All language subtitles for Sharks.of.Lost.Island.2013.WEB-DL.DSNP

♪♪

NARRATOR:
A mysterious island...

Settled by mutineers...

May be a portal back in time...

To a world where predators reign

and live by a different set of rules.

DIVER:
These sharks are different.

NARRATOR:
It's been days at sea.

Far from the shipping lanes.

And thousands of kilometers
from the nearest continent.

A team of explorers travels
deep into the South Pacific,

toward a distant human outpost.

Then, a tiny island appears in the mist.

ENRIC SALA: And here it is,
the famous Pitcairn Island.

What must be one of the most
remote inhabited islands on the planet.

MIKE FAY:
It's called Adamstown.

We're... we're just about there.

NARRATOR:
Few people have visited Pitcairn,

let alone filmed here.

To most outsiders,
it's a complete mystery.

ENRIC:
We know very little about this island,

but we know almost nothing about
what's going on underwater.

NARRATOR: That is what
this team is here to change.

Marine ecologist Enric Sala
has scoured the seas

to find and help protect
the ocean's last unspoiled places.

ENRIC:
I want to show to the world

what the ocean was like
hundreds of years ago

and why we have to preserve them.

NARRATOR:
Pitcairn's waters could be hiding

a lost piece of the ocean's past.

To find out, Enric has built
an all-star team of scientists.

ALAN FRIEDLANDER: This will be a good home
for the next month.

NARRATOR:
Seven seasoned explorers

and one young adventurer
on his very first mission at sea.

ALAN TURCHIK:
I'm a former nerd.

MAN:
Oh, you evolved.

MIKE:
You look like a former nerd.

NARRATOR:
Leading the ground expedition

is National Geographic explorer, Mike Fay.

MIKE:
We're checking out the bow for camping.

We've been traveling across flat ground

for the last nine months.

NARRATOR: Mike has trekked through
the world's wildest places.

MIKE: As far as the eye can see,
there are no humans.

NARRATOR: To see what
life is like without us.

Now Enric's team has joined forces

with the Pew Environment Group.

If they can crack the code
of this unexplored world

and even protect it,

they may unlock secrets
that can help marine life everywhere.

It's a new role for Pitcairn,

a place known for its history.

Today's islanders are descendants

of the most famous renegades in history...

The mutineers of the H.M.S. Bounty.

ENRIC:
Hi. Enric.

-CLORIS: Cloris.
-ENRIC: Cloris, nice meeting you.

NARRATOR:
Over two centuries ago,

British sailors mutinied
against their captain

and fled to this uninhabited island

with a few Tahitian men and women.

They spent the rest of their lives
in hiding.

Today, their descendants
are still here.

Some carry the bloodline
of Fletcher Christian,

the mutiny's leader.

MIKE:
You can imagine,

when the mutineers arrived
on this uninhabited island,

they're planning on living here forever,

and you think,
"Wow, that's crazy, you know,

that the Christians are still here."

HEATHER:
I recognized your photo.

You are Enric.
I'm Heather. Welcome.

ENRIC:
Hi, nice to meet you, Heather.

HEATHER (off screen):
Lovely to have you here.

NARRATOR: The community is tiny,
with fewer than 60 people.

And they survive in a world apart.

Pitcairn is one of four islands
tied to the community.

But it's the only one with people.

The nearest major land mass
is New Zealand,

some 5,000 kilometers away.

These remote islands
are graveyards to ships,

home to unpredictable storms,

and host to hidden threats.

No one will know what they're facing...

until they dive below.

The team heads to Ducie,

the least explored of all the islands.

ENRIC:
So we made it to Ducie Atoll,

the most remote of the Pitcairn Islands.

There are no people here.
Nobody ever comes here.

NARRATOR: Ducie is almost
500 kilometers east of Pitcairn.

Over a kilometer across,
it's barely a blip on the radar.

ALAN FRIEDLANDER: It's an oasis
in the middle of nowhere.

Kind of amazing.

ENRIC: This is one of the least
studied reefs in the Pacific.

This is going to be a first,

to measure the abundance
and the biomass of the fish.

NARRATOR:
The world below is a total mystery.

Few humans have ever seen
what this team is about to.

ENRIC:
So we jumped in the water,

and I couldn't believe it.

