1
00:00:58,700 --> 00:01:04,916
Coral Reef Adventure

2
00:01:07,674 --> 00:01:10,721
The South Pacific.

3
00:01:10,762 --> 00:01:15,073
Lagoons that hint at paradise.

4
00:01:15,268 --> 00:01:17,146
Magnificent coral reefs that tease and

5
00:01:17,187 --> 00:01:22,097
delight the dreaming corners of our minds.

6
00:01:23,780 --> 00:01:28,453
This is the world as we
wish it could always be.

7
00:01:57,702 --> 00:02:00,039
In this great carnival of life

8
00:02:00,122 --> 00:02:03,877
thousands of colorful characters coexist.

9
00:02:03,919 --> 00:02:06,840
Diversity strengthens the coral reefs,

10
00:02:06,881 --> 00:02:08,258
the more species,

11
00:02:08,301 --> 00:02:11,113
the more survival systems.

12
00:02:11,305 --> 00:02:16,889
Coral reefs have been going strong
for sixty million years.

13
00:02:17,689 --> 00:02:21,569
Some corals sway like
flowers in the breeze.

14
00:02:21,610 --> 00:02:25,199
Others masquerade as stones.

15
00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:29,130
But all corals are animals.

16
00:02:32,792 --> 00:02:36,631
These underworld playgrounds
are built by hard corals

17
00:02:36,672 --> 00:02:40,876
which produce lime stone
and turn it into homes.

18
00:02:41,346 --> 00:02:43,766
Stacked one on top of the other

19
00:02:43,807 --> 00:02:45,227
millions of coral homes

20
00:02:45,268 --> 00:02:49,839
gradually form a gigantic reef.

21
00:02:51,568 --> 00:02:55,073
How wonderful that the largest
living structures on earth

22
00:02:55,116 --> 00:03:01,332
are built by tiny animals.

23
00:03:05,881 --> 00:03:09,051
Coral reefs protect
nearly all tropical coasts,

24
00:03:09,135 --> 00:03:13,758
standing between islander's
homes and violent seas.

25
00:03:27,827 --> 00:03:28,870
When we're injured

26
00:03:28,913 --> 00:03:31,917
doctors use calcium carbonate from coral

27
00:03:31,958 --> 00:03:34,796
to mend our broken bones.

28
00:03:34,837 --> 00:03:36,214
When we're sick

29
00:03:36,255 --> 00:03:38,008
chemical components from the reef

30
00:03:38,050 --> 00:03:41,471
may restore our health.

31
00:03:41,513 --> 00:03:42,723
No place on earth

32
00:03:42,764 --> 00:03:46,677
holds greater potential for medical cures.

33
00:03:49,148 --> 00:03:49,899
Reefs

34
00:03:49,942 --> 00:03:51,151
Feeders

35
00:03:51,194 --> 00:03:53,112
Over three hundred million people

36
00:03:53,196 --> 00:03:56,216
rely on fish from reefs.

37
00:03:57,159 --> 00:03:59,831
For Pacific islanders like me

38
00:03:59,872 --> 00:04:04,648
our coral reefs are as
necessary as the air we breath.

39
00:04:14,100 --> 00:04:17,062
Rusi Vulakoro, a native of Fiji

40
00:04:17,105 --> 00:04:20,391
has always lived close to the sea.

41
00:04:26,784 --> 00:04:27,995
For centuries

42
00:04:28,036 --> 00:04:30,915
my ancestors were careful not to over fish.

43
00:04:30,956 --> 00:04:33,585
So our reef was healthy.

44
00:04:33,628 --> 00:04:34,754
But this year

45
00:04:34,795 --> 00:04:37,090
something happened,

46
00:04:37,132 --> 00:04:39,642
something terrible.

47
00:04:43,849 --> 00:04:47,900
A blanket of death set over the reef

48
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,116
What was killing our reef?

49
00:05:00,540 --> 00:05:04,671
I made up my mind to find some answers.

50
00:05:04,712 --> 00:05:06,255
I decided to reach out to

51
00:05:06,298 --> 00:05:09,916
some of my dive partners around the world.

52
00:05:10,637 --> 00:05:12,514
Howard and Michele Hall

53
00:05:12,557 --> 00:05:16,312
have spent thirty years
exploring and filming reefs.

54
00:05:16,353 --> 00:05:20,108
Their underwater photography
is world renowned

55
00:05:20,150 --> 00:05:22,821
When Howard and Michele got Rusi's message

56
00:05:22,904 --> 00:05:24,239
They were in the mountains,

57
00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:27,437
far from the reefs they loved.

58
00:05:37,674 --> 00:05:39,636
All during that flight I kept wondering

59
00:05:39,677 --> 00:05:42,306
what we could do to help Rusi.

60
00:05:42,348 --> 00:05:43,641
Then I realized that

61
00:05:43,682 --> 00:05:45,894
our friend Richard Pyle
might know what to do.

62
00:05:45,978 --> 00:05:48,350
He is a marine biologist

63
00:05:48,564 --> 00:05:50,692
All across the world

64
00:05:50,735 --> 00:05:54,447
Red Sea, East Africa,
Maldives, Philippines,

65
00:05:54,490 --> 00:05:57,244
We're seeing these kind
of problems showing up

66
00:05:57,285 --> 00:05:58,912
at unprecedented rates.

67
00:05:58,954 --> 00:06:01,332
Richard showed us how coral reefs are dying

68
00:06:01,375 --> 00:06:04,560
at an alarming rate all around the world.

69
00:06:05,171 --> 00:06:08,450
Ocean warming is the major cause.

70
00:06:09,642 --> 00:06:11,889
Richard urged us to
document the coral reefs

71
00:06:11,930 --> 00:06:13,223
on film for science

72
00:06:13,266 --> 00:06:15,379
before they disappear.

