- 2 days ago
Almost all of the great and largely unique variety of South Pacific wildlife is under threat from excessive and destructive fishing, hunting, harvesting and ...
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00:03Oh
00:05Oh
00:09Oh
00:10Ooh.
00:16Ooh.
00:20Ooh.
00:22Ooh.
00:24Ooh.
00:25Ooh.
00:40The South Pacific is, on the face of it, still a healthy ocean.
00:48We depend on it.
00:50Over 60% of the world's fish catch comes from the Pacific.
00:56But like all oceans, it has little or no protection,
01:00so it may not stay healthy much longer.
01:06So what's being done to preserve its natural treasures?
01:14And what does the future hold for this fragile paradise?
01:39For the South Pacific, this is a critical time.
01:46It's changing in ways that, if left unchecked,
01:49could develop into a global crisis.
01:55Some of its residents have been through crisis before.
02:02Humpback whales were hunted so relentlessly during the last century
02:07that their numbers crashed by 90%.
02:17But recently, they've made a comeback,
02:20surging from 5,000 to 60,000 animals.
02:25Their blubber is no longer boiled down for oil.
02:30Today, these whales are greeted by boats loaded not with harpoons,
02:35but with tourists.
02:41The waters of Tonga are one of the few places in the world
02:46where it's legal to get in and meet the giants face to face.
03:12Some claim that to look into the eye of a whale
03:16is a life-changing experience.
03:21Some claim that to look into the eye of a whale
03:23is a life-changing experience.
03:23The third whale is the sun.
03:26It's not the sea of noise.
03:31The whale is the sun.
03:41It's not the sun, it's not the sun.
03:45In the 1970s, a campaign to save the whale
03:49made the headlines around the world
03:52and led to an unprecedented agreement
03:54to protect what remained of the world's whales.
04:00It proved that global pressure can save wildlife
04:03that's under threat.
04:14So what are the current threats to wildlife in the Pacific?
04:21It's no secret that the world is getting warmer.
04:27And the low-lying islands of the South Pacific
04:30are on the front line,
04:33as global warming causes sea levels to rise.
04:43On the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu,
04:46nowhere is higher than five meters above sea level.
04:59Tuvalu's nine atolls and islands
05:01are home to 12,000 people.
05:04Their contribution to global warming is tiny,
05:07but its impact on them is massive.
05:12Sea walls are the nation's only defense,
05:15but building higher walls is likely to prove futile.
05:19During big spring tides,
05:21sea water simply bubbles up through the ground.
05:38In 2006, the islanders experienced their highest tides ever.
05:47These islands could soon become uninhabitable.
05:51The sea water is poisoning the soil and groundwater.
05:59Eventually, the islands may have to be evacuated.
06:04This would be an unprecedented move.
06:15The ocean is threatening its islands,
06:18thanks to global warming.
06:22And yet,
06:23the Pacific is playing a massive part
06:26in slowing down climate change.
06:37The world's oceans have absorbed
06:39about half of all the carbon dioxide
06:42released so far into the atmosphere by industry,
06:45significantly reducing the greenhouse effect.
06:50But there's a catch.
06:52For the fish,
06:54all that extra carbon dioxide in the water
06:56can have some unwanted side effects.
07:02All life in the Pacific
07:04is dependent on the tiniest of creatures,
07:06the plankton that floats freely in the currents.
07:12One of the most plentiful
07:13is the sea butterfly,
07:16a tiny marine snail
07:18which uses its enlarged foot
07:20to fly through the water.
07:29The sea butterflies
07:29Sea butterflies are such important food
07:31for so many marine animals
07:33they have been dubbed
07:34the potato chips of the ocean.
07:37But they could be under threat
07:40from all that extra carbon dioxide.
07:47Dissolved carbon dioxide
07:48is slowly turning the water more acidic
07:50making it harder for sea butterflies
07:53to build their calcium shells.
07:58The loss of these swimming potato chips
08:00would have repercussions
08:02right up the food chain.
