Original subtitles

For centuries we have considered the ocean a vast limitless resource.

Why shouldn't we?

There were shoals of fish too big to imagine.

And we didn't just need to eat the fish and the whales we took...

...we needed their oil for fuel, for power and light.

Yet one by one, fisheries were depleted around the world.

In the Mediterranean, the north Atlantic, and the pacific.

The fish we took were at the centre of a delicate food chain

that connected the tiniest micro-organisms

to the largest animals on the Earth.

Break the food chain by taking too much from the sea,

and one by one, the other predators disappear.

But there is a place where man still shares the ocean,

where the food chain is still unbroken.

This is where Africa meets the Sea.

We are in the Transkei...

...on the Eastern coast of South Africa.

Each winter, the coastline becomes a battleground

where tropical predators meet cold water prey

in one of the greatest natural events on the planet.

Gigantic shoals of fish,

pursued by the highest concentration of ocean predators in the world,

will head here, to a place called...

the Wild Coast.

With no safe harbor for hundreds of miles,

it is a remote ocean wilderness.

Here we can have a glimpse

of what the oceans of the world

might have looked like hundreds of years ago.

Here, beneath the waves,

we will witness the circle of life.

These are the Sardines.

They are a valuable source of protein

for every predator at the top of the food chain.

They are central to the oceanic ecosystem.

For just a few weeks each winter,

millions of sardines find themselves drawn into the shallow water

creating shoals up to ten miles long.

From the air, they could be mistaken for an oil slick.

The sardines follow the cold water currents

sweeping northwards from the Southern Cape of Africa,

pursuing the plankton and nutrients they crave.

This can bring them as far as the Wild Coast,

and perhaps even further north to the beaches of KwaZulu Natal,

where another predator awaits them.

Passing northwards from the Wild Coast into KwaZulu Natal

is like entering a different world,

a different South Africa.

This is where Zulu and Western culture come together,

sharing a common link.

A connection with the sea.

Industry came to this region

from the land and the sugar cane fields,

but there is another kind of wealth in the ocean.

When the sardine shoals pass north of the wild coast,

opposing warm water currents can force the cold water,

closer to the shore.

If this happens, thousands and thousands of fish

can be literally swept up on the beaches

in a potential bonanza for the local fisherman.

Fishermen look for dolphins and gannets arriving from the south.

tell tale signs that sardines are on their way.

But for now they prepare their nets, and wait.

Not so far away, just beneath the waves,

another resident of this coastline is waiting for the shoals.

These Bottlenose Dolphins will work together in groups

using their sonar to track down the sardines.

The sardines begin their journey

hundreds of miles south of the Wild Coast

near the fishing ports Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth.

It is also home to some of the predators

that will pursue them.

This is a colony of over 60.000 gannets,

many of whom will make the journey north.

They will be joined by Cape Fur Seals.

These seals have traveled only a short distance

from the Eastern Cape and have found a shoal,

not of sardines, but of a baitfish called Massbunker.

The school of fish has formed what is known as a baitball

in an effort to confuse the predators and protect itself.

The shoal moves and changes shape

allmost as if it is a single entity.

By swimming close together,

and only reacting to the movement of their neighbor,

every single fish contributes to this "shoal intelligence".

Another predator attacks the baitball:

the streamlining and speed of the African Penguin

is too much for the massbunker.

Nevertheless, this shoal is actually going to escape,

returning to the depths.

Many factors can affect the progress of the sardine shoals.

As global warming raises sea temperatures,

the fish may be forced further away from the coast

into deeper and colder water.

This far south, they face another hazard...

Fishing boats take thousands of tons of sardines each year.

The quantity of sardines taken

is strictly regulated by the South African government

in an effort to ensure the fishery is sustainable.

But there is allways the possibility that whatever is taken here,

may reduce the number of sardines heading north.

Back on the Wild Coast,

Common Dolphins begin to arrive from the colder waters

of western and southern South Africa.

They are not native to this warmer, subtropical waters.

In June and July, joining the sardine hunt,

they forget the territorial differrences

and gather in pods of up to 4 or 5000.