73
00:06:16,603 --> 00:06:19,816
We knew that the IMAX camera
with it's incredible clarity

74
00:06:19,858 --> 00:06:22,317
was the best way to do this.

75
00:06:25,032 --> 00:06:27,383
Our mission was clear.

76
00:06:28,412 --> 00:06:31,416
Bring back images that
would give scientists

77
00:06:31,458 --> 00:06:34,400
insights into why Rusi's reef was dying.

78
00:06:35,046 --> 00:06:36,799
We needed to compare Rusi's reef

79
00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:39,844
to other reefs all across
the South Pacific.

80
00:06:39,886 --> 00:06:42,473
Starting with the largest of them all,

81
00:06:42,514 --> 00:06:44,513
the Great Barrier Reef.

82
00:07:04,169 --> 00:07:06,006
The prospect of diving coral reefs

83
00:07:06,047 --> 00:07:08,134
all across the South Pacific

84
00:07:08,175 --> 00:07:11,358
was a bit like a dream come true.

85
00:07:12,098 --> 00:07:14,226
We would make hundreds of dives,

86
00:07:14,267 --> 00:07:16,812
and some of these would be
deeper and more dangerous

87
00:07:16,854 --> 00:07:19,000
than anything we have done before.

88
00:07:19,190 --> 00:07:21,611
It would be our most important expedition

89
00:07:21,652 --> 00:07:24,156
in our thirty years of diving together.

90
00:07:29,413 --> 00:07:31,291
Parts of the Great Barrier Reef

91
00:07:31,332 --> 00:07:35,350
had been protected from
overfishing for two decades.

92
00:07:35,463 --> 00:07:38,091
The first goal of this ten-month expedition

93
00:07:38,134 --> 00:07:42,250
was to see how well that
protection really worked.

94
00:07:57,744 --> 00:07:59,956
When I first dove here 22 years ago,

95
00:07:59,997 --> 00:08:02,084
these giant clams were not here.

96
00:08:02,125 --> 00:08:05,764
They had been long fished out
by commercial fishermen.

97
00:08:06,506 --> 00:08:09,385
Today we have seen 12 giant clams.

98
00:08:09,428 --> 00:08:10,512
That's a great sign

99
00:08:10,554 --> 00:08:13,651
that means this reef is bouncing back.

100
00:08:16,562 --> 00:08:19,441
A local marine biologist
named Tracey Medway

101
00:08:19,483 --> 00:08:22,578
led us to the giant potato cod.

102
00:08:23,739 --> 00:08:25,100
They are called potato cod

103
00:08:25,420 --> 00:08:27,100
because they have these
splotchy potato shaped

104
00:08:27,118 --> 00:08:30,066
markings on their sides.

105
00:08:33,669 --> 00:08:35,255
Throughout most of the South Pacific,

106
00:08:35,296 --> 00:08:38,425
the really large fish have
been wiped out by fishermen

107
00:08:38,468 --> 00:08:43,122
Potato cod thrive here only because
of the laws that protect them.

108
00:08:50,485 --> 00:08:53,697
These vegetarian convict
tangs protect the reef

109
00:08:53,739 --> 00:08:58,162
Nibbling away seaweeds
that smother corals.

110
00:08:58,203 --> 00:09:00,874
If too many of these kinds
of fish are removed

111
00:09:00,915 --> 00:09:03,440
corals will die.

112
00:09:03,669 --> 00:09:07,148
That's why overfishing destroys reefs.

113
00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:09,427
We often don't realize

114
00:09:09,468 --> 00:09:11,555
how two species benefit from each other

115
00:09:11,596 --> 00:09:14,701
until one of them disappears.

116
00:09:16,646 --> 00:09:18,899
Just as fish protect the reef,

117
00:09:18,940 --> 00:09:22,779
the coral offers homes and
hiding places for the fish.

118
00:09:22,821 --> 00:09:24,990
Anything from a simple shark

119
00:09:25,033 --> 00:09:27,870
to a custom dream home.

120
00:09:45,393 --> 00:09:49,107
Gobies often share a home
with bulldozer shrimp.

121
00:09:49,149 --> 00:09:51,611
Whenever he ventures out of the burrow

122
00:09:51,695 --> 00:09:55,783
the shrimp keeps at least
one antenna on the goby.

123
00:09:55,825 --> 00:09:58,204
The goby gets an impeccable
burrow to live in

124
00:09:58,245 --> 00:10:00,539
without lifting a fin.

125
00:10:00,623 --> 00:10:04,504
And the very nearsighted
shrimp gets a bodyguard.

126
00:10:04,545 --> 00:10:06,047
With a flick of it's tale,

127
00:10:06,090 --> 00:10:11,011
The goby warns the shrimp
of approaching predators.

128
00:10:43,182 --> 00:10:44,434
This hundred year old coral

129
00:10:44,476 --> 00:10:45,811
makes a nice dentist's office

130
00:10:45,852 --> 00:10:49,024
for potato cod.

131
00:10:49,066 --> 00:10:51,068
A small fish,

132
00:10:51,110 --> 00:10:52,070
a cleaner wrasse,

133
00:10:52,111 --> 00:10:54,156
swims right into the cod's mouth

134
00:10:54,198 --> 00:10:57,955
to feed on parasites.

135
00:11:00,873 --> 00:11:03,502
The cod gets groomed

136
00:11:03,545 --> 00:11:06,506
and the wrasse gets dinner.

137
00:11:06,549 --> 00:11:11,055
Partnerships like this seem
to require mutual trust.

138
00:11:11,096 --> 00:11:13,851
Lots of trust.

139
00:11:15,644 --> 00:11:18,106
Cat Hollerway, a coral researcher

140
00:11:18,147 --> 00:11:23,771
joined Michele to study
intersperses communication.