08:12And with a billion people around the world
08:15dependent on fish for their protein
08:17fewer fish
08:18would clearly be bad news for people too.
08:24Of course, there's no need to worry
08:26if the greenhouse gases
08:27are brought under control.
08:30Or is there?
08:33Although the burning of fossil fuels
08:35is often viewed
08:36as the biggest environmental threat
08:37here in the Pacific
08:39there are more pressing concerns.
08:43The fish may disappear
08:45long before the impact
08:47of climate change
08:48really takes hold.
08:56A leading group of ecologists
08:58recently predicted
09:00that in just 40 years
09:02seafood
09:02will be off the menu.
09:08The problem
09:09has a lot to do
09:10with fishing.
09:24In Fiji
09:25the villagers of Motoriki Island
09:27are fishing for dinner.
09:39Using a traditional fishing technique
09:41known as a fish drive
09:42they work together
09:44to scare the fish
09:45off the reef
09:45and into an ever smaller corral.
09:50Each year
09:51in coastal waters
09:52around the Pacific's islands
09:53subsistence fishermen
09:55catch around
09:5580,000 tons of fish.
10:03In the past
10:05there was always
10:05plenty more fish
10:06in the sea.
10:08But recently
10:09catches have been declining.
10:13Why should this be?
10:15It could be
10:17that more efficient fishing gear
10:18such as modern
10:19nylon nets
10:20coupled with
10:21growing island populations
10:23has led to overfishing.
10:28But catching
10:29too many fish
10:31may not be
10:31the main reason
10:32why there are now
10:33too few.
10:39Pacific coastal fish
10:41live and breed
10:42in the most fragile
10:43of habitats
10:44coral reefs
10:47but many reefs
10:49have been trampled on
10:50smashed by boats
10:51and even dynamited
10:53in the quest for fish
10:55and damaged reefs
10:57support fewer fish.
10:59This could be
11:00why the fishermen
11:01are catching less.
11:06In Fiji
11:07biologists
11:08are working
11:09with fishermen
11:09to bring the fish back
11:10by replanting
11:12the reefs.
11:14This is a coral
11:15nursery
11:16but with wild corals
11:18already struggling
11:19where have these
11:20coral seedlings
11:21come from?
11:25The coral gardeners
11:26monitor the reef
11:27looking for corals
11:29that need a helping hand.
11:37Despite all this
11:39real estate
11:40many corals
11:41end up clustered
11:42together.
11:43Crowded out
11:44they will eventually
11:45die.
11:45So the gardeners
11:47uproot them
11:48creating more space
11:49for some
11:49and giving the
11:50uprooted ones
11:51a fresh start.
11:56Each coral head
11:57is broken down
11:58into a dozen
11:59or more fingers
12:00and each of these
12:01is tied onto
12:02a concrete disc.
12:07As every gardener
12:09knows
12:09vigorous growth
12:10requires sunlight
12:11plenty of nutrients
12:13and the right
12:13temperature.
12:14so the coral
12:15gardeners
12:16choose just
12:17the spot.
12:28Within six months
12:29the corals
12:30are branching out.
12:31of the sea
12:55and the water
12:55in the water.
13:01The sea
13:15They're spaced out onto adjacent tables, and a year or two after planting, they're ready
13:21for harvesting. The coral heads are broken down once more. In the space of two years, a single
13:33finger of coral has multiplied into 50 or more. Some of these will be replanted on fresh
13:43discs, while others will be returned to the reef. If replicated, coral gardening could
13:53help restore reefs throughout the Pacific, but its biggest success may be in sowing the
13:59seeds of conservation in the local fishermen. Within days, these cuttings will have stuck
14:12themselves to the reef, while reefs that were replanted a year ago are already starting
14:18to bloom. In a few more years, this area should be awash with fish. So there's hope for coastal
14:29fisheries on which local people depend. Out in the open ocean, it's another story. There
14:38is no protection here, and yet this is where most fish are now being caught.
14:45These may look like minnows, but they are tuna. Each a healthy two kilos or more.