We had never seen such a healthy
and beautiful coral reef

anywhere in the Pacific.

You had the entire ecosystem,

the entire food web, right there
in front of your eyes.

We saw black jacks, surgeon fish,

large groupers of different species...

Snappers,

moray eels.

Then the sharks came.

NARRATOR:
And they come in numbers...

Running wild over the reef.

As the sharks close in,

no one knows how they'll react.

But Enric's sure he's found
something unusual.

ENRIC: Sharks are the single
most important indicator

for the health of a coral reef.

Having sharks on the reef

is like having lions
on the plains in Africa.

NARRATOR:
The more sharks,

the more it's like the primeval past.

And this place is swarming with them.

Topside, Mike Fay and his crew
wonder what waits on land.

CAPTAIN:
Straight ahead of here,

you can see there's a rip coming out,

and we're just gonna go in.

MIKE: Ducie is the outer island
where hardly any Pitcairners go.

Most people haven't really been there.

And so I want to walk the entire atoll

just to get kind
of a notion of, you know,

what are we dealing with here.

NARRATOR:
He'll have some high-tech help.

Alan Turchik, the young rookie,
has brought some new gear:

a mini-drone to photograph
Ducie from the air.

ALAN TURCHIK: So, we're trying to
get some high-altitude pictures,

using the helicopter, for Mike

so he can kind of see
what the island looks like.

It's gonna be important
to get some shots above

so Mike can kind of see

how he can make his way
through the island.

NARRATOR:
The helicopter can also spot things

Mike might otherwise miss.

NARRATOR:
Ducie's an atoll.

Its circular band of coral
rings an inner lagoon.

But this aerial scout could
reveal more about the island.

ALAN TURCHIK:
Oh, a better landing.

MIKE: I'm excited about this
little remote helicopter,

'cause I'm thinking, "Wow,
this thing is unbelievable."

I mean, it's like this little,
little space machine, you know,

God, we can, we can fly this
thing over these islands

and you can basically do recces with it.

ALAN TURCHIK: Is there anything special
that you want, Mike?

Any pictures?

MIKE:
That point over there?

That seems to be one of the main
breeding areas for the petrels.

-ALAN TURCHIK (off screen): Okay.
-MIKE: And so this thing just goes,

"Bzzzz."

I was like, what's the range
on the radio of that thing?"

'Cause I'm thinking that thing's
getting pretty far away,

and it looks like it's getting
carried by the wind, you know?

And he's like, "No, it's pretty good,
you know,"

and he's still kind of in virtual mode,

looking at the screen,

and I'm looking at the helicopter,

and I'm thinking, "That thing is
whipping away from this island."

NARRATOR: Alan quickly discovers
his drone has gone rogue.

MIKE: And then all of a sudden,
you see, like, panic mode start to set in.

He's like, "Nrrr, nrrr, nrrr."

He's like, "I don't know
what direction it is!

I can't see which direction it's going!"

and he starts running after this thing.

And that thing is... whoof!

And that was the last we saw
of the helicopter. It was gone.

So much for the helicopter.

Too much wind.

The helicopter is lost at sea.

MIA.

ALAN TURCHIK: You may be a decent pilot,
but you're not that great.

NARRATOR:
With the helicopter lost,

Mike will have to explore Ducie
the hard way--

one step at a time.

Just off shore, the dive team
faces challenges of its own.

Sharks dominate this perfect reef.

And the numbers are overwhelming.

As they close in, Enric knows
that anything can happen.

This close contact could come at a price.

NARRATOR:
Ducie's sharks are not shy.

And they're lightning fast.

In a second, they could bite the divers,

before anyone even noticed.

NARRATOR:
The team doesn't scare easily.

Likely, the sharks are just curious.

Chances are, these sharks have
never seen a human before.

ALAN FRIEDLANDER:
You don't belong there.

We're aliens in this environment.

It's like being in outer space,
except with life.

NARRATOR:
The more sharks there are,

the better it is for the reef.

We used to believe that, on a coral reef,

the biomass of small fish

outweighs that of large predators,
like sharks.

But Enric finds that the opposite is true

on an untouched reef.

ENRIC:
Imagine that you go to Africa

and you find more than one lion

per every wildebeest
and zebra and giraffe.

You would say it's impossible.

Pristine coral reefs are like this.
Predators dominate.