141
00:11:56,034 --> 00:11:57,452
I was afraid I was going to inhale it,

142
00:11:57,495 --> 00:11:59,038
maybe swallow it.

143
00:11:59,079 --> 00:12:00,248
But I didn't.

144
00:12:00,290 --> 00:12:03,733
It just tickled and pinched a little bit.

145
00:12:06,590 --> 00:12:09,870
I studied animal
behavior for so many years.

146
00:12:09,871 --> 00:12:10,888
This was...

147
00:12:10,929 --> 00:12:11,806
This was different.

148
00:12:11,847 --> 00:12:13,266
This was a chance for me to

149
00:12:13,308 --> 00:12:16,242
actually be part of it.

150
00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:22,571
Cooperation between species
sustains life here.

151
00:12:22,612 --> 00:12:26,326
But sometimes it's almost invisible.

152
00:12:26,367 --> 00:12:28,913
The coral's most important partners

153
00:12:28,955 --> 00:12:31,333
are tiny microscope algae

154
00:12:31,417 --> 00:12:36,146
that actually live inside
the coral animals tissues.

155
00:12:37,382 --> 00:12:40,680
These helper algae use
sunlight to produce sugar,

156
00:12:40,721 --> 00:12:42,098
the primary food source

157
00:12:42,139 --> 00:12:46,229
that gives corals the
energy to build reefs.

158
00:12:46,270 --> 00:12:50,275
Most corals cannot survive
without helper algae.

159
00:12:50,318 --> 00:12:51,652
But worldwide,

160
00:12:51,695 --> 00:12:53,655
abnormally warm seawater

161
00:12:53,698 --> 00:12:56,647
threatens this partnership.

162
00:12:57,578 --> 00:12:59,622
Time lapsed photography can show us how

163
00:12:59,663 --> 00:13:01,249
in just one week

164
00:13:01,291 --> 00:13:06,394
that change of two degrees centigrade
drives the algae out.

165
00:13:08,009 --> 00:13:10,012
Without its primary food source

166
00:13:10,053 --> 00:13:13,707
the coral bleaches a ghostly white.

167
00:13:15,519 --> 00:13:17,313
If the algae don't return,

168
00:13:17,356 --> 00:13:19,670
the coral starves.

169
00:13:24,407 --> 00:13:26,535
Here in Australia we
went to some places that

170
00:13:26,576 --> 00:13:28,453
we've been to 22 years before

171
00:13:28,496 --> 00:13:29,914
and I was surprise to see that

172
00:13:29,956 --> 00:13:35,000
some of the reefs were so
damaged because of ocean warming.

173
00:13:38,927 --> 00:13:41,555
Our Australian survey gave us a baseline

174
00:13:41,597 --> 00:13:44,018
for understanding what was going wrong

175
00:13:44,059 --> 00:13:45,019
at Rusi's reef

176
00:13:45,060 --> 00:13:48,792
2000 miles away in Fiji

177
00:14:28,412 --> 00:14:29,706
when we got to Fiji,

178
00:14:29,747 --> 00:14:34,296
it didn't take five minutes
to reconnect with Rusi.

179
00:14:36,966 --> 00:14:40,801
Howard made me smile again.

180
00:14:42,140 --> 00:14:44,518
Michele and I were eager to help Rusi.

181
00:14:44,559 --> 00:14:45,519
But first

182
00:14:45,561 --> 00:14:49,542
we had to pay our respects
to local tradition.

183
00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,535
Before outsiders can direct my home island

184
00:14:56,576 --> 00:15:00,560
the elders must grant permission.

185
00:15:02,502 --> 00:15:06,410
My people have always limited fishing.

186
00:15:06,715 --> 00:15:08,802
This tradition of reef conservation

187
00:15:08,843 --> 00:15:11,096
has worked well for centuries.

188
00:15:11,139 --> 00:15:13,724
'Til now.

189
00:15:15,352 --> 00:15:18,065
First I wanted Howard to
see my village reef

190
00:15:18,106 --> 00:15:20,708
as it used to be.

191
00:15:32,376 --> 00:15:35,255
The reef looked great with
plenty of small fish.

192
00:15:35,297 --> 00:15:38,468
But we didn't see nearly as many big fish

193
00:15:38,684 --> 00:15:40,207
as we did in Australia.

194
00:15:40,907 --> 00:15:42,792
And that worried me.

195
00:15:46,145 --> 00:15:48,732
But time had come.

196
00:15:48,774 --> 00:15:52,746
I took Howard and Michele
further down the reef.

197
00:15:58,162 --> 00:16:00,950
I wondered where all the animals had gone.

198
00:16:04,838 --> 00:16:07,874
These reefs are dying.

199
00:16:08,468 --> 00:16:12,020
And it all just makes me very sad.

200
00:16:16,918 --> 00:16:19,811
Seeing so much of this reef destroyed

201
00:16:20,380 --> 00:16:21,626
we realized that

202
00:16:21,627 --> 00:16:25,277
Rusi's reef may be what
all coral reefs look like

203
00:16:25,681 --> 00:16:27,210
in thirty years.

204
00:16:30,290 --> 00:16:34,045
Our reef used to be home
to so many creatures

205
00:16:34,086 --> 00:16:38,271
but now they are almost all gone.

206
00:16:44,146 --> 00:16:45,982
After seen all these destruction though

207
00:16:46,239 --> 00:16:48,243
I saw an octopus.

208
00:16:52,768 --> 00:16:54,901
Octopus make like a tent with their body.

209
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:56,820
They put up their eight arms and

210
00:16:57,150 --> 00:17:01,181
actually trap shrimps and
crabs that live on the reef.