14:55Four different species have fished in the tropical Pacific. These are skipjack tuna, with some yellow
15:02fin tuna mixed in. But this boat is not setting nets. The ancient technique of fishing with rod
15:15and line is now practiced on an industrial scale.
15:42The water jets break up the outline of the boat from below, and mimic the noise and commotion
15:47of bait fish when under attack. Meanwhile, live bait fish are strewn around the boat to keep
15:56the tuna interested.
16:02It may look like a lot of effort for a few fish, but this pole and line technique of fishing
16:09can be surprisingly effective.
16:17Fishing for export is now big business in the tropical Pacific, with tuna alone accounting
16:24for 30 times more fish than all the fish caught by subsistence fishermen.
16:33So is commercial fishing sustainable? Skipjack are the smallest and by far the most abundant
16:42tuna species in the Pacific. They reach maturity in just a year and then spawn many times within
16:49a season. They seem to be the perfect catch, as their numbers just keep bouncing back.
17:07But not all marine life is so resilient. Thanks to modern fishing, some of the best known animals
17:15of the Pacific are in deep trouble. Sharks have been top dog in the Pacific for millions of years.
17:28They control the numbers of other fish and so play a vital role in keeping the underwater ecosystem
17:35healthy and healthy and diverse.
17:41In French Polynesia, grey reef sharks gather.
17:55While scalloped hammerheads patrol the Galapagos Islands, these are rare hotspots where sharks converge
18:03in large numbers. But divers claim this is just a fraction of the number of sharks they used to see.
18:16Many sharks are ocean migrants, travelling hundreds of miles in search of prey, like the oceanic white tip.
18:29Amazingly, this may once have been the most abundant large animal on the planet.
18:36But it's fallen prey to fishermen's hooks and nets.
18:41Surveys suggest oceanic white tips may have declined by a staggering 99%.
18:48It's like the disappearance of bison from America's Great Plains.
18:52Yet it's only happened in the past 50 years, and almost no one has noticed.
19:01the world's oceans may have lost more than 90% of their large predatory fish since industrialized fishing began.
19:16Tiger sharks still turn up in Hawaiian waters, drawn here by another great ocean wanderer.
19:23Tiger sharks, Tourofs are living ways that birds are in plain land.Evet
19:39These
19:40black-footed albatross are certainly an endangered species, but not because of the sharks.
19:48thousands of adult black-footed albatross are caught each year on fishing lines in fact 19
19:57of the world's 22 species of albatross are endangered or vulnerable to extinction largely
20:03thanks to fishing the Antipodean or wandering albatross is found in the waters around New
20:15Zealand home to the most diverse seabird community in the world these are rich fishing grounds for
20:28fishermen too the birds know that where there are fishermen a free lunch is sure to follow
20:45so how does this get them into trouble with a wingspan over three meters an albatross is built
20:52to saw thousands of miles across the ocean in its quest for food as it might go for days with
21:03nothing it can't afford to be choosy anything near the surface is snapped up
21:28unfortunately not everything a fisherman casts overboard is a healthy meal
21:35far out at sea a long line fishing vessel is setting its line it's long line vessels in
21:43particular that have been held responsible for the decline of the albatross the fishermen pay out a
21:54line 30 miles long across the surface of the ocean and every few meters they attach a secondary line
22:01with a hook baited with a fish or squid
22:06every night this vessel casts over a thousand hooks and it is just one of many long liners plying the
22:13Pacific
22:13some with lines 100 miles long but this fisherman is well aware of the threat to the seabirds and to
22:24prevent them from swallowing his hooks he has adopted bird friendly fishing methods
22:31it's why he sets his lines at night when the albatross are sleeping
22:37and he deploys tori lines these simple streamers are remarkably effective at scaring birds away from the hooks
22:50he also thaws out his bait before hooking it so it sinks out of sight quickly
23:00his bird catch is now virtually zero
23:07this leaves more hooks free for his target species big eye tuna
23:15these are powerful fish and can weigh well over 100 kilos
23:22it may look brutal but the most humane way to kill one quickly is to shoot it