Ah, this place is wild.

There were two white tip sharks
and four gray reef sharks

and thousands of nanue eating everywhere

and swimming in the water column.

It was like an aquarium.

Really, really wonderful place.
Really pristine.

ENRIC:
As far as we could see,

there were these pale blue
corals, like giant roses,

covering all of the bottom.

Every time our team
got out of the water,

they had these huge smiles,
they were laughing,

they were talking about
all the fish that we saw.

It was really extraordinary.

NARRATOR:
Like the sharks themselves,

the evidence is overwhelming.

Ducie's reef is an underwater Eden.

Back on land, the island
is a whole other world.

MIKE:
It was hot and muggy and sunny,

and you think, "Oh, we're on
this beautiful atoll,

and it's a paradise."
Well, when you're walking those transects,

it's not paradise at all. It's hell.

We're here on Ducie Island,

surveying petrels.

And when you think of seabirds,

you don't quite think
of where they nest, but...

...on this particular island,

they nest in this Tournefortia forest,

which is pretty dense stuff.

Here's one.

A little Murphy.

Hey, guy. Whatcha doing?

NARRATOR: Like many seabirds,
petrels thrive on Ducie.

But Mike discovers something disturbing.

Dead birds lie scattered on the beach.

MIKE:
Looks like they got eaten by something.

That's not a good sign.

Third dead bird.

Fourth dead bird.

Immediately, we start seeing dead petrels.

Something looks like it's been
chewing on the bones here.

NARRATOR:
But what is killing them?

MIKE:
Dead birds all over this place.

NARRATOR:
The carnage is worse at the lagoon.

MIKE (off screen):
We have like 130 dead birds here,

and what's amazing is they're
all just about fledged out.

They all died
about the same time,

almost like a disease came along
or something, you know,

and you think, "That's frickin' crazy."

It's like bird after bird
after bird after bird

after bird after bird.

Look at these guys. They were fledged.

What kills birds like that?

NARRATOR:
Mike heads into the forest

to search for answers.

It doesn't take him long to find clues.

MIKE:
Look at this little guy.

He's just stuck in the middle
of this weedy patch.

And they're nesting in this,
just ground herb,

in the boiling sun,

and these chicks are just
like covered with fruits,

like honey-coated fruits,
and they're covered in them.

They're obviously never
going to be able to fly.

NARRATOR: The island has been
invaded by an alien plant--

a weed that may have been
brought by birds or by man.

Now it's grown out of control,

trapping birds in its sticky goo.

MIKE:
You think, God, one little thing like that

completely changes the island.

NARRATOR: Mike can't be sure
it killed all the birds,

but one thing is clear:

Ducie's landscape has been altered,

and its future is uncertain.

After exploring the reef,

Enric knows there's no time to waste.

Ducie's waters are untainted,
but for how long?

ENRIC:
Ducie had the clearest water

and the healthiest coral reef
we have ever seen.

ALAN FRIEDLANDER:
That's 100 meters. It's unbelievable.

ENRIC:
And we all left Ducie with one thought:

this place has to be protected.

There is no other option.

How many places like Ducie are left?

MAN:
You know, when the sea coral

is just layered on top
of each other like that...

MAN:
It's a beautiful sight, huh?

Wow. Yeah.

NARRATOR:
But ahead lies another island,

where life is strangely different.

ENRIC:
We are arriving to Henderson Island,

which is a raised atoll,

and now it's covered
by impenetrable forest.

NARRATOR: Henderson is about
200 kilometers from Pitcairn,

and at 7 kilometers across,

the largest of the four islands.

Like Ducie, it's now uninhabited,

but people have spent time here before.

Enric wants to see if they've left a mark.

ENRIC:
We're going to do our first dive now

at Henderson Island,

and the reef looks really gorgeous.

We can see from the boats,
and the water is so clear.

ENRIC:
Damselfish, butterfly fish,

moray eels,

these large red snappers,
which were very inquisitive.

And probably the most exciting thing
in Henderson was the sharks.

NARRATOR:
Like at Ducie,

sharks swarm Henderson's reef.

But here, they're bigger...

...and bolder.

And no one knows what they'll do next.

NARRATOR: The sharks move in
toward Enric and the team.

ENRIC:
The sharks were very curious,

and they came to
check us out very closely.