211
00:17:07,175 --> 00:17:09,178
He had obviously figured out

212
00:17:09,219 --> 00:17:12,020
how to survive.

213
00:17:12,683 --> 00:17:17,312
Not many reef dwellers are able to do that.

214
00:17:22,822 --> 00:17:25,241
For islanders who survive by fishing,

215
00:17:25,283 --> 00:17:28,455
the death of the reef has
really hit us hard.

216
00:17:28,496 --> 00:17:32,371
Especially when you have children to feed.

217
00:17:38,844 --> 00:17:41,680
But what killed Rusi's reef?

218
00:17:41,764 --> 00:17:46,187
Foreign fishing fleets
have over fished this water.

219
00:17:46,229 --> 00:17:51,543
And thermometers tells us that the
ocean is two degrees warmer than normal.

220
00:17:54,111 --> 00:17:56,994
I found more bleached coral
and no big fish.

221
00:17:57,036 --> 00:17:59,455
But I had a hunch that

222
00:17:59,498 --> 00:18:01,239
ocean warming and overfishing

223
00:18:01,331 --> 00:18:03,731
were not the only problems.

224
00:18:10,721 --> 00:18:12,391
Ten miles inland,

225
00:18:12,432 --> 00:18:15,953
when tropical rain forests were cut down,

226
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,012
the river turned muddy with silt.

227
00:18:26,786 --> 00:18:28,788
Two rivers merge,

228
00:18:28,830 --> 00:18:31,320
one with logging upstream,

229
00:18:31,330 --> 00:18:34,087
one without.

230
00:18:35,234 --> 00:18:40,346
There's only one place for
all of that settlement to go.

231
00:18:42,296 --> 00:18:43,512
At the mouth of the river

232
00:18:43,581 --> 00:18:46,237
silt blocks the sun light that
the coral needs for growth.

233
00:18:48,398 --> 00:18:53,421
Rusi's reef had been hit
by a combination of stresses.

234
00:18:54,948 --> 00:18:58,997
Ocean warming, overfishing and siltation.

235
00:19:00,059 --> 00:19:01,842
Corals may fight off one threat

236
00:19:01,843 --> 00:19:05,590
but three at once proved too much.

237
00:19:06,698 --> 00:19:08,497
Now I understood the problem better

238
00:19:08,498 --> 00:19:10,053
but what could I do?

239
00:19:10,096 --> 00:19:12,290
Howard thought a healthier reef

240
00:19:12,291 --> 00:19:14,183
might give us some answers.

241
00:19:14,184 --> 00:19:17,696
We set quest for another island.

242
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,235
There we joined up with
Jean-Michele Cousteau

243
00:19:21,236 --> 00:19:25,158
who is the son of the legendary explorer.

244
00:19:26,284 --> 00:19:29,665
Jean-Michele comes to Fuji every year
to help marine biologists

245
00:19:29,666 --> 00:19:32,114
like Maria Joao Rodriguez,
monitor coral reefs.

246
00:19:35,653 --> 00:19:38,553
We guided Howard and
Michele to a nearby reef

247
00:19:38,823 --> 00:19:40,935
where siltation is not a problem,

248
00:19:41,202 --> 00:19:43,550
thanks to mangrove trees.

249
00:19:45,634 --> 00:19:47,412
Their roots trap silt,

250
00:19:47,858 --> 00:19:49,675
protecting the reefs.

251
00:19:53,089 --> 00:19:57,000
Many fish use mangroves as a nursery
to protect their young.

252
00:20:03,211 --> 00:20:04,592
My fellow Fijians

253
00:20:04,593 --> 00:20:08,034
have set aside the beneficial mangroves

254
00:20:08,198 --> 00:20:10,254
as part of a marine preserve.

255
00:20:10,921 --> 00:20:13,449
Making the reef offshore a wonderland,

256
00:20:13,829 --> 00:20:16,650
healthy, beautiful and strong.

257
00:20:21,602 --> 00:20:24,350
This is the way I want my reef to be.

258
00:20:28,782 --> 00:20:32,652
Tropical coral reefs are found worldwide.

259
00:20:33,182 --> 00:20:37,667
Fiji is the soft coral
capital of the world.

260
00:21:20,993 --> 00:21:22,662
Corals are beautiful,

261
00:21:22,704 --> 00:21:25,420
but they are also beneficial.

262
00:21:25,624 --> 00:21:27,668
Chemical compounds from coral reefs

263
00:21:27,711 --> 00:21:29,421
have been reproduced in the lab

264
00:21:29,463 --> 00:21:31,842
to provide relief from chronic pain,

265
00:21:32,465 --> 00:21:33,385
ease child birth

266
00:21:33,426 --> 00:21:37,156
and even extend the life of AIDS patients.

267
00:21:38,809 --> 00:21:41,210
Corals share their food.

268
00:21:41,396 --> 00:21:44,921
In fact many of them share
the same stomach.

269
00:22:04,428 --> 00:22:06,431
When the current picks up speed

270
00:22:06,472 --> 00:22:08,100
time lapse photography shows

271
00:22:08,142 --> 00:22:11,730
how these soft corals inflate like balloons

272
00:22:11,772 --> 00:22:14,000
to trap passing morsels.

273
00:22:19,616 --> 00:22:22,037
On a healthy reef like this,

274
00:22:22,078 --> 00:22:25,618
you see so many different creatures.

275
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,469
We preferred not to approach the animals.

276
00:22:33,510 --> 00:22:36,218
It's better if they come to us.

277
00:22:38,016 --> 00:22:39,727
This distant cousin of the cobra

278
00:22:39,769 --> 00:22:43,357
can kill a person with its venom
in a matter of minutes,

279
00:22:43,399 --> 00:22:46,201
but they rarely bite humans.