23:49the future of the albatross still hangs in the balance
23:54the birds around new zealand are benefiting from a law that states all long-lined fishing vessels must use bird
24:01friendly methods
24:03but albatross are great travelers so they're still at risk throughout the rest of the south pacific
24:11only if all fishing vessels adopt the same bird friendly techniques with the story of the albatross like
24:18that of the whale have a happy ending
24:23saving sharks is not so straightforward
24:28they're not just caught accidentally
24:30their fins are worth a fortune thanks to an oriental taste for shark fin soup
24:40over 70 million sharks are killed every year
24:45many in the south pacific where shark finning is neither outlawed nor properly regulated
24:54this is a big eye thresher a shark that's almost never been seen in the wild
25:24so how can sharks be saved
25:36in benga lagoon in fiji the local people are proving that sharks can be more valuable alive than dead
25:48tourists will pay good money for an encounter with real live sharks
25:54this is a community-owned reef and some of the money goes to the local villages
26:00a big incentive not to kill the main attraction
26:06vijians have long had an affinity with sharks
26:10their ancestors worshiped a shark god who they believed kept them safe from harm
26:16they would feed sharks not hunt them and these divers continue the tradition
26:22first to the feast are tawny nurse sharks
26:32it's the big predators the tourists want to see
26:43bull sharks growing up to three and a half meters long
26:47these sharks are one of the ocean's top predators with an aggressive reputation
27:10the chief shark feeder is from a village where the shark god is still worshipped
27:24a bowl of shark fin soup can sell for over a hundred dollars
27:29but here each tourist pays that to see these sharks alive and dives take place several times each week
27:41to protect the sharks this reef has now been declared a marine reserve
27:48with the added bonus that other fish are protected too
28:03before the reserve was established this reef had been fished out
28:09even a single giant trevally of this size was a rarity
28:17today the divers are in for a special treat
28:44a five meter tiger shark
29:09the dive leaders have named her scar face she turns up once a month or so
29:33she's inquisitive but not aggressive
29:47the show's over the divers have had a great day and local people benefit too with so many fish
29:55some spill over into the waters beyond the reserve where fishermen now catch many more than they did before
30:01before the reserve was set up
30:06marine reserves clearly work so why aren't there more of them
30:12in truth marine protection is decades behind wildlife protection on land
30:18take the islands of new zealand
30:22the islands of new zealand
30:22beyond the farm landscape are wild places where nature can flourish
30:30more than a quarter of the country is set aside in national parks and other reserves
30:42in contrast less than one percent of the pacific ocean is protected
30:51the islands of new zealand
30:52instead it is divided up into fishing zones
30:57each island nation owns the fishing rights up to 200 miles offshore
31:03beyond these territorial waters are the so-called high seas
31:09bounded by national waters the high seas pockets of the western pacific cover half a million square miles
31:19the surrounding island nations would like these pockets to be declared marine reserves
31:24safe havens where migratory fish can breed
31:28the idea is being promoted by greenpeace
31:33greenpeace made their name campaigning to save the whales
31:37they're now responding to concerns about the future of the pacific's fish
31:43the high seas pockets they're now patrolling were once a fishing free-for-all
31:47although now regulated by international treaty they are rarely policed
31:53so greenpeace have assigned a monitoring role to themselves
32:00this is the esperanza greenpeace's largest vessel the crew are searching for any sign of fishing activity
32:09but it's a huge area
32:14after two weeks at sea a blip on the radar indicates a fishing vessel is near
32:22greenpeace want to discover where the vessel is from and what it's been catching
32:29they launch their inflatable boats
32:33although greenpeace film their own activities we put our cameraman on board to ensure an unbiased record of events
32:49as these are international waters any nation can fish here legally and many do