There can be as many as 20.000 of them here,

off the Transkei.

Their presence is a sure sign

that the shoals are approaching.

There is a higher concentration

of shark species here in South Africa

than everywhere else in the world.

Perfectly evolved sea hunters,

Sharks can detect their prey from a distance of several miles.

So when the shoals begin to arrive,

you can be sure these Black Tips, Copperheads and Duskys

will be among the first to find them.

The nets, that have been dettering sharks

from the KwaZulu Natal beaches

are being removed,

in anticipation of the approaching shoals.

Too many predators could be trapped

if the nets were to remain.

It is here, that the earliest evidence

of man's relationship with the sea has been discovered.

As the fishermen wait for the arrival of the sardines,

these women collect shellfish from rock pools,

in a tradition that we now know,

dates back over a 160.000 years.

Every cold front that arrives from the south

brings with it cooler air, and colder water,

drawing the sardines further and further north.

Traveling alongside them

is another winter visitor...

Humpback whales head northwards like steam trains

towards their winter breeding grounds

in the warm waters of Mozambique.

Whilst their arrival coincides with the sardine shoals,

perhaps they are more spectators

than participants in this annual event.

Breaching is a common site from the shoreline

at this time of year…

...as the grand procession of hundreds of Humpbacks

proceeds northwards.

Dawn on the KwaZulu Natal coast.

As the dolphins and gannets track down the shoals out at sea,

the people here are still watching, still waiting…

Every winter storm disrupts the mild South African climate,

with cold currents carrying the sardines further and further north

and warm currents pushing them closer and closer to the shore.

The predators sense a change in the ocean,

in its temperature, in the presence of plankton.

In the oil secreted by advancing shoals

and possibly even in the arrival

of other predatory species in the region.

The sharks may have taken the pilot shoals,

but now, all the Wild Coast's predators are on the move.

Gannets take to the air in greater numbers than ever.

They can dive from as high as 100 feet,

and plunge as deep as 30.

They can hit the water at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.

The dolphins are searching for the shoals,

pods joining together to form superpods.

They gather momentum, and prepare to charge.

Throughout the 20th century, sardine shoals were so huge

that millions of them would be sidetracked into the shallows

where they were taken in nets, buckets, even upturned skirts.

This is what became known as the "Sardine Run."

In recent years, sardines have been reaching the northern beaches

in fewer and fewer numbers.

As the ocean temperatures rise,

the conditions will be less favorable for the shoals

to approach the shallows.

As the ocean changes,

their behavior will also change.

Further south, however,

on the Wild Coast,

there is still an abundance of activity,

like nowhere else on Earth.

The shoal has been forced to the surface.

It twists and turns and scatters, dazzling its attackers.

The sea is alive with predators, unconcerned with each other,

focused only upon taking the sardines from every conceivable direction.

An undersea battle has begun!

So how do we fit into the food chain?

If we have to squeeze the fish into the can…

or pack it in ice…

...what can we do to keep our oceans Alive?

Can we control ourselves just enough

to share the sea with the other predators

at the top of the food chain?

Can we control ourselves just enough

to keep the circle of life spinning beneath the waves?

What would it take?

Once upon a time all the world's oceans

were as rich and vital as the Wild Coast.

What would it take

to bring the world's oceans back to life?

It is time for a sea change.

In the late nineteenth century, French scientist,

Marcel Herubel first proposed the concept of marine reserves.

He suggested that whole areas of the ocean,

the fish hatcheries and nurseries, be protected.

No one listened.

Right now, over 12% of the world's land is protected,

yet less than one hundredth of one percent of the ocean

is a marine reserve.

New Zealand and South Africa now lead the way,

with South Africa committing to protecting 20% of its coastline.

If the rest of the world were to follow,

there would be hope for our ocean wilderness.

Hope for the great shoals and for the predators.

For now, there is a place where we can have a glimpse

of what the oceans of the world would have looked like

hundreds of years ago...

and perhaps, one day, could again...

This is the Wild Ocean…

This is where Africa meets the Sea.

Translation: jierro