280
00:22:46,612 --> 00:22:49,055
Michele is counting on that.

281
00:22:56,125 --> 00:22:58,713
We learn a lot about a
reef from its animals,

282
00:22:58,754 --> 00:23:01,048
and so do the children.

283
00:23:01,091 --> 00:23:04,552
There is more to the
reef than meets the eye.

284
00:23:29,338 --> 00:23:33,600
Observation is the first step in science.

285
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,309
Who would notice

286
00:23:38,350 --> 00:23:41,438
that yellow damselfish
guard their tiny eggs

287
00:23:41,479 --> 00:23:43,911
before they hatch.

288
00:23:44,693 --> 00:23:47,363
Or that the sea cucumber filters waste

289
00:23:47,405 --> 00:23:50,934
leaving the reef cleaner for all.

290
00:23:54,456 --> 00:23:59,129
Some of the finest marine
biologists are Fijians.

291
00:23:59,172 --> 00:24:02,986
We could have a budding scientist
in our midst.

292
00:24:29,380 --> 00:24:32,008
We've learned that we
don't inherit the earth

293
00:24:32,050 --> 00:24:33,761
from our parents.

294
00:24:33,802 --> 00:24:37,106
We borrow it from our children.

295
00:24:39,018 --> 00:24:43,149
Children love to spot fish
they've never seen before.

296
00:24:43,190 --> 00:24:46,820
That same thrill of discovery
drives many scientists

297
00:24:46,904 --> 00:24:49,170
like Richard Pyle.

298
00:24:52,829 --> 00:24:56,292
Richard Pyle calls himself a fish nerd.

299
00:24:56,334 --> 00:25:00,734
He studies fish on the deepest
parts of coral reefs.

300
00:25:02,050 --> 00:25:03,386
The deeper down we go on a coral reef

301
00:25:03,427 --> 00:25:05,471
the less we know.

302
00:25:05,514 --> 00:25:07,911
I want to find out who lives there.

303
00:25:09,686 --> 00:25:11,814
You can't get a true picture of coral reef

304
00:25:11,855 --> 00:25:14,192
if you only look at part of it.

305
00:25:14,233 --> 00:25:16,862
But deep dives can be really dangerous.

306
00:25:16,905 --> 00:25:19,199
Even using special breathing devises

307
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,703
we could still get a fatal disease

308
00:25:21,744 --> 00:25:23,456
called "the bends".

309
00:25:26,919 --> 00:25:28,671
I nearly lost Howard on a deep dive

310
00:25:28,712 --> 00:25:30,965
only two months ago.

311
00:25:31,007 --> 00:25:33,928
He had a bad case of "the bends"

312
00:25:33,970 --> 00:25:37,349
It could have killed him.

313
00:25:37,391 --> 00:25:39,644
To stop the progression of the illness,

314
00:25:39,686 --> 00:25:41,856
I began breathing pure oxygen

315
00:25:41,897 --> 00:25:43,733
but it didn't seen to help.

316
00:25:43,774 --> 00:25:47,739
I was losing all
feeling in my right leg.

317
00:25:47,780 --> 00:25:49,992
One of the terrifying moments for me

318
00:25:50,033 --> 00:25:53,872
was actually seeing him stumble.

319
00:25:53,914 --> 00:25:57,461
I just thought this can't be happening.

320
00:25:57,502 --> 00:26:00,047
Michele rushed Howard to the hospital

321
00:26:00,090 --> 00:26:02,718
hoping that a specially pressurized chamber

322
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:04,888
might halt the illness

323
00:26:04,929 --> 00:26:08,383
and save his life.

324
00:26:09,644 --> 00:26:11,313
Thank god for the communication system

325
00:26:11,355 --> 00:26:14,414
because at least then I could talk to him.

326
00:26:18,615 --> 00:26:20,826
Howard survived.

327
00:26:20,869 --> 00:26:22,746
But his close call was on my mind when

328
00:26:22,787 --> 00:26:27,251
we prepare for a dive to 350 feet.

329
00:26:28,671 --> 00:26:31,215
The next day on the deep dive

330
00:26:31,258 --> 00:26:33,302
Howard and Richard would face pressures

331
00:26:33,343 --> 00:26:36,557
nearly 12 times greater than normal.

332
00:26:36,598 --> 00:26:39,144
But they are expert divers

333
00:26:39,185 --> 00:26:41,730
and there is much to learn
by exploring regions

334
00:26:41,773 --> 00:26:44,198
where so little is known.

335
00:26:59,172 --> 00:27:02,384
Support divers attached
safety tanks to a life line

336
00:27:02,426 --> 00:27:07,612
every 50 feet.

337
00:27:36,265 --> 00:27:37,933
As we descend,

338
00:27:37,976 --> 00:27:40,646
too much oxygen is bad.

339
00:27:40,687 --> 00:27:42,857
Too little is worse.

340
00:27:42,899 --> 00:27:45,390
Both can kill you.

341
00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:56,886
The safety divers go down
as far as he can and stop.

342
00:27:57,252 --> 00:27:58,420
After that

343
00:27:58,462 --> 00:28:00,975
we are on our own

344
00:28:06,473 --> 00:28:08,059
As we drop down the reef wall

345
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:11,104
it gets darker and colder.

346
00:28:11,147 --> 00:28:15,403
And in a way we are going back in time.

347
00:28:15,444 --> 00:28:16,905
At 200 feet,

348
00:28:16,946 --> 00:28:20,034
we pass lime stone deposits
that were laid down

349
00:28:20,075 --> 00:28:22,287
twenty thousand years ago,

350
00:28:22,329 --> 00:28:25,616
back when this was the top of the reef.

351
00:28:33,135 --> 00:28:34,805
At 350 feet,

352
00:28:34,846 --> 00:28:37,883
we entered the twilight zone.

