinking, "Right, well, I'm okay." ""I'm in the southern Ocean." "I've got the westerlies behind me."" "But even though there's less land to sort of wreck against, your instinct when the winds pick up is to go closer to land, to take shelter, to get in the lea of the island and yet the winds change" "and, you know, you're at the bottom." "You can imagine at the other end of this rudder, those frantic movements those men will have done trying to save her." "I can't help but think what it must have been like for those guys." "NARRATOR:" "This ship was one of over a thousand vessels that perished in the treacherous waters of this unforgiving sea." "But the southern Ocean was also a route for a very different cargo, human cargo." "MIKE:" "Paul, surface, Paul, surface, check your computer, check your computer." "over." "PAUL:" "Yeah, computer good." "We're now heading back to the line and slowly coming up." "All good." "NARRATOR:" "Tasmania was the final destination for 75,000 convicts shipped halfway round the world from Britain." "LUCY:" "The journey over would have taken five to six months." "They were pretty crammed into the boats." "I mean, they took advantage of the Southern Ocean and the winds and the currents, you know, to bring them here but it's really extreme conditions out there and a lot of ships carrying convicts actually wrecked" "so, you know, a lot of them didn't even make it here." "NARRATOR:" "But for those who did, the southern Ocean kept them trapped here." "No one ever escaped from Tasmania." "Even today these often violent waters keep much of Tasmania virtually inaccessible." "The south-western tip is home to some bizarre sea creatures, so difficult to reach that they've barely been studied." "However, the team is hoping to do just that." "But to get there the weather will have to be perfect." "We'Ve got probably a chance here of a two or three day decent weather window, and I'm not sure if, in our expedition period, we're going to get that again." "But I think it would be such a good use of time if we took this weather window and Tooni and me went round to the southwest and got the target of the sunken Valley because it's a remote spot." "It strikes me as such a unique place that if we'Ve got the opportunity to go now, we should just grab it." "But what that would mean though is that you two then could get on with the other expedition targets based from here." "We could push off and try and get the sunken Valley done and then link up again in two or three days." "Yeah." "That's a good tactic." "PAUL:" "Thanks, guys, I'll give you a hand." "What's first?" "NARRATOR:" "Tooni and paul are heading for a place known as the sunken valley." "Here, deep sea animals, normally living hundreds of metres below the surface, can be found thriving in shallow water." "The deep sea is so inaccessible, it's so difficult to get to, it's so difficult to work in the deep sea, you know." "And so being able to get to the sunken Valley and to be able to personally witness what's happening in a deep sea environment in six or seven metres of water, it's my ideal." "NARRATOR:" "Their journey takes them far away from civilisation." "My first impressions are Very much that Tasmania is an untouched place." "I mean, the water's clean, the air feels clean and fresh." "You know, round on the southwest out there, there's no access at all." "And it's a remote, pristine, true wilderness down there." "NARRATOR:" "They round the southwest tip of Tasmania." "Here the sheltered waters of Bathurst channel lead to the final passage into the sunken valley." "Well, we're here." "Look, we'Ve just slowed down." "We're here." "This is our site, this is our first site." "NARRATOR:" "The first thing that strikes them here is the stillness." "A unique combination of landscape and elements creates a very unusual phenomenon in the sunken valley." "The strange brown colour of the surface waters gives a hint of what's to come." "TOONI:" "It's such a beautiful place and I know that it's going to be such a special dive so it just fills me with a real sense of excitement to be getting in the water in a minute." "NARRATOR:" "it's like entering an alien world." "TOONI:" "The water, it's kind of blood red." "NARRATOR:" "This extraordinary colour comes from tannins washed out of the peaty soil on land." "it turns the top three metres of the water into a dark soup." "This mimics some of the conditions that would normally only exist hundreds of metres below the surface." "TOONI:" "The tannin layer is important because it stops the light penetrating through, so what you get is a deep sea community." "PAUL:" "Got it." "TOONI:" "So what we're diving through now are sea whips, which are a form of deep water coral." "It's quite exceptional as a biologist to get to see these things." "The great thing about these sea whips is the fact that you normally only see them in several hundred metres of water, and we're in seven metres of water." "NARRATOR:" "Like many deep sea corals, sea whips grow very slowly and may be hundreds of years old." "Although they might look like plants, sea whips are actually colonies of animals." "Each one is made up of hundreds of polyps that feed using tiny tentacles to catch plankton swept by in the current." "TOONI:" "Look, look." "This is what I wanted to see." "PAUL:" "Yeah?" "What is it?" "This is a basket star." "Now at the moment it's got all its tentacles retracted." "It's kind of like a starfish but it likes to use these sea whips as a base because it's a filter feeder." "It climbs up the sea whip and gets its arms right out into the current so it can take advantage of all the food coming past it as well." "NARRATOR:" "The sea whips reveal one final secret." "PAUL:" "Tooni, here's one." "TOONI:" "Oh, there's a shark egg case, there's a shark egg case!" "PAUL:" "Look at that." "TOONI:" "You can actually see the embryo inside." "Look at that, that is a shark in there." "NARRATOR:" "This has been laid by the draughtboard shark, another species more usually found in much deeper water." "TOONI:" "They'Ve basically evolved to these conditions as well but what happens is they tie their eggs onto the sea whips because the sea whips are static." "It's Very, Very intricately knotted." "NARRATOR:" "No one's ever seen how they do this but the tangled knots are probably formed by the shark swimming round and round the sea whip." "TOONI: it felt really untouched to me." "PAUL:" "Yeah." "It's really diverse down there." "There's loads of life." "You know, you get all those sea whips standing Very proud right in the current and you can see them quivering." "NARRATOR:" "The sunken valley has revealed some fascinating marine life beneath its dark surface waters and there's another even stranger group of deep sea animals to study, but with the light fading, that will have to wait until tomorrow." "With paul and Tooni at the sunken valley," "Lucy and philippe want to investigate a local marine mystery." "They're at the south-eastern tip of Tasmania, in a small bay separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land," "Eaglehawk Bay." "This is the only place in the world where dozens of octopus, the largest in the southern hemisphere, become stranded and die." "philippe wants to know why." "PHILIPPE:" "This is the spot so..." "Pretty remarkable unique place." "LUCY:" "Why here?" "Well, I mean, you know, that's the question." "That's a great question." "We don't know so I'm thinking we have a chance to see them from the surface." "We'Ve got some powerful flashlights and it's shallow water." "It's pretty clear." "LUCY:" "Well, let's get the torches out, then." "NARRATOR:" "There are theories as to why these large maori octopus are found here but no clear answers." "We know it has something to do with the moon and it's right around the full moon right now, and it's coming into high tide." "It's dusk, which is the right time to look, so I'll be thrilled if we see one." "PHILIPPE:" "That's a powerful light you'Ve got there." "So far no octopus." "All I'm seeing is kind of murky murkiness." "NARRATOR:" "With no sign of them from the boat, the search moves underwater." "PHILIPPE:" "You know, I'm really curious to see what it looks like in there." "I mean, why are they coming here?" "But there's no precedent in the world for this so, yeah, I really don't know what to expect." "Doesn't matter how many questions you ask, there doesn't seem to be an answer, so, I mean, I'm just intrigued." "PHILIPPE:" "Wow!" "Visibility is just awful." "NARRATOR:" "The sea bed here is silty and featureless." "Octopus usually like rocky crevices to hide in." "so this is a very strange place for them to be found." "LUCY:" "Philippe, Philippe!" "PHILIPPE:" "That's incredible." "(PHILIPPE LAUGHS)" "NARRATOR:" "At last, a maori octopus." "PHILIPPE:" "Wow!" "Look at that." "NARRATOR:" "They have an arm span of up to three metres." "PHILIPPE:" "What do you think, Lucy?" "LUCY:" "It's beautiful actually." "I'Ve never in my life seen an octopus so huge." "PHILIPPE:" "When they get this size, they're about a year or so old and they're at their maturity, sexual maturity, and they stop feeding, so definitely this animal is not here to eat." "NARRATOR:" "A fully-grown octopus like this ought to be preparing for the final act of its life, spawning." "PHILIPPE:" "The problem is there's nowhere for it to effectively lay its eggs." "They do so on a rocky substrate bottom area." "There's nothing like that here." "NARRATOR: so what has drawn them here?" "Octopus would normally follow cues from the moon and tides to find their spawning grounds on rocky reefs in the open sea." "perhaps these have been led into the neck of the bay only to find their final passage blocked by a narrow spit of land." "PHILIPPE:" "It's a tragic, tragic story." "Tragedy of topography." "These octopus stay here, most likely unable to have the energy to leave." "NARRATOR:" "As the tide retreats, the exhausted octopus are stranded on the beach with just a hundred metres of land separating them from the open ocean." "At the sunken valley, it's day two of the team's exploration, and they're making an early start." "PAUL: it's a very atmospheric morning but it's a bit cold and damp." "i mean, look at it, there's a whole mystery." "We could be anywhere but it's good, though." "probably the best natural harbour on the planet." "So, you know, a good sleep and a good breakfast, another cup of tea, go diving." "NARRATOR:" "Because the deep ocean is so difficult to get to, studying any kind of animal behaviour there is incredibly hard." "But in the sunken valley, Tooni is hoping for the opportunity to record a behaviour that's never been filmed here before." "TOONI:" "God, it's pitch blank, isn't it?" "We really are descending into the pitch blank." "It's like being on a night dive." "PAUL:" "Here's the bottom, Tooni." "NARRATOR:" "They're searching for creatures which look as though they've come from a science fiction film, sea pens." "TOONI:" "They're beautiful, yet Very, Very strange creatures, aren't they?" "PAUL:" "Yeah." "TOONI:" "They're called sea pens because they look like those beautiful old feather quills" "that people used to write with." "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "Like everything else beneath the tannin layer, these sea pens are animals." "There's so little light here, no plants can survive." "TOONI:" "There are some big sea pens here, aren't there?" "Look, you can see it turning with the current." "PAUL:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Each of these sea pens isn't a single animal but a colony of individuals working together as one." "Different parts of the colony have specialised functions, such as pumping water, reproduction or catching prey." "TOONI:" "So it's like the ultimate in community living." "PAUL:" "I'Ve got myself convinced that I'm at 150 metres because it's cold and dark, and there's loads of weird creatures down here." "NARRATOR: sea pens come in and out of the sediment but no one can see this behaviour because it happens so slowly." "so the team has set up a time-lapse camera to try to record it here for the very first time." "TOONI:" "That one there has actually almost completely disappeared." "They pump water into themselves to bring themselves out of the sediment and then when they want to go back down, they release that water so they can retract." "NARRATOR:" "The speeded-up footage shows how, over four hours, some of the sea pens gradually deflate and bury themselves in the sea bed." "it's thought this behaviour might protect sea pens from predators, and this may be the first time that evidence has been captured to confirm it." "close examination of the time-lapse clip shows a yellow sea slug, a sea pen predator, enter the scene and make contact with some of them." "Each sea pen it touches withdraws into the sediment." "This has never been seen before and will help us to understand this little-known world of deep sea creatures." "The sunken valley has allowed us a privileged glimpse into the lives of its deep sea inhabitants." "The deep sea is almost impenetrable and therefore the only opportunity that I get to see deep water creatures within my capabilities is here." "So I think it's been a really special part of the expedition." "NARRATOR:" "Next day, the team is re-united." "PAUL:" "Here they come." "TOONI:" "Hello!" "PAUL:" "Hey, hey, hey!" "NARRATOR: it's the final leg of the southern Ocean expedition." "LUCY:" "Ah!" "There's some." "There, there, there, look." "NARRATOR:" "As they round Tasman island, they spot a large group of Australian fur seals." "Oh, there are loads of them on that flat section there." "NARRATOR:" "Hunted almost to extinction, these fur seals are now a protected species." "But their recovery's been slow so to see such a big colony is very encouraging." "Good to go." "Lucy and marine biologist Tooni want to check them out underwater." "TOONI:" "You see how much of a good look they're giving us." "Really, really looking." "You see the way they power themselves." "They just give that massive pull down of their front flippers and then they streamline and twist and turn." "Lucy, come on!" "NARRATOR:" "Australian fur seals have dense coats with coarse outer hairs that trap air to insulate them against the cold." "As the seals dive, the air is released as bubbles." "TOONI:" "They're so streamlined underwater, aren't they?" "NARRATOR:" "Their incredible speed and agility underwater allow them to catch even fast-moving prey such as squid." "TOONI:" "Faster than a speeding bullet." "NARRATOR:" "The presence of so many boisterous and playful seals seems to bode well for this population." "it's clear that the waters of the southern Ocean still support an amazing amount of marine life." "But they are changing, and much faster than anywhere else in the world." "The team has seen the devastating effects of warming waters here, especially on kelp forests." "so, can anything be done to save them?" "TOONI: people don't care about kelp." "everyone's worried about the dolphins and the whales, and they should be worried about the kelp 'cause they are the ecosystem engineers." "They're the ones that create the structure for the rest of the habitat." "It's one of the reasons why ecosystem management is one of the most important things in marine conservation and marine biology." "You'Ve got to look at the ecosystem, you can't just pick one species and attempt to conserve that because it doesn't work." "NARRATOR: philippe has heard about a ground-breaking new study that could help restore balance to Tasmania's kelp ecosystems." "Today, he and Tooni are joining this project to take part in a special event, one that's the culmination of years of research and planning." "TOONI:" "Hi." "PHILIPPE:" "Hello." "Good morning." "I'm Tooni." "NARRATOR:" "Dr craig Johnson and his team plan to release hundreds of large rock lobsters into damaged kelp areas." "So these guys have been out for a little while so they're fairly docile." "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "He's collected the lobsters from deep offshore waters." "They're one of the few natural predators of the sea urchins that have been decimating Tasmania's kelp beds." "craig's team is hoping these lobsters will feast on the sea urchins." "This could bring their numbers under control so the dwindling kelp has a chance to recover." "About two-thirds of the animals will be released on the urchin barren and one lot into the adjacent seaweed." "We don't know anywhere else in the world that's..." "Wow!" "...moved such a large number of large lobsters to look for ecosystem level effects like this." "TOONI:" "Yeah, right." "Oh, my God, the weight of him." "NARRATOR:" "All the lobsters need to be scanned for individual microchip numbers." "Then they can be tracked after their release." "CRAIG: 4480, done." "Look at that." "Look at that." "A monster, it's amazing." "PHILIPPE:" "Easy there, buddy." "Oh!" "I'Ve got a live one." "PHILIPPE:" "We'Ve got a revolt in the bucket over here, Tooni." "(TOONI LAUGHING)" "A lobster rebellion." "behave!" "It's going on a walkabout." "I know you're in Australia but..." "NARRATOR:" "The clock is ticking." "The lobsters need to be taken to the release site and put back in the water as quickly as possible." "At the release site, craig's team is already in position." "CRAIG:" "The real problem for us right now is when they're in the warmth, they do start to deteriorate quite quickly so our priority now is to really try and wham these down as quickly as we can." "This has never been done before and I think it's fascinating, the idea of reintroducing these Very mature lobsters back into the ecosystem." "You know, this is really cutting edge science at work so being able to see kind of it happening at its inception," "I think is Very exciting." "CRAIG:" "Okay." "And in you go." "NARRATOR:" "The first batch of lobsters is being released into an area that was once a lush kelp bed." "PHILIPPE:" "This is definitely an urchin barren." "I mean, look at it." "There's not a single living piece of plant material anywhere." "So this is the culprit right here." "Look at the spines on this sucker." "(TOONI EXCLAIMING)" "Big, nasty sea urchin." "And so it takes these big lobsters to reach around the sea urchin, flip it over and be able to get right in there." "That is where the sea urchin is the most Vulnerable, where its mouth is." "TOONI:" "Very little actually kills these things off." "That's why the lobster reintroduction is so important." "NARRATOR:" "Large lobsters are a rarity in many kelp forests because they've been fished out." "But by bringing these giants here from deeper water, that's about to change." "(PHILIPPE AND TOONI EXCLAIMING)" "TOONI:" "They're pretty desperate to get out I think." "(PHILIPPE LAUGHING)" "NARRATOR:" "These lobsters use their powerful tails to escape from predators." "(PHILIPPE LAUGHING)" "(PHILIPPE GROANING)" "(TOONI LAUGHS)" "PHILIPPE:" "He got me right on the hand there." "That's going to leave a mark." "NARRATOR:" "Over the coming months, craig's team will track the movement of these lobsters and monitor the impact they're having on the urchin population." "(PHILIPPE EXCLAIMING)" "NARRATOR: if the experiment works, it could provide hope for the long-term survival of Tasmania's kelp forests." "There we go." "It's so fantastic to have packed these into the crates and now to actually bring them to their new home, where hopefully they're going to start eating these Very big sea urchins." "NARRATOR: philippe and Tooni's final job is to release the last few crates of lobsters into the second of craig's study areas." "PHILIPPE:" "Look in here!" "(TOONI LAUGHING)" "TOONI:" "Do you know what, Philippe?" "I can feel mine bursting to get out." "Here we go!" "NARRATOR:" "Here the kelp is still healthy." "The hope is that this lobster re-introduction will help keep it that way." "PHILIPPE:" "This is the kind of habitat these lobsters should be in." "TOONI:" "There we go, one more." "(PHILIPPE WHOOPING)" "PHILIPPE:" "There's just lobster flying everywhere." "NARRATOR: if it's successful, this project's approach could offer hope to other threatened marine ecosystems around the world." "(SHOUTS)" "Mission accomplished." "TOONI:" "I got a bit overexcited down there." "Felt like being part of something good, kind of, you know, being part of the solution." "Yeah." "And, you know, you really, really hope that those lobsters are going to chow on those sea urchins." "There's enough of them down there." "TOONI:" "But didn't you think for craig and the scientists working on this project today, and that release event is like the culmination of years of work for them?" "i just think it's fantastic that we're actually here..." "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah." "...to witness that." "Well, it's the forefront of conservation biology." "I mean, that's what it's all about." "NARRATOR: it's the end of the southern Ocean expedition and it's been a challenging but inspiring journey." "The team has felt the power of these seas and seen the damage they can inflict." "But these waters have also revealed hidden treasures, extraordinary marine life in unique but often fragile habitats." "PHILIPPE: i never appreciated just how devastated the kelp forests had become until i saw it with my own eyes." "That encapsulated both the importance of the Southern Ocean and the peril that we face as it changes." "NARRATOR:" "There can now be no doubt that changes are having a profound impact on life in the southern Ocean but this is an ocean connected to three others, and what is still unknown is how the rapid changes here could affect the rest of the world." "Next time the Oceans team travels to the pristine southern Red sea." "They explore coral thriving in some of the world's warmest waters." "They dive a shipwreck carrying a deadly cargo." "LUCY:" "There are thousands of bombs here." "NARRATOR:" "And they witness the birth of an ocean." "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet." "They hold clues to the mysteries of our past." "And they're vital for our future survival." "'at the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL ROSE:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes, yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year, the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "LUCY BLUE:" "That is psychedelically purple." "We are here to try and understand the earth's oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR:" "Our oceans are changing faster than ever." "I've never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on earth." "Eritrea, East Africa." "The team is heading to the southern Red Sea." "PAUL:" "I feel like I'm a kid again." "You know you say, "Can you smell the sea?"" "NARRATOR:" "The Red Sea is technically an ocean because it was formed when the continents of Africa and Asia tore apart millions of years ago." "Unlike the tourist diving Mecca to the north, the southern part remains remote and untouched." "PAUL: 'y and large, this is unexplored." "It's uncharted territory, particularly under the water." "NARRATOR:" "The southern Red Sea is one of the most important marine sites in the world." "Home to a spectacular array of species, many found nowhere else on earth." "The team has come here to discover how this small sea could hold clues to the future of all our oceans." "Environmentalist Philippe Cousteau Jar wants to investigate whether these waters, some of the warmest on earth, could help our oceans cope with the threat of global warming." "We need to figure something out that is going to help all the other coral in the world." "NARRATOR:" "This sea is one of the most significant in human history." "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucile is searching for evidence that it was here that early modern humans first left Africa and populated the planet." "Well, that's fantastic." "NARRATOR:" "Marine biologist and oceanographer Toni Math wants to witness something fundamental about our oceans, how they're born." "If you don't dive in the Red Sea, all you see is that." "That's all you see." "You see blueness." "To understand anything about what happens in our planet's oceans you have to get in." "NARRATOR: 'at 30 years of war have kept this unique stretch of sea virtually inaccessible." "Now for the first time, an expedition like this has been allowed in." "Oh, yes." "Hello, sir!" "Very good to meet you." "My name is Paul." "Well, this is just one little bit of paper but it means a lot to us." "I mean, there it is." "That's our permit." "It's a single permit and it took us 10 months to get this thing, but it doesn't give us any protection against any of the other things that are probably going to go wrong on this trip." "I mean, this is definitely an ambitious expedition." "There's no doubt about it." "NARRATOR:" "For the first mission, Toni and Philippe will investigate how our oceans formed." "They're heading south to Djibouti, a country at the gateway of the Red Sea." "Here the world map is being re-drawn as a completely new ocean is created." "I'm fascinated by how the earth looks today and why it looks today the way it does." "And I'm also fascinated by this idea that actually the land is moving, is constantly moving, constantly changing." "But to actually go and experience that I think is really key." "NARRATOR:" "Right here beneath this bay, huge tectonic forces have formed a crack beneath the earth's crust pulling apart the plates of Africa and Arabia." "That process forms all our oceans." "'at this is one of the only places in the world where you can dive and see it in action." "We've come here to witness something that's really, really special." "We're hoping to basically witness the birth of an ocean, because it is literally where a new ocean will form over millions of years." "So it's splitting the land apart?" "It's splitting the land apart." "TOONI:" "And this area will one day flood with water from the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea." "So we will be over two completely separate land masses that are moving away from each other." "Are we going to be able to put..." "I mean, how close are they together?" "Do we know?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "I want to see if I can..." "Time will tell." "Yeah." "..." "like, touch two continents at once." "NARRATOR:" "On the seabed, they're looking for the opening or rift." "TOONI:" "Go that way." "I think it's over here!" "An incredibly dark opening." "At least, that's my impression of what a rift should look like." "PHILIPPE:" "Ladies first!" "TOONI:" "I'm going down." "Descending into the rift that has opened up." "NARRATOR:" "They dive down, disappearing between Africa and Arabia." "TOONI:" "It just drops down into complete nothingness." "PHILIPPE:" "Not quite what I expected at all." "It's a tight squeeze through some of these passages." "Got to be really careful." "TOONI:" "This rift has been formed by the action of the earth literally ripping itself apart." "Just think of the amount of force that it would have taken." "NARRATOR:" "The narrowness of the rift shows that it's right at the beginning of a process that will continue for millions of years." "Normally, it's happening thousands of metres down, so it's extremely rare to see this so close to the surface." "As the rift widens, magma from beneath the earth's crust rises and solidifies to form a new ocean floor, gradually pushing the plates further apart." "PHILIPPE:" "Let's put a hand on one continent each." "I've got the Somalia plate on the end of my finger, and this is the African plate." "So Philippe, to the right, has got the Arabian plate." "Between us, we're actually spanning two continents." "Over time, these two bits of rock will move away from each other." "They're moving at a rate of about two centimetres a year, which is about the same rate as a nail growth." "NARRATOR:" "In millions of years, this gap could be as wide as the Atlantic." "So this could be New York and that could be London." "NARRATOR:" "As these plates pull apart, water floods in creating the new ocean." "TOONI:" "Not many people get to be at the site of a new ocean." "It's like seeing how the Red Sea once was." "It's a pretty remarkable feeling." "The beginning of an ocean." "TOONI:" "It's stunning." "The reality of it is that those two bits will never touch again and will keep on moving and moving apart for pretty much eternity." "NARRATOR:" "Millions of years from now, hundreds of square miles could be covered by water, the new ocean, and it's already been named the Afar." "Toni and Philippe are heading back to rejoin the expedition in Eritrea." "The plan is to sail north to discover why the Red Sea is so important in our history." "And how its marine life could help all our oceans survive." "'at as one of the first teams allowed in here, nothing is straightforward." "Hello!" "Fuel is rationed in this country and the Memo is full, and we need another 5,000 litres to complete the mileage." "I'm calling again about our fuel." "PAUL:" "The navy have given us a huge amount of support and they're going to put one of their people on board." "Hello!" "Really good to meet you." "Welcome on board." "You look after us and we'll look after you." "How's that?" "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "It's not long before he needs to help out." "Just need a bit of a hand to see if..." "NARRATOR:" "Filming has barely begun before soldiers put a stop to it." "PAUL:" "We don't want to film the ship or anything." "From the BBC Oceans expedition." "Oh, it is confirmed?" "We can have the 5,000 litres?" "Well, that's fantastic." "How are you doing, man?" "NARRATOR:" "With enough fuel promised for the journey, it's time to leave port and head off for the next target." "It's a two-hour trip east, and many thousands of years back in time." "PAUL:" "She's flying!" "NARRATOR:" "Recent findings suggest this was one of the first seas early modern humans ever saw before making their way out of Africa and across the globe." "For maritime archaeologist Dr Lucile, it's a rare chance to investigate such ancient human activity." "I think it's really important because people don't really understand the first time people encountered the sea." "They don't really understand what they did when they got there, and this is some of the earliest evidence that there is for early modern humans settling in a coastal environment." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy is hoping to find clues preserved here about the first encounters our ancient ancestors had with the Red Sea." "I'm really finding it fascinating." "I mean, it's like a big jigsaw." "You've got all these little pieces that, well, not many of them actually, to put into the puzzle." "And, no..." "And I'm also interested in the nature of the finds because they are very different from what you find on most archaeological sites." "You haven't got ceramics, you haven't got building remains, you know." "It's a very, very different type of site." "NARRATOR:" "The hostilities may be over, but this is still very much a military zone and access is heavily restricted." "Soldiers watch their every move." "Wow, there's a lot of military bases there, aren't there?" "All of that is the military encampment." "Pretty good guns up on top there, Lucy." "There's a bit of waving, let's do waving back." "That's always a good thing." "NARRATOR:" "Normally, they'd have to dive down to the seabed to look for clues but here, the sea floor has come to them." "Over thousands of years, earthquakes have raised up the ancient coral reef by 10 metres." "With it, a slice of history that's 125,000 years old has been pushed into daylight." "This is all old coral." "I mean, look at some of this." "If there's any doubt at all about whether that's coral or not, you know." "NARRATOR: 'buried in this ancient coral, they're hoping to find evidence of early modern human activity." "LUCY:" "What we need is some sort of..." "Let me just chuck a load of water onto it." "Hey, Lucy!" "Look at that." "Yeah." "Look at that bit." "Oh, yeah, yeah, that's more like it." "That's got to be..." "You've really got..." "That's fantastic." "Look at that." "Give it a spray." "Oh, that's beautiful." "LUCY:" "That's what we're looking for." "PAUL:" "And this is sharp." "NARRATOR:" "It's an ancient hand blade." "That can take skin off, no problem." "Yeah, well, be careful because you can." "And, I mean, that's part of the reason that we can tell it's not been moved, you know, by water action or the sea." "It's actually been deposited here in its original context because it's still pretty sharp." "See, if you hold it that way, it doesn't feel quite right." "Hold it this way," "you see that's curving down." "Yeah." "And this is curving up." "Yeah." "So depending what you were going to do with it." "LUCY:" "Yeah, that's true." "PAUL:" "You know, 'cause look at that, that shape." "PAUL:" "That is a proper beautiful tool." "LUCY:" "That's beautiful." "NARRATOR:" "This type of tool, made from volcanic glass called obsidian, dates from the middle Palaeolithic period." "There's no other obsidian here so it must have come here through some sort of human action." "NARRATOR:" "So early modern humans were definitely here but is there evidence of their relationship with the sea?" "LUCY: (LAUGHS) I think that's maybe what we've been looking for." "They've found what appears to be an ancient oyster bar." "Imagine if you're shucking all these oysters, getting all the meat out of these oysters." "I mean, look how well that fits in." "You know, it just fits perfect, doesn't it?" "LUCY:" "So, you can just imagine this whole area where people have come, they've collected the shells, they've processed them, they've eaten them and then they've just thrown them on the floor." "And I think that's just..." "It's just fantastic." "You can see it in such a distinct horizon." "NARRATOR:" "Early modern humans were probably driven from the central plains of Africa by drought." "They would have stumbled across the Red Sea in their search for food and water." "It's very significant in a lot of ways because it shows one of the first, if not the first, bits of evidence that we have for human interaction with the sea, here on the Red Sea." "It's a really exciting feeling to hold some tools, and the last man to use this was 125,000 years ago." "NARRATOR:" "These tools show how our ancestors learnt to exploit the Red Sea." "For the first time, they had a food source that didn't rely on the climate." "And when sea levels dropped, these thriving coastal people had the opportunity to cross this narrow sea out of Africa and eventually populate the entire world." "LUCY:" "The Red Sea has always been a critical point of communication and trade and transportation, but I hadn't, until today, appreciated, you know, how incredibly early that communication and contact with the sea started." "It just gives it such depth." "NARRATOR:" "That's the past." "'at it's what the Red Sea could tell us about the future of our oceans that's brought environmentalist Philippe Cousteau here." "Particularly his concern for coral reefs, the rain forests of the sea." "PHILIPPE:" "Probably one of the most critical issues that ocean conservation is facing over the next decade or so is the loss of coral reefs." "NARRATOR:" "Coral is vital to the health of the ocean, harbouring a huge diversity of life." "'at rising sea temperatures across the world are causing much of it to suffer from bleaching, to turn white and die." "Of all the coral reefs in the world, we've lost about 25%%%, are gone." "Another 25%%% are heavily threatened and we fear will be gone within the next 50 years or so." "NARRATOR:" "The Red Sea is the perfect place to study the impact of warming seas." "Water temperatures here are among the hottest on earth, reaching 34 degrees Centigrade." "We've got the monitor right here and we're going to submerge it maybe 10 metres underwater, about 30 feet." "NARRATOR:" "It's winter now, and Philippe wants to find out what the corals are dealing with." "PHILIPPE:" "The temperature is reading 27.8 degrees Celsius, almost 28 degrees Celsius." "That is too warm." "That's just not an optimal temperature range." "You know, it's winter time." "Winter, I don't like to see this at all so I'm a little concerned about what's going to be going on down there." "NARRATOR:" "Joining Philippe is Eritrean marine scientist, Jonathan 'ochre, one of the few people to have spent any time on these reefs." "I know basically, you know, the coral types here." "So, this is a great opportunity for me." "NARRATOR:" "Jonathan thinks there's something surprising about this coral, and the team is now keen to investigate." "I've been dreaming of getting into the Red Sea all my life, so the chance to do so now is pretty spectacular." "And then to be able to do it here, in Eritrea, where few people have ever dived before, let alone filmed before," "is probably one of the most exciting dives of my life." "NARRATOR:" "With such high winter temperatures, there could be a lot of bleached coral." "PHILIPPE:" "I can feel the water." "I almost don't need a wet suit, it's so warm." "PHILIPPE:" "It is looking pretty beautiful!" "What a relief!" "NARRATOR:" "Astonishingly, the coral is far from dead." "It's flourishing." "PHILIPPE:" "I'm so amazed at how healthy this coral looks." "In all my experience, this coral should not be thriving the way it is." "You see all the fish swimming in the water column." "I mean, that's the symbol of a healthy, healthy reef." "PAUL:" "The first thing we need to do is to see what's down here and where it is." "It's just so full of stuff here." "It's really hard to do this because everything is overlapping." "It's so dense and so rich." "It's actually quite difficult to map." "NARRATOR:" "Coral reefs are the life support system of our oceans." "Without them, a quarter of all known fish species would be under threat." "There are small patches of bleached coral here, but according to Eritrean scientist Jonathan 'ochre, even these damaged corals recover faster than you'd expect." "PHILIPPE:" "What is so unique about these corals is that even in the extremely high water temperature they manage to survive." "NARRATOR:" "Anywhere else in the world these conditions would spell disaster for the corals." "Something very unusual is happening here." "It's important to find out what because it might just help other coral reefs avoid the ravages of global warming." "The water is really, really warm." "There's no way in my experience that coral should be doing that well." "But it is." "We need to figure something out that is going to help all the other coral in the world, and if it's possible to do that here, this place is like a gold..." "Solid gold mine." "I mean, this is a gold coral because it hits platinum." "Diamond coral, it's so valuable because if this holds that secret, wow, then there's hope." "NARRATOR:" "To understand what's going on, they need to take small samples of the coral." "Here you go." "That's plenty." "That's all we need from this one." "NARRATOR:" "Coral is a complex organism that's both plant and animal." "Inside the animal part, the polyp, is a type of plant known as algae." "It's this algae that gives the coral its colour and provides vital energy through photosynthesis." "PHILIPPE:" "When water temperatures get too high, typically what happens is that the coral loses the algae." "The algae is stressed to such a degree that it leaves the coral skeleton." "NARRATOR:" "This is coral bleaching." "So the secret of these corals' ability to survive must have something to do with the type of algae that lives within it." "One of the theories as to why this coral is able to survive in such high temperature water is that it harbours a specific heat-tolerant algae." "NARRATOR:" "The special heat-resistant algae could be what's keeping this coral so vibrantly alive." "It may be adapting to rising sea temperatures." "If so, this Red Sea coral could hold the key to helping the rest of the world's coral, too." "PHILIPPE:" "The hope is that if we can isolate that algae, we could potentially grow it in the laboratory and literally inoculate other coral reefs around the world so that when they bleach this algae can move in and the corals can survive." "NARRATOR:" "It may sound like science fiction but leading coral scientists agree that heat-tolerant algae might one day provide a way to protect corals worldwide." "PHILIPPE:" "I'm going to put that pyrites in there." "I think it's mind-boggling to think that it's samples like these that could hold the key to global coral conservation." "As climate change is encroaching, sea temperatures are rising, there's a lot of concern and whatever is making these corals tick, hopefully it is this algae." "Whatever it is, it's very exciting." "NARRATOR:" "The investigation doesn't finish here." "There are more mysteries within the coral but they can only be revealed under cover of darkness." "While they wait, Lucy and Philippe have been invited to the nearby island." "That would make an excellent frame in a boat." "A limited resource is being destroyed by Cousteau." "They're going to have a lesson in traditional Egyptian bread-making." "It's something very unique to each country." "I've never even heard of this before, cooking bread in sand." "I love it!" "PHILIPPE:" "It smells so good." "LUCY:" "It's not every day you get to make bread on a beach, is it really?" "PHILIPPE: (CHUCKLES) No." "NARRATOR:" "Now that it's dark, they can dive." "They're looking for evidence of another way these corals might cope with the extreme conditions here." "A mysterious phenomenon which causes some corals to fluoresce, or glow." "It'll be a complicated dive." "Normally when we're on a night dive, we've got a nice bright white light, you know." "But so that we..." "If there's any fluorescence at all, to help us see it, we've got these flashy blue lights and it's the blue lights that will help us see the fluorescence, but, of course, we have to turn the white ones off" "so that's where it kind of doubles up the risk factor." "We can't quite see." "(TOONI GRUNTS)" "NARRATOR:" "Nobody has ever had a chance to look for fluorescing coral in these waters before." "As a marine biologist, Toni will be the first." "TOONI:" "Scientists have a very difficult time of getting here because it's so logistically difficult and it's so unlived that if we do get to see fluorescent pigments here," "I think it will be a first for me to see them full stop, and a first in Eritrean waters as well, so it's a real kind of double winner." "PAUL:" "Three, two, one." "Go!" "NARRATOR:" "There's no way of knowing what to expect." "They may see none at all." "Okay, so these are sort of our sci-fi glasses, I guess, aren't they?" "NARRATOR:" "The yellow goggles filter out specific wavelengths of light to help them see if any of the corals here do fluoresce." "PAUL:" "We got blue lights on." "NARRATOR:" "With a regular dive torch, this is what you see." "'at with blue light and yellow goggles..." "PAUL:" "Oh!" "Look at that!" "It does work." "(TOONI LAUGHING)" "Wow!" "It just jumps out at you instantly, doesn't it?" "As soon as you put the torch on, it just picks out different spots of coral." "PAUL:" "I've never seen anything like it." "TOONI:" "It reminds me of a 1980s disco." "NARRATOR:" "This extraordinary phenomenon is produced by fluorescent pigments found in the tissues of a variety of coral species." "TOONI:" "That's, like, multi-coloured." "There's a huge amount of fluorescence on the reef." "I think we're freaking some of the fish out with our blue lights by the way." "NARRATOR:" "Why corals fluoresce is a scientific mystery." "'at it might be one way they've evolved to deal with the intensity of the sunlight that's bombarding them." "One school of thought is that it's likely that the fluorescent pigments in this particular coral we're looking at has a protective function from the very, very strong sunlight." "NARRATOR:" "The fluorescent pigments might be screening out some wavelengths of light, acting almost like a sunscreen." "TOONI:" "If these fluorescent pigments are actually protecting the coral algae from sun damage, then it means that there's a very good chance that these corals will remain healthy." "NARRATOR:" "The large amount of fluorescence could be another reason why these corals are coping in these hot waters." "PAUL:" "The marvels of the Red Sea never cease to amaze." "(SIGHS)" "Toni, what do you reckon?" "That was so cool." "But to me it was more, like, "Why it's working?" ""Why it's important?"" "TOONI:" "Yeah." "All the wonderful things that are happening in the sea that we don't understand, we don't have a clue about." "I mean, that's the power of it for me." "Yeah, yeah." "There's another secret bit to the recipe of survival." "It doesn't give up its secrets easily, that reef." "NARRATOR:" "Time to break the Egyptian bread." "Make sure there's no sand in it." "I don't want you guys..." "You have to bury it so you build a fire, and then it goes down to the embers." "We built the fire." "NARRATOR:" "And for the bread to break Toni." "I've just cracked a filling." "LUCY:" "You've just cracked a filling?" "(LUCY LAUGHING)" "PHILIPPE:" "It's a little hard." "LUCY:" "There's no need to be rude now." "I cracked a tooth, and my filling..." "NARRATOR:" "There's no shortage of skills an expedition leader needs." "I might put a temporary filling on there." "I do, yeah." "I'm not a trained dentist but I have had some training by the Royal Air Force, you know, some years ago, so I've had some practice." "When you say some years ago..." "That was in '91 I had the training, come to think of it." "Let me just have a look myself there." "Okay, where do you want me?" "Just open up and lean back a bit." "This is an old tube, it's all we've got." "Does that hurt?" "Mom-hmm." "PAUL:" "Don't move, don't move." "It doesn't look too bad, you know." "Sorry, Toni." "Didn't want to push the..." "You're all right, well done." "Thanks." "Bloody, I'm sweating bullets!" "Me, too." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Today it's time to leave Eritrea and head north to Sudan to continue the exploration of this untouched part of the Red Sea." "'at there are fuel problems again." "We're trying to hurry things up here." "It's late." "We're..." "It's an hour late." "Haven't got much of a back-up plan, actually." "If the fuel doesn't arrive, we'll be stuck in these waters." "NARRATOR:" "As expeditions like this are so rare, the send-off has become a local event." "We've been over-run by officials today." "It's all important." "We've now got the British ambassador arrive." "I'm just going to go present my credentials." "So, hello, I'm Paul Rose, expedition leader, nice to meet you." "Pleased to meet you." "Yeah, how you doing, all right?" "Very well, very well." "Would you like some tea or something?" "Or..." "I'd love a cup of tea." "Great, okay." "NARRATOR:" "At last, the promised fuel arrives." "Well, we've got the fuel, thank heavens." "Yeah, I was very, very pleased there to see the truck, so pleased to see the truck that I temporarily forgot to check that it's the right fuel for us." "Kenya." "It's..." "This fuel is marine diesel, yeah?" "NARRATOR:" "With the right fuel on board, it's a traditional goodbye to the Eritrean chaperones." "How good is that?" "We're on our way." "(ALL SHOUTING FAREWELLS)" "NARRATOR:" "The team is heading to the waters off the coast of Sudan, to a very special site." "To an underwater village built by Philippe's grandfather, Jacques Cousteau." "The journey is helped by the seasonal winds as they follow an ancient sea passage." "The Red Sea has always been an important trade route." "Used by the Egyptians and Romans it became part of the Spice Route, but that's not all that was traded." "There's evidence of slaves, for one, but tortoise shell and the best of all is elephants, particularly in the Ptolemaic period." "You can just imagine them building these Hellenistic boats" "transporting elephants up and down." "TOONI:" "Not live elephants?" "Yeah, live elephants." "They were training them to use in their armies." "2,000 years ago you may have been looking here and there and there'd be a boat passing full of elephants." "(MEN SINGING IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)" "NARRATOR:" "It's halfway through the expedition and everyone is exhilarated by what they've discovered, but praying on environmentalist Philippe's mind is the contrast between the southern Red Sea and other oceans he's explored." "Seeing that balance between really healthy coral, very little bleaching, no real damage, human damage anyway, but in a way it reminds you that all the other reefs we dive on are in really bad shape because this is what they should look like." "NARRATOR:" "Sudanese waters are also unspoilt and will offer the chance to look for rare creatures under threat in other oceans," "but getting access has been complicated." "There's a good buzz at the moment but you've only got to have one official that hasn't been kept in the picture by other authorities or some little muddle like that, and we're going to be stuck here" "and once you get stuck in these places, then you're really stuck." "NARRATOR:" "Next day things take a turn for the worse." "The seasonal winds have changed direction sooner than expected." "PAUL:" "Yeah it's too bad." "I mean, we've left the Soaking island group and we're heading towards Port Sudan now but we're being slowed up by this flipping wind." "NARRATOR:" "The boat's fighting a fierce northerly wind." "If they don't get to Port Sudan in time to meet the authorities, they could be held in port." "(THUNDER RUMBLING)" "(WIND HOWLING)" "It's another 24 hours of ploughing through choppy seas before Port Sudan finally comes into sight." "Yeah, we're close enough now." "I need to pass the message, we've all got to get changed." "We need long pants out of respect of custom here." "NARRATOR:" "The Sudanese authorities rarely deal with an expedition of this size." "The port officials and security want to board immediately." "The Department of Security has also insisted that one of their men remains on board." "The chap with the dark suit jacket and the cool-looking shades, he's got to be our man." "(GREETING IN ARABIC)" "NARRATOR:" "While the authorities search the equipment, maritime archaeologist, Dr Lucile, is drawn to one of her favourite subjects, shipwrecks." "Wreck city up here." "A graveyard." "There's one over there, there's one here." "NARRATOR: 'because of their shallow reefs," "Sudanese waters are littered with wrecks." "'at Lucy's been researching an Italian cargo ship, the Umbria, which was sunk on purpose near the start of the Second World War." "Her captain wanted to stop the 'radish Navy getting its hands on her top secret cargo." "It was quite a brave thing to do really when you've got, you know, a crew of British officers on board, actually rifling through your cargo and trying to detain you." "I'm seeing parallels with the fact that we've got customs officials downstairs rifling through our gear... (LAUGHING) That's a very good point, actually." "Oh, these are health..." "Yeah, yellow fever, any deaths, any mice, rats, any infectious disease." "Okay, well, I'll go through this." "Okay, sir, see you later, thank you." "NARRATOR:" "In World War II, the Red Sea was an important route linking Europe with India and other 'radish colonies." "MAN:" "Dive, dive, dive." "NARRATOR:" "The day Italy declared war on 'retain, the captain of the Umbria decided to sink his own ship." "LUCY:" "The vessel itself is listing at about 60 degrees, so you get this really distorted impression." "TOONI:" "I don't think I quite appreciated the scale of a 150-metre-long ship." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy wants to investigate the cargo it carried." "She soon comes across artefacts that hint at life on board." "LUCY:" "Look at this!" "There's just thousands of wine bottles scattered all over what remains of this hold." "(SPEAKS ITALIAN)" "LUCY:" "This is a huge vast space." "This must have been the restaurant or the dining area or something." "And you can still see the stumps from the tables." "It's really like entering into the lives of the people that were living on board here." "It just looks completely eerie." "I've just got images of Titanic going through my mind." "NARRATOR:" "When the Umbria left Italy, the country wasn't yet at war so this was officially a neutral cargo ship." "LUCY:" "Oh, yes!" "Three Fiat Lunges." "There's even glass, there's a driver's seat and everything." "The boat's sitting at an angle and they've just fallen down on top of each other." "NARRATOR: 'at it's not the cars they're here for." "It's the 5,510 tons of cargo in the next hold." "LUCY:" "This is amazing." "There are just thousands and thousands of bombs here." "Just literally surrounded by stack upon stack upon bombs." "In fact, there were 360,000 bombs on board this cargo." "NARRATOR:" "These aircraft bombs were en route to Eritrea, then part of Mussolini's Italian empire, for use against the Allies in East Africa." "It's easy to understand why the captain didn't want the 'radish to get their hands on this deadly cargo." "TOONI:" "To see them laid out like this is just bizarre." "LUCY:" "I know." "TOONI:" "The power, the power of destruction that still remains in this ship is a little bit overwhelming." "NARRATOR:" "Over 600 crates of detonators are stacked separately so these bombs shouldn't explode." "'at if they did, there's enough firepower here to destroy half of Port Sudan over 20 miles away." "LUCY:" "The bombs are just overwhelming, they really are incredible." "They're stacked like eight deep and goodness knows, you know, into the hull how deep they go and it's just..." "You just think what possesses man to want to, you know..." "Just destroy." "...destroy on that scale." "NARRATOR:" "The team is due to visit one of the most audacious and extraordinary ocean bed experiments ever attempted." "It was the brainchild of Philippe's illustrious grandfather," "Jacques Cousteau, who spent years exploring these reefs." "The Red Sea has always been a really important place in my family's work and I've grown up with stories about the adventures that they had." "I think it's almost like a pilgrimage coming here for me." "Kind of gives you an idea of the overall space, the village, the community." "TOONI:" "You know, that looks really futuristic." "NARRATOR:" "Captain Jacques Cousteau dreamed up Consuelo II, an underwater village built in 1963." "It was designed to see if humans could live beneath the waves." "Consuelo II was right off of Saab Rum, which is right up here." "Yeah, it's quite a ways actually away from Port Sudan but that was part of the idea." "It was quite remote." "NARRATOR:" "It was a time of boundless scientific optimism." "Astronauts were heading up into space and now cocoanuts were heading down to the sea floor." "My father died in 1979, just six months before I was born." "My grandfather wrote a letter to him and he actually talks about Consuelo." ""Mon cheer Philippe." ""I will always remember that day of July 1963," ""when you joined the Consuelo II expedition" ""along the Saab Rum reef in the Red Sea." ""The sun was setting but I would not give you time to relax." ""I was too impatient to show you our village under the sea." ""Hastily we both donned our aqualungs" ""and slowly, sensually we submerged into the welcoming water," ""as warm as our blood." ""We started for an unforgettable stroll with slow strokes" ""of our long stretched legs and breathing deep lung-falls of air."" "PHILIPPE:" "This is it." "This is it." "God, I can't believe I'm here, I just can't believe it." "Thinking back to what it must have been like 45 years ago and kind of envisioning these cocoanuts with silver suits." "This was sci-fi." "I mean, this was before we landed on the moon." "This was the first steps of humans living in an alien environment." "LUCY:" "But it has a real sense of being placed here deliberately, and that is what's such contrast to what I usually find in terms of the remains of human culture or activities underwater where they've happened to end up there by default." "NARRATOR:" "The five divers, cocoanuts, lived on the sea floor for a month." "PHILIPPE:" "I want to see what's inside it, too." "LUCY:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Today this is all that's left of the underwater village, the garage for their submarine." "LUCY:" "Wow." "How do you actually get in, Philippe?" "PHILIPPE:" "Well, there's an entrance over here, I think." "The submarine would have come up underneath and slowly risen up into the area in here, this submarine garage." "God, I can't believe I'm here." "No one really understood the physiological or psychological effects of living at pressure." "NARRATOR:" "Here, they were at twice atmospheric pressure." "Every morning a doctor carried out medical tests." "PHILIPPE:" "We know that cuts and nicks healed faster because of the increased pressure in the oxygen at depth that caused their body to recover." "They even had someone come down to give them a haircut every once in a while, even though their beards and their hair grew slower at depth." "LUCY:" "And it was so advanced for its time, wasn't it?" "It really, really was." "NARRATOR:" "Fresh food and water were brought down every day." "PHILIPPE:" "But being French, they had wine and champagne which was flat because under pressure the bubbles didn't expand." "They did some of the first remote video capture of life underwater, videoing things that no one had ever seen before." "NARRATOR:" "They observed new patterns of behaviour and discovered several new species." "PHILIPPE:" "It was really cutting edge science and provided an incredible amount of knowledge for us to take another step towards understanding the relationship we have with the oceans." "NARRATOR: 'y the end of the month this bold experiment had proved that man could live underwater, although the space race was to turn everyone's thoughts to a different frontier." "PHILIPPE: "I kept your hand in mine to guide you" ""from Starfish House, where cocoanuts were having dinner," ""to the onion-shaped diving saucer garage." ""Twilight was turning to sheer darkness" ""and our structures became eerie shadows." ""The fish were just moving pieces of the sea." ""I was still holding your hand when we returned to the ladder." ""I felt strangely proud, not of what we had achieved," ""but because our dreams were always shared so intimately." ""I saw your shining face proud to have something to give back to me," ""and I smiled," ""because I knew that pursuing rainbows in your plane," ""you would always seek..." "(SNIFFS)" ""You would..." ""Because I knew that pursuing rainbows in your plane," ""you would always seek after the vanishing shapes of a better world."" "NARRATOR:" "After two weeks at sea, the expedition is almost over, but there's one final mission." "In many parts of the world, fishing has dramatically reduced the number of sharks, like these scalloped hammerheads." "That's amazing." "Look how many there are." "I've never seen a school like that." "NARRATOR:" "Today it's incredibly rare to see large groups." "These were filmed over a decade ago." "PHILIPPE:" "We don't know very much at all about hammerheads and it's really kind of the luck of the draw these days, you know, even in places where you can still find them, it's hard." "NARRATOR:" "It's so difficult for scientists to get to this part of the world that there are no reliable figures on hammerhead numbers, so it's a great chance for Paul to see what he can add." "Been building up to this for a long time, not even just on this part of the expedition, but I've looked for them before in my life and not found them." "There is a bit of pressure because it's an important expedition target so really, really, really want to find them." "PAUL:" "See you, buddy!" "NARRATOR:" "There's little fishing in these waters, so could this be an important haven for fish that are jeopardised elsewhere, like hammerheads?" "Finding a large group might indicate the population here is thriving." "Paul's heading to the edge of the reef." "PAUL:" "It's just unbelievably pristine, look at it." "NARRATOR:" "Here currents rise from the deep, carrying nutrients which encourage plenty of fish, food for sharks." "PAUL:" "That's good, we've got some grey reef sharks swimming around me now." "Fabulous things, aren't they?" "NARRATOR:" "It's definitely shark territory." "Grey reef sharks are agile, curious and often swim in packs." "Paul needs to be careful not to get too close or make any sudden movements." "While Paul is swimming against the strong currents at 40 metres..." "PHILIPPE:" "Richard!" "NARRATOR:...there's a problem developing on the surface." "Richard, what's going on?" "RICHARD:" "I have to report we have an emergency situation out here." "We cannot pick up divers at the moment." "PHILIPPE:" "Engine's down on the Zodiac which means they can't go chasing the divers in case there's an emergency because the current's so strong." "NARRATOR:" "The engine on the rescue boat isn't working." "The team is worried because Paul is deep underwater, swimming against strong currents, and if anything goes wrong, there's nothing they can do." "'at Paul is completely unaware of what's going on." "A single barracuda comes to investigate." "Above, a ball of them circle in the shadows." "No one is sure why they do this, but they could be herding their prey towards the surface." "PAUL:" "We're at 40 metres, just wonderful to be in the blue orb of the welcoming Red Sea." "No hammerheads, though." "You've just got to happen to be very lucky, to be in the same place at the same time." "PHILIPPE:" "All right, Richard, we've launched our Zodiac." "The best we can do is get that boat out to you and swap motors and so that you've got a working motor on your Zodiac." "They're on our way." "We've done everything we can as fast as we could, Richard." "Over." "NARRATOR:" "Paul has been swimming against the current for two hours when he spots something very rare." "PAUL:" "That's pretty special." "Can you believe it?" "That's a sail fish." "Look at him." "Over a metre long." "It's very rare, that." "These things are solitary fish and are very, very unusual to see here." "He's got that dorsal spine up." "That's a sign of aggression." "NARRATOR:" "Sail fish are the fastest fish in the oceans and can reach 68 miles per hour." "'at Paul has still not seen any sign of hammerheads and with the boat trouble, the decision is made to halt the dive." "Had a great dive but no hammerheads." "We've got some boating things to figure out." "We don't do boating very well at the moment." "Really disappointing." "At least I did get the hint of sharks." "It felt like shark water to me, and so we're going to do a dawn dive tomorrow." "Yeah, this is my mission on this expedition, is to learn some more about the hammerheads." "NARRATOR: 'at was seeing none today a sign that hammerhead numbers in the Red Sea are declining?" "5:00 am, the last day of the expedition." "Paul's final chance to look for hammerheads." "He's heading back to 40 metres." "PAUL:" "It's bursting with life, truly amazing, completely untouched." "NARRATOR:" "Which is why these waters are in pristine condition." "Paul passes butterfly fish, feeding on the coral." "Almost one in five fish species found here lives nowhere else on earth." "Suddenly a rare silky shark comes close." "Recognisable because of its shiny skin, it can grow to over three metres long." "Paul has been drifting along the edge of the reef for nearly an hour." "Then something moves in the distance." "PAUL:" "Here you go." "A school of hammerheads, there's about 30 of them." "Look at that!" "We've just seen one of the rarest sights on earth, a school of hammerheads flying through here." "NARRATOR:" "It's a distant sighting, but still exceptional to see them in such a big group, and a very good sign for their population here." "PAUL:" "What a gift." "Thank you, the Red Sea!" "TOONI:" "He saw them." "He's giving the double thumbs-up." "PHILIPPE:" "He's giving the double fins!" "We knew it." "Perseverance." "We prevailed." "PAUL:" "We've got to stop doing this last minute stuff." "It's going to kill us." "PHILIPPE:" "That's fantastic." "It really was great." "Good for you, man." "There was about 30-odd of them." "TOONI:" "Thirty!" "PHILIPPE:" "Thirty!" "NARRATOR:" "In many other oceans, a sighting like this would be a thing of the past because of over-fishing." "It's another reminder that this part of the Red Sea is unique." "I've done over 6,000 dives, but, well, it was, you know, truly a marvel." "I mean, I have been looking for hammerheads for most of my diving life." "There's just something about them." "I've never seen any." "A school of hammerheads flying through here." "PAUL:" "Just by witnessing it, recording our experiences, we have added to the science database here in the southern part of the Red Sea because so little has been done." "NARRATOR:" "It's a fantastic end to an expedition which has shown" "Just how important this small sea is." "The southern Red Sea gives you some indication of what the seas used to be like and, I mean, if we're lucky, what they could be like again in the future if they're managed properly and we give them a little bit more respect." "PHILIPPE:" "We are leaving this place richer in ourselves, richer in our knowledge but there's so much that it holds that we don't understand, and that's so exciting." "I came up from every dive I've done in Eritrea just feeling really, really positive, and I don't think I've had that sensation anywhere else in the world." "Toni, what do you reckon?" "What we've learnt in the Red Sea is that oceans can survive." "It sounds odd but oceans are fragile and yet they can survive." "NARRATOR:" "Next time, the team explores the vast Atlantic." "They'll brave the toxic world of our ancient oceans." "We are three and a half million years back in time." "NARRATOR:" "They'll investigate the invasion of a deadly species and try to protect a fearsome predator." "PHILIPPE:" "Sharks everywhere!" "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet." "They hold clues to the mysteries of our past." "And they're vital for our future survival." "But the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes!" "Yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year, the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "PHILIPPE:" "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "TOONI:" "That is psychedelically purple!" "We're here to try and understand the earth's oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR: our oceans are changing faster than ever." "I've never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on earth." "The team is about to explore the mighty Atlantic." "This vast sea is the second largest of the world's oceans." "It dominates the western hemisphere and covers a fifth of the planet's surface, 41 million square miles." "Its northern boundary is the Arctic, its southern boundary is the Antarctic." "To the west you've got the whole Americas, and to the east, of course, you've got Africa and northern Europe." "So, I mean, it's a sea of extremes." "NARRATOR:" "It's the youngest of the great oceans, but one of the most influential, with an enormous impact on our climate." "The Atlantic is a critical ocean, not just because it's such a beautiful, vast and varied place, but because it's so important for the health of the planet." "NARRATOR:" "But it's now under threat." "Increasing commercialisation of its rich resources is changing it dramatically." "The Atlantic is, more than I think many people realise, it's being lost before we even, I think, grasp its full significance." "NARRATOR:" "The team is here to investigate how man is endangering our crucial relationship with this ocean." "We are three and a half billion years back in time." "NARRATOR:" "Toni Math is a marine biologist and oceanographer." "on this expedition, she'll brave the alien world of our prehistoric seas to explore how the oceans transformed our planet." "It's dark and gloomy and just very lifeless by the looks of things." "NARRATOR:" "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue will investigate how conquering the Atlantic helped change our history." "LUCY:" "It's clearly a hugely important highway in terms of connecting continents, but also in terms of the early seafaring activities in this particular part of the Atlantic Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "And environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, grandson of ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau, will examine how we are threatening the future of this ocean." "It's like seeing a polar bear on the plains of Africa." "It just doesn't belong here." "NARRATOR:" "And he'll become human bait in an experiment to protect a top predator." "PHILIPPE:" "Sharks everywhere!" "NARRATOR:" "The team has come to the heart of the Atlantic ocean, to the tropical waters of the Bahamas." "Here there are unique marine environments which can reveal this ocean's past and its complex future." "So the probe, you'll both be handling the probe." "NARRATOR:" "For their first mission, the team is planning to explore one, to discover what our planet's earliest oceans were like." "We really only know this much about what we're going to find on this dive." "We really, genuinely don't know much about this at all." "NARRATOR:" "They're heading to a strange marine environment, one of the only places in the world where dark toxic waters mimic the earth's first oceans." "There it is, Toni." "NARRATOR:" "It's called the black hole." "And this could well be the most dangerous dive we're going to make." "It looks like a giant pupil looking up at us." "NARRATOR:" "Formed by chemical erosion over many thousands of years, this isolated black hole has developed conditions similar to the seas of three and a half billion years ago." "The team wants to find out what those early seas were really like by diving deep into these waters." "There's only ever been three scientific expeditions here." "So this is a great opportunity to actually get in the water and try and glean more understanding about this almost isolated environment." "NARRATOR:" "Though it's relatively unexplored, there's one thing scientists do know about this deep water pool.." "that like our early oceans, parts of it are toxic and dangerous." "I understand there's a layer down there, and this layer is kind of suspended around about 20 metres." "It's a metre deep, and in that layer is very high concentrations of poison, hydrogen sulphide, and under that I have no idea what to expect whatsoever." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy and Philippe will be at the surface, taking temperature and oxygen readings to monitor the conditions as Toni and Paul descend." "We're going to drop the sensor down with the divers, and kind of record on the way down, so we can get an idea, hopefully, of what's going on down there." "NARRATOR:" "It's a deep dive into toxic chemicals." "Dive safety supervisor Richard Bull is worried." "Quite frankly, I'm a bit twitchy about it, all right?" "Don't forget you can bail out at any point." "If you're a bit twitchy, get out of there." "It's better to be stood up here wishing you were in there, than in there wishing you were stood up here, all right?" "Toni and Paul, you're looking out for each other." "You are each other's standby, all right?" "I'm not sure it's going to be that pleasant down there, and if it's not that pleasant, I want my wing man on standby." "PAUL:" "I'm yours." "Don't worry." "RICHARD: 2, 1..." "TOONI:" "Man, that really is looking over the precipice, isn't it?" "PAUL:" "We're just suspended perfectly over this huge black hole, and it feels as if it's drawing us down." "NARRATOR:" "Paul and Toni plan to spend longer in the black hole than anyone has before." "No one can be absolutely certain what the effects will be." "Toni, here's the science kit coming down." "PHILIPPE:" "How deep are you right now?" "PAUL:" "Yeah, we're now at 15 metres, Philippe." "NARRATOR:" "They keep going down." "So far, the dive has been completely normal, but then they reach 18 metres." "Wow!" "Philippe, the temperature has just soared by about six degrees." "PAUL:" "Yeah, Philippe, my head feels quite normal but my legs are really, really hot, and I'm in some kind of strange layer." "What are you showing up there for temperature?" "LUCY:" "It's just zipped up to about 30 degrees C." "We're reading some interesting figures here on the probe." "It seems that the temperature has spiked quite considerably." "It's just in a metre." "That's amazing." "Usually, the deeper you go, the colder it gets." "This is incredible." "God, I don't think..." "I've never even heard of anything like that before." "No, no." "Nor I." "NARRATOR:" "To find out what's causing the sudden rise in temperature, they descend even further." "TOONI:" "Oh, my goodness, it's purple." "This is bizarre." "That is psychedelically purple." "PAUL:" "It's like being in an outer space chemical soup." "NARRATOR:" "As a marine biologist," "Toni recognises what the purple cloud must be." "TOONI:" "We're right in the middle of a layer of purple sulphur bacteria." "They contain a pigment which they use to trap sunlight, and that pigment is purple." "NARRATOR:" "The bacteria absorb the sunlight's energy to photosynthesise, but not all the energy is absorbed." "TOONI:" "And the reason it's warm is because, purple sulphur bacterium, they're not particularly good for trapping that sunlight." "So about 70%%% of the energy of the sun is just dissipated as heat." "NARRATOR:" "Bacteria like these were one of the few life forms that could survive in our early seas." "But when they photosynthesise, some produce a poisonous by-product, hydrogen sulphide." "In high concentrations, that's as deadly as cyanide." "TOONI:" "Oh, God, I can smell it in my face mask." "PAUL:" "Oh, it really smells!" "None of their face is exposed to the water." "What's happening is that their skin is actually absorbing the hydrogen sulphide and that's moving its way and circulating through their body into their sinuses, and that's how they're smelling it." "NARRATOR:" "To discover more about conditions in our early oceans," "Paul and Toni need to find out what's below this toxic layer." "It can't possibly get any worse." "Let's go down another half a metre or so." "TOONI:" "Oh, man, it's absolutely pitch black." "It's like somebody's just sucked all the light away." "And the bacteria just above us have actually sucked all the light out, so no sunlight energy reaches this layer." "NARRATOR:" "This is why the black hole appears so dark from the surface." "Then Lucy discovers something else." "The oxygen levels have gone from 7.8 at the surface, all the way down to .18." "Wow!" "I know that's..." "Paul, Toni, surface." "We're also noticing on the probes that the oxygen level has dropped considerably." "NARRATOR:" "There's almost no oxygen in the water here." "The layer of bacteria acts as a barrier, preventing the sunlight and oxygenated water above from getting down here." "These are the conditions they have been looking for." "What Paul and I are swimming through, is what the oceans would have once been like, dark and gloomy, very, very little oxygen and just very lifeless by the looks of things." "NARRATOR:" "With its high concentration of sulphur bacteria and no light or oxygen, this body of water is as close as we can now get to our ancient oceans." "We are three and a half billion years back in time." "NARRATOR:" "The oceans formed when the earth was about 200 million years old." "They were a series of hot oxygen-free pools with very little life, dotted across the barren volcanic landscape." "They remained that way for over a billion years." "TOONI:" "I'm getting sort of weird sensations on my skin." "It's really, really tingling." "NARRATOR:" "After Just 20 minutes, their bodies have started to react to this harsh environment." "It's having some weird effect on our skin." "TOONI:" "I can almost feel my hair burning." "PAUL:" "I need to get this suit off, 'cause I am itching in here." "These chemicals really make me itch." "NARRATOR:" "Dive safety supervisor Richard Bull has heard enough." "It's time to get them out." "Toni, surface." "There's too much that we don't know about down there." "We don't know how the gas affects them, we don't know how it affects the equipment." "Just so many ifs and buts." "PAUL:" "We're coming up." "How was it?" "Well, everything about it is weird." "It's getting warmer and warmer and warmer." "As you go deeper, huh?" "To the point of it being oddly, unhealthily warm." "TOONI:" "Ooh, look at that!" "That's where the metal's been oxidised by the bacteria." "PAUL:" "This is a brass clip and this is a brass-bodied pressure gauge." "I've just noticed they've both gone off." "But it's no surprise to see some other manifestation of that chemical reaction down there, 'cause it's pretty powerful." "That's how our oceans were, not these wonderful live masses of water covering 70%%% of our surface." "They were like that weird place." "That's where we started." "And so it's fantastic to be in a bit of water that is exactly the same as our oceans were three and a half billion years ago." "I mean, you know, top that." "NARRATOR:" "Since then the Atlantic and all our oceans have changed beyond recognition." "They are now abundant with life." "Divers coming down." "NARRATOR:" "To find out how that happened, Toni and Paul are about to dive with the creatures which triggered that great transformation." "Here in the Bahamas is one of only two places on earth where they still survive." "They are the oldest life form on earth." "I am really looking forward to diving on the organisms that were instrumental in creating our modern oceans." "And so I'm really keen to go and see almost the seat of all life." "Everyone ready?" "Okay!" "Go!" "NARRATOR:" "They may look like lifeless rocks, but this is actually a thriving colony of the life form that oxygenated our planet's atmosphere." "Stromatolites." "TOONI:" "They've been around for three and a half billion years, which is over three quarters of the earth's history." "Quite phenomenal." "PAUL:" "It's hard to believe, isn't it, these simple rock-shaped things are actually one of the engines that turned the planet into the life-giving place that it is." "NARRATOR:" "Billions of bacteria live on the surface of these mounds, and build up by binding particles in the water." "The bacteria catch the sediment that's brought with the currents and they just form these large boulders, and they just lay down more and more of this sandy substance, and they get larger and larger over time." "NARRATOR:" "The stromatolites came to dominate the early seas and were the first life form to do something extraordinary." "TOONI:" "The bacteria are called cyan bacteria." "And they actually photosynthesise in the same way that plants and algae do." "They take carbon dioxide and water, and using this energy from the sunlight, they make oxygen." "NARRATOR:" "By producing oxygen, the stromatolites started to transform the planet." "And even now, billions of years later, they're still producing it, as Toni can prove with a fluorometer." "The fluorometer gives an indirect measurement of the amount of oxygen that the stromatolites are producing." "It's just the skin of this, just the outer layer is the stuff that's alive and gives off oxygen." "So if you want to hold that bit on there, on a flat surface." "And the reading here is 0.5." "NARRATOR:" "This is significantly less than an average plant produces." "But because there were so many colonies of stromatolites spread across all our early oceans, they had a huge impact." "The oxygen they produced seeped into the atmosphere, and after two billion years, reached the levels we have today." "The seas became oxygenated and more complex life could thrive." "It was the fact that they were pumping huge amounts of oxygen into the atmosphere, which meant that modern-day life and very complex life forms, such as myself and Paul, could evolve." "You and I are the ultimate time travellers." "Yeah, talk about time travel." "We've experienced the ancient ocean and the modern ocean within the space of a day." "(LAUGHING) Perfect." "Just perfect." "NARRATOR:" "For hundreds of thousands of years, the rich life in the modern oceans has been a vital resource for man, but today, we're increasingly threatening it." "PAUL:" "Okay, where's the white board?" "All right, everyone, so we got it sussed here." "An easy trip, anchor tonight..." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe is going to investigate a growing problem that is changing the balance of life here, an alien species brought to this ocean by man." "Invasive species are having a devastating effect on more and more of our oceans." "In this part of the Atlantic, the invader is the lionfish." "Probably one of the top five environmental crises we're facing today is invasive species, and lionfish is really the poster child of that here in the Atlantic Ocean." "I love diving with lionfish, you know." "I've done it many times in the Pacific Ocean, where they belong, not in the Atlantic, not here in the Bahamas." "5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe wants to discover how the lionfish could be affecting the Atlantic ocean." "Native to the warm waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans, lionfish live mainly around coral reefs." "PHILIPPE:" "Wait, Luce!" "LUCY:" "Have you got one?" "PHILIPPE:" "Right here." "It's like seeing a polar bear on the plains of Africa." "It just doesn't belong here." "NARRATOR:" "The fish are popular in aquariums, so scientists suspect that unwanted pets may have been released by their owners into Atlantic waters." "The first sightings began about 20 years ago." "LUCY:" "Here's one here, look." "PHILIPPE:" "They're clearly doing very, very well." "You can see this other one right up here, just sitting on the ledge." "They're everywhere." "It's unbelievable." "LUCY:" "There's more of them than anything else." "NARRATOR:" "These ornate fish are one of the ocean's most poisonous creatures." "They have spines on their fins." "At the base of these spines are venom glands containing a neurotoxin." "When the spine punctures a victim, the toxin is released." "PHILIPPE:" "Old wives' tales would say that fishermen who would grab lionfish and try and pull them out of their nets, would get stung and they would throw themselves overboard and commit suicide because the pain was so excruciating." "NARRATOR:" "But the venomous spines aren't the real danger here." "So far, on this dive, the lionfish is the only relatively large fish that Philippe and Lucy have seen." "These invaders are skilled and efficient hunters that decimate the native fish population." "PHILIPPE:" "Wow, he's eyeballing something." "He's just, kind of, sneaking up on it." "Whoa!" "Did you see that?" "He just went after something." "LUCY:" "Oh, yeah!" "(BOTH EXCLAIMING)" "Wow!" "That is so rare." "Typically, lionfish are nocturnal feeders, and for him to have done that, it just shows, just how voracious and deadly these creatures are." "NARRATOR:" "And because they're new here, the native fish don't yet recognise them as predators." "LUCY:" "All the little fish swimming around it, they're just, sort of, hanging out there." "So the idea of, you know, identifying it as a predator, no, they haven't acknowledged that as yet." "Look at them, they're almost following it at the moment." "NARRATOR:" "Lionfish target young fish which are easily caught." "The native fish population is in danger of being wiped out." "PHILIPPE:" "That was the problem in action." "This is bad news for the health of this ecosystem, bad news for potentially important fish and for the other creatures that live here, that are part of the natural order of this food chain." "NARRATOR:" "And it's getting worse." "Lionfish have few natural predators in the Atlantic, so their population is exploding." "From Just a handful 20 years ago, there are now countless lionfish, and they've spread from the Caribbean as far north as Rhode Island." "For me, it was just the way that the other fish were just, sort of, hanging out around them, as if they had no fear or any indication that they were their predators." "PHILIPPE:" "They were everywhere." "You know, I was looking for grouper, I was looking for parrot fish," "I was keeping my eye out for things that should be here, and I didn't see any of them in the abundance that I saw lionfish." "That's very worrying." "I don't think there's anything we can do about it." "I really don't." "Except for try and learn, so that if it happens again with another species, we're a little more prepared to deal with it." "I think that's about all we can hope for, which isn't much." "NARRATOR:" "There's no sign of this Atlantic invasion stopping, and it's far from the only example of man's impact on this ocean." "Later in the expedition, the team will dive with sharks to protect these top predators, victims of increased commercial fishing here." "These waters are being changed by man, but they brought the first settlers to these islands over 1,300 years ago." "Good luck with the Lucian's, guys." "Don't want to see any..." "There are archaeological discoveries to be made in terms of that whole, sort of, migration of people out of South America and slow colonisation of various islands in the Caribbean in this part of the Atlantic Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "Today, maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue is travelling inland, in search of the lost civilisation of the Lucian's." "The Lucian's were an ancient people who travelled here from South America on wooden rafts, using the ocean currents and prevailing winds." "Lucy will be the first archaeologist to investigate a sea cave thought to be a Lucian burial site." "This is the first time in 20 years or so that anybody's been allowed to go back and have a look and see if, indeed, anything still remains there." "NARRATOR:" "Very little is left of the Lucian's' ancient civilisation." "could this cave hold evidence of their rich history?" "This watery state, it's really quite atmospheric, quite peaceful actually, isn't it?" "Sort of fitting that you bury your dead there, in a way." "Hopefully, my expertise in the archaeological remains will add something to an understanding, assuming there's anything there, though." "We're still not entirely sure that we're actually going to find anything." "LUCY:" "Wow!" "And into the depths we descend." "Whoa!" "That is just like the hand of God touching the cavern." "NARRATOR:" "Finding anything won't be easy." "This underground labyrinth of caverns extends for many miles and eventually Joins the ocean." "LUCY:" "The limestone structure of the Bahamas being so porous and fragile creates these vast cave systems." "NARRATOR:" "The Lucian's' creation legend tells how they were trapped in a watery cave until the sun and the moon freed them." "So caves were sacred places and used for burial." "LUCY:" "What about there?" "Amah!" "Look at this!" "That's really eerie." "NARRATOR:" "Deep within the cave, Lucy spots something remarkable." "Toni, Toni, come in, come in." "God!" "God, it's incredible to think this could have been here for over 1,400 years, just lying here in its watery grave." "LUCY:" "I can't see any other sort of burial artefacts with it, no bits of pottery, but unfortunately we can't get too close." "I might just go a little bit closer." "NARRATOR:" "But is this skull Lucian?" "one feature would prove it." "LUCY:" "Apparently they used to strap planks of wood on the skull, and this would give it a very pronounced shape." "It was supposed to be a sign of, you know, beauty." "It's a bit like, you know, when the Japanese bind their kids' feet, it's the same sort of effect." "And actually it does look like it's had that on its head." "NARRATOR:" "The characteristic flat forehead shows this really is the skull of a Lucian." "It's thought the bodies were dropped into the caves from openings above, but to Lucy the position of the body suggests another possibility." "LUCY:" "The Lucian's themselves were actually really competent free divers, and so they could have actually carried the body and placed it in this position." "To me it looks very deliberately placed." "NARRATOR:" "But while the Atlantic transported the Lucian settlers here, it also brought about their demise when, hundreds of years later, other races migrated across this ocean." "LUCY:" "The Lucian people lived here quite peacefully until the Europeans arrived, Columbus and his men." "They took a population of roughly 60,000 people and enslaved them, and if they refused to be enslaved, then they shot them." "NARRATOR:" "After Spanish colonisation," "European diseases and mass suicides in response to slavery took their toll." "LUCY:" "Within a generation, the Lucian peoples no longer existed." "I felt very privileged, looking at somebody in their final resting place." "When you find, you know, the remains of people that lived, you know, sort of 1,400 years ago or something..." "TOONI:" "A vanished civilisation." "LUCY:" "Yeah, that makes it very special." "NARRATOR:" "Today the Atlantic still has a great influence on our lives." "It's one of the most important oceans for regulating the planet's climate because it carries one of the world's strongest ocean currents, the Gulf Stream." "You know, here's the whole, huge Atlantic, you know, icebergs either end, and here's the Bahamas, with the most powerful current on earth." "NARRATOR: originating in the Gulf of Mexico, it flows north along the east coast of the United States, before arcing away to the northeast and driving right across the entire north Atlantic." "The Gulf Stream moves 100 times as much water as all the rivers on earth." "It gets some of the power to do that right here in the Bahamas." "...where we are, the Bahamas, the Gulf Stream coursing up through that narrow bit between Florida and us, the gun barrel of the Gulf Stream." "NARRATOR:" "Thirty million cubic metres of water per second are squeezed through this narrow channel and forced out the other end." "And Paul is going to investigate Just what effect that has on this current." "Ready to roll?" "All set." "So we can all go together, because with this current if someone gets in first, gone." "(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)" "(EXCLAIMING)" "It's going that way and there's no force of man that can stop it." "NARRATOR:" "It's here that the current is at its fastest." "The power generated as it's forced through the gap is immense." "PAUL:" "This huge current runs right across the Atlantic Ocean and it's one of the great engines that drives the world's climate." "The Gulf Stream takes warm water from the southern Atlantic and moves it into the northern hemisphere." "NARRATOR:" "It moves more heat each day than the world's power stations produce in a year, enough to warm northern Europe and raise the air temperature in Britain by ten degrees." "PAUL:" "The Gulf Stream in the Atlantic ocean is driving our weather." "That gives you an idea of the scale and power of this whole system." "We need to get up there because he's going to be low on air by now." "I tell you what, I knew I was going fast, but I couldn't tell you how fast." "You could sense the power." "NARRATOR:" "Man learned how to harness this current and the winds to travel around the Atlantic." "For hundreds of years, this ocean was central to the discovery of new worlds and colonial expansion." "It's clearly a hugely important highway in terms of connecting continents, but also in terms of the early seafaring activities in this particular part of the Atlantic Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "This ocean has been especially important in shaping the history of Britain and the United States, bringing settlers, trade, even war." "Lucy wants to investigate a battle between Britain and America by identifying a significant shipwreck, one that might be the HMS Southampton." "There are so many incidences of shipwrecks in this area." "I mean the "Bahamas" in Spanish means "shallow waters"." "We don't know if..." "NARRATOR:" "The war was a dispute over Atlantic trade routes between England and America in 1812, shortly after the War of Independence." "A shipwreck has been found on a reef near conception Island." "It's not been mapped at all." "It's not been surveyed extensively." "It certainly hasn't been excavated." "So, you know, it hasn't really been investigated." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy wants to find out if this wreck is the HMS Southampton." "LUCY:" "She wasn't actually that big, she was only about 120-odd feet, carrying 32 guns." "PHILIPPE:" "That's a lot of guns for 120 feet." "I know, and a crew of nearly 200 or something." "It must have been actually quite, quite cramped." "Awfully close, and they spent a lot of time at sea back then." "LUCY:" "I know, totally." "It will be interesting to see if that compliment of guns and anchors and everything actually are reflected on the seabed." "NARRATOR:" "But the weather may scupper their plans." "(THUNDER RUMBLING)" "We should be prepared for some kind of jiggery-poker with the schedule, or maybe not even making it, I don't know." "Oh, really?" "Yeah, they're talking, you know, gale force." "Really?" "Yeah, so..." "And how long is that likely to last?" "PAUL:" "Well, we don't even need gale force." "If it's on the edge of 20 knots, it'll be on the edge of our diving capability." "NARRATOR:" "The weather moves in and conditions deteriorate rapidly." "This is just not what we want at all." "And, as ever, it's a tight schedule, so if we don't get a move on..." "NARRATOR:" "As well as the shipwreck, they also need to fit in a challenging dive with sharks, so they decide to press on." "After hours of forging through choppy seas, they finally get near the shipwreck." "It's not getting any better, and the boat's rocking, and it's blowing like crazy, so it's not making our job any easier." "With the wind, the current and this position, it's a bit marginal really." "NARRATOR:" "In these conditions, it's easy to see how a ship could founder on this reef." "Now Lucy can finally try to discover whether it is the Southampton." "LUCY:" "Well, there's an anticipation, but also, you just don't know what you're going to find, do you?" "So that's quite exciting, really." "NARRATOR:" "Several metres down, conditions are much better, so Lucy and Philippe start their detective work." "LUCY:" "I'm just trying to find any clues of the wrecking of the ship." "I'm trying to see if I can find any of the cannon or the anchor." "Ah-ha!" "Look!" "Philippe." "Philippe." "Philippe!" "PHILIPPE:" "Look at that!" "LUCY:" "Look, you can see one, two..." "There's loads of cannon all over the place." "NARRATOR:" "Any exposed wood will long have rotted away, but there are artefacts spread over a wide area." "PHILIPPE:" "Once you've trained your eyes, there are cannon everywhere." "LUCY:" "Another one over there." "They're just lying here." "Look, here's another one here." "I've never seen so many cannon in such a concentrated area on a ship before." "PHILIPPE:" "Just look at the size of this thing." "I mean, it's about as long as I am." "NARRATOR:" "But are these cannons from the Southampton?" "LUCY:" "The Southampton had 32 guns." "There were 26 of these 12-pounders." "I think this is a 12-pounder." "We need to measure it." "NARRATOR:" "The 12-pound guns on the HMS Southampton were said to be between six-and-a-half and seven feet long." "LUCY:" "It's about 6'7"." "PHILIPPE:" "So this is the right kind of cannon then, Lucy?" "LUCY:" "I think so, I think so." "Ah, the other thing that's quite distinguishing about this is that the 12-pounders of this era have these little sort of rings attached to their ends, which was quite unusual." "Not many of the cannons had these." "So that looks like one of the types of cannon that the vessel would have been originally consigned with." "NARRATOR:" "The cannons alone aren't enough for a positive identification." "Lucy needs to find more evidence." "LUCY:" "Philippe, look, look, look, look!" "PHILIPPE:" "It's huge!" "This is just incredible." "I mean, you can see this anchor just sitting here." "LUCY:" "It's a British anchor." "You can see because of the V-shaped arms at the bottom of the anchor." "This is very distinctive of British naval vessel anchors." "If it was from an American vessel, it would have been more rounded at the base." "It's just another clue, in a way, as to understanding if this is the wreck of the HMS Southampton." "PHILIPPE:" "I would have expected maybe to find a pile of chain or something attached to the anchor that..." "I mean, that would have been iron that should still be here." "LUCY:" "No, no, no, not for this period, because they would have been using ropes rather than chains to actually haul the anchor." "She probably would have thrown these anchors aground, as she wrecked here during the night." "By the morning, they realised that there was no saving the vessel and they had to abandon ship." "So again, another clue confirming this is the HMS Southampton." "NARRATOR:" "The size of the cannons along with the type and position of the anchors have convinced Lucy this is the HMS Southampton." "It's a record of the November night in 1812 when, towing a captured American ship to Jamaica, she hit this reef and sank." "LUCY:" "It brings to life an event and a particular battle that has been forgotten a lot in our histories, both UK and American." "NARRATOR:" "The war was finally resolved with a treaty signed in 1814." "Neither side was victorious, but it confirmed the status of the United States as a fully independent nation." "PHILIPPE:" "You know what this impresses upon me?" "I mean, the Atlantic played a huge role in that war alone, not to mention many, many others." "Such a vast critical ocean." "LUCY:" "It is like a snapshot in time which basically the ocean has preserved for us to come and investigate, and so in a way the ocean actually holds a story, which we are very unlikely to find in any other context." "NARRATOR:" "The Atlantic has helped shape our distant and more recent past." "Now the expedition is heading northwest to investigate its future." "PAUL:" "We're heading for north Bikini, aren't we?" "Yeah, we're going to come off the banks, so we need to get down here and drop the anchor overnight." "NARRATOR:" "The future of the Atlantic is being shaped by man." "The effects of large-scale commercial fishing are damaging this mighty ocean." "In the last decade, some fish stocks have fallen by 95%." "one fish is particularly hard-hit.." "the shark." "PAUL:" "How many sharks do we catch every year?" "Who was it who said it?" "It must have been you, Philippe." "Human beings catch between 70..." "We estimate between 70 and 100 million sharks every year." "Million?" "Seventy to 100 million sharks a year." "NARRATOR:" "Some sharks are caught for their fins, used in shark fin soup." "But millions of sharks are by-catch, caught unintentionally by big commercial fishing operations." "Sharks are so critical." "I mean, they are the apex predator." "They help to weed out the sick and the diseased, and make sure that the fisheries and the food chain beneath them is healthy and viable." "And when they remove sharks from, you know, that chain, it has just disastrous effects on the entire ecosystem." "NARRATOR:" "So the team is going to dive with sharks to investigate a pioneering technique, a shark-repellent that could help protect these vital creatures." "PHILIPPE:" "It's coming up slowly, it's a small one." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe and Toni are going to team up with scientists from the shark lab at the Bikini Biological Field Station." "For the last 25 years, they've been monitoring the population here, catching and then releasing the sharks once they've collected their data." "There is a shark caught on one of the hooks." "I mean, it's giving a good thrash in the water, so it's still alive and obviously fine." "NARRATOR:" "To track the diminishing population, they need to attach an identity tag to this shark." "Philippe is going to monitor the process underwater." "We've got to be very, very careful." "It's going to be an upset shark, and it's happened before that they can break free from a line, so we're going to give it a lot of space, a lot of berth and a lot of respect." "PHILIPPE:" "Looks like a tiger shark." "That is a tiger shark all right." "Tiger sharks are known to be one of the more dangerous sharks in the world." "I normally would never get this close to a tiger shark." "Whoa!" "That was a close call there." "That's why you've got to be really careful." "So we're doing a data tag basically." "NARRATOR:" "As sharks become more threatened, tags can help identify when and where they are being fished." "TOONI:" "Do I push it in?" "RESEARCHER:" "Have you got it in?" "Pull it out, pull the wood out." "There you go." "And the tag stays in, you see?" "NARRATOR:" "This shark has been caught deliberately for research, but commercial fisheries catch countless sharks unintentionally." "PHILIPPE:" "Long lines are set up by commercial fishermen, miles and miles and miles long, with thousands of hooks laid along them." "Sharks are often left for a long period on those lines and they die." "(BLEEP)" "RESEARCHER:" "She wanted to give me a little goodbye present." "PHILIPPE:" "And off she goes." "She looks good." "NARRATOR:" "Millions of these predators are caught on commercial lines." "So the hunt is on for an effective way of preventing sharks from getting trapped on them." "Paul and Lucy have Joined scientists who've developed a material they believe will repel sharks." "PAUL:" "This is the very stuff right here." "It's an alloy, a mixture of metals." "NARRATOR:" "The hope is that hooks made of the repelling metal could be used on long-line fishing hooks, so fewer sharks end up as by-catch." "The metal is electropositive." "It produces a charge that's conducted by salty water." "Well done." "Okay, let him settle down a bit." "So I'll grab him, okay?" "NARRATOR:" "Lucy and Paul are going to test the metal on a Juvenile lemon shark." "Lucy has been shown a handling technique to help the experiment, putting the shark in a coma-like state." "I'm going to try and basically turn him on his back, so we've got to try and move him over, or her, I don't know." "Be ready for her, steady as you go." "Well done." "When the tail becomes immobile..." "Then she's out." "When she's not moving at all." "PAUL:" "Okay, so she's totally out of it at the moment." "NARRATOR:" "In this state the shark is very unresponsive." "Paul is going to bring a small piece of the metal close to its head." "Are you ready, Lucy?" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Time to see if the shark will react to the metal." "PAUL:" "Holy smoke!" "(LUCY LAUGHS)" "Okay." "(LAUGHS)" "Okay, it works." "I think that's definitely a conclusive experiment." "PAUL:" "So it works." "NARRATOR:" "Even in a comatose state, the shark sensed the metal and was repelled by it." "PAUL:" "So if you've got a set of great fish hooks made out of this stuff, you can do selective fishing." "You're going to get more of what you do want to catch and less, or hopefully none, of what you don't want to catch." "NARRATOR:" "The expedition is coming to a close, but there's one final shark mission for Toni and Philippe." "chum, a mixture of mashed-up dead fish has been spread in the water." "It's attracted blacktop and Caribbean reef sharks." "Oh, we've got sharks." "There are some sharks out here." "We can see their fin tips just going around the water." "NARRATOR:" "They're going to test another shark repellent, a liquid that could be attached in time-release pouches to long lines." "To make the conditions for the experiment authentic, it's got to be carried out in open water teeming with adult sharks." "Philippe and Toni will dive in amongst the sharks and release the repellent by hand." "There are some big sharks down there actually." "They're a good couple of metres, which I don't think I was quite expecting." "I was expecting slightly smaller sharks to be perfectly honest." "NARRATOR:" "Caribbean reef and blacktop aren't the most aggressive of sharks, but the chumming has attracted quite a few." "One, two, three, four, five, six..." "And the small one at the back is seven." "That's bizarre." "That makes my heart go a bit funny." "It's quite a bizarre sensation to be sitting on the side of a boat about to drop backwards into a pool teeming with sharks." "NARRATOR:" "Safety divers and first-abiders are standing by." "TOONI:" "Oh, oh, my goodness!" "PHILIPPE:" "Sharks everywhere, all around us." "This is just incredible." "TOONI:" "Oh, God, it's having a good look at me." "PHILIPPE:" "Whoa!" "That was close." "TOONI:" "Close!" "PHILIPPE:" "That was close!" "TOONI:" "Shark chaos!" "NARRATOR:" "More and more sharks are gathering." "This should be the stuff that really scares them off." "It is essentially distilled tissue from sharks, from dead sharks." "NARRATOR:" "Scientists realised sharks are driven away by the smell of rotting shark." "As you can see, they're kind of circling us a lot right now." "You can see them getting a little bit ticked off at each other, a little bit aggressive towards each other." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe and Toni decide to release the repellent." "PHILIPPE:" "This is the first time that this repellent has been tested like this." "This isn't a game." "This is serious business." "NARRATOR:" "Sharks have a very acute sense of smell but it takes a few minutes for the liquid to disperse." "one by one the sharks leave." "TOONI:" "They keep swimming further and further away from us." "Clearly they didn't like something." "All the other fish are still here, but the sharks have disappeared." "TOONI:" "They're not showing much signs of coming back either." "NARRATOR:" "The experiment's been a complete success and could play a vital role in protecting sharks in all our oceans." "Fantastic!" "The sharks kind of do an in, sense something, and out again." "Yeah, definitely, definitely." "I'd like to say that I smell of shark repellent." "(EXCLAIMS IN DISGUST)" "(LAUGHING) It's really quite disgusting." "TOONI:" "I think it's a great, great piece of science." "It could be impregnated into wet suits or sunscreens and it's just, it's like widening the gap I think between sharks and people." "I think this is how science can come together to have practical applications for conservation, and ultimately we have healthier more sustainable oceans." "NARRATOR:" "The end of the shark dive is also the end of the Atlantic expedition." "Journey in which this ocean revealed how all our oceans once looked." "And how they were responsible for bringing life to our planet." "I've spanned three and a half billion years of the ocean's evolution in one trip, and that's quite something." "NARRATOR:" "This ocean has played a critical role in our history, but it's difficult to assess the impact we could be having on its future." "PHILIPPE:" "The Atlantic is just being abused and I don't think anyone knows what the consequences are, but we know that the consequences, whatever they are, are very serious." "We can't continue to take it for granted." "NARRATOR:" "Next time the team explores the Indian ocean." "They'll find out how manta rays survive shark attacks." "PAUL:" "There's a shark bite, right there." "NARRATOR:" "Discover the consequences of its treacherous currents." "LUCY:" "She hit this reef behind us and broke her back." "NARRATOR:" "And explore an underwater lab that could save coral reefs." "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet, they hold clues to the mysteries of our past and they're vital for our future survival," "but the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL ROSE:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes, yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year, the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "PHILIPPE COUSTEAU:" "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "LUCY BLUE:" "That is psychedelically purple!" "We're here to try and understand the earth's oceans, and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR:" "Our oceans are changing faster than ever." "TOONI MAHTO:" "I've never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on earth." "We're about to see one of the most remarkable creatures in the Indian Ocean." "This is the only way we can get there." "Dive of a lifetime." "It won't be Very easy." "NARRATOR:" "This expedition will explore the third largest body of water on earth, the Indian Ocean." "More than 6,000 miles wide, it covers 13% of the world's surface." "It's home to 5,000 species of fish, many unique to this sea." "But it's an ocean on the edge." "Global pressures like climate change and over-fishing threaten to push it to a tipping point." "The team has come to the Western Indian Ocean to find out what effect these changes are having." "Environmentalist Philippe Cousteau is the grandson of ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau." "He'll be investigating the threat to one of these waters' greatest predators." "By removing them in such large numbers, that has drastic impacts on all the other species underneath it." "NARRATOR:" "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue will experience the treacherous effects of the unpredictable currents here." "LUCY:" "She hit this reef behind us, and then broke her back." "NARRATOR:" "And marine biologist and oceanographer Toni Math will explore what can be done to save this pristine wilderness." "TOONI:" "What we're looking at here is almost the Indian Ocean equivalent of a garden centre." "NARRATOR:" "The expedition begins off the southern coast of Mozambique." "Paul and Toni have come here in search of the largest population of manta rays in the world." "We actually stand a chance here of being right alongside or underneath or right with these huge mantas." "I mean, some of them are about five or six metres." "Eight metres." "And there's talk of..." "Eight metres." "I'm going for a giant eight-metre one." "Yeah?" "Eight metres across, this is a huge fish." "(LAUGHING) And it's Very exciting indeed." "NARRATOR:" "The team's been brought here by a mystery." "Seventy-six percent of the manta rays here have been attacked by sharks." "Attacks that should have decimated their numbers." "So how have they survived?" "Ready, ready, ready." "PAUL:" "This is a beautiful site." "Just the Visibility is a little bit murky." "It means that there's a chance that this water is Very plankton-rich." "NARRATOR:" "Here, close to the edge of the continental shelf, the plankton is fed by nutrient-rich water welling up from the deep." "It helps support an entire ecosystem, everything from giant potato groupers" "to poisonous lionfish." "Toni spots a sign they're in the right place to find mantas." "This is a very particular environment, a cleaning station." "The clue, these tiny fish." "TOONI:" "There's a whole load of small cleaner wrasse that are waiting here." "They're Very small, black and white-striped fish." "And they're waiting here until the mantas actually come here, so they can go up to their skin and pick off all of the parasites, which apparently feels really good on the mantas, as well." "They seem to like the sensation." "So it's a bit like going for hair and make-up, and a massage at the same time." "Looking for mantas." "I'm waiting for one to just sneak up on us from behind." "I keep imagining that I'm seeing them coming out of the gloom." "Toni, there's a manta!" "Come on." "TOONI: (Exclaiming) Oh, my goodness!" "(LAUGHING) Oh, my goodness." "Boy, he's a whopper, Toni." "TOONI:" "That is beautiful!" "Oh, my, so elegant." "(PAUL LAUGHING)" "NARRATOR:" "The largest of the ocean's rays, mantas weigh up to one-and-a-half tons." "Yet they fly gracefully through the water using their wing-like fins." "TOONI:" "They are bizarre-looking, with the horns at the front that gave them their name, the devil ray." "NARRATOR:" "The horns can unroll to funnel food into the manta's mouth." "As the water passes through, spongy tissue traps the plankton they feed on." "But this one shows no sign of a shark bite, so it provides no clue as to how so many mantas survive these attacks, and time has run out." "TOONI:" "We're both low on air, we've both got 50 bar, so we need to leave the bottom." "Unfortunately, in man Versus manta, manta gets to win this one." "TOONI:" "Ready for me?" "PHILIPPE:" "Yep." "There was a whopper behind Toni, and then we didn't see any more." "NARRATOR:" "They have located a manta cleaning station, but they still haven't found what they're looking for." "The manta that we did see didn't have any injuries at all, and it's actually specifically the injuries that I'm really interested in going and having a look at." "NARRATOR:" "With the light fading, they decide to try again in the morning." "next day, weather and sea conditions are perfect," "but Toni's not." "Oh, God." "(RETCHING)" "I'm feeling really ropey, and I think I've either got a stomach bug or something or other, but..." "NARRATOR:" "Being sick underwater could be deadly." "With the masks we're using, which are full face masks, where the air comes from is right down in the front." "And if someone was to throw up in them, uh, you know, just that..." "Then there's a reflex inhalation, isn't there?" "You just can't..." "When if..." "You breathe in." "That reflex inhalation, which can't be controlled, would bring stuff back into the throat." "PAUL:" "There's a chance of being brought to the surface unconscious, but she's experienced enough to know that she just can't push it." "I think you should probably go, and I'll..." "PAUL:" "Okay, yeah." "I'll sit this one out." "I know we saw the mantas yesterday, but we didn't..." "We didn't see specifically what it was that we came to see." "And I've read about this for years, and I'd be really interested to see..." "To see the mantas and their cleaning behaviour." "It's just..." "It's just frustrating, it's just really frustrating." "NARRATOR:" "It's all up to Paul to find out what helps the injured mantas survive." "PAUL:" "One, two, three, go!" "NARRATOR:" "This time, the elusive mantas turn up straight away." "Look at this!" "Look at him go!" "Effortless but incredibly fast." "What's really fascinating is that the whole life on this reef changes when the mantas come and go." "All the attention is focused on them." "There's a shark bite, right there at the Very back." "NARRATOR:" "A shark attack like this is often fatal." "Oh, there's another one." "This one has two big bites out of the back end." "NARRATOR: no one's sure why so many of these mantas have been attacked by sharks, but the location of their wounds is less of a mystery." "The manta's eyes are on the side of its head, leaving a blind spot directly behind." "Exactly where the shark's taken a bite." "I'm going to stay still here to see if he'll come my way." "Here he comes." "Just look how big he is compared to me." "And look just how well he moves." "And here's some cleaning." "Can you see the cleaning going on?" "That's what I dreamed we would see." "NARRATOR:" "The yellow butterfly fish and the moon wrasse clean the wounds, removing dead and infected tissue." "It's a bit like pulling into a hospital and having your wounds dressed." "It stops infection forming." "NARRATOR:" "More and more mantas arrive to have their wounds treated." "This could be why they're so resilient to shark attacks," "a cleaning station with fish that target the shark wounds." "Behaviour that's rarely seen." "PAUL:" "Really, really marvellous." "And then here comes this huge white manta." "It just kind of came over me, shark wounds on the back end, and it was smothered in cleaner fish." "Yeah, it was a great dive." "NARRATOR:" "The cleaning station is a perfect example of how complex interactions make the world's marine ecosystems function." "Every living thing here is vital to this ocean's health, right up to its most extreme predators, sharks." "next, the team will investigate what's happening to shark populations in this ocean, because sharks have turned from the hunters into the hunted." "Up until now, they have reigned supreme, and we are totally decimating their numbers." "And as the apex predator, by removing them in such large numbers out of these areas, that has drastic impacts on all the other species underneath it." "NARRATOR:" "Over-fishing means shark numbers are plummeting." "Estimates suggest that each year as many as 73 million sharks are fished worldwide." "Twenty-six shark species are now listed as critically endangered." "Along this coast, shark fishing has grown dramatically over the past few years." "Philippe and Lucy have come on land to find out more." "PHILIPPE:" "This is Pomona in Mozambique." "Lucy and I are here to try and figure out kind of exactly what's happening and why and how." "And we're here early in the morning because this is the time they take the boats out to check their lines." "NARRATOR:" "Little is known about shark fishing in this part of the world." "It's a unique chance to investigate it firsthand." "How many sharks does he catch?" "(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)" "Between three and seven." "Wow." "So, is he from here?" "He's from Violoncellos." "Oh, he's from Violoncellos." "And he came here five years ago to fish." "Yeah, yeah." "(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)" "NARRATOR:" "But Violoncellos is several hours away." "These fishermen are not from here, and the locals have no history of shark fishing." "This is something new." "LUCY:" "These people have come or been brought here deliberately within some sort of structured organisation to specifically do this type of fishing, and that is most unusual." "NARRATOR:" "The fishermen head out to check their three kilometres of line with its 65 separate hooks." "This one boat can land up to 1,000 sharks in a single year." "The fishermen return with their catch." "PHILIPPE:" "Two males, a little blacktop reef shark." "NARRATOR:" "Both sharks are extremely young." "PHILIPPE:" "These aren't even anywhere near sexual maturity." "They're little baby reef sharks." "No, they are tiny." "Maybe two years old, a year old maybe, I think." "LUCY:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Sharks don't start reproducing till they're several years old." "When they do, most have few offspring, so catching young sharks like these is particularly worrying." "The worst thing for me is the fact that they're so small, you know, they haven't reached maturity, so there's no reproduction." "It's just, that's the end of this particular lineage." "NARRATOR:" "But why is this industry growing so fast?" "The fins are the most valued part of the catch." "The essential ingredient in the Chinese delicacy shark fin soup, demand for which is growing rapidly." "Oh, this is pretty barbaric, actually, when you see it here, now." "It's (BLEEP)." "Look at this, this little pile of fins for soup." "What a waste." "It's disgusting." "Look at this." "I mean, the only reason they sell the meat is because they can get a few cents for it." "I mean, it's worth nothing." "The only reason they're doing this is for those fins." "NARRATOR:" "And there's a huge incentive." "PHILIPPE:" "How much will they sell those fins for?" "(STAMMERING) If they fish big one, bigger than the fish today, only the fins, they can make 50, 60 dollars." "Fifty, 60 dollars for just the fin?" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "In a country where most people live on less than a dollar a day, six sharks can provide a year's income." "PHILIPPE:" "There you go." "Merry Christmas." "NARRATOR:" "The fishermen show off a recent catch." "This pile of fins is worth a small fortune." "PHILIPPE:" "Where do they go now?" "It goes to Maputo." "Maputo, yeah." "And then they go out." "NARRATOR:" "According to the fishermen, the big money means that regulations to control the export of fins are being ignored, so the trade flourishes." "Across the globe each year, millions of sharks continue to be wiped out." "It's scary when you think that so few individuals can come into a community like this, and take out so many animals." "Yeah, yeah." "It's scary." "I mean, over 1,000 animals a year..." "Yeah." "LUCY:" "Off four boats." "I mean, that is just..." "It's shocking." "And then when you think of what's going on around the other shores of the Indian Ocean." "And to add insult to injury, shark fin has no flavour." "They have to flavour the soup with chicken broth, for God sakes." "I mean, it's just..." "It's ridiculous." "It is absolutely ridiculous." "NARRATOR:" "They've discovered that along this coast, shark fishing is an organised industry driven by fat profits." "It's just one part of a global trade that's decimating species and disrupting the balance of life throughout the Indian Ocean." "But over-fishing is not the only threat." "A changing climate will impact the ocean, altering its weather patterns." "These are dominated by heat transfer to and from the sea, but this is a complex process we know little about." "To try and find out more, the expedition will take part in a huge project run by scientists around the world, including the British Met Office." "They head north to the equator, where the heating effects of the sun have a powerful impact on the ocean and on the weather." "There's no clearer example of the link between the oceans and the climate than a tropical storm." "The energy in the Indian Ocean, here it is coming right at us." "Maybe a bit more than we'd ideally want right now." "I don't know." "But it's definitely coming." "This is a proper good pile of rain, and the sea's picking up a little bit." "Heavens have opened, it's bucketing down." "The captain advised us that this thing rolls quite a bit, and it's not unusual to have two feet of water swilling around on this deck, so..." "(THUNDER CRASHING)" "NARRATOR:" "Storms are powered by the constant exchange of heat and moisture between the ocean and the atmosphere, so understanding these processes is vital." "I've got Goosebumps!" "Just look at the sea, look at what the rain does to the sea." "It gets knocked down, it's fantastic." "NARRATOR:" "The global project to gather data on the forces driving our weather is based around one vital piece of equipment." "Got to make sure that it's in there." "I can see it's been opened by customs." "You never know with these things." "It's supposed to be yellow and expensive-looking." "NARRATOR:" "This is the Argo float." "PAUL:" "Great." "A robotic buoy designed to gather readings on temperature and salinity from the depths of the ocean." "PAUL:" "How this thing works is it descends to 1,000 metres and then comes back up again." "Uploads all of its data, and then sinks again." "NARRATOR:" "This will be one of a vast network of floats transmitting their data to satellites to build up a dynamic picture of the ocean." "The plan is to launch it into an area that's poorly covered by Argo floats to help plug a gap in the survey network." "You should hear at some point... (BEEPING)" "Here we go, one." "It's working." "(BEEPING)" "NARRATOR: now it's turned on, it's programmed to be deployed in just six hours." "There we go." "I can hear it!" "It runs... (IMITATES ENGINE) ...for say, five, ten seconds, and then stops." "You can't put enthusiasm into projects like this unless you have some empathy and some interest in it." "And I do, I really do." "I mean, this is a... (LAUGHING) Yeah, there it goes again." "NARRATOR:" "En route to the launch site, the 6,000 pounds worth of equipment must be kept upright while it makes contact with the satellite network." "LUCY:" "What sort of information is being collected in this?" "It's temperature, salinity and depth." "Right." "And then, of course, when it comes up, it's also position as well." "LUCY:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "The data will help scientists worldwide to improve climate change prediction and tropical storm forecasting." "TOONI:" "So how much longer do we have before it needs to be in the water?" "Well, it's six hours from when we turn it on, so it's now 1:10." "So, it's 4:50." "NARRATOR:" "But the journey is taking longer than expected." "It would suit us better, I think, if we could be on the eastern side of the target area, where it's deeper." "Just a bit twitchy about..." "Everything seems to happen just once, you know?" "NARRATOR:" "The plan is for Paul to be in the water when the float is launched, to make sure it deploys correctly." "All systems go, and we've got 45 minutes to go." "It took a little bit longer to get here than we thought." "(LAUGHING) As you can see, I'm not dressed for the dive yet." "Probably just can't afford to be loafing at the moment." "NARRATOR:" "Far from land, with no reference points to gauge position and depth, dive safety supervisor Richard Bull is concerned about Paul's dive into the big blue." "RICHARD:" "What I'm worried about is just sinking down without noticing it." "Yeah." "Because you get to a point where you're so deep, you can't see the surface, you can't see the bottom, you can't see that way and you can't see that way." "You can't tell which is up and which is down." "Yeah." "It'd be easy to do on this dive, you're right, because I'm just watching that yellow float." "RICHARD:" "Okay, we're getting late." "We're going to miss it, mate." "NARRATOR:" "The float is timed to begin its first descent in just a few minutes." "Lucy is in charge of the crane." "PAUL:" "You know yourself when you're handling a crane." ""You know yourself when you're handling a crane."" "I have to point out this is the first time" "I've done any crane handling." "This over here." "I'm really, really concerned about it hitting the side of the boat, though." "LUCY:" "There you go." "NARRATOR:" "A tiny bump against the metal hull could dent the casing, creating a weak spot that might rupture deep below the surface, where the water pressure will reach 200 times atmospheric pressure." "LUCY:" "Five minutes, five minutes." "NARRATOR:" "The rolling of the boat is also a problem for Paul." "I'm just swimming out of the way here, because our dive boat is right there." "I don't want to bank myself into it, and he's going to have to start positioning soon." "And that propeller's going to start going round, so I want to get out of the way." "(Exclaims)" "I have to make a note of a number of things so that the Met Office have an understanding of the sort of basic sea state when the Argo's launched." "Knocks and bangs against the side of the Vessel, apart from the initial swing that I induced, I think it was fine." "God, I'm shaking a bit, actually, because I don't want to mess it up." "You've only got one go, haven't you?" "You can't take two on this one." "NARRATOR:" "But the descent time comes..." "LUCY:" "No, it's still there." "Look." "...and goes." "That is..." "LUCY:" "Oh, no!" "I mean, if it doesn't go down in the next minute or so, then there could potentially be a problem." "It's not ready just yet." "MAN ON RADIO:" "Another couple of minutes?" "It hasn't sunk yet." "NARRATOR:" "Finally, the launch begins." "Five, four, three, two, one." "Wow, there it goes!" "I'm waving goodbye to it on its four-year mission." "NARRATOR:" "If it works, it'll help scientists gain a better understanding of the Indian Ocean monsoons." "It goes down 1,000 metres, and then 2,000 metres." "It comes to the surface repeatedly, up to 150 times for four years solid." "(STAMMERING) I can just see it, look." "You can just pick her out." "NARRATOR:" "In 10 days, it should surface and transmit back to base for the first time." "Only then will the team know if the launch has succeeded." "It's gone!" "We're now underway for the southern coast of Zanzibar, the south-western tip of Zanzibar." "It's a brilliant feeling when even just..." "You just mention the name Zanzibar to me, and I want to go there." "NARRATOR:" "The team takes the opportunity to go ashore." "(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)" "It's such a popular game and it's such a great game, and I think we have a winner." "PAUL:" "Okay, got it." "Okay, thank you Very much." "Thank you Very much, thank you." "Welcome again." "Good, good, Very happy with that." "NARRATOR:" "With coastal development and over-fishing, human pressure on this sea is increasing." "So for the next mission, the team wants to see how that's impacting on one of the ocean's most precious ecosystems." "Environmentalist Philippe heads out with Lucy to check on the health of the Indian Ocean's world-famous coral reefs." "Worldwide, coral reefs are vital to the lives of a billion people who rely on them for food and income." "And they're home to a vast variety of marine life." "But the reefs may have reached a tipping point." "PHILIPPE:" "I have to be honest with you, I'm a little disappointed." "I'm not seeing the abundance of fish life that I'd expect here." "It just seems a little light to me, and that's kind of disappointing." "NARRATOR:" "For three generations," "Philippe's family has been documenting this ocean's threatened habitats." "PHILIPPE:" "Having grown up with images of my grandfather's films and my father's films, back in 1948, and you look at that, even though it's in black and white, it's like an amazing forest, just..." "Richness is unparalleled." "And you go back to those same places today and it's just a desert." "Coral reefs are disappearing at such a scary rate." "NARRATOR:" "Across the globe, 25% of coral reefs are under threat." "Philippe spots what's attacking this reef, one of its most voracious predators." "PHILIPPE:" "Wow, look at that." "That's a crown of thorns, right?" "LUCY:" "It's enveloping that piece of coral." "NARRATOR:" "The crown of thorns starfish eats the coral alive." "PHILIPPE:" "They can eat up to 16 or 17, maybe even 18 or more square feet of coral reef a year." "You can see right there that they take their stomach, literally, and turn it inside out when they get onto coral, and then start to eject all these stomach enzymes all over it." "It oozes out over the coral and liquefy it, and then they just suck it up." "It's kind of nasty." "NARRATOR:" "Recently, a hundred-fold increase in the numbers of crown of thorns has devastated local reefs." "It may have been caused by people over-fishing its predators." "PHILIPPE:" "They are Very, Very prolific." "These guys are just wiping coral out." "NARRATOR:" "But killing crown of thorns is tough." "Cut them in two, and both halves can survive." "The only ways to get rid of them, inject them with poison or bag them up and take them away." "PHILIPPE:" "We want to actually remove these from the reef, because these guys are just wiping coral out." "LUCY:" "Oh, look at it reacting." "We're still finding more and more of them all over the seabed, and you can actually just see the way they're sort of moving over the surface of the coral." "NARRATOR:" "Together with other factors, like warming seas, this has contributed to the destruction of over 22% of the reefs in the Southwest Indian Ocean alone." "But there is still hope." "Toni and Philippe head off to discover how damaged coral reefs could be revived using a new scientific technique." "Leading the work here is Tanzanian scientist Massage Omega." "Hello, I'm Toni." "Toni." "Nice to meet you." "I'm Omega." "Omega, Philippe." "Philippe, nice to meet you." "Thank you for coming." "Hello, everybody, how are you?" "TOONI:" "Omega's working on a project around Mumbai, which is just, to me, is a great example of really innovative science, and it's the first time that this methodology has been used in the Indian Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "They gear up to visit Omega's laboratory, not on land but about 10 metres beneath the water's surface." "PAUL:" "Go, Omega!" "Go, Philippe!" "NARRATOR:" "It's a facility which could hold an answer to saving the coral reefs, a man-made coral garden." "TOONI:" "What we're looking at here is almost the Indian Ocean equivalent of a garden centre." "In this whole nursery, there are about 9,200 individual little pieces of coral." "These little bits of coral, or nubbins, are taken from a mother colony from a different location and moved into this area, where they're basically grown." "It's a little bit like pruning." "NARRATOR:" "The plan is to help save endangered reefs by transplanting living coral into them." "But direct transplantation has had little success, so Omega and his team are growing young coral in this protected environment till it's strong enough to survive being transplanted." "The first thing Omega does is collect young coral from a healthy reef." "PHILIPPE:" "And then he cuts coral nubbins off, kind of like taking pruning of a tree, and he puts them into these small, little rubber tubes." "TOONI:" "Although it doesn't look like much, that little section of coral is actually alive." "The coral will grow from what looks like something that potentially doesn't amount to much." "But that could spell the survival of the coral reefs in some areas where they've been decimated in the Indian Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "The coral can't be left on its own." "It needs constant care." "TOONI:" "So Omega is weeding the garden." "PHILIPPE:" "This blanketing algae will smother the coral, so by removing all of this, these corals have an opportunity to grow in as healthy a habitat as possible." "NARRATOR:" "Once the nubbins have spent about 10 months here, they're ready for transplantation." "If this technique is successful, it could help regenerate damaged reefs, not just in the Indian Ocean but across the entire world." "It's really encouraging to see that that kind of methodology is actually being used in areas such as this, where there obviously isn't a huge amount of money to invest in marine science." "But this technique is so simple and so cheap, basically, it just requires an awful lot of manpower." "I mean, we've already lost at least 25%%% of the world's coral reefs." "So, now, because we're taking an active role in their destruction, this is an opportunity to take an active role in their restoration, and it's a Very hopeful, hopeful time right now." "NARRATOR:" "As the day ends..." "TOONI:" "I planted coral today." "Yet!" "These little fingers of greenness." "Oh, cool." "...it's a chance to plan the next stage of the expedition." "PAUL:" "So, yeah." "So, up here, this is..." "I've not been here before." "This looks fantastic." "Very, Very good." "NARRATOR:" "People have been living on the shores of the Indian Ocean for over 100,000 years." "How they've related to this vast body of water is the speciality of maritime archaeologist Lucy Blue." "I'm trying to work out how different people, different cultures, would have approached this sea, this ocean." "Obviously, there are certain parameters that they were constrained by, so the winds and the currents." "What were the challenges that they faced?" "NARRATOR:" "Trade and migration in the Indian Ocean has been dominated by the powerful currents that flow uninterrupted for thousands of miles across it, before crashing into the East African coast." "LUCY:" "All right, so this gives you a really good idea of the way that the currents are moving along this coastline." "Particularly this East African coastal current, or the Zanzibar one." "The combination of the currents and the winds have completely dictated the way that people have manoeuvred around, particularly this part of the Indian Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy believes there's much to learn from mankind's battles with these treacherous currents." "So the expedition's heading for a site of particular interest to her, the wreck of a ship sunk 40 years ago in the unpredictable waters of the Indian Ocean." "To avoid the same fate, the expedition ship will have to be extremely cautious." "When I was talking with the skipper earlier, he was saying, you know, "This is actually quite a treacherous area."" "I mean, we're not actually mooring up because the currents are quite complex and unpredictable." "NARRATOR:" "But when they reach the site, they find they aren't the only ones interested in it." "A group of local salvagers are already here trying to break up the ship and recover valuable metals." "They're none too pleased to have competition." "All right, folks, we've got a little bit of a situation out there." "It's a bunch of guys that are trying to cut off the propeller with welding gear." "I don't know whether they think that we're going to try and poach their propeller from them." "It's big and it's worth a lot of money, but they're protecting themselves with spear guns." "Okay." "And, Scott, he actually had one of them go to him..." "NARRATOR:" "As expedition leader," "Paul's worried about the safety of his team." "But for Lucy, this is an example of a worldwide problem she often faces, the destruction of archaeological sites." "There's nothing we can do." "I mean, if they start ripping off the portholes and the props and all the rest of it, there's nothing for anybody to see." "There's nothing for anybody to learn about it." "I'm actually rooting for them." "Why?" "Because I feel..." "Then we could end up having some contretemps." "I feel that the ship is in their waters, and that propeller and all, any of the bits they can use, will sustain their livelihood better than