NARRATOR:
Almost too curious.

They're clearly bolder
than the sharks at Ducie.

Enric soon realizes why.

ENRIC: We were diving
with this diving gear

that doesn't produce any bubbles,

so we were very silent.

NARRATOR:
Soon, the team is surrounded by sharks.

ENRIC: They come-- womp--
really close to us, to check us out.

It was a really exciting dive.

NARRATOR:
The heart-pumping encounter

drives Enric to explore further...

ENRIC:
We cheated death once again.

NARRATOR: ...to see if sharks
patrol even further below.

On the ship,

Alan Turchik prepares
a deep water camera.

ALAN TURCHIK:
This is a Dropcam.

It can go down to
the deepest part of the ocean,

and has been, actually,
down to the Marianas Trench.

Hopefully we'll see some fish
come up and check it out.

NARRATOR:
For the young explorer, it's a chance

to redeem himself
after losing the chopper on Ducie.

ALAN TURCHIK:
This is probably the first time

anything's been filmed this deep before--

in this area, for sure.

NARRATOR:
By day's end,

they'll see what life is like
600 meters below

and may even discover creatures
no one has seen before.

Mike Fay is anxious to hit the beach.

For a terrestrial explorer,
Henderson is a treasure island.

MIKE:
Henderson, from a land-based perspective,

is certainly one of
the most amazing places

in the entire Pacific Ocean.

So you've got this huge coral plateau

that's a hundred feet above sea level

that's covered with this vegetation.

There are still many species of plants

to be discovered on this island.

For me, this place is gonna be awesome.

I know it is, you know?

I'm here on Henderson Island,
up on the plateau.

It's only about a hundred feet
above sea level, but...

...it's a hard coral bed up here,

This coral is like razor sharp.

This place is like walking through

a mountain of broken glass.

Then you are dealing with
this very dense vegetation.

NARRATOR:
It's practically primeval--

a living example of an ancient world.

UNESCO designated
Henderson a World Heritage site

because of its rare native birds,

like crakes and fruit doves.

But now they're at risk,

threatened by an invasive predator.

MIKE: The Polynesian rat
was brought by Polynesians

to almost every island in the Pacific.

And one of the things they eat
is young birds.

And they're extremely voracious.

And we've had
a deratification on Henderson

just months previous to our arrival.

NARRATOR:
A team of exterminators

spread rat poison across the island.

Mike's big question is if it worked.

MIKE: Their objective was to get rid of
100% of the rats on this island

and not kill all the endemic crakes.

Our objective here is to see
if the crakes are still around

and see if we see no rats.

And then all of a sudden you see
this little black thing, like, flash.

And I got a crake.
We got the crake.

The crake is right in front of me here.

I'm gonna pan over to the crake.

(off screen):
That's what we were looking for.

It's a little crakey.

So it looks like a chicken.

It's kind of acting like a chicken,

but it's this little flightless bird

in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,

and you're looking at it.

(off screen):
Hey, little crakey.

How did he get there?

He's flightless, and he's in the
middle of the ocean, you know?

Crazy little bird.

Those crakes are about
the coolest little animals I've ever seen.

Like little gnomes in the forest,

a mix between a gnome and a chicken.

NARRATOR: Mike Fay's
seen something move in the thick brush.

MIKE (off screen):
I see a rat.

I absolutely see a rat.

I see a rat. You think, "Rat,"

but all you've seen
is this fleeting movement

in this dense bush.

(off screen):
I'm gonna take a picture of it.

So I walk up really fast...

and I lower my eyes,

and then this rat is just
sitting there on this branch,

and it's like, it's a rat,
it's a rat, it's a rat. It's in my brain,

it's a rat, it's a rat,
it's a rat, it's a rat.

And then I try to take some pictures.

But of course, it's like
the Yeti thing, you know, UFOs.

They're all blurry.

In the video, you can kind
of see the rat, but you...

it's not clear, you know. It's blurry,

but you can see
the form of the rat clearly.

And this is a huge deal, you know.

If there is a rat on this island,

the probability of me seeing
the only rat on this gigantic island

is basically zero when you round it out.

Rats are definitely a bummer.

No doubt about it.

After all that time and effort
to get rid of the rats...

That means that entire dynamic
between the crakes or the rails

and everything else on that
island that is impacted by rats,

you've kind of reset the clock.