353
00:28:39,477 --> 00:28:41,689
It's sort of spooky but wonderful

354
00:28:41,731 --> 00:28:43,233
to look around at a reef that

355
00:28:43,317 --> 00:28:46,930
no one has ever lay eyes on before.

356
00:28:58,754 --> 00:29:02,224
It's starting to get interesting.

357
00:29:06,181 --> 00:29:09,642
We don't see any of the
corals that rely on sunlight.

358
00:29:09,668 --> 00:29:12,423
Instead we see fan
corals and whip corals.

359
00:29:13,149 --> 00:29:17,044
This reef community definitely
appears to be thriving.

360
00:29:18,115 --> 00:29:20,744
In his quest to find out
what lives down here,

361
00:29:20,785 --> 00:29:24,456
Richard can only bring a
few specimens back to the surface

362
00:29:24,499 --> 00:29:27,710
to be documented for science.

363
00:29:30,924 --> 00:29:33,678
Looking around I see at least
a dozen new fish species

364
00:29:33,719 --> 00:29:35,722
that I have never seen before.

365
00:29:35,764 --> 00:29:38,886
I doubt that anyone has seen them before.

366
00:29:45,444 --> 00:29:46,946
Scientists like Richard

367
00:29:46,988 --> 00:29:48,865
are mapping the web of life that

368
00:29:48,908 --> 00:29:51,036
we are all part of.

369
00:29:51,077 --> 00:29:53,497
Each new fish Richard finds

370
00:29:53,539 --> 00:29:56,501
holds millions of years
of genetic engineering

371
00:29:56,953 --> 00:29:59,560
for medical research.

372
00:30:10,222 --> 00:30:12,057
Then the intense water pressure

373
00:30:12,099 --> 00:30:13,934
caused the primary camera

374
00:30:13,977 --> 00:30:16,014
to malfunction.

375
00:30:17,983 --> 00:30:21,349
I was glad that Howard
called an end to the dive.

376
00:30:22,864 --> 00:30:24,408
We hope that Howard's images

377
00:30:24,449 --> 00:30:26,452
will let scientist explore a reef

378
00:30:26,494 --> 00:30:29,893
that they might never be
able to dive on their own.

379
00:30:31,417 --> 00:30:33,379
It's not everyday you get to witness

380
00:30:33,420 --> 00:30:36,500
the discovery of a new species of fish

381
00:30:36,591 --> 00:30:38,343
You see that red one with the long tale

382
00:30:38,386 --> 00:30:39,387
that's the one I'm really excited about.

383
00:30:39,429 --> 00:30:41,598
That's definitely new.

384
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,993
Oh, I see those all the time.

385
00:31:10,972 --> 00:31:12,308
Until quite recently,

386
00:31:12,349 --> 00:31:14,889
the deep coral reefs were

387
00:31:14,890 --> 00:31:18,033
this big dark void on our map of life.

388
00:31:18,358 --> 00:31:19,735
But each new discovery

389
00:31:19,776 --> 00:31:22,300
leads us to new connections.

390
00:31:23,574 --> 00:31:26,285
This may seen like just
some insignificant little red fish,

391
00:31:26,328 --> 00:31:28,037
But it's a very important piece

392
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:29,915
to the biodiversity puzzle.

393
00:31:29,958 --> 00:31:32,377
As soon as I saw I knew
it was something different

394
00:31:32,418 --> 00:31:36,150
the months of hard work in Fiji paid off

395
00:31:38,051 --> 00:31:39,846
Russy has seen first hand

396
00:31:39,888 --> 00:31:43,518
how corals can thrive
when reefs are protected

397
00:31:43,559 --> 00:31:47,377
he is now ready to return
to his home island

398
00:31:49,067 --> 00:31:50,819
my fellow Fijians have shown me

399
00:31:50,862 --> 00:31:53,115
how to set up a marine preserve

400
00:31:53,156 --> 00:31:54,783
protect the mangroves

401
00:31:54,825 --> 00:31:58,037
and even curb logging operations

402
00:31:58,288 --> 00:32:01,200
I really want to get started.

403
00:32:02,794 --> 00:32:05,464
Here in Fiji we've
seen some amazing reefs.

404
00:32:05,507 --> 00:32:08,719
But we have also seen a
lot of coral damage.

405
00:32:08,803 --> 00:32:11,181
The siltation we saw in Rusi's reef

406
00:32:11,222 --> 00:32:13,917
led us to a next question.

407
00:32:14,019 --> 00:32:15,478
Is closeness to shore

408
00:32:15,521 --> 00:32:18,743
a major risk factor for corals?

409
00:32:22,071 --> 00:32:23,782
French Polynesia is a perfect place

410
00:32:23,824 --> 00:32:27,259
for answering this question.

411
00:32:47,398 --> 00:32:48,858
In French Polynesia

412
00:32:48,900 --> 00:32:50,652
Howard and Michele started with

413
00:32:50,695 --> 00:32:54,074
The heavily populated
islands of Tahiti and Mo'orea

414
00:32:54,116 --> 00:32:58,014
where the reefs are close to shore.

415
00:32:58,163 --> 00:33:01,000
But with only six weeks left
in the whole expedition

416
00:33:01,042 --> 00:33:04,894
Howard had to get the big picture fast.

417
00:33:17,565 --> 00:33:18,942
I'm used to hang gliders.

418
00:33:19,025 --> 00:33:22,364
I'm used to fly around in
contraptions like this.

419
00:33:22,446 --> 00:33:24,742
But there is still
something not quite right

420
00:33:24,783 --> 00:33:27,846
about an engine that
can fit in my back pack.

421
00:33:36,841 --> 00:33:40,096
Mo'orea is sort of like Rusi's island.

