For a few weeks now my interest in nature and the planet has returned and I dug out my Planet Earth documentary set to give the brilliant, ground-breaking series another watch. It really is incredible what surrounds us with regards to flora and fauna and it is heart-breaking to see how we are damaging the environment, wiping out species we do not know exist.
The series was at the time (as may still be the case) the most expensive nature series ever produced by the BBC. It was also the first filmed in HD, which I remember was huge when it first broadcast in 2006. The chance to see very rare animals and environments never before seen on film was immense, animals like a Snow Leopard and Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico. To me this is one of televisions must see’s, it is a perfect account of natural history documented impeccably.
Since watching the series all those years ago, I was aware of a prequel documentary series by the same team, rather than being focused on the planet it was focused on the Oceans. It slipped my mind to buy it at the time and recently as I said earlier my interest in nature has returned so for the past month or so I have scoured every retailers looking for a copy of the series. This week I finally struck gold and bought a copy.
What an awesome and inspiring series, to many the Oceans may be boring and just a load of water that covers 70% of the Earths surface with a couple of big fish in. I was shocked to discover that we have only explored 2% of Earths Oceans and know more about the surface of the moon than the do the hidden depths. I personally would love to see more money given to the exploration of the Oceans and discovery of new species than we waste on Space travel. How many billions has been wasted on failed launches and finding out about planets we will never ever step foot on, we haven’t been on the moon for over 40 years and did we ever visit it in the first place?
Back on topic, the series is well structured and is broken down into 8 episodes;[The Blue Planet, The Deep, Open Oceans, Frozen Seas, Seasonal Seas, Coral Seas, Tidal Seas, Coasts]. Each one focuses on a different aspect of the Ocean highlighting the interaction of each species. Moments which stick out for me are ones like Killer Whales hunting a Grey Whales calf and how methodical they are in their methods by exhausting the whale then drowning it, it is rather sad to see but that is nature. Another moment is the weird and wonderful creatures that live on the Ocean floor, many of these were documented for the very first time, peculiar looking fish like Anglerfish. Absolutely hideous looking and rather scary, thinking of it makes the hairs on my arm stand up.
It is amazing what inhabits our Oceans, amongst the coral reefs are said to be the biggest concentration of living organisms and possible cures for illnesses like cancer. Without exploration we may never know if cancer can be cured from plants and ingredients we may have readily available for us to use.
As much as I would love us to explore the Oceans, we need to take responsibility and look after the precious life that inhabits it. We pollute, overfish and damage coral, which has a long-lasting devastating impact on the ecology of the seas. It is upsetting to see good fish that has been caught up in nets for others species like prawns thrown back into the sea dead or dumped somewhere because a. there is no market for it b. it wasn’t supposed to be caught. Fishermen not only overfish but they damage the ecology with their ways of fishing, coral and reefs getting damaged after being ripped off and torn out by nets. It may not seem too bad but 2 metres of coral is the equivalent of a forest and fish and other species need it to survive, coral is the lifeblood of the Ocean, where fish feed, breed and have their habitats. There would be uproar if this was deforestation in the Amazon but nobody seems to care about the Ocean.
World governments should come together and create safe havens in the Oceans, protected areas where the ecosystems can thrive, areas like known, migrating routes for Whales, breeding grounds for stocks like Cod, where they can breed and not be caught as juveniles by over-zealous fishermen trying to make as much money as possible. This can be done, if the governments get together and raise public awareness to the issues that blight the Oceans. Whaling was almost eradicated due to public awareness and as a result, whales have thrived and some species are no longer endangered, it can be done.
The Earth is precious and we should do everything we can to save and protect it. We are not above any other species and we should do our bit to conserve and find out more about the living planet around us, whether it be on land or in the Oceans. We should do it before it’s too late and time has ran out on us…