NARRATOR:
It's troubling news.

Though humans left Henderson long ago,

their footprint remains.

So far, only the reefs seem untouched.

ALAN TURCHIK: So, we just picked up
the signal from the Dropcam

that we put down yesterday,

and so we're going to go pick it up.

NARRATOR:
Alan Turchik retrieves the Dropcam

from 600 meters below.

ALAN TURCHIK:
Oh, yeah, I see it!

This should be interesting footage

because it's the deepest
we've dropped it so far

since we've been out
at the Pitcairn Islands.

NARRATOR:
No one knows what it may show,

or even if it worked.

ALAN TURCHIK:
Cool, all right. So...

...I've been kind of scouring
the Dropcam footage every day,

trying to look for some cool stuff.

NARRATOR:
Strange creatures appear.

ALAN TURCHIK: This was the first drop
that I did at Henderson.

-ALAN FRIEDLANDER: That's a big animal!
-MAN (off screen): Look at the plankton.

ALAN TURCHIK (off screen):
This one's 200-something meters.

So I like that.
He just bumps right into it.

I found, I think, gray reef sharks.

They went down to
about maybe 300 meters,

and then anything below 600 meters,

you'd see these guys. Yeah.

NARRATOR:
The depths hold rarely-seen sharks.

They're bigger and slower
than the reef sharks.

ALAN FRIEDLANDER:
It's shark-o-vision!

ALAN TURCHIK (off screen):
Yeah.

NARRATOR:
But like their combative cousins,

they rule a world that's as
mysterious as it is untouched.

ENRIC:
Nobody has been studying

these deep sea environments before.

And what we saw blew our minds.

GROUP:
Whoa!

MAN (off screen):
Check that out!

NARRATOR: These new revelations
win Alan the team's respect.

ALAN TURCHIK: The beginning of the trip,
it was pretty hard.

The helicopter got lost in the ocean.

It's really nice that I was
able to get through all that

and actually still capture some stuff

that actually looks like it's
going to be useful for science.

MAN:
Whoa! Oh, yeah.

Look at the dorsal fin.

ALAN TURCHIK: It seemed like there
were some cool species

that they're interested
in learning more about,

and thankfully, like there was
that one weird shark

with the long, narrow dorsal fin,

and he kind of just wandered
perfectly through the frame,

so luck shot, I guess,

but that's still really cool.

NARRATOR:
In all, the scientists discovered

eight entirely new species of fish.

ALAN FRIEDLANDER:
Mm-hmm, great.

NARRATOR: Like Ducie,
Henderson's marine world is untainted.

Back on the island,
Mike Fay can't say the same.

MIKE: I would have loved to have
been able to not seen rats,

but you know, that's just the way...

...the way it is.

NARRATOR:
He makes one final survey of the coastline

and comes across something
even more alarming.

NARRATOR:
Thousands of kilometers at sea,

Mike Fay stumbles on a shocking scene.

Here, on a speck,
in the middle of the Pacific--

garbage.

MIKE (off screen): This is the east beach
of Henderson Island here.

And what is most impressive
about this beach

is pretty obvious:

the amount of trash.

It's pretty unbelievable, actually.

Just littered with
fishing paraphernalia,

fishing crates, containers for water,

floats, nets...

Everything you can imagine

connected with the fishing industry.

You think, you know,
this is one of the most isolated islands

in the entire world, really,

certainly in the Pacific,

uninhabited,
out in the middle of nowhere,

hundreds and hundreds of miles from

the nearest human habitation,

and it's just covered in trash.

NARRATOR: Though the island's
far from human settlements,

it may not be far from fishing.

Commercial fishing could unravel
all the Pitcairn Islands,

leaving the islanders
little hope of survival.

DAVE PEARCE:
I've been a commercial fisherman

for nearly 30 years.

If commercial fishing was allowed here,

that would just spoil it, ruin it.

It would go from what it is now

to decimated within five years,
I would think.

There would be nothing left.

It's only a matter of time, really.

MIKE:
I think it would be a very sad day

for them to see a big longline
boat around their island,

taking the fish
that they really cherish.

NARRATOR:
The question is whether fishermen

have already stripped fish
from nearby waters.

The team rushes back to Pitcairn
to find out.

Since the days of the Bounty,

Pitcairners have survived
by fishing their waters.