tourists coming and looking at it." "Really, I'm not sure about that, though, because you have..." "That thing is there for an instance." "They are going to reap an immediate reward." "Hmm." "It's just condoning that whole activity, encouraging other people do to it on wrecks throughout the world, and then it's gone." "Whichever one of you is right, it's not the immediate problem." "No." "The immediate problem is that they've got spear guns and they exhibited Very threatening behaviour." "NARRATOR:" "The situation is tense." "A crew member who speaks Swahili has gone over to explain that the team are just here to dive the wreck." "Mike, this is Richard." "Come in." "Over." "MIKE ON RADIO:" "The translator's just talked with the salvage crew, and they've given us permission to dive on the site." "Mike, that's fantastic." "NARRATOR:" "The salvagers stop diving." "The team can get to work." "PHILIPPE:" "One..." "NARRATOR:" "This is what the salvagers are after, the remains of the Proportion." "PAUL:" "Wow, it's absolutely huge!" "NARRATOR:" "After 40 years on the bottom, there's still a lot left of this 94-metre cargo ship." "It's clear from the chains and pulleys that the salvagers are well on their way to removing the huge bronze propeller." "Bronze scrap is worth thousands of pounds per ton." "LUCY:" "It's going to be a lot of work to shift this, and ultimately it's setting a precedent for just ripping shipwrecks apart, regardless of whether they're 40 years old or 400 years old." "NARRATOR:" "All shipwrecks tell the story of a moment in time when a combination of circumstances came together to create a catastrophe." "LUCY:" "So the Proportion sunk here in 1967, early in the evening, carrying wheat from Romania to Jedi." "NARRATOR:" "The ship was meant to go via the Suez Canal, but with the Arab-Israeli war in full swing, that was closed, forcing the Proportion to travel right round Africa." "For weeks, the voyage went well." "Then, with just days to go, things went badly wrong." "We believe that they'd lost their radar and their echo-sounder and they were basically travelling in Very unfamiliar waters." "So they had to resort to compass and sextants and navigating by the stars in currents which they didn't understand." "Just imagine the sense of terror coming up on this reef." "Completely lost, the noise, panic." "LUCY:" "She hit this reef behind us and then broke her back, sprawling down here onto the sand." "NARRATOR:" "Somehow, everyone on board survived, but the reef and the currents battered and sank the Proportion." "LUCY:" "Considering she's only been down 40 years, it's an amazing amount of marine life, though, here." "NARRATOR:" "The Proportion may be home to many fish, but Lucy is shocked at how the salvagers are wiping out precious historical information." "LUCY:" "I mean, they've got rigs up there." "They've got, you know, the whole works." "Is it pretty much free game?" "LUCY:" "It's free game." "PAUL:" "It's free game at the moment, yeah." "It's free game." "This is not in the marine reserve area, so there's nothing in terms of the conservation of this particular Zone that says..." "And anyway, I would imagine it's Very difficult to police." "I mean, I know how difficult it is in the UK." "My job on a daily basis is trying to battle against the problems of treasure hunters and salvage work, and when you do meet it face to face, it..." "You can't but, you know, despise it and everything it represents." "NARRATOR:" "Ten days ago, the expedition launched the Argo float to monitor the depths of the Indian Ocean." "PAUL:" "There it goes." "I'm waving goodbye to it on its four-year mission." "NARRATOR:" "It's now scheduled to surface and upload its first data." "But has its mission succeeded?" "So this is..." "Moment of truth." "Well, it is the moment of truth, because with any luck..." "First of all..." "Yeah." "If we can get this through, we're going to figure out if the Argo... (TOONI Exclaims) ...actually worked, so hang on." "PHILIPPE:" "Is that the map?" "That's it." "PHILIPPE:" "That's it?" "That's the transmit?" "(LAUGHING) Yeah, it is." "PHILIPPE:" "So it's working." "NARRATOR:" "The map tracks the float's position from where Paul first powered it up to when it surfaced and successfully uploaded its data." "This must be us going out." "This is when we deployed it." "LUCY:" "Yeah, just about, gosh..." "PAUL:" "And it sank." "And this is it here, so you see, it obviously didn't get stuck." "It's going on the expected track, which is north and then northwest." "And it's come up and it's sent the right expected data up." "So, the blooming thing worked." "So, you feel the flutter of pride that it actually worked." "PAUL:" "The big thing for me, and it does excite me, is that it's real-time data." "So they're all coming up and down, all sending up temperature, salinity, depth and where they are." "For me, it's the fact that there are 3,000-plus of the Argo floats all over the world, so our little float is basically representative of just this huge global data search." "NARRATOR:" "Scientists are already using the data to look into the future and determine how our oceans and climate might change over the next decade." "With just two days left, the team wants to see how one of the ocean's most elusive residents is faring in these fast-changing waters." "The hunt brings them here, to the Lazaretto Archipelago, a chain of islands 20 miles off the coast of Mozambique." "The islands are hammered by the powerful waves and winds that have shaped these 100-metre-high dunes built up over thousands of years." "LUCY:" "You really get a sense of the power of the wind and the ocean here." "Just looking out over the Indian Ocean, next stop, Australia." "All that power of the Indian Ocean just slams into this coast, and it stings, it kind of stings the back of your legs." "LUCY: (LAUGHING) Stings?" "Like you're getting sandblasted." "Slamming into us at the moment." "It is slamming." "NARRATOR:" "The Lazaretto Archipelago acts as a barrier, absorbing the fury of the Indian Ocean and protecting the 20-mile stretch of water on the other side." "Toni believes it's here that the team may find a sensitive barometer of the health of the Indian Ocean, one of its rarest animals." "TOONI:" "So this is the dugong." "With the best Latin name ever, the Dugong dugong." "A really bizarre kind of hybridisation between the dolphin tail..." "PAUL:" "Yeah." "...and then you've got sort of a cow-like/elephantine front end." "They grow up to about 3.4 metres, so they're a fairly decent size." "NARRATOR:" "Dugongs once thrived in this part of the Indian Ocean, but not any more." "Hunting and entrapment in fishermen's nets have drastically reduced their numbers." "So how well is this tiny population doing?" "Right here is pretty much the last Viable population of dugong in the Western Indian Ocean." "So we've come to this specific area to see if we can find them, and to be honest, it would be an absolute joy, and I think something really special if we did." "But finding them, I think, is going to be a bit of a nightmare." "NARRATOR:" "Dugongs have always been mysterious." "Their unusual body shape probably inspired the myth of the mermaid." "They have what's called a bursiform body, combining the flute tail of a fish with four limbs and a snout-like head." "This isn't the first time Toni's searched for them." "She knows how tough it is looking for a few dugongs in a very big ocean." "I spent a month hunting for dugong and I didn't see a single flipping whisker." "So if we do see them, we are going to be exceptionally lucky." "Ready then, team?" "NARRATOR:" "If they can find them, it will be a rare chance for Toni to see how well they're coping." "They head for an area they've been told has a high density of dugongs, but Toni is not convinced." "A high density is a little bit of a misnomer and it's a slightly misleading name, because "high density" suggests that there's loads of them swimming around." "But in actual fact, that's not true." "It just means that more of them have been spotted in that location than anywhere else." "NARRATOR:" "Toni still hopes to find a few, but dugongs are notoriously timid." "TOONI:" "The plan is to just cut the engines." "It's going to have to be a really, really quiet and slow operation, so we don't freak them out, 'cause as soon as they hear the boat noise or hear splashing, they're just going to be gone." "If we smell a dugong, it's going to be miraculous." "NARRATOR:" "One of the crew believes they've seen a dugong, so Toni takes a chance and jumps in to try and get close." "But underwater, the visibility is terrible." "Finding the dugongs will take more than this." "TOONI:" "Well, it just shows you how bad the visibility is, because we didn't see fiddly." "NARRATOR:" "Paul is going to try and spot them from the air and guide Toni to them." "These things really are hard to find, so this is our secret weapon." "And Toni's really counting on me up there, she's really counting on me being able to see them from about 500 feet, and I can steer her in." "MAN ON RADIO:" "Delta Echo Oscar Victor Charlie is entering and vectoring." "There's a bunch of goats ahead of us, so what we're going to try and do is get airborne before we hit any of the goats." "Toni, Toni, it's Paul in Victor Charlie now." "Copy." "Paul, this is Toni." "Over." "PAUL ON RADIO:" "We can see you." "If you just follow us now, follow this bearing." "Great, keep us posted." "Out." "NARRATOR:" "Suddenly, Paul sees a grey smudge in the water." "There's a dugong!" "Dugong dugong, yeah." "Right there!" "It's coming round." "The wing's in the way, but you'll see him in a minute." "(LAUGHING) We've got a dugong." "In fact, it's a small group." "PAUL ON RADIO:" "Toni, Toni, we are over... (Exclaims)" "Get your foot down, because we're over them right now." "That's great news, Paul, great news." "We'll make our way towards you now." "(PAUL LAUGHING)" "TOONI:" "We head straight for the aeroplane, straight for the aeroplane." "I can sense dugong." "I can sense them." "TOONI:" "Paul, Paul, which direction are they travelling in." "Over?" "The track you're on, they'll be right ahead, right ahead." "They're kind of..." "Running parallel with you." "Yeah, at the surface." "They are at the surface." "Oh, I can see them!" "PAUL:" "Toni, can you see them?" "They're right in front of you." "Over." "Roger that." "I can see them, Paul, I can see them." "I'm so happy that we've seen them, 'cause I didn't think..." "I didn't think we were going to at all, actually, if truth be told." "NARRATOR:" "Seeing the group of dugongs is positive evidence that the population here is surviving." "But then Paul spots something even more encouraging, a sign that the dugongs here may be in better shape than they'd thought." "PAUL:" "And a cub." "You see the cub as well?" "Right there, right there." "Fantastic news, look at them." "(Exclaims)" "Three and a half dugong!" "NARRATOR:" "The dugongs are doing more than surviving." "They're reproducing." "It's incredibly good news." "That's that." "That's all right, isn't it?" "NARRATOR:" "The team's success has come just in time." "We're off, we're getting so low on fuel." "Over." "Okay, Paul." "Thank you so much." "We did see the dugong, which is absolutely fantastic." "PAUL:" "All right, guys." "PHILIPPE:" "Here we go." "NARRATOR:" "It's the end of their Indian Ocean odyssey." "PHILIPPE:" "It was excellent." "NARRATOR:" "They've journeyed through seas that support some of the most varied marine life on the planet." "Diving with the manta rays, one of the finest dives I've ever had." "You know, I've done over 6,000 of them." "(ALL LAUGHING)" "PHILIPPE:" "The most special part of this expedition for me has been getting a chance to see this part of the world." "The diversity that's here, the diversity of life and abundance of life from an ocean perspective, because coral reefs here in the Indian Ocean are some of the most bio diverse in the world." "LUCY:" "Coming on this project and seeing, you know, looking at the marine life as well as the cultural context has just reinforced to me how little we know about this ocean." "The Indian Ocean is so rich." "I'm worried about it, though." "NARRATOR:" "So far, the Indian Ocean is holding its own." "But in a world that's being transformed so rapidly, how much longer can it cope?" "next time, the team continues to explore the Indian Ocean." "They'll investigate how marine creatures can help predict extreme weather." "They'll dive the remains of a medieval village." "LUCY:" "See this design here?" "That's got to be Oriental." "And try to protect the largest fish in the sea." "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet, they hold clues to the mysteries of our past and they're vital for our future survival," "but the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL ROSE:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes!" "Yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year, the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "TOONI:" "That is psychedelically purple!" "We're here to try and understand the earth's oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR: our oceans are changing faster than ever." "I've never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on earth." "Tanzania, East Africa." "The team has come to the edge of a continent where the full force of the Indian ocean collides with the African coast." "The Indian ocean links Africa and Asia." "It has over 44,000 miles of shoreline, and its coastal waters support habitats that are home to an enormous diversity of marine life." "But its coasts throng with people." "Forty million live along its western edge alone, making the vibrant coastal waters of this ocean particularly vulnerable to man's impact." "The sea can never be considered to be a discrete entity from the land." "The two are completely interconnected, and nowhere more so than the coastal zone." "NARRATOR: so the team has come to the rich waters of the spice Islands, an intense meeting point of man and sea." "They're here to explore this fragile relationship and to discover what this ocean can do for man..." "We know so little about these animals." "...and what man might be doing to this ocean." "marine biologist and oceanographer Toni math will take part in a pioneering experiment to see how a coastal creature could help predict natural disasters." "All of this is data on what has been happening in the ocean and the atmosphere over the past 40 years or so." "NARRATOR: maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue will dive a sunken medieval village to search for evidence that these waters brought wealth and prosperity." "Can I say, I can't get over how much stuff's here." "Look at this!" "NARRATOR:" "And environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, grandson of ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau, will discover how man is threatening a coastal giant," "the world's largest fish." "I think it's one of those things like the polar bears that I want to see before they're gone." "NARRATOR:" "Their first mission is to dive the submerged cliffs around the island of Pombo." "These rise steeply from the sea floor 800 metres below and are the collision point for the mighty tides and currents of the Indian ocean." "This is a very old island that we're on, and it broke away from the mainland 10 million years ago." "So, in that 10 million years, it's just been attacked from all sides by the water currents." "And it seems like the perfect place to sort of have a look at how currents and tides and geology all interact in one location and, you know, feel the full force of the ocean." "NARRATOR:" "Toni and Paul are going to explore a geological feature here, a submerged fracture scored into the rock." "They want to discover what happens when land and sea collide." "PAUL:" "How're you doing, Toni?" "You all right, mate?" "TOONI:" "Man, feel these currents, eh?" "NARRATOR:" "They dive down the edge of the island, an underwater cliff face, to see how the power of the Indian ocean can shape the land." "PAUL:" "This is a rare opportunity." "Behind me, and 800 metres down, is the bottom of the Pombo African Rift, which separates this from the continent of Africa." "NARRATOR:" "They soon find the fissure," "a vast crack 30 metres long and 30 metres deep." "This is an embrasure feature, this particular fissure." "What it is, is a weakness in the rock that's been forced in by continual movement of the water over the years." "The current is just taking us in here." "We're working quite hard to not be pushed too deep into this deep fissure." "And it feels very different to the wall outside." "Even just a casual glance, you can just see that it's different life forms inside this fissure." "NARRATOR:" "They've entered an oceanic recess, an ecosystem teaming with life." "shoals of sea goodies, darting mimic blennies and two bar anemone fish." "The same currents that carve the land have brought life to this fissure." "Currents that have travelled thousands of miles across the Indian ocean." "TOONI:" "A lot of these organisms may have arrived on one of the giant Indian Ocean currents." "Say, for example, a larva started off in Indonesia, it would have taken about five months to cross the entire Indian Ocean right to the east coast of Africa, and then smacked up against this vertical wall-face," "and that's led to this amazing diversity of creatures and colours and life forms that you can see." "NARRATOR:" "Deep inside the fissure they can see the extent of this stunning vertical reef." "Look at these tree corals." "NARRATOR:" "Normally, sunlight is vital for a healthy reef, but life here is especially adapted to living in the shadows." "TOONI:" "This is the green tree coral, aptly named because it's very dark green." "And the reason why it can grow here and do so well here is because it doesn't contain any algae at all." "Most corals are half plant and half animal, whereas this one is purely animal." "And it's absolutely beautiful." "NARRATOR:" "Because it contains no algae, this coral doesn't depend on sunlight for survival." "Like the rest of the life here, it feeds on the organisms brought in by the currents." "TOONI:" "Most of them are filter-feeding, which means they're grabbing particles out of the water and feeding on them." "And the reason why there are so many filter-feeding organisms is because there's so much water being forced in." "Food and nutrients are racing past it, which is kind of like pizza delivery in an oceanic context." "NARRATOR:" "In contrast to the deep and largely barren open seas, the collision of land and ocean currents creates the rich ecosystems that characterise these coastal waters." "You can actually see the currents in action and how important they are" "to the marine life of the area." "Mom-hmm." "Because without that bringing the larvae of those encrusting organisms then there'd be no life forms" "there at all." "No." "NARRATOR:" "These currents help sustain one of the most important ecosystems in the ocean, the coral reef." "Thank you, Toni." "NARRATOR:" "Coral reefs support a quarter of all fish species and help support the coastal people here." "But fishing, tourism and pollution are putting reefs under pressure." "so environmentalist Philippe Cousteau wants to find out if the corals here are healthy," "and one of the best ways to do that is to dive at night." "It brings the coral alive at night in a way that the daytime can't and to try and..." "I mean, one of the biggest challenges we always face is trying to get people to understand that coral reefs are alive, they're not just rocks." "If you dive the same reef in the daytime, the same reef at night-time, it's like diving on two completely separate different reefs." "NARRATOR:" "But diving at night can be hazardous." "The night-time is a lot more dangerous just because you can't see your partner as well." "If something goes wrong with the lights and at night when it's pitch black underwater, you could get even, you know, confused and turned around about which direction is up." "So if you're running low on air, you don't have any lights..." "You end up going in the wrong direction, and it's a bad thing." "NARRATOR:" "They have to prepare quickly for the dive." "In the tropics, night falls fast." "The sun's going down." "It's going to..." "And at this latitude, it just drops like a stone." "So, I need to get the night dive away right now." "Very messy." "Boats along side here and loads of activity." "And it's all being sorted out at once." "So, I'm in a big push to get everybody off and things happening." "You okay?" "NARRATOR:" "At dusk, Toni and Philippe set off to examine the reef." "TOONI:" "When you point your torch out left, all you see is inky, murky blackness." "PHILIPPE:" "Just look, I mean, at the size of these table corals." "They're just so big." "It's awesome!" "TOONI:" "They're huge!" "PHILIPPE:" "It really is." "I have never seen table corals this big in my life." "TOONI:" "You just look up and they're everywhere." "NARRATOR: seeing so many large corals is a positive sign that this reef is healthy." "PHILIPPE:" "This right here is such a perfect example of just how vibrant and thick and diverse this whole area is." "I mean, look at this different grouping of corals." "Coral reefs are the most bio diverse ecosystems on the planet." "Even more so than a rainforest." "NARRATOR:" "They're surrounded by many different varieties of coral, from this Facia to Corpora." "And by diving at night," "Philippe and Toni can gauge the health of the coral because the animal part, the polyp, emerges to feed." "PHILIPPE:" "One of the reasons I love night dives is because you can really see all of these little arms, these little tentacles." "They open up during the night-time, and during the day, those are completely encircled, completely closed, pulled back into the coral polyp." "NARRATOR: many corals have tentacles armed with stinging cells that reach out at night to hunt their prey." "Nutrients are transported from the depths by the currents." "But the tidal currents are about to change, and that's worrying Paul." "Dive team, dive team, Kayos here, copy." "NARRATOR:" "There are communication problems." "Dive team, Kayos here, copy." "PAUL:" "There's a strong, strong current, and it's shortly due to change back the other way, so we'll all be affected." "You know, my divers and this ship are all going to be affected by these changing currents." "With bad communication as well and the risks that occur with night diving, it just gives me the willies a bit." "I do need regular, reliable communication." "I haven't got it at the moment." "NARRATOR:" "Underwater, Toni and Philippe are unaware of Paul's concerns." "They've spotted something that could be part of the secret of this reef's success." "TOONI:" "There's two different species of coral growing here." "One of which is a much slower-growing species, which is the big coral in the middle." "NARRATOR:" "These two corals are engaged in battle." "What the slow-growing coral is doing is emitting toxins via its stinging cells, to prevent the much larger, faster-growing table corals from overgrowing it." "NARRATOR:" "Corals use chemical and biological warfare." "By reaching out with their stomachs from within the polyps, the aggressors can digest their rivals." "During the night, conflicts like these are fought across our oceans as corals compete for position and maximum exposure to the sun." "PHILIPPE:" "You know, the coral reef, it's location, location, location." "It's all about where you are." "And so these corals are literally battling it out over prime real estate to try and get access to sunlight." "TOONI:" "I love this reef." "I love this reef." "PHILIPPE:" "It is one of the most incredible reefs I've ever seen." "No question about that." "NARRATOR:" "The nightly battles between different species prevent any one coral from dominating." "This creates diversity, which helps this reef remain healthy." "A healthy, diverse reef is home to many marine species, which, in turn, help feed the people who live on the coast." "(EXCLAIMING)" "PHILIPPE:" "It's just so rich and diverse." "TOONI:" "I know, yeah." "All the different kinds of coral, you could really see them coming out with their little tentacles in the water and those crinoids open..." "You just got a fish in the face." "(LAUGHING)" "They're jumping all over the place." "It's not..." "I've got it." "Thank you, well done." "PHILIPPE:" "Watch your feet." "NARRATOR:" "With everyone back on board, Paul leads the expedition south." "They're going to Zanzibar to carry out a pioneering experiment that could help protect people from the destructive forces of the extreme weather that can rage in the Indian ocean." "So, all the dive stuff's going to go here." "The dive stuff will be all right there, and it doesn't need to be lashed down because the forecast is good." "NARRATOR:" "The Indian ocean is the engine for some of the most unpredictable weather on the planet." "It can trigger floods, droughts and famine." "Heavy rains are caused as warm water evaporates from the surface of the sea, which can reach 28 degrees centigrade." "The rapid changes in air pressure creates spiralling winds." "In extreme conditions, this can produce cyclones." "The waters off Zanzibar might hold information that could help protect millions of people against these potentially catastrophic storms." "But as the team arrives, their boat is stopped by the port authorities." "The climate study is forced to wait." "We're under pressure to move our boat, the Kayos, into the harbour." "The reason for that is that we've got to have..." "The port authorities want to check we've got all our permits and all our paperwork is straight." "It's gripping stuff, really, because if they don't like us, or if they've had a really, really bad day," "and then don't like anybody, that could put a stop on the expedition, I think." "Dead easy." "They could certainly impound the ship." "And that would effectively stop the expedition." "That's a problem." "NARRATOR:" "The authorities escort the team into the harbour at stone Town, the capital of Zanzibar." "Their boat is detained." "They can't continue unless it's released, so expedition leader Paul will have to go ashore to confront the authorities." "Paul and ship's captain Fabric have no idea what to expect." "PAUL:" "It's the old story with these trips, some of them just go like clockwork." "Some look like hell, but they all went brilliantly, and there's others the other way around." "You know, there's no control over these situations, and that's difficult, you know." "We've got no control." "PAUL:" "Oh, we've got to wait?" "That's bad news." "Okay, show the, show the..." "Time's getting on." "He..." "If he doesn't get an answer in a few minutes, let's just walk in." "Because at least we're in." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Without the harbour master's stamp on the papers, the expedition is going nowhere." "The enforced stopover means maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue can investigate how this ocean's been used by man for centuries," "for trade, transport and as a source of food." "I mean, this has just been like this for..." "Since the Muslims arrived, since people have been trading through Zanzibar, this is what you would expect to see." "It is so rare to find a harbour where, effectively, the majority of boats here are just entirely made out of wood." "They don't have engines in them." "They go out of this harbour and they go up the coast of East Africa and over to Arabia, completely under sail." "Hey, we're in." "Thank you." "NARRATOR:" "Now the whole expedition hangs on Paul's meeting with the harbour master." "Nine crew, huh?" "She will tell me if you have finished everything." "Oh, she will tell you." "Okay, bye." "Thank you very much." "Thank you very much." "Thank you very much." "Freedom!" "NARRATOR:" "The expedition is back on course and the team can finally begin the climate study." "They're about to take part in ground-breaking research to try and predict the violent storms that strike this coastline." "(ALL CHATTERING)" "They'll be working with an international group of coral scientists." "surprisingly, coral holds a unique record of climate information." "What we're really looking for is to get this boat just as close in as possible." "NARRATOR: so they're going to drill samples of the coral here for the first time." "WOMAN:" "We have a lot of data from the open ocean," "but we haven't got much data from..." "Right." "From the coast." "From the African coast." "MAN:" "All suited up and ready to go." "Toni's on the way here." "Yeah, looks good." "NARRATOR: scientists have realised that as coral grows, it's affected by different weather conditions, so its growth pattern over the years creates a record of past climate." "And that could be used to predict future weather." "TOONI:" "I'll go low." "PAUL:" "Okay, mate." "NARRATOR:" "Coral grows at about one centimetre a year, so the larger it is, the older it is." "Yeah, I got it, Toni." "It's three metres, 10 centimetres." "TOONI:" "So, that lot there is over 300 years old." "NARRATOR:" "Locked inside this coral is a detailed record of three centuries of local weather." "We've got a perfect 300-year dataset." "NARRATOR:" "And to get that information, they need to drill a core to the heart of the coral." "PAUL:" "We've got to steady this drill here or it's just going to run around." "Once we get a couple of inches down, it'll steady itself, but we've got to steady it now." "NARRATOR:" "Coral has growth bands within it." "Like tree rings, each band is a year's growth, so the coral can be aged accurately." "TOONI:" "That's the first coral core out." "PAUL:" "Got it!" "TOONI:" "There's the first one." "This is the only live bit of this whole section." "All of this is dead material." "So you can see that's why this colony can recover quite quickly from a process that looks quite destructive." "And all of this is data on what has been happening in the ocean and the atmosphere over the past roughly 40 years or so." "And in the end, we'll have a whole three metres' worth and a whole 300 years of data." "PHILIPPE:" "Should we get this up?" "LUCY:" "Yeah, absolutely." "NARRATOR:" "Back on the ship," "Lucy and Philippe are preparing a dark room to examine the coral." "So, apparently, this is best if we lay it out." "All right." "'Cause you can see the coral." "NARRATOR: so far, they've drilled out a 40-year record of the climate." "But to predict the future weather accurately, they need to go much further back in time." "TOONI:" "Right, that is the second piece of coral that we've got!" "PAUL:" "Hey!" "Here's our number two." "That's our second one." "There's the top." "NARRATOR:" "They'll begin to analyse the centuries of climate information on board the expedition ship." "CRAIG:" "That's the live section that we drilled, the bit that we can see." "TOONI:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR: oceanographer Craig Grove is using a new technique to read the weather data from this core with ultraviolet light." "When you get the monsoon coming over, a large amount of rainfall, you get these luminescent bandings that occur." "LUCY:" "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "The Alight reveals bright bands which are formed during heavy rains." "Well, the brightest bands indicate the most extreme wet weather, and that's what we're looking for." "And by counting these bands, we can date these climate events and when they occur." "LUCY:" "So, you can find, like, a Raps Kinsman event?" "So, we want 1872." "1872..." "NARRATOR:" "Lucy is keen to see if she can identify one particular cyclone that wiped out an important trading settlement here, so they count back almost 140 years along the core." "LUCY:" "Are we going to see, what, a wider band or a denser band?" "CRAIG:" "Yeah, well, it depends on the intensity of the rain." "If there was a cyclone, it would be quite bright, so..." "And, uh, if it was prolonged, it would be quite wide." "Oh, well, already you can see that there's a glow" "coming straight from that." "LUCY:" "Yeah." "CRAIG:" "That's exactly it, yeah." "It's a really bright, wide band." "Yeah, you can see it, can't you?" "That means that there was intense rainfall that year." "That could well be a cyclone." "There you go." "So, yeah, you can..." "NARRATOR:" "By studying the coral record to find patterns of extreme weather in the past, they hope to develop more accurate computer forecasting." "That will help the people living here by enabling them to prepare for potentially devastating weather." "After hours in the dark room with no air-conditioning, the whole team gets a chance to cool off." "But Paul's mind is elsewhere." "We're going to go early because the crabs come at sunset." "NARRATOR:" "He's heard the biggest land crabs in the world live on a nearby island, so he and Toni are going to see them." "But he's far from relaxed." "TOONI:" "He's got this unbelievable fear of beasties." "He doesn't like tentacles or legs." "(LAUGHING) And there's these very, very large land crabs and we're going to go have a look and see if we can find any of them." "Do you have, um..." "A big machete would be ideal." "A big..." "Or an axe or something, or even..." "Yes?" "A big knife or something." "Perfect!" "That's perfect." "Ha!" "You're welcome." "Thanks very much, that's great." "NARRATOR:" "Coconut crabs begin life in the ocean before moving on shore." "They weigh up to four kilograms and can have a leg-span of over a metre." "Hey, Paul." "Hmm?" "I think we should stop here." "As good a place as any." "It seems like good crab-hunting territory." "Does it?" "NARRATOR:" "Because they're a prized local delicacy, on some islands, they've been hunted to extinction." "so, Paul and Toni want to find out how healthy this population is." "Hey!" "Right." "Get some coconut milk spread around, I reckon, 'cause they'll love that." "We're using these 'cause this is their, sort of, preferred food." "Yeah, they love it." "Apparently they can smell it, right?" "They can scent it." "NARRATOR:" "They'll use infrared light to film undetected." "Can you hear them creeping up on you, there?" "Well, of course, now we've turned our lights off." "(RUSTLING)" "PAUL:" "There's a lot of noise." "TOONI:" "Man, I can hear rustling close." "PAUL:" "Can you?" "Hang on, then." "(SHUSHING)" "TOONI:" "I tell you what, it's a bit spooky, actually, when there's nothing..." "Can you hear that crinkling?" "Can you hear the rustling?" "(TOONI EXCLAIMS)" "Oh, my!" "There's a crab!" "There's a crab!" "Look at the size of that beast." "PAUL:" "You're dead right." "Is it worth getting up there with our torches and..." "TOONI:" "Yeah, yeah." "PAUL:" "Should we go for it?" "TOONI:" "Yeah." "PAUL:" "Okay." "Yeah." "They're sharing it." "TOONI:" "That's so neat." "Look, they're scraping it out with their claws and then passing it" "to their feeding parts." "Yeah." "TOONI:" "The way it's actually wedging itself into the fossilised coral..." "NARRATOR:" "The largest of these creatures can lift weights of up to 28 kilograms." "TOONI:" "They are prehistoric-looking creatures, aren't they?" "PAUL:" "Look at them, just, go on, pulling that..." "Look." "NARRATOR:" "Their respiratory organs are in between gills and lungs." "They are a species in mid-evolution, halfway between land and sea." "TOONI:" "They've obviously evolved into land crabs, but originally they were brought here on the Indian Ocean currents." "But there's still a direct connection between these and the sea, because when they deposit their larvae, they need to deposit them in the sea and then the larvae grow and develop." "Yeah." "And then when the time is right, when they've reached a certain maturation point, they'll come back onto land." "And that's where they'll grow into these that we see here." "PAUL:" "Got it." "TOONI:" "There are two kinds of these crabs." "There are the blue-coloured ones and the slightly reddish colour." "PAUL:" "Like this guy." "TOONI:" "A very distinctive orange." "And their presence shows that it's actually a very healthy population." "Oh, does it?" "So, they're doing really well here." "Oh, that's great news." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "The presence of both varieties here means the population is thriving." "That could be a good sign for the species because the larvae produced by this population will be spread by the Indian ocean and could help repopulate other islands." "It's friendlier than I imagined in my nightmares." "Paul Rose, I'm very proud of you." "NARRATOR:" "Land crabs are just one of the species threatened by increasing human pressure along these densely populated coastlines." "The team is now heading south to search for one of the most vulnerable coastal species," "one that lives in shallow mangrove lagoons." "A species at the mercy of an immense global trade." "The seahorse." "Seahorses are getting wiped out in many cases, all around the world, wherever they can be caught." "So, to explore the issue and also contribute a little bit to science, and to conservation science, is really special, I think." "NARRATOR:" "In one year, it was estimated that as many as a quarter of a million seahorses were exported from Tanzanian waters." "The trade is driven by the huge demand for them in traditional Eastern medicines." "Seahorses are highly prized around the world for multiple different reasons." "Eastern cultures, you know, use them for aphrodisiacal properties, they use them for medicinal, you know, reasons, so they're being, you know, heavily hunted still around the world." "NARRATOR:" "The team will help assess the impact of the trade by collecting information about this seahorse population." "Very little is known about either the species that exist here or the numbers that exist here." "And obviously, with lack of data it's therefore difficult to assess if these populations are in any way endangered." "NARRATOR:" "Their first task is to find a boat big enough to take them and their equipment into the shallow lagoons where the seahorses live." "LUCY:" "This sort of thing would be quite good." "About the right size, you reckon?" "Yeah, I think so, don't you?" "NARRATOR:" "The waters around the spice Islands are home to one of the largest traditionally-made boating fleets in the world." "For maritime archaeologist Lucy, it's like stepping back in time." "LUCY:" "It's just the sort of thing you would find in a medieval shipyard." "And I'm not belittling this actually at all, but it's exactly..." "This whole tool kit, in fact, is very akin to what you would find in a medieval shipyard." "And the great thing is, they're still building a lot of boats here and there's obviously a lot of demand." "NARRATOR:" "With the boat arranged, the team can begin their search for seahorses." "They'll have to bring them out of the water to take accurate measurements." "A sensitive operation, but important to help protect them." "I'm not a huge fan of taking things out of their environment into an artificial environment." "Yet, without taking that seahorse out of its environment, you can't take the measurements that are essential to look at population and numbers, and therefore you can't go on to make any conservation assessments." "NARRATOR:" "As the divers descend, the lagoon comes alive." "It's a nursery for juvenile scorpion fish, yellow box fish, tiny squid, hermit crabs" "and a host of mysterious micro-wildlife." "The perfect environment for seahorses." "A few centimetres tall and perfectly camouflaged, they're not easy to spot." "Back on shore, Paul and Lucy are building a temporary lab." "Here, they'll identify the species of any seahorse they find." "The main objective is to shelter it from the sun, so we need a tarp." "Perfect." "And, of course, the wind is from that way as well." "(BOTH CHATTERING)" "Okay, you can let go." "PAUL:" "It's a tall order, this." "I mean, we've got half a day, roughly." "Got about four hours from now, and then we got to join Kayos and sail north." "So, I mean, it is a long shot." "There's no doubt about that." "NARRATOR:" "Underwater, the search continues." "PHILIPPE:" "Oh, my God!" "Toni, over here." "To give you an idea of how hard they are to find, it is right here." "NARRATOR:" "To disguise themselves, seahorses allow small organisms to grow on them." "For such a slow-moving fish, their camouflage is an essential defence against predators." "The only thing that gives her away is the slight movement of her gills, which she's pumping water through to get oxygen, and that is pretty much it." "I just think they look so sad." "He's got his little head drooped down." "PHILIPPE:" "Oh, yeah." "TOONI:" "She's having a damned good look around, though." "PHILIPPE:" "Now, I'm carefully, carefully going to lift up this seahorse here." "Very gently." "Seahorses almost have a mythical quality." "They look as if they've come out of some story book." "And it might be for this reason that they are so prized in traditional medicines in the East." "Seahorses are in a lot of trouble." "Look at this beautiful creature." "People capture these in the millions." "I'm not sure if I can get him to hold on to my finger." "There we go." "Need to be very gentle and delicate with him." "TOONI:" "What's really key is that we get this one onto shore, back to its location, within 20 minutes because we don't want to stress it." "Because seahorses are monogamous, so if this one isn't returned right here, its mate isn't going to know where it is and it'll be lost." "NARRATOR: once the spot is marked, there's no time to waste." "TOONI:" "Precious cargo." "Yeah, I got it." "Got it?" "Okay, there's a tarpaulin there for your gear." "Flipping well done." "Got to be really careful." "Aw, she's gone down, great." "LUCY:" "She's quite big." "PAUL:" "Yeah, she's beautiful." "NARRATOR:" "They have just minutes to identify the species." "PAUL:" "Here you go, she's in there." "Have you started the clock?" "LUCY:" "We've got to be really quiet." "PAUL:" "Yeah, I have." "Really quiet." "Really quiet, yeah?" "I think she's a female." "You can see the bands on her." "PAUL:" "There's the tape, yep." "LUCY:" "Man, she's feisty." "PAUL:" "She's great." "NARRATOR: males have a smooth pouch that broods the young, but females have bands all down their bodies and the number of these bands helps to identify the species." "LUCY:" "Five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 1 ." "Eleven." "PAUL:" "You're halfway through." "It's 10 minutes." "LUCY:" "Fourteen millimetres." "Now, that's a lot." "That's spot on." "NARRATOR: some species of seahorse are traded more than others, so identifying this one will help determine how endangered the population here is." "TOONI:" "Hold her like that." "PHILIPPE:" "It's going to be really hard underwater." "Okay, can you get..." "Can you get this..." "Quickly." "PHILIPPE:" "Toni, I got to get in between your fingers." "TOONI:" "Then you're going to have to..." "You're going to have to..." "I'll have to hold her head and you'll have to get her..." "Hold her tail." "NARRATOR:" "Time is slipping away." "PHILIPPE:" "Let's take her out of the water and just do it quickly." "PAUL:" "You can do it in the water." "PHILIPPE:" "All right." "PAUL:" "You've only got about five minutes left, guys, as far as... (ALL TALKING AT ONCE)" "NARRATOR:" "The length of the seahorse is a crucial final measurement." "It will confirm the species." "LUCY:" "Quick, get in there." "PHILIPPE:" "I can't." "I can't with your fingers there." "All right." "PAUL:" "That's perfect." "PHILIPPE:" "Can you straighten that baby tail out?" "TOONI:" "She's strong." "PAUL:" "You can run it round the bottom." "PAUL:" "Nearly." "LUCY:" "We've got the end." "I think you've got it." "Yeah, you got the end." "PHILIPPE:" "You got the tip?" "PAUL:" "Yeah, that's it, right." "Good." "All right." "164, is that about right?" "LUCY:" "So that's..." "Should we go for the upper end, then?" "NARRATOR:" "Combining these measurements reveals that this is a Hippocampus borboniensis, a species prized in the medicinal trade." "PAUL:" "Get your dive gear, we'll bring her out." "Right." "PAUL:" "Call when you're ready." "NARRATOR: selling for as much as 500 pounds per kilogram, this seahorse is at risk from a global trade, estimated to capture 30 million seahorses a year across 80 countries." "LUCY:" "My heart is still going, though." "They're so small, and they're really, really strong." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "As Toni and Philippe return the seahorse to its exact location," "Lucy and Paul discover something." "But ours is 16.4." "PAUL:" "Normally..." "LUCY:" "Well, it says, "Maximum height, 14."" "I reckon it's a world beater!" "We got a record!" "NARRATOR:" "They've just found the largest Hippocampus borboniensis ever recorded." "This vital data will be sent to conservation organisation," "Project seahorse." "Identifying where it might be at risk will be the first step in helping to protect this enigmatic but vulnerable creature." "Earlier in the expedition, the team found evidence of a cyclone that hit this region over 100 years ago." "Paul and maritime archaeologist Lucy want to explore the remains of a village that could hold clues to man's long relationship with this sea." "All we need is just one or two..." "Yeah, I know." "We're not going to find great, big things." "No, no, no, it's just, sort of..." "Something to indicate..." "Clues, clues, yes." "NARRATOR:" "In 1872, a cyclone pulverised a coastal village and dragged it into the ocean." "This is Ras Kisimani, once a vital trading hub." "They'll be looking for evidence of its rich trading history." "There's been very limited archaeological work done here before, although the site has been identified." "But a lot of this material, because of the effects of the cyclone in 1872, has effectively been washed into the sea." "So, a lot of the material's actually now under the water." "There's very little known about the site." "PAUL:" "Okay." "LUCY:" "And so I don't really know what we're going to find." "I'm hoping that we'll find some bits of masonry and maybe even some pottery to indicate who was here and when they settled and, you know, the people they were trading with, so..." "It would be great just to find something, wouldn't it?" "Oh, no, absolutely, absolutely, because, I mean, just a small piece, you know, some small bits of pottery will be able to give us some idea of the nature of the activities here." "NARRATOR:" "These underwater remains have never been studied." "They don't know what, if anything, they'll find." "LUCY:" "It's the challenge of the archaeologist in a way." "often you don't see a huge amount left on the seabed." "And it's a question..." "It's a bit like a puzzle, in a way." "You have to take bits of the puzzle and through those clues, try and build up a picture, enough to give us an indication of who was settled there, who they were trading with." "Right, you guys ready, and I'll hand you the scooters when you get in there, all right?" "MAN:" "Five, four, three, two, one, divers in." "NARRATOR:" "The cyclone scattered the remains across a wide area." "LUCY:" "You getting anything there?" "PAUL:" "No, nothing at the moment." "NARRATOR: so the best way to cover the ground is to use underwater scooters." "LUCY:" "See this, um..." "Oh, hang on." "There's nothing." "Oh, here, Lucy, stop." "What's this?" "LUCY:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "At first, it looks like debris and rubble." "LUCY:" "Ah, look." "See there?" "That shows you the profile of a bowl." "So, this is like the local cause ware." "So, this identifies the people were settled at this site." "NARRATOR:" "They've found pottery, probably 19th century." "Evidence this is the site of the sunken village." "Should we go for a scoot around, Lucy?" "Yeah, what we need to try and do is have a look at where the main concentration is." "Hey, Paul, Paul, Paul, look!" "PAUL:" "Oh, wow, what's that?" "LUCY:" "Wow, wow, look at that!" "That is beautiful." "Now, that is a clear import." "I think this is material that was coming from Persia." "NARRATOR:" "The foliage and glaze in this design date it not to the 19th century, but to the 15th." "Evidence that Ras Kisimani had a much older trading history." "LUCY:" "This is such an identifying piece of ceramic, you know." "This really gives an indication of the scale of Indian Ocean trade and the range that people were travelling." "If you just do a little bit of hand fanning..." "I can't get over how much stuff's here." "Look at this!" "I think it's a piece of celadon ware, which would have come from, sort of, Southeast Asia, maybe even China." "NARRATOR:" "This discovery takes them even further back in time and further across this ocean." "LUCY:" "That's a beautiful piece." "NARRATOR:" "Celadon is a type of ancient Chinese pottery." "LUCY:" "See this design here?" "That's got to be Oriental." "NARRATOR:" "This piece could date to the 14th century and shows that this village was a trade hub between China and Africa over 600 years ago." "LUCY:" "You know, this was a major stopping point on a trading system along the East African coast." "This particular little site worked as a sort of stopover, a service station in a way, you know, people would come here, there was a good supply of water, and it all worked as a part of this system of trade along the coast." "PAUL:" "It makes a lot of sense." "LUCY:" "Exploiting and extracting the goods that Africa had to offer." "NARRATOR:" "Laid out on the seabed is the long history of this village and the vital role of the Indian ocean in uniting cultures through trade." "From 14th century China to ancient Persia, they have found evidence that man has been working with this sea for hundreds of years." "This is the first time that I've ever dived off an island in the Indian Ocean and found such a wealth of material, particularly of this period." "I mean, the Islamic ceramics are really rich and colourful, their glazes, their colours, you know." "And they're just so well preserved." "I just can't get over that." "NARRATOR:" "Across the centuries, the people here harnessed monsoon winds to drive trade in spices, gold and even slaves up and down this coastline." "But these waters also control the movements of marine life." "Toni and Philippe are on the lookout for the whale shark, the largest fish in the sea." "We know very, very little about whale sharks." "So, this is really an attempt, a global attempt, at trying to get an idea of, A, how many whale sharks are out there." "We don't even know that." "How they migrate, where they go..." "We don't know, really, anything." "NARRATOR:" "These marine giants are still killed for their meat and fins and are officially threatened." "Philippe wants to gather information that can help protect them." "They are still being hunted, and I hope they won't get wiped out, but I think it's one of those things like..." "Like the polar bears, that I wanna see before they're gone." "NARRATOR:" "Giant African river deltas feed this region of the Indian ocean with vast quantities of nutrients." "These wash into the waters and create feeding corridors that draw the whale sharks to the coastal regions." "Philippe spots what he's looking for." "There it is." "We got whale shark!" "TOONI:" "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah..." "Just keep seeing a little fin come out of the water." "'Cause they stay near the surface when they're feeding." "They come to take big mouthfuls of krill." "There it is." "Good heavens!" "TOONI:" "My goodness!" "It's just come..." "It's just come right out the water." "You can see it." "PHILIPPE:" "Good lord." "NARRATOR:" "Whale sharks are normally seen travelling alone, but here, a group has gathered." "TOONI:" "My goodness, we are surrounded." "NARRATOR:" "To see six sharks circling like this is very rare." "TOONI:" "Look at the size of it." "NARRATOR:" "These vast creatures are almost as big as the team's boat." "(MAN SPEAKING NATIVE LANGUAGE)" "Thing is, you read, like, "Eight-metre whale shark" in a book, but then you see an eight-metre whale shark and it's..." "That thing was huge." "NARRATOR:" "Toni and Philippe want to take photographs of the whale sharks to identify individuals." "This information will be used to track whale shark movement around the globe." "The sharks pose no threat to humans, and as they seem relaxed, the team can go after the information they need." "The water is clouded with life." "shoals of fish pulse, shimmer and pool together for protection." "mobile rays glide in to take advantage of plentiful prey." "An entire food chain is active here, and these huge creatures are cutting swathes right through its centre." "Whale sharks can weigh up to 35 tons." "They've been known to travel distances of up to 8,000 miles to recharge at feeding grounds like this." "The gills filter the water of its content." "A cough helps to clear trapped food particles." "Tiny eyes and poor sight means it's their sense of smell that enables them to track down their prey, fish and plankton." "Their skin is the thickest of any animal on earth, and it's the markings on it that Philippe needs to photograph." "Like a fingerprint, the spots on the side of each shark are unique." "The photographs will go into a database to help track the whale sharks so conservationists can find out where they need to be protected." "That was..." "That was incredible!" "TOONI:" "They are so beautiful!" "Oh, it was incredible." "Giant, gaping, wide mouth." "It was just magical, just awesome." "NARRATOR:" "The team moves to land to get a stable communications platform." "They need to upload the whale shark photos into an international database." "PHILIPPE:" "This is how they identify them." "The spots on the side of a whale shark are very similar to fingerprints, unique in every single whale shark, their spot pattern is different." "It'll compare these spots with a photographic database of at least, you know, a thousand other whale sharks." "NARRATOR:" "If this shark has already been identified in other parts of the world, the database will show where it's been travelling." "If it's a new shark, then one more can be tracked." "Right, so here we go." "The results just came up and..." "We've got a new whale shark." "That's cool." "That is cool." "Well done." "PHILIPPE:" "And the great thing about this is that we'll find out..." "We'll be e-mailed if this whale shark is sighted again and where it was sighted." "PAUL:" "That's great." "PHILIPPE:" "If our whale shark..." "NARRATOR:" "It's a final success and a fitting end to the expedition." "The interaction of land and sea created the feeding corridors that support the whale sharks." "But it also brings the human activity that threatens them." "The Indian ocean has shown how much it has to offer those around it." "That's a really bright band." "Yeah, you can see it, can't you?" "NARRATOR:" "But also how these people are putting it under pressure." "People who have developed ways of exploiting this sea for centuries." "It's a case of the sea not dividing, but uniting the different cultures around its shores." "NARRATOR:" "But we may now be learning how to work with our coastal waters, strengthening our fragile relationship with the ocean." "Next time, the team explores the blue waters of the Mediterranean sea." "They'll brave perilous caves for proof of its turbulent past." "LUCY:" "This cave is like a time capsule." "They'll look for evidence of one of Europe's first superpowers." "Going in." "And they'll search for the feared great white shark." "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet." "They hold clues to the mysteries of our past." "And they're vital for our future survival." "But the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL ROSE:" "I am with a shark." "Yes, yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year the team has voyaged across the world to build up a global picture of our seas." "PHILIPPE:" "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "TOONI:" "That is psychedelically purple!" "We are here to try and understand the Earth's oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR: our oceans are changing faster than ever." "I've never seen ice like this Before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never been a better time to explore the last true wilderness on Earth." "A heavy one." "Looks good, perfect." "NARRATOR:" "The team is about to explore the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea." "The remnant of an ancient ocean, this temperate sea is now home to over 700 varieties of fish and almost 10% of the world's marine species." "Surrounded by the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, its coastline is one of the most densely populated in the world." "And the human pressure on this sea is magnified by 100 million visitors each year." "Most people think about the Med as a holiday destination." "It's hot, sunny, there's nice sandy Beaches" "But it's an ecosystem under pressure." "NARRATOR:" "Western civilisation developed around these shores but now human activity is threatening to ruin this sea." "PHILIPPE:" "The Mediterranean has been critically important for so many thousands of years, but the evidence is there." "The Mediterranean is a shadow of what it once was." "NARRATOR:" "The team is here to explore the profound effect that man is having on these endangered waters." "PHILIPPE:" "Quite a Bit of life here But no large Fish." "NARRATOR: on this expedition, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau investigates the delicate balance of marine life here and tries to protect one of man's most feared predators." "The great white shark is definitely the holy grail, so to speak." "And to search for them here in the Mediterranean, just fantastic." "TOONI:" "You actually can't see a way out." "It is like you're surrounded on all sides." "NARRATOR:" "Marine biologist and oceanographer Toni Math braves treacherous caves for evidence of some of the greatest changes to have shaped this sea." "TOONI:" "This cave is like a time capsule." "This was once all dry land." "NARRATOR:" "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue explores how the Mediterranean gave rise to one of Europe's first superpowers." "The sea is often seen as that Big dangerous expanse of Blue that stops people moving around, But the Mediterranean is quite the opposite." "You know, it was a superhighway for millennia." "NARRATOR:" "The expedition will begin at the centre of the Mediterranean, in the waters between Italy and the island of Sicily, the Straits of Messina." "The team is here to search for a prehistoric creature that's increasingly threatened." "one of the largest predatory sharks in the world but one of the most rarely seen, the six gill shark." "Typically, they're Found in about 2,000 metres or in 6 or 7,000 Feet, of water." "We assume they ride up in the middle of the night to Feed, and then return Back to the depths Before the day." "To have them here in about 40 metres of depth where we can get down and see them is just super-rare." "There's only a Few places in the world where they've Been Found." "NARRATOR:" "If he's successful, expedition leader Paul will be one of only a few people ever to encounter this shark." "Filming this vulnerable creature could give us a chance to learn more about this deep ocean animal facing threats from fishing, pollution and habitat destruction." "We tend to think that obviously they've Been Filmed and studied loads," "But they haven't." "So when I realised a glimpse is a success, it really puts pressure on tonight's dive." "NARRATOR:" "This rare opportunity is because of the peculiar underwater geography here." "The Straits of Messina are a bottleneck connecting two deep sea basins." "Tides and currents create spellings, powerful surges of turbulent deep sea water that are forced up and through this shallow, narrow channel, dragging up rare creatures normally only found in the depths." "The danger is that with these Big overfills, as we call them, and spellings, that I'll get drawn to the surface quickly." "And it could Be that I could come all the way to the surface, and I can't afford to do that Because I'd get decompression sickness." "I'd get the Bends, and it can Be serious enough that I can end up, you know, tonight, I could do that dive, 40 metres, get Blown to the surface and Be in a wheelchair the rest of my life." "NARRATOR:" "Adding to the risk, this dive has to be made at night around the new moon." "There are only a few nights when conditions are right, with tides strong enough to pull the six gill up from the deep." "At midnight, Paul heads out into the inky waters." "He will head the dive team with Philippe as his stand-by." "I think this is an absolutely incredible opportunity to see a six gill shark" "Because we know so little about these animals." "And the more evidence that we can gather about what they're doing down there, the Better." "The Better For us to understand them and also the Better For us to hopefully protect them." "RICHARD BULL:" "Right, Paul's good to go." "Go, Paul, go." "Down we go." "Good luck, mate." "PAUL:" "We're moving pretty Fast actually." "There's a real sense of purpose." "NARRATOR:" "Sharks are crucial to the health of our oceans." "The six gill is almost identical to sharks from 200 million years ago." "A living fossil that offers an insight into our prehistoric sea life." "There's a lot of activity down here." "We're swimming like the Blazes." "NARRATOR:" "The night dive reveals some of the sea's nocturnal marine species, like the moray eel." "Paul swims by something that could entice a six gill into the area." "It's not a shark But it's a Beautiful octopus." "NARRATOR: octopus as well as fish and small sharks are part of the six gill diet." "But no sign of our shark, I'm afraid." "NARRATOR:" "The rescue boat is tracking the divers' lights, but diving at night in a strong current is a worry for dive supervisor Richard Bull." "No matter how many times we've checked it," "I'm always thinking what haven't we spotted, what is going to go wrong?" "When things go wrong when you're diving, it's Bad." "Do you know what I think the worst thing is?" "A missing diver." "NARRATOR:" "Paul still hasn't seen a shark." "He's swimming against an exhausting 3-knot current so he is rapidly using up his air supply." "MIKE:" "Hold on, Scott, we can't see them For a second." "Let me..." "Let me..." "NARRATOR:" "Suddenly, the rescue boat loses sight of the divers, 40 metres below." "MIKE:" "Paul, surface?" "SCOTT TIBBLES:" "Kill all the lights, kill all the lights." "NARRATOR:" "To avoid decompression sickness as they ascend," "Paul and his team need to breathe the pure oxygen the rescue boat is carrying." "IF we can't Find them, then the O2 tanks that they need For decompression that are hanging under the Boat won't Be there when they come up." "So it's very dangerous." "MIKE:" "Paul, surface?" "NARRATOR:" "Mike Kasich is in charge of communications." "MIKE:" "Paul, surface?" "Paul, surface?" "PAUL:" "Yeah, just reporting, we've started to leave the Bottom." "MIKE:" "We've lost you, we've lost you." "So I need someone with lights to shine them to the surface so that we can kind of track you, okay?" "PAUL:" "Roger." "Roger." "MIKE:" "Keep your lights shining up, Paul." "Keep your lights shining up." "NARRATOR:" "At last through the gloom, the divers' lights are spotted." "RICHARD:" "Get some oxygen, oxygen is going in now and we're right over the top of them." "PAUL:" "We can see the cylinders." "Thanks, guys." "You know, your heart skips a Beat For a second But we Found them." "NARRATOR:" "The relief that the team is safe is matched by frustration that they failed to find the six gill shark." "What a disappointment." "We have just swum our little legs off." "You know, a Bit tired From the exercise But disappointed really, Blimey." "I kind of Felt that we would Find him, really did." "NARRATOR:" "The next night at midnight, Paul dives again." "Go." "Go." "PAUL:" "Right, we're picking up the pace again." "NARRATOR:" "But after another exhausting swim, the dive ends." "PAUL:" "No sign of our shark." "Sorry, guys." "NARRATOR:" "The team is beginning to understand why sightings of this shark are so rare." "I look at the size of the strait and the small area that we can cover, although it Feels like a whopping great Big area," "I realise it's a real needle-in-a-haystack job, this." "Got one chance left tonight." "NARRATOR:" "It's the last night of the new moon when the tide could bring the six gill shark up from the depths." "So Paul has pushed his equipment to the limit, to give himself as much time as possible underwater." "I've got the Biggest cylinders I can carry and swim Fast with, pumped to the absolute maxi." "I mean, this is our opportunity to learn something about them and help study them, so it means a lot." "NARRATOR:" "Six gills aren't aggressive to humans, so to increase his chances of attracting one," "Paul is attaching a bait bag to his dive belt." "It's not that that great lump of tuna attracts the shark to Bite you, right?" "But it grabs a lump of tuna and heads off into the deep dragging you with it, and I think that's when you've got to Be prepared to get rid of it." "Survival, it's a strong instinct, isn't it?" "NARRATOR:" "At 1..30 in the morning, the final dive begins." "PAUL:" "I do have to tell you, Philippe, it's absolutely perfect." "We've slowed down a Bit Because we've come across a John Dory." "It's a Fantastic looking Fish." "NARRATOR:" "Identifiable by the dark spot on the side of its body, this fish is another food source for predatory sharks." "PAUL:" "But we've got no time to waste, that's For sure." "MIKE:" "What are you seeing down there?" "Over." "NARRATOR:" "Communications with Paul have failed." "No, I've got nothing." "I don't even hear you speaking." "NARRATOR:" "Unaware that Philippe can't hear him," "Paul presses on with his search." "PAUL:" "But I can't see anything." "Where's the shark?" "Come on, Baby." "Where are you?" "NARRATOR:" "Paul is down to his last 10 minutes of air when he gets a signal from one of his dive team." "PAUL:" "Oh, wow!" "Surface, Paul." "Surface, Paul." "I am with a six gill shark." "Can you Believe this!" "NARRATOR:" "This is one of the largest predatory sharks in the world." "It's a rare encounter with a mainly solitary animal that spends much of its life at the bottom of the sea, diving to depths of 2,000 metres." "PAUL:" "Look at those eyes." "He's got those great green eyes." "NARRATOR:" "The eyes of deepwater sharks like the six gill can reflect light, enhancing their vision and allowing them to see in the gloom of the deep sea." "PAUL:" "One, two, three, Four, Five, six, yeah, there you go." "Most sharks have evolved to have just Five pairs of gills," "But the six gills on this shark make it similar to sharks dating From 200 million years ago." "It's like swimming with a living dinosaur." "NARRATOR:" "The sixth gill is thought to help them breathe in the oxygen-depleted waters of the extreme depths." "That's not the only primitive feature." "Its teeth and the structure of the jaw mean it closely resembles fossils of sharks from the Jurassic period." "Six gill sharks spend most of their life at extreme depths where they can't be reached." "So rare film like this will help scientists to study them." "PAUL:" "Ah, Blimey, there it goes." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe still doesn't know what's happened but as the divers begin to ascend, contact is restored." "Okay, Paul, surface." "What did you see down there?" "Over." "We're now slowly coming up to our First stop" "But we've all got Big grins." "Paul, surface." "Confirm, did you see a shark?" "Did you see a six gill?" "Over." "Roger, Roger." "Saw a six gill shark and he was a Beauty." "PAUL:" "And it was a wonderful experience, we were in contact for five or 10 minutes." "Five or 10 minutes!" "OF course, the Five or 10 minutes the combs were out." "I Began to wonder if we'd see him Before we ran out of air." "That's Brilliant!" "PAUL:" "Guys, it was worth the effort, totally worth the effort." "PHILIPPE:" "That is Fantastic." "Paul, my man, how was it?" "You'll never Believe it." "We just swam down and just when we were thinking," "Burning up too much air trying to Find this, and then he just came straight in." "Just as smooth and as easy as you like." "NARRATOR:" "Sharks play a crucial role as predators in our seas and oceans, weeding out the sick and injured, but numbers are decreasing rapidly." "Later in the expedition, the team will investigate how another shark could be at risk in this fast-changing sea." "The Mediterranean is famous for its clear blue water, but that could be a sign of its vulnerability." "Clear water indicates low levels of plankton, a crucial source of food in the sea." "So Paul and oceanographer Toni are using a Such disc, a standard oceanographic tool, to measure the clarity of the water." "TOONI:" "Okay, ready?" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "In nutrient-rich waters, the disc would disappear within a few metres." "PAUL:" "There we go." "So there's nine." "Still seeing it?" "Yeah, totally." "TOONI:" "Eleven." "That's the end of it, we can't go any deeper." "It's as clear now as it was at one metre, isn't it?" "That's amazing." "NARRATOR:" "The clearer the water, the less plankton there is." "That means that we're in very low nutrient conditions." "That is essentially why the Mediterranean is so Blue." "There's no microscopic plant or animal activity, which means there's nothing to suck the light out of the water column." "NARRATOR:" "The Mediterranean has some of the lowest nutrient levels of any sea." "This restricts how much can live here as there's a limited amount of food, making it a delicate ecosystem particularly vulnerable to human activity." "To find out just what marine life the Med is capable of supporting, the team's heading 25 miles southwest of Sicily, to one place that should be full of life, an enormous underwater volcano." "It's 8:30 and we're on site." "We've travelled all night and woke up this morning to see that we were in the position and we've Found the summit of the volcano, which is right under the Boat right now." "NARRATOR:" "Ferdinand is over 400 metres high and has a base that measures 750 square kilometres." "Its tip is just 8 metres from the surface." "Many volcanoes were created as a result of the Mediterranean's tectonic plates colliding during its formation." "Some breached the surface to form islands, which is exactly what happened to Ferdinand in the 19th century as this contemporary painting depicts." "It turns out when it was up, in 1831, it was actually a proper island." "You know, it was 60 metres high and something like 4 kilometres circumference, you know, just under 3 miles round." "But it turns out that it only lasted six months." "It was just magma, and it just all quickly turned to ash and, you know, a Few Big seas, and rain and general weather, and it demolished the top." "And then once it got low, the sea knocked it Back." "NARRATOR:" "Ferdinand is now completely underwater once again, one of thousands of seamounts around the world which are magnets for marine life." "So the team goes to find out what's living here." "TOONI:" "This volcano was created at the collision point of the African and European plates." "Check out the ridges." "It's very strange how there's a rippling effect in the Black volcanic Basalt." "The ridges are caused" "By the speed of the water current that passes over them." "NARRATOR:" "This fertile volcanic sand allows the millions of microscopic plant and animal larvae that float in the open sea, to grow here." "TOONI:" "Seamounts are Biodiversity hotspots" "Because they provide organisms with a place to land and settle in an otherwise Featureless, Flat ocean." "NARRATOR:" "As deep water hits these underwater mountains, it rises bringing nutrients from the seabed, creating a rich feeding ground." "These places, they've Become like an oasis" "Because they've got such deep water all around us, and this thing coming right up in this Beautiful light Zone attracts an abundance of life." "NARRATOR:" "Marine life uses seamounts as habitats, as spawning grounds, even as stepping stones while it travels around the sea." "Lucy and environmentalist Philippe should find the summit teeming with life." "PHILIPPE:" "There are lots of small schooling Fish which is a good sign." "Oh, and a sea urchin." "Sea urchins just love all the algae that grows in here." "NARRATOR:" "But it soon becomes apparent something crucial is missing." "PHILIPPE:" "Quite a Bit of life here But no large Fish." "NARRATOR:" "There's no sign of the open water fish like sardines, tuna and grouper that should be here." "PHILIPPE:" "This is essentially an artificial reef in a Big void space, so all the little Fish come here Because they've got places to hide." "And the little Fish then attract the Big Fish" "But it also attracts the Fishermen, so I'm not surprised to see not a lot of Big Fish here in this area" "Because most likely the Fishermen come here Frequently." "NARRATOR:" "Fishing has been an integral part of Mediterranean culture for thousands of years." "Until recently, it was a largely sustainable industry." "However, since 1970, fishing in the Med has increased by almost 50%." "Conservationists now warn the entire sea is endangered." "The problem with the Med is Because technology has advanced so swiftly in the past 50 or 60 years, and Because it's such an enclosed area, this is the place where the technological advances are going to have the most impact." "NARRATOR:" "And that impact is particularly felt by an iconic species of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic blue fin tuna." "PHILIPPE:" "They're pretty incredible animals." "They're Fast, they're warm-Blooded, one of the Few Fish that are warm-Blooded so they're very complex, very interesting animals." "And they're ocean-roaming, all over the world, and they're very highly prized." "NARRATOR:" "The value of the estimated total blue fin tuna catch in the Med is around £400 million." "This has triggered the rise in industrial fishing." "Philippe and marine biologist Toni are heading off to investigate one of the more recent developments in the harvesting of this sea, a tuna farm." "It almost looks like a kind of rubberised pen you'd see at an amusement park For people to go splash around in." "This is going to Be Full of tuna." "And ironically enough, this is pretty much the only place" "I'm ever going to see such large schools." "PHILIPPE:" "Any more." "Any more." "NARRATOR:" "There are now over 40 offshore tuna farms in the Mediterranean." "RICHARD:" "One, go For it." "Go For it." "TOONI:" "Just look at the size of the net, it's huge." "PHILIPPE:" "In one way," "I was really looking Forward to seeing these tuna" "Because I've never gotten to see them Before in the wild." "But seeing them swimming in circle after circle, over and over..." "TOONI:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR: 20-30,000 tons are caught each summer in vast dragnets and towed to the tuna farms." "PHILIPPE:" "Well, these tuna have just recently Been caught." "They'll Be Fed regularly to Fatten them up and then once they've reached a certain size, about 2-300 kilograms, they'll Be taken to the mainland where they'll Be shipped to Japan." "NARRATOR:" "These wild blue fin tuna have migrated here from the Atlantic ocean to spawn in the warmer waters." "They swim with their mouths open to force water over their gills." "If they stop, they suffocate." "TOONI:" "Look at that Blue stripe." "That's what gives them their name, Blue Fin tuna." "PHILIPPE:" "It's a Beautiful Blue colour." "NARRATOR:" "This farm operates within the law, but conservationists believe the high value of this tuna means some fishermen are exceeding quota limits." "What's more, some are even flouting restrictions on the size of the tuna they catch." "TOONI:" "The Fear is that more and more tuna Farms are catching juveniles." "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah, this is depleting the population" "Before they even have a chance to procreate and start the next generation." "TOONI:" "And that's pushing the Blue Fin population here to the Brink of extinction." "NARRATOR:" "Scientists believe that as much as 20,000 tons of blue fin tuna are caught illegally in the Mediterranean every year." "The Med's most iconic fish, and the traditional fisheries it once supported, are now close to collapse." "TOONI:" "It doesn't just have an implication for the Mediterranean." "It has an implication for the Atlantic as well because they're a migratory species." "For the survival of the Mediterranean economy and survival of Mediterranean traditions that have Been in place For thousands of years, you have to maintain a population of that species and that isn't happening." "NARRATOR:" "The exploitation of this sea is no new phenomenon." "Man's influence has been felt here for millennia." "Some of the greatest civilisations in our history have used the Mediterranean to their advantage." "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue has been working in the Med for much of her career, exploring how this sea is uniquely important in the development of Western civilisation." "LUCY:" "You know, this is where cultures developed, around these shores." "The sea in this instance, I think, more than anywhere else in the world actually Facilitated the communications and the development of these civilisations." "NARRATOR:" "The Romans ruled this sea over 2,000 years ago and became one of humanity's first superpowers." "Lucy has brought the team to the Egad Islands to the west of Sicily." "She wants to search the wreck of a Roman cargo ship for any clues to what was being traded, and how far these routes stretched across the Mediterranean." "It's First century BC, so it's, you know, the early part of the Roman period where they've just taken Sicily over." "So it's about development and expansion." "NARRATOR:" "They're going to dive to just one of hundreds of Roman wrecks that have been discovered in the Med." "Clear evidence of the scale of traffic around this sea in ancient times." "Okay, so we're going to moor up to the Buoy that you can see over there, where the other Boat is." "And there's a shot line there." "It goes down to 12 metres and basically that just slips down quite gradually to about 24 metres." "LUCY:" "Yeah, okay." "Good." "Clear." "Clear Behind." "On your mark, clear." "NARRATOR:" "The wooden structure of the shipwreck has long since disintegrated." "What remains is some of the cargo it carried, a mound of amphorae, enormous ceramic containers." "LUCY:" "Just getting a First glimpse of the amphorae on the seabed and it's really quite remarkable." "And although I have worked on a number of shipwrecks over the years," "I have never actually seen such a large number of amphorae concentrated in one spot." "The wreck dates From around the First century BC." "That's over 2,000 years old." "Now, that's a Fairly intact one there." "NARRATOR:" "But what were the Romans trading?" "LUCY:" "Grab that end." "What have you got?" "PAUL:" "I've got 120." "It's huge." "LUCY:" "From the shapes and the Fact that they were lined with Bitumen or pitch, they likely carried wine." "Probably would have carried about 20-25 litres of wine." "You can see the shape of them." "It's perfectly made to slot into the hull of a vessel." "This is how they would have stored them, sort of one on top of the other in the hull of a Roman merchantman." "NARRATOR:" "Having found out that these amphorae are likely to have carried wine," "Lucy now needs to look for any clues that might reveal who produced it." "LUCY:" "There's one here that has the name of the Family that produced the wine. "Papua."" "NARRATOR:" "Based in southern Italy, the Papua family were a powerful dynasty of winemakers who exported it around the Mediterranean." "LUCY:" "It's likely that they were transporting them From Sicily, maybe even to north Africa." "This would have Been part of the general trade in wine and olive oil, arum, which is a Fish paste, that was Being conducted around the Mediterranean at this time." "NARRATOR:" "This is a record of a trade that linked two continents, and the scale of this operation shows how effectively the Romans established trading routes around the Mediterranean." "There are about 40 amphorae here, but these are only a fraction of the original cargo." "LUCY:" "There used to Be about 400-500 But these have Been taken By looters." "It's a Big problem in the Mediterranean." "NARRATOR:" "Treasure hunters have damaged and stolen many of the rich but fragile historical remains that scatter the floor of the Med." "To protect what remains of these amphorae, this underwater archaeological site is being monitored" "24 hours a day by CCTV." "The pictures are fed to the nearby island of Favonian where they're monitored by police." "(SPEAKING ITALIAN)" "What was that?" "Just asked permission, want to have a little respect." "PHILIPPE:" "We've got some visitors." "There's Paul right in Front of the camera." "And there's Lucy." "TOONI:" "I think this whole project is so unique, the Fact that they're very interested in the conservation of these relics." "It's kind of sad that they had to in the First place" "But it's very cool that they did." "NARRATOR:" "Since Cutaways installed, not a single Roman amphora has been stolen." "The cameras protect what remains of this valuable site, a record of how the Mediterranean Sea enabled civilisations to expand." "For the team's next mission, Paul and Toni are heading off to Mall orca to look much further back in time." "They'll be diving underground to search for evidence of huge changes which transformed the whole Mediterranean." "Changes that helped bring people here in the first place." "Mall orca lies in the western Mediterranean." "Beneath the island's east coast is a vast network of flooded caves." "This cave system is connected to the sea but Paul and Toni must drive several kilometres inland to reach the entrance." "In these Flooded caves are unusual Formations that you can only see..." "Apparently you can pick them up in the Bahamas and a Few other spots, But this is a really rare opportunity to learn more about the Med." "Probably the most dangerous Bit of diving we're going to do on this." "Yeah, 'cause that's making me Feel Better." "Great, thanks, mate." "PAUL:" "Here we go." "TOONI:" "That looks like a cave." "Doesn't Fill me with joy, it has to Be said." "PAUL:" "It doesn't look very inviting." "NARRATOR:" "Paul and oceanographer Toni will be searching for proof of when Mediterranean sea levels dropped many thousands of years ago, changing the coastline and creating the ideal conditions for people to spread and settle." "They'll have to brave a perilous section of flooded caves, and though they're both trained cave divers, this is a dangerous task." "PAUL:" "There's a definite sense within me that this is a risky dive." "As soon as you can't get to the surface, there's a lot of opportunities For things to go wrong." "NARRATOR:" "They are hoping to examine rare rock formations deep inside the Earth." "The dive begins with a claustrophobic entranceway." "PAUL:" "Here we go." "The trick here, Toni, is going to Be headfirst For sure." "Just have to take our time as we go through this squeeze." "The visibility has gone to next to nothing." "Very, very, very tight indeed, this." "You couldn't possibly go through much smaller of a space." "TOONI:" "One hand at a time, one hand at a time." "It goes down as well." "NARRATOR:" "Toni and Paul dive further and further down below ground into the cave system." "PAUL:" "Kind of a Brutal start this, no visibility and very cold." "NARRATOR:" "As they travel deeper into the network, they reach a mysterious water haze." "Here we go, halocline coming up, Toni, look." "NARRATOR:" "This haze, or halocline, is caused by light rays diffracting as they pass through the different densities of clearer fresh water and denser salt water." "It's the first sign these inland caves are connected to the sea." "TOONI:" "I love the Fact that you've got Fresh water above and sea water Below, and then you get this crazy kind of lime cordial effect where the two meet." "I've never Been able to see density Before." "Physics in action." "PAUL:" "Coming out of that halocline, look how clear it is now." "Oh, that is Beautiful." "NARRATOR:" "The divers emerge into the crystal clear water of an enormous cavern." "Wow, Toni, look at the size of this room." "TOONI:" "This is just incredible." "PAUL:" "I've always Fancied Being an astronaut" "But maybe this is as close as I'm ever going to get." "Instead of outer space, it's like the cave divers use that word, inner space, and it's very true." "NARRATOR:" "Deep inside the Earth, they've found what they've been looking for, spectacular sculptural rock formations that shouldn't even be here." "PAUL:" "We've come underwater here, Below sea level, and yet we're seeing these stalagmites on the Bottom and the stalactites From the ceiling, which means that this cave was once dry" "Because those things only Form in dry caves." "NARRATOR:" "These majestic structures have formed over time by mineral-rich water dripping into dry caves." "To find them in this flooded cave is proof that the sea level was once much lower than it is today." "And these rare bulbous formations around the stalactites and stalagmites, found almost nowhere else on Earth, can reveal when the sea level changed." "TOONI:" "This Bulge was Formed when the sea level was here." "Lapping water deposited minerals which created this Blancmange-like structure." "NARRATOR:" "By dating these mineral deposits, scientists can build up a chronological record of changing sea levels in the Med." "PAUL:" "The sea levels have Been going up and down over hundreds of thousands of years." "NARRATOR:" "This evidence proves that 60-80 thousand years ago, the Mediterranean sea was shallower." "Lower sea levels exposed new ground and created land bridges between islands." "This allowed early humans who'd migrated out of Africa to move around the Mediterranean, settling on its coasts and islands." "TOONI:" "This cave is like a time capsule." "It proves how much the Med has changed and that's had a huge influence." "NARRATOR:" "The Mediterranean has been host to humanity for hundreds of thousands of years." "Today over 150 million people live around its shores." "That number almost doubles in the summer with the influx of holidaymakers." "Pollution, fishing and coastal development are putting enormous stress on these fragile waters, threatening marine life." "Rare species are most likely to suffer." "And one of the Med's most endangered is so elusive many are surprised to learn it's here at all." "Philippe wants to investigate why the Mediterranean is home to one of our most feared predators, the great white shark." "PHILIPPE:" "People think, "oh, Jaws!" ""Sharks are these monsters of the ocean coming to eat us. "" "But sharks are critical to the health of the marine environment because they're apex predators." "They have a perfect place in their ecosystem," "Balancing and keeping it healthy." "They are Beautiful." "NARRATOR:" "These great whites were filmed off South Africa." "They're most likely to be found there or off California and Australia." "The clear waters of the Med might seem an unlikely habitat for this predatory shark because of a limited food supply." "But there have been rare sightings to suggest the great white is living here." "This extraordinary footage was recorded 10 years ago by a fisherman on holiday in the Med with his son." "It shows a great white shark circling the fisherman's boat before tearing chunks from a small thresher shark he'd caught." "But sightings like this are extremely uncommon." "There is some video of great whites in the past." "But any evidence that we can gather to prove that great white sharks live in the Mediterranean would help us to protect these incredible creatures." "NARRATOR:" "To investigate why great whites could be here, the team is heading to the middle of the Sicilian channel, to the tiny island of Lespedeza." "PHILIPPE:" "This must Be him, he's headed right For us." "That is my man." "All right, Finally." "Good morning!" "How are you, man?" "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "They'll be working with patron of the Shark Trust and world expert on great whites in the Med, Ian Ferguson." "PHILIPPE:" "We're ready For you." "NARRATOR:" "Ian's been looking for the great white here for over 15 years and he's convinced there's a pattern to the occasional sightings." "IAN:" "Have the sharks that have Been caught in this particular month in this area just Been pure one-offs, or are they actually here For a reason?" "And my longstanding hypothesis is that the animals are here and the reason they're here is to give Birth." "NARRATOR:" "The Sicilian channel is the only location in the entire eastern Atlantic region where both pregnant and newborn great whites have been sighted." "PAUL:" "Yeah, we think it's about 300 Feet." "NARRATOR:" "Ian believes this could be one of only a few nursery areas identified anywhere for these endangered sharks." "It's an area of great importance, it's obviously a very important habitat For them and we need to get to understand why is this area so important and what can we do to protect the sharks." "NARRATOR:" "So what might make this a suitable breeding ground?" "The proposal is to come round here, a deep dive there on the wall, you know, 40 metres, to check out the habitat, really." "The idea Behind diving this is that this could Be potential Feeding," "this is what great whites like to eat." "Sure, absolutely." "Let's make it happen." "NARRATOR:" "Toni and Lucy dive to look for any evidence that this might be a great white nursery." "TOONI:" "Now, keep your eyes peeled out there For large pelagic." "IF we're going to see them anywhere, we should Be seeing them here." "NARRATOR:" "Compared to other parts of the Med, the warm water of the Sicilian channel is rich in nutrients." "This should attract pelagic, or open water fish, as well as dolphins and turtles that great whites feed on." "TOONI:" "Lucy, there's a shoal of damsel Fish just here." "They're very, very territorial Fish." "So this seems to Be quite a productive area we're in." "Oh, that's a Big grouper!" "NARRATOR:" "Bottom-dwelling fish like this are a typical part of the diet of juvenile great whites." "TOONI:" "Because this is such a great place For Fish, it's also a great place For sharks." "NARRATOR:" "And there's further evidence to support Ian's theory." "This shallow shelf is typical of the habitat young great whites need." "It keeps away predators like blue and make sharks that don't hunt in shallow waters." "But at the surface, events take a turn for the worse." "PAUL:" "I've just been to see the captain." "There's gales forecast." "It'll Be 25 knots plus which is, you know, at sea isn't the worst weather," "But For what we've got in mind it's never going to work." "NARRATOR:" "With the wind picking up, it's urgent to get Toni and Lucy back on board." "All divers, all divers, surface." "We need to get out of the water as soon as possible." "The wind's really picking up now, the wind's really picking up now." "So we've called the divers Back early, we've called Toni and Lucy Back early." "We've got the main engines running now." "We're going to get the guys in and run For Lespedeza Fast." "NARRATOR:" "The storm's an unwelcome delay to their investigation of the great white in the Med." "It's a totally different sea out there, isn't it?" "PAUL:" "Yeah, it's like the North Sea and it's getting rougher By the minute." "NARRATOR:" "Next day the storm has subsided." "Keep pulling on yours, Philippe." "NARRATOR:" "And the team decide on a last hugely ambitious attempt to gather direct evidence, laying a bait trail of chum, pulped oily fish, to try and attract a great white to the boat." "We're going to deploy the most Fantastic shark cage on the planet, get some people in there, chum and chum and chum." "And see if we can Find some great whites." "NARRATOR:" "Everyone's aware it's a long shot." "They now only have a few days to create a chum slick big and nasty enough to attract a great white." "PAUL:" "You got it?" "IAN:" "Yeah, Bung it, Bung it." "Give it a shake to start it off." "(GROANING)" "IAN:" "Bung it." "Just revolting." "IAN:" "It's horrible, isn't it?" "Overnight the Fish obviously starts to deteriorate, so what I'm trying to do is just get the Fish mashed up." "It's going to Be a very strong mix and obviously what we're trying to achieve is a very strong odour trail, like a corridor, For the sharks to Follow right up to the Boat." "RICHARD:" "That smell is totally revolting." "NARRATOR:" "Great white sharks have a highly developed sense of smell." "With tiny holes in their snout, it's thought they can detect minute drops of blood in water from up to three miles away." "PHILIPPE:" "I'm going in." "PAUL:" "That's it." "Speed is everything." "NARRATOR:" "Although they have the reputation for being man-eaters, great whites rarely attack humans." "But Philippe can take no chances and uses the cage to keep shark watch underwater." "Whoa, man, it's rough down here." "IF we get a hint of seeing a great white shark in the Med, doesn't matter, does it, how uncomfortable we are?" "Long day, long night." "We've just got to keep going." "Um, and we're doing everything we can to keep our chances high." "The whole team is going to Be on watch and we're just going to keep at it, all hands, 24 hours." "NARRATOR:" "The team keeps chumming through the night and the oily fish slick attracts a tantalising abundance of sealift towards the boat." "It's just gone midnight and the chum slick is suddenly coming alive." "(LAUGHING) Here comes..." "What's that, a Flying Fish?" "NARRATOR:" "These fish have long fins on their sides which they use to fly above the water for around 50 metres to escape from predators." "As well as flying fish, there are needle fish and a pelagic octopus." "Fantastic." "Slick's working, then." "NARRATOR:" "The conditions are right and the smelly chum slick is buzzing with life." "Great whites often hunt at night, using their sense of smell to locate their prey, so Philippe returns to the cage." "PHILIPPE: (EXCLAIMING) All right!" "It is a little choppy But still good conditions and I'm not giving up hope." "The last sighting of a great white shark that we know of in the Mediterranean occurred right around here about a year ago." "What's even more exciting is that the great white sighted was a juvenile, only about 5 Feet long, which makes it a critical place" "For the great white shark." "NARRATOR:" "So even the slightest sign of great white activity here could be significant." "We'll see, man, we've got all night, see what happens." "Yeah!" "Just keep going." "Listen, you know, it's all we can do." "NARRATOR:" "With only a few hours left of the expedition," "Ian is on dawn watch." "Then as morning breaks..." "IAN:" "Guys, we've got a chum Bag pulled out." "One of our mesh Bags, the red one, has Been pulled out." "That's great news, right?" "It takes a lot to pull that out of that." "That's good news, we're in." "Something's happening." "Yeah." "So we have definitely had a shark that's responded to our chum?" "Well, it certainly wasn't those Fish that yanked this off." "It's happening, isn't it?" "Can you Believe it?" "Okay, ready, man?" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "Encouraged by the encounter, the team tries everything to lure the shark back." "But as the expedition ends, the bite is the closest they get to finding evidence of this endangered creature." "That's it." "NARRATOR:" "It's a tantalising end to the trip." "PAUL:" "Down a Bit, mate." "NARRATOR:" "But perhaps not such bad news for the shark." "Although it's a slightly sort of perverse way of looking at it, one side of me is somewhat relieved that the animals still remain so cryptic and so distant From us that we're Finding it, with all of our effort," "difficult to actually get them to come to us, which is a shame For us But possibly good news For white sharks." "PHILIPPE:" "We've only ever explored maybe 5% of our oceans." "And in a sense, I think that not Finding the great white is an extension of that mystery." "NARRATOR:" "As the team have seen, humankind is encroaching more and more on this sea." "The great white might not be able to avoid us for much longer." "Go, Paul, go." "During this expedition, the Mediterranean has revealed some of its many secrets." "PAUL:" "Oh, wow, can you Believe this!" "NARRATOR:" "The team has uncovered proof of this sea's dramatic past and explored the long relationship humans have had with the Mediterranean." "The expedition has also shown how humans can put untold pressure on a delicate ecosystem." "PHILIPPE:" "Quite a Bit of life here But no large Fish." "I'm not comfortable with always using the word "Fragile"" "around the Earth Because I don't think it's a Fragile planet." "I actually think it's very, very robust." "But the Mediterranean Sea, Because it's surrounded By so much input and there's so much stock Being taken, we're asking so much of this small sea that I think anybody that came and experienced what I just have," "I think it would totally reset people's thinking and attitudes towards the Mediterranean Sea." "NARRATOR:" "This sea is many things to many people, a holiday destination, a historical treasure chest, a food resource for millions." "It's a rich and diverse environment with a precious history and a vital future, both of which need securing." "Next time, the team braves one of the most hostile environments on the planet, the Arctic ocean." "They dive beneath the vanishing ice cap and explore how changes to this frozen sea are threatening the ocean's life, and the rest of the planet." "We are completely dependent on the stuff to keep the planet cool." "NARRATOR:" "They cover two thirds of our planet." "They hold clues to the mysteries of our past." "And they're vital for our future survival." "But the secrets of our oceans have remained largely undiscovered." "PAUL:" "I am with a six gill shark." "Yes!" "Yes!" "NARRATOR:" "Explorer Paul Rose is leading a team of ocean experts on a series of underwater science expeditions." "For a year the team has voyaged across the world to Build up a global picture of our seas." "PHILIPPE:" "We are doing some pretty uncharted research here." "LUCY:" "That is psychedelically purple!" "We're here to try and understand the Earth's oceans and put them in a human scale." "NARRATOR:" "Our oceans are changing faster than ever." "LUCY:" "I've never seen ice like this before." "NARRATOR:" "There's never Been a Better time to explore the last true wilderness on Earth." "This expedition will explore one of the most hostile" "Bodies of water on the planet, the icy wastes of the Arctic Ocean." "The water temperature hovers around zero." "About 2 million square miles of the ocean's surface is permanently frozen." "That much colder ice, much firmer, it's actually breaking off." "This is some serious..." "Yeah, this is much better." "Like, massive chunks breaking off." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "This is one of the least explored oceans on Earth." "It's Barely a century since the first ships penetrated this ice-covered world." "The Arctic Ocean spans the North Pole." "It's the smallest and shallowest of the five great oceans." "But more than any other it plays a vital role in regulating our climate." "Only now, global warming is changing this region dramatically." "It's heating up twice as fast as anywhere else on Earth." "I think we're in a race with the Arctic Ocean." "It's changing fast, so we need to learn and understand what's going on while we can, because within our lifetimes it's going to be unrecognisable." "NARRATOR:" "The team has come to see what these changes will mean for life here, and how they could affect us all." "Marine Biologist and oceanographer Toni Math dives Beneath the polar ice cap to reveal why it's vital to the health of our world." "We kind of are completely dependent on this stuff to keep the planet cool." "NARRATOR:" "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue examines how man has exploited this ocean for hundreds of years." "It was diving, and it had blood, you know, it was bleeding, it was pulling boats." "I mean, it must have been absolutely horrendous." "NARRATOR:" "And environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, grandson of ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau, investigates how the Arctic's uniquely adapted marine life is under threat." "These rely on the ice." "I mean, without the ice, these can't exist." "NARRATOR:" "Ice is the Arctic Ocean's dominant feature." "The way the ice forms and melts and changes and circulates around, it governs the Arctic Ocean, it defines the Arctic Ocean." "NARRATOR:" "This ice is vital to help stop the Earth overheating." "Up to 80% of the sunlight that hits the Bright, white surface is reflected Back into space." "But climate change means the Arctic ice cap is shrinking." "In the last 30 years, almost one and half million square miles of ice has disappeared." "It's a major topic of concern what's happening here." "You know, the ice melting and the implications that has for the rest of the world." "NARRATOR:" "Understanding why and how fast the ice is melting is crucial." "But as getting here is so challenging, the Oceans team will Be one of relatively few specialised expeditions, not only to study the ice from the surface," "But to dive Beneath it." "Most people's experience of the Arctic sea ice would be remotely." "You know, scientists with remote sensing, you know, satellite imagery, computer models and all that." "So even the best scientists in the world who are studying Arctic sea ice often wouldn't get the chance to come to this remote location and go diving underneath it." "NARRATOR:" "Working Beneath the ice is hazardous." "For this extreme diving, the team needs careful preparation." "So the expedition Begins By travelling to the islands of Scabbard, midway Between the North Pole and the tip of Norway." "Expedition leader Paul has Brought them to the relative safety of a frozen fjord to find out if they can handle the harsh conditions under the ice." "Can't be messing around with ice diving." "I mean, it's absolutely essential we get this done." "We couldn't even think of going north into the polar pack to dive unless everything was 100%%% perfect." "NARRATOR:" "It's not just the diving that's risky." "Beside the ship are the paw prints of the Arctic's top predator, the polar Bear." "The crew is on armed watch." "We wouldn't dream of coming out on this ice without someone looking after us, keeping an eye on polar bears, so we have one person always with his rifle, and there he is today." "And his only job, and not to be distracted, is to keep entirely a lookout for polar bear." "NARRATOR:" "Paul has diving experience in these extreme conditions." "For the rest of the team, it'll Be their first time." "It's a big deal." "It's a really big deal." "You know, it's a real temperature shock." "And although I'm really well insulated, it's still going to be a shock." "NARRATOR:" "Everyone needs to wear a lifeline." "If something goes wrong, we can get pulled out of the water, at least find our way back to the entrance, because, as you can see, if you don't come out the same way you went in," "you're not coming out." "NARRATOR:" "The team must spend 10 minutes Beneath the ice to test their equipment and their own ability to withstand the physical stress." "The icy water puts a huge strain on the Body." "Cold water robs it of heat 25 times faster than cold air." "PHILIPPE:" "The first ever Arctic dive for me." "It is cold." "NARRATOR:" "If hypothermia sets in, the divers can lose coordination and Become confused." "Under the ice, that could Be fatal." "There's no margin for error." "PAUL:" "We're slowly heading back." "NARRATOR:" "The test dive is over." "(PEOPLE ON BOAT ALL TALKING)" "Tired, though." "Man, that's just 10 minutes." "After 45 minutes of that, you'd just be dead, dead on your feet." "Up above you is this weird mass of solid ice, that when you hit, you know, it's just..." "It's like you're knocking at a door, but nobody's going to let you out." "NARRATOR:" "To understand the changes facing the Arctic Ocean, they'll need to dive underneath the polar ice cap, a solid mass of free-floating pack ice." "The pack is so Very different to this." "You know, this is a bit like diving in a swimming pool when you learn to dive, and that is like the real ocean." "It's a big step from this to what I know the pack ice really holds for us." "It's a big challenge." "NARRATOR:" "The team leaves Scabbard and heads north towards the ice cap." "It's a long way north." "Seventy-eight north here, 80 north approximately there." "And the mainland, Norway, you know, way down here to the south." "Now, our plan is to head directly north, and we hit the ice here, we'll be working through the whole pack." "We want that Very cold water, minus one or something, at least." "It will be some of the most extreme sights in the world to do, you know, oceanography, do science, do diving, do our studies." "The ice has that incredible power, you know, so it can be calm where we are, but that pack is just moving and pushing and grinding with incredible force." "As I said, it's one of the ultimate extreme environments." "NARRATOR:" "This far north, the tilt of the Earth's axis means that for four months of the year, the sun never sets." "They use the 24-hour daylight to force their way into the polar pack." "There's about 20 nautical miles left." "Oh, okay." "So it's going to take us a while..." "Especially with ice like this." "And it's gradually going to get tighter and gradually going to get thicker." "NARRATOR:" "After eight hours, expedition leader Paul thinks they've penetrated far enough to start their exploration." "Well, we're at 80 degrees, 14 minutes." "So it's, you know, 600 and something miles from the North Pole." "Wow." "Nice feeling, isn't it?" "NARRATOR:" "This huge mass of ice is floating on the ocean's surface, and can drift several miles a day." "The Boat must Be anchored to it so they move together." "As global warming raises the air temperature, the surface of the ice melts." "But this alone may not account for the amount of ice we know is Being lost." "So Paul and Toni are going to dive Beneath the polar cap to see what else might Be causing this ice cover to shrink." "First thing we want to do is get under there and find out if there's any evidence of how it's formed, if there are features we can look at, if there's any evidence or any signs of melting." "And just really get underneath and actually see the ice for what it is, from a different perspective, looking up rather than looking down on it." "PAUL:" "Let's hang on to the ice." "TOONI:" "Well, it's Very, Very dark here." "It's about the darkest it's been since I've been here in this land of 24-hour daylight." "NARRATOR:" "Unlike icebergs, which come from freshwater glaciers, this pack ice forms when it gets so cold that the ocean freezes." "TOONI:" "The ice only forms at minus 1.8 degrees centigrade because of all the salt in the water." "So the ice is formed from these tiny, tiny crystals, kind of forms into this huge mass of ice." "NARRATOR:" "This sea ice can grow as much as three metres thick." "The shapes underneath reveal how different pieces drift together to Become a vast ice sheet." "PAUL:" "As you can see, this has been formed by these huge sea ice floes, just pushing together." "It's a bit like plate tectonics, you know, where great geological plates slide together and form mountains." "When these things slide together, they form great ridges above, and along with it these fabulous keels down below." "NARRATOR:" "Keels can extend down to 40 metres." "They help stabilise the ice floes and stop strong winds from Breaking them up." "But there are signs that the keels are also shrinking, causing ice floes to Break up more easily and melt even faster." "PAUL:" "Hey, Toni." "You see these features here, Toni?" "This is where it's melting." "NARRATOR:" "As it does, the underside of the ice develops a series of depressions and ridges." "These are characteristic signs that the ice is melting underneath, as well as on top." "As ice cover decreases in the summer, the dark ocean absorbs more heat from the sun." "The water warms up and Begins to melt the underside of the ice." "TOONI:" "There are bubbles hitting the ceiling." "It's just finding all the little pockets, isn't it?" "And if you stick your hand up there, you lose your hand." "NARRATOR:" "Some of this melting is seasonal." "What's changing now is how much ice is disappearing." "TOONI:" "The whole of the Arctic ice cap is shrinking." "And it's a difficult thought to have when you're in minus 1 degree centigrade water and surrounded by ice." "NARRATOR:" "This shrinking is so important, it's Being monitored By scientists around the world using satellites." "But there are relatively few direct measurements." "So Philippe and Lucy plan to head out on to the ice to measure its thickness." "Measuring stick, some buckets." "NARRATOR:" "The thickness will indicate whether this ice is likely to survive the summer." "The measurements they take will Be sent to NASA." "For a few decades now NASA's been using satellite technology to track changes in the Arctic, changes in the area covered by ice and the thickness of the ice." "But they need the truth to Verify that data with information on the ground." "So that's what we're doing." "We'll be sending this straight to them." "NARRATOR:" "Only ice over two metres thick is likely to make it through the summer." "To measure the thickness" "Philippe and Lucy need to drill right through the ice." "Whoa!" "Pop that through." "We've essentially got to measure the depth of the hole that we've just drilled." "And this, if we lower this down, hopefully the bar will catch on the other side of the ice." "The metal bar's horizontal out, so it's sitting against the bottom of the ice." "I think we got it." "It's locked up." "And that's the depth." "I can handle that, right." "Oh, I can feel them." "One, yeah..." "So it's one metre." "And then..." "The middle of this thing to that point is 65." "So we've got one metre 65." "NARRATOR:" "That's relatively thin, and more likely to melt over the summer months." "But one measurement is not enough." "They need to drill several holes, to take an average." "I think that's it." "So that's one metre..." "One metre 76?" "Yeah." "Okay, that's 1.56, so basically all four holes have been less than two metres." "So that's, what, less than six foot or something." "NARRATOR:" "The results are consistent with those of other scientists." "The majority of the ice in the Arctic is now comparatively thin, and more likely to disappear in the summer." "And this loss is accelerating." "In 2007 and 2008, the extent of the summer sea ice was the smallest since records Began." "The less ice coverage there is, the more the Arctic will absorb solar radiation in the summertime, the warmer it'll get, the more ice will melt." "NARRATOR:" "It's a vicious circle." "As the reflective sea ice disappears, the water warms up and more ice melts." "This leaves the ocean even more exposed to the heating effects of the sun." "And the whole process speeds up." "And as the Arctic gets warmer, this accelerates global warming." "This isn't something that's going to happen down the road, something that's going to happen to our children, going to happen in the future." "This is happening to us now." "NARRATOR:" "There's Been permanent ice cover in the Arctic Ocean for thousands of years." "But as this NASA animation shows, the ice cover in the summer has Been changing fast." "In the 1980s, it was receding By an average of about 3% per decade." "Now it's over 1 %." "I mean, there will come a time when that will be a Very, Very different animation, because all of this ocean will probably be blue come summertime." "So, that's the projection." "I mean, it's all done on computer models." "So it is, you know, computer modelling is an attempt to predict the future, which is incredibly difficult." "NARRATOR:" "One estimate suggests the Arctic Ocean could Be ice-free in the summer By 2013." "That would mean the loss of almost 2 million square miles of sea ice." "Well, you know, you see those images of polar bears floating on bits of ice, and you just..." "It's not..." "It doesn't really become tangible until you're actually in it and witnessing it and seeing images like this, and then you realise how, in fact, you know, the potential is that it's going to really impact on all of us." "The fundamental importance of this ocean to the rest of the world just really can't be overstated." "If the ice keeps melting, if the Arctic becomes this Very, Very much warmer ocean the way that scientists are predicting, then that is going to change the entire planet." "NARRATOR:" "A warmer Arctic Ocean would not just contribute to global warming." "It would affect the world in other ways." "Salty water, cooled By the Arctic, helps to drive global ocean circulation, a conveyor Belt of currents that connects every ocean." "Cooling salty water from the Arctic region sinks to the ocean depths." "It moves towards the equator, mixes with warmer currents, and eventually Becomes lighter and flows Back towards the pole." "This does two important things." "It helps to keep our oceans alive" "By moving oxygenated water and nutrients around the planet." "And it regulates our weather By transferring heat around the globe." "If it's affected, it could radically change climate patterns and have an impact on the health of our oceans worldwide." "And it all Begins under the Arctic ice." "The team's preparing for their next mission, to search for what's living Beneath the ice." "But then something catches their attention." "Partway ready for a dive, and the bridge watch called out, there's a polar bear coming." "He's come on Quick, so it's all stopped for a moment." "This is the icon of the Arctic, though, finally." "I think I would have been pretty disappointed if I had come all the way up here and not seen a polar bear." "You and me both, mate." "NARRATOR:" "The polar Bear is the world's largest terrestrial carnivore." "Males can Be up to 10 feet tall and weigh close to 800 kilograms." "They have that slow, ponderous kind of, you know, lolloping kind of walk, but they cover a huge distance." "NARRATOR:" "Polar Bears are well adapted to Arctic conditions." "They have two layers of fur, and Black skin that absorbs heat from the sun." "Beneath this is 10 centimetres of fat." "So they can have trouble keeping cool." "But it's so cold out here." "But the reason they go so slowly is they're so well insulated." "Here we are, just all freezing and this polar bear has to go slowly so it doesn't overheat." "That's absolutely crazy." "NARRATOR:" "But Being so highly specialised makes them among the most vulnerable creatures in the Arctic." "The polar bear is absolutely dependent on these ice floes to exist." "NARRATOR:" "Today there are about 25,000 polar Bears." "But as the ice cap recedes, the population could decline fast." "That's Because the ice is a valuable source of food." "You look around, and it kind of looks like a big white desert." "But it's actually a Very diverse ecosystem." "And it's critical to understand what's going on, what lives here on the fringes of existence." "NARRATOR:" "Life in the Arctic depends on the spring Bloom." "It occurs after months of complete darkness." "When the sunlight Begins to reappear, there's an intense growth of algae." "But this Bloom is short-lived." "To survive, life here needs to store enough energy to make it through the long, dark winter." "Toni and Paul plan to search for the creatures that provide the energy the Arctic relies upon, to see how they cope with the severe conditions." "It's like, to me, it seems like the most extreme environment, living in minus degree centigrade waters, just underneath the ice." "And there is life that's perfectly adapted to those Very specific conditions." "Yeah, life at the edges is so fascinating, isn't it?" "NARRATOR:" "The whole team gears up to work on the surface and Beneath the ice." "Paul and Toni will search underneath the ice cap for amphipods and copepods, the minuscule creatures which help support this ecosystem." "TOONI:" "Cold!" "PAUL: (LAUGHING) A bit windy, isn't it?" "NARRATOR:" "They're hard to see, so once these crustaceans have Been collected," "Philippe and Lucy will identify them on the surface." "The data they collect will Be sent to the Census of Marine Life, a survey Being conducted By hundreds of scientists around the world." "But first they've got to find the tiny creatures." "PAUL:" "Yeah, it's pretty hard." "For a start, our bubbles, I'm blowing them around." "Maybe that will dislodge them on the little crevices, you know." "Oh, yeah, there you go, look." "I can see some." "Over there, look." "Get it, go on." "That's it." "You got it." "NARRATOR:" "To survive here, life must adapt to the icy conditions." "Creatures here have got proteins in their blood that act as a kind of antifreeze." "So they can actually keep on moving and working in these subzero temperatures." "NARRATOR:" "The water is clouded with algae, as the expedition has arrived during the spring Bloom." "It's the ideal time to track down the crustaceans." "Thank you." "Fantastic." "NARRATOR:" "Because there is still so much to learn about the fauna of the Arctic," "Philippe is keen to document what they find." "Oh, yeah, you did." "Well done." "Couple more?" "Oh, yeah, definitely." "Well, we've definitely got a few species of amphipods and definitely some copepods in here." "We should get them out of there Quickly because the amphipods eat the copepods." "The last several years of work that I've been doing, in terms of conservation," "I've heard so much about amphipods." "I mean, these are like the classic base of the food chain in the Arctic." "I mean, grey whales travel 6,000 miles to feed on these, all the way from Mexico." "NARRATOR:" "And living along with the amphipods are these tiny copepods, just a few millimetres long." "These species hold the secret to survival in the Arctic." "They feed on algae and convert it into fat." "Fat acts like a Biological Battery, a long-term store of energy." "So everything living here relies on fat to get through the Arctic winter." "Copepods live underneath the ice, feeding on the algae, sometimes only for a few months a year, and they build up these fat layers and can go for eight to 10 months without feeding." "The fact that these things are so high in fat means that they can pretty much fuel the rest of the food chain in the Arctic." "And that fat gets passed on up the food chain, up to the fish, fish gets eaten by the seals, the whales, the polar bears." "So fat is an incredibly important currency." "And these are the basis of the food chain." "I mean, this is such an important creature." "NARRATOR:" "No one knows how many different species of amphipods exist." "This world is so little explored that even a single sample can uncover a find." "PHILIPPE:" "That's a new one." "It's Very different than the others." "Yeah, it is." "It's definitely an amphipod." "NARRATOR:" "DNA analysis will Be needed to Be certain" "But this may Be a new species." "You know, people just think we've explored it all, and there's just so little we actually know." "I know." "And here's just a case in point, perfect example." "Absolutely." "Now then..." "Good work, you all, I've got to say." "Let's have a look." "We've got a couple things laid out here for you." "Oh, blimey!" "See, he's really big." "I mean, look what you found." "These big amphipods." "These are the ones that walk upside down underneath the ice, I was watching them." "NARRATOR:" "But as the ice shrinks, these species could disappear faster than we can discover them." "These rely on the ice." "I mean, without the ice these can't exist." "And while that doesn't mean necessarily that, you know, the whole ecosystem will collapse, but it definitely means it'll be changing." "You'll see a shift in biodiversity, and we don't know what that means." "TOONI:" "A hugely underrated resource in the Arctic ecosystem." "Nobody's ever interested in invertebrates." "Invertebrates hold the key to the giant, charismatic mega fauna that we're all so concerned about." "NARRATOR:" "If the ice retreats, we could lose many of these tiny creatures." "Then all life here will Be threatened." "The team is now heading south, Back to the islands of Scabbard." "Maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue wants to explore the remains of a global industry that almost wiped out entire species here," "whaling." "It's estimated that in the last 400 years, more than two and a half million whales were killed worldwide." "This channel would have been absolutely teeming with whales." "It's kind of incomprehensible now." "I know." "It completely is." "Completely is." "NARRATOR:" "This is one of the places where the Arctic industry Began." "In the early 1600s, the Dutch and English came here in droves to satisfy the growing demand for whale oil." "It led to the wholesale slaughter of these ocean giants." "So there was Quite a lot of competition, actually, particularly at the beginning, the early 1600s." "You know, they were actually fighting for the right to catch the whales here, particularly in somewhere like this fjord." "NARRATOR:" "These waters in northern Scabbard attracted huge numbers of whales." "The whales come in here because of the slightly shallow waters to feed, so, I mean, it was just a prime hunting area." "NARRATOR:" "A Dutch settlement of up to 200 people grew here." "It was called Siedenburg, Blubber town." "I mean, just look at this, and look out into the fjord." "I mean, you can just imagine the 17th century ships moored up." "They would have been out there in the deeper waters, and then the smaller whalers chasing this living whale." "NARRATOR:" "Contemporary paintings captured the scene." "The first person would harpoon it." "And they needed as many harpoons..." "Every time it came up, you had to get another one in it." "And eventually, the thing would just get exhausted from the fact it was diving, it had blood, you know, it was bleeding, it was pulling boats." "I mean, it must have been an absolutely horrendous..." "Bloodbath." "I know, completely and utterly." "NARRATOR:" "It wasn't just the number of whales that made them choose this location." "One of the main reasons that they actually settled here was because of this Very shallow, sloping shoreline here." "So it was like a natural ramp, in a way, to winch the whales onto the beach." "NARRATOR:" "Once on land, the Blubber could Be cut away," "Boiled down into the precious oil and sent Back to Europe." "This was the Beginning of an industry that continued for hundreds of years," "Becoming more and more intense." "Every species of whale in the Arctic was targeted." "One of the hardest hit was the Greenland right whale, so called Because it was the right whale to hunt." "Big and slow moving, it was easy to catch." "But the greatest advantage of all was that it floated when it was killed, making it simpler to haul Back to shore." "Over the course of the sort of 200, 300 years that they were hunting the whales, about 120,000 were killed, to almost the point of extinction." "It's Quite remarkable." "I mean..." "But then, they were easy prey, in a way, weren't they?" "The right whale." "NARRATOR:" "The right whale population never really recovered here." "Today, there are almost none in the waters around Scabbard." "As larger whales Became scarce, hunters turned to smaller species." "One was the Beluga whale, which was hunted mercilessly." "Some of its oil was so fine, it was used to lubricate watches." "Having worked to conserve many species of whales," "Philippe is keen to see how the Belugas are doing here." "There, that stark white colour..." "Yeah." "...is so unique." "There are no other whales that look like that." "Look a bit like dolphins, actually." "Less like a whale." "They do have a little bit of a dolphin look, like a smile." "But that melon is so distinctive on its head, you know, this big melon is just Very kind of the typical beluga shape." "NARRATOR:" "These Belugas were filmed in captivity." "Getting close to them in the wild will Be much more difficult." "But I heard they're really Quite hard to actually see in the wild," "especially here in this region." "Yeah." "They are supposed to be Quite shy, and that's why I wanted to see a little bit of footage ahead of time." "NARRATOR:" "The team will try to find some Belugas to help assess the health of the population in this part of the Arctic." "But the fjords are immense." "So to cover more ground, Paul and Toni take a Boat each." "It'll be a long, cold trip, man." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe and Lucy stand By to go to whichever Boat finds any Belugas." "They centre their search along the edge of the massive glaciers at the head of the fjord." "As the glacier's coming down, it stirs up all this silt, till, and that helps to create a really nutrient-rich area." "You have fresh water flowing in, so you can have lots of fish, lots of all sorts of stuff living in there." "NARRATOR:" "These are ideal conditions for polar cod, fish the Belugas feed on." "This is perfect for the belugas, for them to hunt." "This is prime beluga Zone." "Just going to keep looking this whole way along the glacier front." "NARRATOR:" "Belugas are not easy to spot." "Their white colour is excellent camouflage." "I'm looking for things that look like either breaking waves or lumps of ice, which is a little bit confusing considering there are Quite a few lumps of ice knocking around these parts." "I found a seal." "I guess it doesn't count, though." "NARRATOR:" "This is a Bearded seal, the largest species of Arctic seal." "So they've got these red heads." "And that's because when they've been rooting around on the bottom for their food, they rub it against all the iron ore that's up in the fjords." "So these are the only ones of these bearded seals that have got red heads, just from rooting around on the bottom." "NARRATOR:" "After several hours of searching, still no sign of Belugas." "That's frustrating." "It's like..." "I know." "I mean, it's a massive area, there's no Question, but..." "They're here somewhere." "Maybe we'll get..." "Just got to find them." "NARRATOR:" "Finally, Toni has good news." "So, we spotted the belugas." "I literally just looked round and it looked like this block of ice was just coming up and going down again." "And I can see a few of them." "NARRATOR:" "The whales are moving quickly towards the expedition ship." "It's the opportunity Philippe has Been waiting for, to assess the population of Belugas at close quarters." "This is Very rare and, like, Very lucky." "There's one over there." "Oh, look, look, look!" "We are surrounded by belugas." "NARRATOR:" "Philippe and Lucy estimate there are about 30 swimming around the Boat." "Very shy." "I can't believe we're getting this close." "Wow." "Look, they're literally just off the bow." "NARRATOR:" "Belugas are adapted to life in these ice-covered seas." "It's weird because there isn't a dorsal fin, which you'd expect to see on most cetaceans, or certainly dolphins." "We think they've evolved to not have them for one of two reasons." "When they're under the ice, it's much easier to swim along the ice without a dorsal fin sticking out." "The other reason is that if they can reduce the surface area that's out in the water that's not insulated, so that they stay warmer without having a whole area where there's blood flowing through that can cool." "NARRATOR:" "This pod of Belugas is all adults." "They don't turn completely white until they're at least seven years old." "Around 40% of their Body weight is Blubber, one of the reasons they were attractive to the whalers." "I've never seen belugas in the wild before." "That was brilliant." "Beautiful, they were really..." "That was brilliant, so I say mission accomplished." "The best thing was to see so many of them." "Yeah." "To see that they were so healthy." "Dozens of them." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "While this pod might look healthy, the Beluga whale could face a new threat." "A warming Arctic could speed up the retreat of the glaciers, damaging their feeding grounds." "PHILIPPE:" "As soon as that glacier recedes far enough that it's on land, it's not going to be the kind of habitat the belugas need." "NARRATOR:" "Increasingly, this is one of the most challenging places on Earth to survive." "The Arctic Ocean is extremely cold, not very nutrient rich, and for four months of the year it's in darkness." "So there's a limit to the marine life that can exist here." "But are there corners of this ocean that can Beat the odds?" "Philippe wants to head south to the shallow waters of Isfjorden." "Here, icy Arctic water mixes with water from the Gulf Stream, which Began life thousands of miles south in the tropical Gulf of Mexico." "PHILIPPE:" "It's kind of a crossroads here." "This is really the entrance, the beginning of the Arctic habitat, and I'm Very curious to see kind of what the whole thing looks like, the whole environment looks like." "NARRATOR:" "At first, it's not promising." "PHILIPPE:" "It's still pretty barren and white, almost like the surface." "NARRATOR:" "But the empty seascape does show how this fjord was created." "LUCY:" "You can see the scarring, where the glacier's sort of moved through the Valley." "NARRATOR:" "Deep gouges on the ocean floor reveal how millions of tons of ice scraped across it, scoring the rock and shaping the fjord." "Then the Bleak seascape is transformed." "LUCY:" "Look at all this life." "PHILIPPE:" "Yeah." "PHILIPPE:" "You know, this conception that the Arctic is this empty, desolate place, totally blown away by what we're seeing here." "There's an explosion of life." "There's reds and greens." "That's a soft coral, related to the kinds of corals that we've seen down in much warmer waters." "But this is a soft coral, so it's purely a filter feeder, a bright, brilliant pinkish red colour." "I did not expect to see a soft coral this Vibrant here in the Arctic." "NARRATOR:" "Almost no warm water corals can survive through the winter darkness." "They rely on algae that live By photosynthesis and need the sun." "But these soft corals have no algae." "They just need a steady supply of nutrients." "PHILIPPE:" "It really is like a soup down here." "This is basically the confluence of the North Atlantic Drift heading towards the Arctic waters and this is where the two meet, so that's why it's so incredibly nutrient-rich." "It's a Very unique environment in many ways." "NARRATOR:" "The current doesn't just support the coral." "It also helps feed these anemones" "By Bringing prey within reach of their tentacles." "There's even a kelp garden here, something usually associated with warmer water." "PHILIPPE:" "If you look closely, I can't see one right now, but you'll also find Arctic kelp up here." "It can photosynthesise, take energy from the sun for just one week a year." "It stores up that energy, lasts it for 51 weeks a year." "That's pretty incredible." "NARRATOR:" "Other types of kelp have Begun to thrive here in the last few years as the ice has receded, allowing more sunlight to reach these shallows." "It demonstrates how life adapts to inhabit the most unlikely places." "It gives you another kind of dimension of just how rich the environment here, how much richer than even I thought it would have been." "When I first came here, I had no idea how much life there is." "And that just confirms it." "I mean, that..." "That was really amazing." "NARRATOR:" "The warm current flowing from the Gulf Stream also keeps much of the water around western Scabbard ice-free in summer." "It's home to another Arctic species almost hunted to extinction." "We're just going to look and see what we can see." "Can you make any out?" "They're Quite a way off at the moment, but I can see movement." "NARRATOR:" "They've spotted Atlantic walruses." "They were killed for their fat and tusks until there were only about 100 left here." "That was 60 years ago." "The team wants to see how the walrus population is doing now." "Walruses only live in the Arctic region, so for marine Biologist Toni, it's a rare opportunity to get close to them." "I've just been watching them all tumbling in the water." "Sometimes the play looks Quite frantic, as they are literally rolling and falling over each other." "One of them lands on you, and that's it." "Curtains." "NARRATOR:" "They can weigh up to two tons, giving them immense power." "Look how far they can push themselves out of the water, though." "NARRATOR:" "Now that summer has cleared the ice here, the walruses have come to feed." "They like to feed in about 50 metres of water, and they're gatherers, not hunters, and they're after these clams, which are about that big." "NARRATOR:" "The feeding season in the Arctic is short, so walruses are Binge eaters." "They can consume more than 50 kilograms of clams in just one day." "Paul and Toni move onto the land to get a closer look." "They want to observe the walruses and determine the size of the colony." "PAUL:" "Getting close." "NARRATOR:" "Walruses are suspicious By nature and easily alarmed, so Toni and Paul approach downwind and crouch to avoid looking like predators." "PAUL:" "All right, there's one, look, on the rim." "Oh, yeah, he's coming up." "But he's not facing us, so let's keep going while he's busy." "Something smells good now." "They don't smell good." "But this wind is perfect for us, though." "I don't believe they can smell us, Toni." "We should, uh..." "Their Latin name translates as "tooth-walking seahorse", which I just think is such a perfect literal translation." "That is perfect." "Look at them." "NARRATOR:" "Judging By their large size, this colony is all male." "TOONI:" "Look, the one that's just stuck his head up has got Very short tusks," "which means it's Quite young." "He's younger, yeah." "The one towards the back, you can see, is much bigger." "He's got much, much longer canines, which means that he's a much older male." "PAUL:" "They grow to 40 years old, so he might be 30, 40 years old, that guy." "That big male there, he's got lots of cuts all over his chest." "Because they do use their tusks for fighting for establishing dominance." "Let's do a count, roughly." "NARRATOR:" "The size of the colony will give an insight into the recovery of the species." "TOONI:" "Okay, I can see one, two, three, four..." "NARRATOR:" "They count 22 male walruses on the Beach." "The rule of thumb is that about a quarter of the colony will Be on land." "The rest will Be in the water, feeding." "So this colony is 88." "That's about right." "They say between 10 and 100 in..." "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "Sixty years ago, this colony would have represented almost the entire walrus population of Scabbard." "They were made a protected species here in 1952, and their numbers are slowly recovering." "It's estimated there are now around 2,000." "I love how they're, you know, on this great expanse of beach, they're all collected in one group, and they're just lying all over each other and..." "They're Very social, aren't they?" "They're Very communal creatures." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "As the Arctic transforms, the Atlantic walrus could, in the short term, Be a climate change winner." "As their feeding grounds are usually near land, they're not dependent on ice floes to help them reach their food." "And the retreating ice could expose more feeding grounds and stimulate the growth of clams, their staple diet." "Which means that there's plenty of opportunity for their population to keep on and on increasing." "NARRATOR:" "At least initially, global warming could improve the Atlantic walrus' ability to survive." "It's a real interesting balance, because we talk a lot about the negativity of climate change, but it is always nice to have that little bit of a counterbalance to be able to say, "You know what?" ""There are some creatures that might benefit in some way" ""with the changing Arctic climate."" "NARRATOR:" "The changes in the Arctic Ocean are complex, and not always predictable." "But what we do know is that they will affect us all." "A transformation in this remote, Bitter ocean will have a profound effect on life and climate around the globe." "As the team has journeyed across the world's oceans, change has Been the dominant theme, often triggered By human activity." "Habitats are Being destroyed." "Something so perfectly adapted to one particular ecosystem, it's got nowhere else to go." "NARRATOR:" "Species are Being threatened." "We are totally decimating their numbers." "NARRATOR:" "And the fragile Balance of life is Being disrupted." "PHILIPPE:" "They'll eat their way down the food chain till there's nothing left down there." "NARRATOR:" "But there are also signs of hope." "Some species are managing to adapt and are thriving." "And with human ingenuity, we are attempting to restore the Balance." "TOONI:" "What we're looking at here is almost the Indian Ocean equivalent of a garden centre." "NARRATOR:" "The oceans are one of our planet's greatest assets." "And their future is in our hands."