32:55including the us the european union japan and other east asian countries
33:06this is a large taiwanese longliner
33:12taiwan has a large fishing fleet with many vessels fishing almost exclusively in international waters
33:20the encounter turns out to be entirely amicable
33:26visitors are rare for fishermen on the high seas
33:30and these men are not aware that they have anything to hide
33:35greenpeace ask if they can inspect the vessels catch and the fishermen oblige
33:40in a freezer there are several dozen frozen sharks
33:43but the valuable parts are being stored elsewhere
33:53in another freezer are a dozen sacks of shark fins
34:00the fins from hundreds of sharks
34:05by documenting these catches greenpeace hope to highlight why it's necessary to declare these high
34:11sea pockets marine reserves and to back the growing movement from pacific islanders for protection
34:18this would help to protect all ocean life especially the valuable tuna
34:28tuna are predators they herd smaller fish to the surface where they can be picked off one by one
34:46they are high speed fish the cheetahs of the ocean
34:52they're also the wildebeest they herd together in their thousands and undertake epic migrations across the pacific in search of
35:00their prey
35:03if these animals lived on land they'd be famous for providing the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth
35:21in an ocean with no marine reserves migratory fish have nowhere to hide
35:33up to two kilometers long and two hundred meters deep per se nets are designed to encircle schools of tuna
35:57A fisherman checks his nets, breathing air pumped down a tube from the vessel above.
36:08It's not only tuna that get caught in these nets.
36:26A lone turtle was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
36:34She can only hold her breath for a few minutes, and the path to the surface isn't clear.
36:47She begins to panic.
37:10These fishermen are superstitious about turtles.
37:15Bringing one on board is bad luck.
37:22It's her lucky day.
37:27More and more fishing vessels are being drawn to the South Pacific each year, as this is
37:32one of the last oceans where healthy numbers of fish still remain.
37:36But for how much longer?
37:40Fishing is now a high-tech operation, with radar picking up distant flocks of birds that indicate
37:46fish feeding below.
37:52The net is paid out in a wide circle around the fish.
37:56It's a race against time, as the fish could disappear at any moment.
38:04It's a race against time, as the fish could disappear at any moment.
38:16As the circle closes, pellets of dye are dropped into the water.
38:30The dye and the speedboats overhead discouraged the tuna from making a dash through the closing
38:36gap in the wall of net.
38:52As the net closes, a draw cord running along the bottom of the net is pulled tight.
39:07The net becomes a bag, or purse, and the fish are trapped.
39:26There are a hundred and fifty tons of fish in this one hole.
39:31It used to take a fishing vessel one whole year to catch this many fish.
39:41These are mostly yellowfin tuna, plus some skipjack.
39:49As they're slower breeders than skipjack, many yellowfin are caught before they're old enough
39:54to breed.
39:54This makes them more vulnerable to overfishing.
40:02Tuna fishing has grown into an $8 billion industry.
40:07And over 4 million tons of tuna are caught worldwide each year, a fourfold increase in as many decades.
40:19Almost two-thirds of the catch now comes from the Pacific.
40:29In the Atlantic, yellowfin catches have been shrinking since 1990.
40:35Now a similar decline has begun in the Pacific.
40:51Tuna need to swim constantly to keep water flowing over their gills, otherwise they can't breathe.
41:14The fishermen want to get them out of the water as quickly as possible.
41:17When starved of oxygen, a buildup of lactic acid in their muscles causes the quality of
41:23their meat to deteriorate.
41:47The fish are scooped up from the water, a ton or two at a time.
41:55Every last fish from this school of 7,000 yellowfin and skipjack tuna is plucked from the water.
42:10With fishing techniques now so efficient, and with ever more vessels plying the Pacific,
42:16there is real concern among biologists that even the resilient skipjack may begin to decline.
42:38This vessel is not one of the newcomers.
42:41It's a Papua New Guinea-flagged ship, fishing in their territorial waters.
42:48So it's subject to catch limits and regulations that are amongst the strictest in the Pacific,
42:54designed to ensure that tuna fishing remains sustainable.