Enric wants to know if Pitcairn's reefs

have fared as well as the other islands.

ENRIC: We know what a pristine
coral reef looks like.

What happens when we put
a small human population

in one of these places?

ALAN FRIEDLANDER:
All right everybody. See ya!

NARRATOR:
Underwater, something's different.

ENRIC: There was a halo
of murky water all around the island.

So we could not dive
at the shallow places

where they promised us
to see so many fish.

We were a little disappointed,
so we decided to go deeper.

NARRATOR: The strange conditions
drive them further offshore.

But at these depths,

the chances are slim
they'll find many fish.

ENRIC:
Okay.

NARRATOR:
From the first plunge, however,

they discover something unexpected.

ENRIC:
There we found a new deep coral reef

that had not been reported previously.

A fantastic coral reef

covered by healthy corals
and lots of fish.

NARRATOR:
Usually we find tropical reefs

at 18 meters or less.

This one is twice as deep.

ENRIC: We have corals deeper
than what we would expect,

probably because the water is so clear--

more than 60 meters visibility.

NARRATOR: Life is thriving
in the crystal-clear depths...

NARRATOR:
The scientists survey the fish,

and are shocked by what they find.

There are no sharks.

Something here is wrong.

ENRIC:
We didn't see any sharks.

We saw some medium-sized groupers.

This place doesn't seem pristine.

It seems in good shape,
but definitely not pristine.

NARRATOR:
Something here has taken the sharks.

And no one is sure what it is.

While Enric hunts for answers...

...Mike Fay checks the island.

It's a dangerous task.

Pitcairn is wild and rugged.

Climbing is treacherous.

MIKE:
Incredibly steep slopes.

And the soils are extremely slick,

and it's frickin' dangerous, you know,

really dangerous, and it's scary.

NARRATOR:
In places, it's a sheer and deadly drop.

MIKE: Don't want to fall off
the mountain here.

That's my main...
that's my main, uh, worry.

'Cause if you go down here,
you go down.

You go down all the way.

NARRATOR:
But Mike presses on.

MIKE:
That is insane.

Big ol' slide.

The whole frickin' valley came down here.

NARRATOR: An enormous landslide
has destroyed this hilltop.

MIKE: You know, the fact that
you've lost an entire hillside

on a very small island...

It's like, you don't want
huge chunks of your island

falling into the sea.

NARRATOR:
The discovery drives Mike further.

The wild island is showing
significant wear and tear.

MIKE (off screen):
You know, the mutiny came here in 1790,

so people have been pretty
intensively using this place

for over 200 years--

fishing and chopping
the vegetation and cultivating

and building trails and roads.

It's a heck of a lot of human use here.

NARRATOR: The small human presence
has changed the island,

and after an unusual amount of heavy rain,

maybe even the sea.

MIKE: And you see this gigantic
plume of soil in the ocean,

emanating from what is
this gigantic slide

on the south side of the island.

It's probably covering up
everything that's living down below

and killing it slowly but surely.

NARRATOR:
The impact of even a few humans

can be surprisingly large.

ALAN FIREDLANDER:
What we see in a lot of places,

particularly small places,

is even a modest amount of human impact

can have a pretty significant impact

on the resources below.

NARRATOR: Though the islanders
fish on a small scale,

other factors may be altering the reef.

MIKE:
People on this island,

they're not only just fishing
on this island.

There's a huge amount
of sediment in this water.

That connection between
the land and the sea

becomes very apparent.

NARRATOR:
But 50 years ago, it was different.

ENRIC: Good evening, everybody.
Thank you so much for your hospitality.

We are all so happy to be

back on the island.
We have a little surprise.

Some of you may remember Luis Marden.

NARRATOR:
Long before Enric arrived,

another National Geographic expedition
came to Pitcairn.

ENRIC (off screen):
So when Luis Marden came in 1956,

he filmed with a 16mm movie camera.

Sixty years later, we have the film
in this machine.

The movie is silent,
so you can talk as much as you want.

(crowd laughing)

ENRIC (off screen): This is new.
This is a new technique, okay?

NARRATOR:
Fifty years ago, the reef looked better.

There was no murky shroud
covering the coral.

Surprisingly, that was when
there were nearly three times

as many people as today.

BETTY:
It was so exciting to see that footage.