422
00:33:40,139 --> 00:33:41,891
The coral here is very sensitive

423
00:33:41,932 --> 00:33:43,769
to siltation and pollution

424
00:33:43,810 --> 00:33:47,605
because the reefs are
very close to shore.

425
00:33:48,275 --> 00:33:51,571
After checking out the
north side of Mo'orea

426
00:33:51,612 --> 00:33:55,448
we head across the mountains
to survey the south coast.

427
00:34:32,712 --> 00:34:34,255
Even near towns

428
00:34:34,296 --> 00:34:37,500
we didn't spot much reef damage.

429
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,889
Coastal development puts reefs in jeopardy.

430
00:34:40,931 --> 00:34:44,269
Siltation pollution, and
the loss of mangroves

431
00:34:44,310 --> 00:34:46,856
are all serious risks

432
00:34:46,898 --> 00:34:48,734
But resorts like this prove that

433
00:34:48,775 --> 00:34:51,654
respecting the environment
is a good business.

434
00:34:51,695 --> 00:34:56,780
Because tourists avoid damaged reefs.

435
00:35:06,090 --> 00:35:07,551
Our flight over Mo'orea

436
00:35:07,593 --> 00:35:09,554
just gave us a first impression.

437
00:35:09,595 --> 00:35:11,140
So with time running out

438
00:35:11,181 --> 00:35:13,726
I turned to Reef Check aboard survey boat

439
00:35:13,769 --> 00:35:16,063
the Quicksilver Crossing

440
00:35:16,104 --> 00:35:20,528
Reef Check has over 4000
sport divers in 60 countries

441
00:35:20,569 --> 00:35:24,441
monitoring the health of coral reefs.

442
00:35:24,741 --> 00:35:26,369
We asked Reef Check volunteers

443
00:35:26,411 --> 00:35:28,164
to check the coral damage here in Mo'orea.

444
00:35:28,205 --> 00:35:30,750
to find out if the reefs closest to shore

445
00:35:30,792 --> 00:35:33,700
are the most severely damaged.

446
00:35:45,771 --> 00:35:46,772
From the air

447
00:35:46,815 --> 00:35:49,819
it's clear how these volcano islands formed

448
00:35:49,860 --> 00:35:54,120
and how coral reefs formed around them.

449
00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,208
The steepest youngest
islands Tahiti and Mo'orea

450
00:36:00,250 --> 00:36:02,336
stand tall.

451
00:36:02,377 --> 00:36:05,757
These islands have not
eroded and subsided much

452
00:36:05,841 --> 00:36:10,209
so the coral reef ringing
them is not far offshore.

453
00:36:12,150 --> 00:36:13,953
Bora Bora is middle
aged, so the volcano

454
00:36:19,644 --> 00:36:21,070
has subsided and eroded somewhat

455
00:36:21,112 --> 00:36:24,995
and the reefs are farther from shore.

456
00:36:27,078 --> 00:36:28,289
The final stage

457
00:36:28,330 --> 00:36:32,795
is this flat donut of an island
called and atoll

458
00:36:32,836 --> 00:36:36,550
The volcano has completely
subsided back into the sea

459
00:36:36,591 --> 00:36:42,145
leaving a ring of coral which
one circled a tall mountain.

460
00:36:45,062 --> 00:36:48,942
The team headed for the
second largest atoll in the world.

461
00:36:48,984 --> 00:36:50,569
Rangiroa

462
00:36:50,611 --> 00:36:55,151
to survey the remotest
reefs in French Polynesia.

463
00:36:57,579 --> 00:36:59,498
10 years ago

464
00:36:59,541 --> 00:37:02,795
a cyclone wiped out most of
Rangiroa's coral

465
00:37:02,837 --> 00:37:04,505
But storms are natural events

466
00:37:04,548 --> 00:37:07,176
and coral reef do recover from them

467
00:37:07,218 --> 00:37:11,119
as long as human impacts don't interfere.

468
00:37:12,308 --> 00:37:16,605
Here the coral seems small but healthy.

469
00:37:20,069 --> 00:37:22,280
Right away we saw two male parrot fish

470
00:37:22,322 --> 00:37:25,616
fighting over territory.

471
00:37:26,285 --> 00:37:31,605
This was a sign of a large
and thriving fish population.

472
00:37:34,881 --> 00:37:37,176
But why haven't we seen the huge
schools of grey reef sharks

473
00:37:37,218 --> 00:37:41,796
Rangiroa so famous for?

474
00:37:43,017 --> 00:37:46,731
Their absence is not necessarily
a danger sign for corals

475
00:37:46,773 --> 00:37:50,653
but it could single an imbalance
in the whole reef ecosystem.

476
00:37:50,694 --> 00:37:54,867
So finding the sharks became our main goal.

477
00:37:56,787 --> 00:37:59,290
We search the shark's favorite hangouts

478
00:37:59,331 --> 00:38:02,377
but they didn't see to be home.

479
00:38:08,469 --> 00:38:09,679
We used caution because

480
00:38:09,721 --> 00:38:11,307
one thing you don't want to do

481
00:38:11,348 --> 00:38:15,603
is catch a grey reef shark by surprise

482
00:38:19,527 --> 00:38:22,238
if the sharks are out roaming
the reef in shallow water

483
00:38:22,281 --> 00:38:23,865
the quickest way to spot them

484
00:38:23,908 --> 00:38:26,354
is from the ultralight.

485
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:28,246
Throughout the Pacific

486
00:38:28,330 --> 00:38:30,750
whole populations of
sharks have been wiped out

487
00:38:30,793 --> 00:38:32,920
by commercial fishermen.

488
00:38:32,962 --> 00:38:35,632
Grey reef sharks are especially vulnerable

489
00:38:35,674 --> 00:38:38,567
and that's what worry me.