42:59But New Guinea's fishermen are concerned about the increasing numbers of foreign vessels
43:04now fishing for Pacific tuna.
43:07They were the first nation to propose that the high seas pockets beyond their national waters be declared marine reserves,
43:14as now advocated by Greenpeace.
43:20After our cameraman left the Esperanza, Greenpeace continued their journey
43:25and captured these images of the world's biggest persona,
43:29with a capacity almost four times larger than the New Guinea vessel.
43:34It's a Spanish ship, fishing for Pacific tuna to stock European supermarkets.
43:43The presence of such large vessels from countries that have already overfished their own tuna stocks
43:49has riled the operators of local fishing fleets, perhaps with some justification.
43:57Some biologists have recently warned that tuna populations in the Pacific
44:02will be crashing within five years unless urgent action is taken.
44:12Perhaps it's time to think again about the ways we fish.
44:27These pole and line fishermen are Solomon Islanders,
44:31and this fishing is a local industry.
44:58They target specific species and mature individuals.
45:04There's almost no bycatch, no seabirds, no sharks.
45:21And they can be selective, flicking juvenile fish off their hooks,
45:26so they can grow and breed.
45:31Because it's impossible to hook every last fish in a school,
45:35some are always left to fight another day.
45:42And since the fish don't suffer for hours in nets,
45:45this meat is of a high quality.
45:48the fish is of the fish in the sea.
46:02gr Gina would volume the fish in the sea.
46:15A whining of the sea.
46:18The fish would fall for hours in nets.
46:25These fishermen may not catch as many fish as a persena,
46:30but then, that's the point.
47:01Whether any fishing is sustainable depends on how many fish are caught,
47:05how many are left to breed, and how many other species are caught by accident.
47:13But these fishermen may have got it about right.
47:17The Marine Stewardship Council assesses the environmental impacts of the world's fisheries,
47:23and they believe that pole and line fisheries have the potential to be approved as officially sustainable.
47:31So now it's down to us, the fish eaters.
47:36It may cost a few pennies more to buy a tin of tuna labelled sustainably caught,
47:41but it could ensure future generations can also enjoy a tuna sandwich, tuna steak, or sashimi.
47:53And protecting the fish will ensure a healthy ocean for all the marine life of the Pacific.
48:00It will require international commitment and cooperation,
48:04but the whales are a reminder that it can be done.
48:16For the whales, for the fish, and for ourselves,
48:21the way we harvest the Pacific is key to protecting this fragile ocean paradise.
48:45With the dolphins will be used as well.
48:46The Earth will also be used as arecked by the sea.
48:46Even the earth will only help us to protect its species.
48:48The earth will be in the sea and the sea,
48:49in its ocean but at a sea.
48:49The Earth will be used as aogriff in the sea.
48:51They will continue to let us at the sea.
48:51And on the sea.
48:54The Earth will continue to be the sea.
48:55The Earth will continue to be more than a camper.
48:56The Earth will be preached at the sea.