I was 14 when Luis Marden was here.

To see all the people,

because the population
was so much bigger.

NARRATOR: Now, the entire population
can fit in this room.

And the community is still shrinking,

as young adults leave
to find a future off the island.

Their future is at risk.

And they need a solution, fast.

(crowd applauding)

NARRATOR: All the islanders have
is this bit of land

and the boundless sea.

Now, even that seems threatened.

The muddy runoff is obscuring
the shallow reefs,

blocking out the light
that sustains the corals.

But could the islanders' impact
really eliminate the sharks?

Or is it something else?

Enric worries that commercial
fishing could be closing in,

and that's not good news
for the Pitcairners.

ENRIC:
The ocean is their biggest resource.

If the ocean is depleted,
there goes their livelihood.

And this is what's on the line.

Right now we are headed to Oeno,

our last destination
in the Pitcairn archipelago.

Oeno will be a good indicator
of how fast we need to act

to keep these places pristine.

NARRATOR: Oeno is about
120 kilometers northwest of Pitcairn.

Of the four islands,
it's closest to French Polynesia,

the nearest inhabited islands,
and fishing fleets.

Getting to Oeno proves
the most challenging.

ENRIC:
We hit the worst weather we could have.

Rain, rain, and more rain,
strong winds.

And the swell was
breaking so hard on the reef

that anchoring was very dangerous.

And that made it really difficult for us.

NARRATOR:
Below, conditions are no less troubling.

Oeno's reef lacks the vitality
of Henderson and Ducie.

Though the fish appear healthy,

Enric realizes it's the same
problem as at Pitcairn--

there are no sharks...

Here, where there are no people.

ENRIC: Why are there no sharks
in this remote uninhabited atoll

in the middle of the Pacific?

And the only answer that
comes to mind is fishing.

Any remote place has predators.

NARRATOR:
Oeno is closest to the outside world.

Enric fears that foreign fishing vessels

have stripped the reef of its sharks.

ENRIC:
If there is fishing at Oeno, what's next?

Are these foreign fleets going
to start hitting Henderson

and then Ducie,
which is a totally pristine place?

NARRATOR:
To the team and many islanders,

the solution is clear.

Create a marine reserve,

protecting the entire
Pitcairn archipelago.

ENRIC:
A marine reserve

is an area that we set aside,
without fishing,

to allow marine life to recover.

NARRATOR:
It may help the Pitcairners as well.

Tourism.

Not rare stops for island
trinkets and Bounty lore,

but ecotourism built on
a protected marine reserve.

ENRIC:
We're talking about global recognition

for a unique marine environment,

a completely new set
of economic alternatives,

including ecotourism,

that would bring new life to the island.

NARRATOR:
And if the Pitcairners agree,

it would be the largest in the world.

Enric and Heather Bradner
of the Pew Environment Group

discuss the idea with the islanders.

HEATHER BRADNER:
...in exploring this concept

of a large marine reserve here together...

JACKIE:
I'm certainly in favor of the reserve

because I think that what have
we really got to lose?

Maybe having a marine reserve
and building a tourism industry

is one way that we can create a future.

MIKE:
I think this marine protected area

it makes perfect sense to them,
when they think about it.

They're extremely proud
of where they live.

Okay, we got a new way point.
Here we go.

The closer people are
connected to the land,

the more conservation
makes sense to them.

NARRATOR:
The plans are in motion.

Already a new team is mobilizing

to investigate Mike Fay's
rat sighting on Henderson.

It's the first of many steps

toward protecting all the Pitcairn Islands

and preserving their timeless waters.

ENRIC: A marine reserve could
completely change the image

that people have about
the Pitcairn archipelago.

We could go beyond the Bounty

and understand that the Pitcairn Islands

harbor some of the last
healthy environments left in the ocean.

And they are so valuable

that not knowing about that
would be a tragedy.

GROUP:
♪ In the sweet by and by ♪

♪ By and by ♪

♪ We shall meet on the beautiful shore ♪

♪ By and by ♪

JACKIE:
I really do think Pitcairn has a chance.

I'm sure there have gotta be
other mad people like me

that will want to come back
for this lifestyle.

and create a future.

GROUP:
♪ ...meet on that beautiful shore ♪

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

Hip hip hooray!

Captioned by Point.360