Sir David Attenborough looks out to sea in Southern England (Conor McDonnell)
Wake-up call, and a call to arms
The spectacular feature-length documentary ‘Ocean with David Attenborough’ is his very first partnership with National Geographic, now showing on Disney+ channel in Australia. With the great man currently in his 100th year, it’s not impossible that ‘Ocean’ might also be his swan song. If that were to be so, it is an extraordinary magnum opus, and it leaves us with an appreciation of the urgent issues that run as deep as the oceans themselves. It is a wake-up call, with Sir David going further than his BBC Reithian remit of informing, educating, and entertaining ever allowed; the beauty and the wonder is all here, but he also both tells and shows how modern industrial fishing methods are destroying fishing stocks and wrecking the ocean floor environment.
And we are, he says, like himself, nearly out of time.
The coral reefs of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. (Olly Scholey)
Yet most remarkable of all, it ends in optimism.
Protected ocean sanctuaries have proven so successful in reviving the ocean that they can benefit far wider areas. If a proposed Global Ocean Treaty could protect 30% of the world’s oceans from fishing and other disturbances, including the increasing instances of ocean mining, then we might yet reverse the decline.
‘Ocean’ is essential viewing for all, and Australian Science Illustrated is pleased to give the documentary its highest recommendation.