48:59to film the person fishing sequence the South Pacific team decided they would
49:04need to put a cameraman inside the fishing net few divers have ever
49:11attempted this before and it proved to be a real challenge to be in the right
49:23spot at the right time the film crew have to take up residence on a person vessel this 60
49:29meter Papua New Guinea vessel can hold 800 tons of fish for the 30 strong all-male crew
49:37this boat is home they spend 330 days of the year at sea and can go two years without seeing
49:47their
49:50families their lives are a never-ending quest for fish they're in port for three days which
49:58gives the film crew a chance to jump on board it's a vast ocean and even the fishermen don't know
50:13where
50:14the fish are so they set a course for the location of their last big catch the film crew have
50:20arranged
50:20for a dive boat to meet them there without the support of a professional dive boat it would be
50:25dangerous to get in the water and film just hours after leaving reports come in of big tuna catches
50:33up north and the captain sets a new course this is not good news for the team
50:50this new location is well out of range of the dive boat with the success of the shoot hinging on
50:58the
50:58diving this is a worrying turn of events the fishing boats motors on all night taking the team further
51:05and further from their planned rendezvous our position now is three degrees eventually the
51:13crew make contact with the passing fishing boat and it's heading back in the direction of their dive
51:29boat it's a lucky escape for the team the new vessel spends all day and all night motoring towards the
51:37new fishing grounds 8 28 in the morning and we've already discovered fish about 150 meters the sea is
51:46frothing and boiling and that's obviously where the tuna are so the ship is doing a circle around it and
51:52that's where they're going to set the nets it's all on it's all on although it's a relief to begin
52:03filming the real challenge is still to come they need to get inside the net and right now that's
52:10not a very inviting prospect but first they need their dive boat to find them in this vast expanse
52:19I can see our dive boat on the horizon she's a little speck in the distance
52:25here we go again ship transfer there you go that's our new home
52:33see you tomorrow
52:38at five in the morning the fishermen are already setting the nets
52:44it's time to take the plunge may seem a little strange while we're putting fishing now on our
52:51scuba gear but it actually has a very useful purpose these jagged edges of the gear are completely covered
52:58with this fishing net to prevent us from getting snagged and caught like fish
53:03you know I don't normally wear a knife this big but in this kind of situation with with all the
53:10nets around and possibility for entanglement it's actually a really good idea
53:14this is a shark shield and with a tuna fishing boat thousands of bloody tuna in the water and a
53:22sea full of
53:23sharks becoming very handy they enter the net despite having done all they can to prepare this is a jump
53:38into the unknown the scale of the net is breathtaking
53:50they're relieved to find that there are no sharks this time but there are also no fish
54:01frustratingly days pass and the fishermen fail to find any more fish
54:06we're getting down to the wire here we've got two days left and we still haven't seen any fish
54:11so I'm getting a little nervous yeah it'd be tragic to be out here and not have the opportunity to
54:19film this
54:22eventually they locate a school so the question is are there any fish in that net
54:29this is the team's last chance to get the sequence
54:41to their great relief all their effort has finally paid off
54:54they share the net with 150 tons of tuna
55:00one of the biggest catches of the year
55:05it's an intense experience
55:11once again there are no sharks but as the net tightens the space inside gets ever smaller
55:23the fish begin to panic
55:33eventually the crew have to bail out
55:39they continue to film from outside the net
55:52the filming has been a success
55:55but seeing death on this scale has quite an impact on the team
56:12it's speechless really is
56:24it's hard to find words to describe that
56:31first he got in it was just empty
56:33you know there's just that serene silence
56:35you know there's just that serene silence
56:36turn around and all of a sudden there's just
56:38the whole space is filled with fish
56:41just frenetic fast moving fish just going crazy
56:45from then on then it was just absolutely intense
56:48you don't know which is up or down or side
56:51it's just your whole frame of reference goes off
56:53and finally the net was the one static point wasn't it
56:57yeah the start of the dive
56:58you feel like the net is something to really keep away from
57:01but by the end of the dive the net is the only thing
57:03that you can use as a frame of reference
57:05and everything else is just moving
57:07and it's very disorientating
57:11and there were other surprises
57:14and the slick of blood that comes from this
57:17is just like pouring out of the net
57:19in this massive slick
57:21and you would have thought in this ocean
57:23it would have attracted hundreds of sharks
57:25I didn't see a single one
57:26not one shark
57:29it's a worrying sign that all is not well
57:31in the south pacific
57:35so what of the fish
57:37what we saw today was a highly unique experience
57:42and I think it does make you wonder
57:45what our impact on the oceans are
57:47when you see it firsthand like that
57:51the team were lucky
57:52with so many vessels now fishing throughout the pacific
57:56it may not be possible to film scenes like these
58:00for very much longer
58:01to il much longer
58:08the terceros
58:08we
58:08the
58:08the
58:08the
58:08the
58:08the
58:12the
58:15the
58:19but
58:19the
58:19the
58:20the
58:20the
58:21Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
58:26Ooh, ooh, ooh.
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