490
00:38:39,387 --> 00:38:42,350
The aerial search for
sharks turns up nothing.

491
00:38:42,391 --> 00:38:44,144
And we're running out of time

492
00:38:44,186 --> 00:38:46,397
but there is one last place to look.

493
00:38:46,439 --> 00:38:48,609
Tiputa Pass

494
00:38:48,650 --> 00:38:52,054
Here the current just screams.

495
00:39:28,164 --> 00:39:30,626
Hundreds of startled sharks are hanging out

496
00:39:30,667 --> 00:39:33,337
like a street gang in this little canyon.

497
00:39:33,380 --> 00:39:35,132
We're being swept into them

498
00:39:35,173 --> 00:39:40,522
and there's nothing we can do about it.

499
00:39:59,707 --> 00:40:02,712
Could they be mating?

500
00:40:02,753 --> 00:40:04,088
This is when you try very hard

501
00:40:04,130 --> 00:40:07,482
not to look like a shark.

502
00:40:07,635 --> 00:40:13,198
I've had two friends badly
bitten by grey reef sharks

503
00:40:14,603 --> 00:40:16,397
The most social of all sharks,

504
00:40:16,439 --> 00:40:20,855
greys tend to swim in tight groups.

505
00:40:31,961 --> 00:40:34,005
I've been diving for 35 years

506
00:40:34,046 --> 00:40:37,635
but I've never seen the likes of this.

507
00:40:37,676 --> 00:40:40,055
There must be 300 sharks in this school

508
00:40:40,097 --> 00:40:43,304
and that's a healthy number.

509
00:40:45,355 --> 00:40:47,774
This big school doesn't close the book

510
00:40:47,815 --> 00:40:50,027
but it is a favorable sign

511
00:40:50,069 --> 00:40:53,849
for the health of this reef ecosystem.

512
00:40:57,663 --> 00:40:59,957
We party with the sharks for nearly an hour

513
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:01,710
knowing that on their way home

514
00:41:01,752 --> 00:41:03,171
we'll have the current at our backs

515
00:41:03,212 --> 00:41:06,987
so we can go with the flow.

516
00:42:03,921 --> 00:42:07,051
For ten exhausting but magical months

517
00:42:07,093 --> 00:42:08,345
Michele and I explored

518
00:42:08,386 --> 00:42:13,894
some of the most magnificent
coral reefs on earth.

519
00:42:13,935 --> 00:42:14,854
During that time

520
00:42:14,895 --> 00:42:20,226
our concern for corals
grew into a shared passion.

521
00:42:25,410 --> 00:42:27,246
My people look at the reef

522
00:42:27,288 --> 00:42:29,541
and we don't want to believe
that such a place

523
00:42:29,582 --> 00:42:32,723
could be gone forever.

524
00:42:33,755 --> 00:42:35,715
My friends Howard and Michele

525
00:42:35,758 --> 00:42:41,200
have given me new tools
to heal my village reef.

526
00:42:41,808 --> 00:42:46,564
Howard's love to the reefs
nearly cost him his life.

527
00:42:46,606 --> 00:42:48,817
But after making more than 500 dives

528
00:42:48,859 --> 00:42:52,614
we came back with some
really powerful images.

529
00:42:52,657 --> 00:42:54,409
One image I can't get out of my mind

530
00:42:54,450 --> 00:42:58,289
is that lone octopus
crawling through the rubble.

531
00:42:58,331 --> 00:43:02,444
Soon it may not have a home.

532
00:43:05,257 --> 00:43:07,885
No one set out to kill a beautiful thing.

533
00:43:07,928 --> 00:43:09,596
But when a reef dies

534
00:43:09,638 --> 00:43:14,228
billions of living things die.

535
00:43:14,269 --> 00:43:17,107
Corals appears to be
dying faster than normal

536
00:43:17,148 --> 00:43:21,780
and the trend is rapidly accelerating.

537
00:43:22,489 --> 00:43:25,368
Most living coral reefs
as we know them today

538
00:43:25,410 --> 00:43:28,832
could be gone in 30 years.

539
00:43:28,873 --> 00:43:30,542
If that happens

540
00:43:30,584 --> 00:43:35,707
then something inside of me will die too.

541
00:43:40,806 --> 00:43:43,435
After all the coral reefs have given us

542
00:43:43,477 --> 00:43:47,023
more and more people are
now returning the favor.

543
00:43:47,107 --> 00:43:50,028
Their supporting leaders
who fight global warming

544
00:43:50,069 --> 00:43:52,490
joining teams like Reef Check

545
00:43:52,531 --> 00:43:56,317
getting involved.

546
00:43:56,996 --> 00:43:58,539
We may have greater potential

547
00:43:58,581 --> 00:43:59,750
of finding new medicines on

548
00:43:59,791 --> 00:44:03,713
coral reefs than any other
environment on earth.

549
00:44:03,755 --> 00:44:08,438
To save them is really saving ourselves.

550
00:44:21,487 --> 00:44:23,658
It take a long, long time
to build a coral reef

551
00:44:23,699 --> 00:44:26,161
step by step

552
00:44:26,203 --> 00:44:28,873
the reefs survive on partnerships.

553
00:44:28,915 --> 00:44:30,876
And the most important partners

554
00:44:30,918 --> 00:44:36,097
that the corals have are you and I.

555
00:44:59,624 --> 00:45:01,627
What we must to do is

556
00:45:01,668 --> 00:45:03,379
encourage a sea change in attitude

557
00:45:03,421 --> 00:45:05,048
one that acknowledges

558
00:45:05,091 --> 00:45:06,593
we are a part of the living world

559
00:45:06,634 --> 00:45:09,891
not apart from it.