1 00:00:02,300 --> 00:00:04,620 The oceans are places of wonder. 2 00:00:06,380 --> 00:00:08,180 Blue Planet II showed us 3 00:00:08,180 --> 00:00:11,980 the beauty and extraordinary behaviour of marine life 4 00:00:11,980 --> 00:00:16,100 whilst highlighting how fragile and threatened our seas have become. 5 00:00:16,100 --> 00:00:19,860 Now, as Blue Planet Live carries out a health check 6 00:00:19,860 --> 00:00:21,260 on the world's oceans, 7 00:00:21,260 --> 00:00:23,060 we are staying closer to home. 8 00:00:24,580 --> 00:00:30,220 Our British seas are rich, varied and key to our island heritage - 9 00:00:30,220 --> 00:00:33,420 but how are our lifestyles affecting them? 10 00:00:33,420 --> 00:00:34,860 Whoa! 11 00:00:34,860 --> 00:00:36,500 We'll meet the unsung heroes 12 00:00:36,500 --> 00:00:38,700 dedicated to protecting our waters 13 00:00:38,700 --> 00:00:40,780 and the wildlife that relies on them... 14 00:00:40,780 --> 00:00:44,140 If we don't look after nature, nobody else will. 15 00:00:44,140 --> 00:00:45,580 ..and celebrate the scientists 16 00:00:45,580 --> 00:00:48,740 striving for solutions to the challenges. 17 00:00:48,740 --> 00:00:50,180 Whoa... 18 00:00:50,180 --> 00:00:53,300 Plus we'll meet the crabs with a flair for style... 19 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:56,860 They're dressing up as seaweed as a means of camouflage. Yes. 20 00:00:56,860 --> 00:01:01,260 ..and delve into our very own deep sea coral reefs. 21 00:01:01,260 --> 00:01:04,700 This is the most important deep sea coral, I think, in the whole world - 22 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:06,220 and this is just off Scotland. 23 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:10,780 So, dip into our UK waters 24 00:01:10,780 --> 00:01:13,540 and see them like you've never seen them before. 25 00:01:13,540 --> 00:01:16,100 BOTH: Welcome to Blue Planet UK. 26 00:01:26,460 --> 00:01:27,820 Hello, I'm Gillian Burke, 27 00:01:27,820 --> 00:01:31,100 and I'm a biologist with a passion for all things marine. 28 00:01:31,100 --> 00:01:33,620 I love exploring what lives out there in the ocean. 29 00:01:33,620 --> 00:01:35,500 And I'm Steve Brown. 30 00:01:35,500 --> 00:01:36,740 I've grown up on the coast 31 00:01:36,740 --> 00:01:39,980 and I loved learning about our relationship with it, 32 00:01:39,980 --> 00:01:42,700 from a kid collecting fossils and shells, 33 00:01:42,700 --> 00:01:46,620 to now learning that what we wear makes a difference to the fish. 34 00:01:48,060 --> 00:01:49,660 So, where are we today? 35 00:01:49,660 --> 00:01:52,700 Well, we've come to the beautiful fishing village of St Abbs 36 00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:54,980 on the south-east coast of Scotland. 37 00:01:54,980 --> 00:01:57,340 Now, St Abbs is famous for all sorts of things - 38 00:01:57,340 --> 00:02:00,260 it's famous for access to beautiful, amazing dive sites 39 00:02:00,260 --> 00:02:01,460 just off the coast - 40 00:02:01,460 --> 00:02:04,860 but, Steve, did you know it's also the unofficial capital 41 00:02:04,860 --> 00:02:07,220 for one of the world's ugliest fish? 42 00:02:07,220 --> 00:02:08,780 Well, I didn't know this at all. 43 00:02:08,780 --> 00:02:10,700 What sort of fish are we talking about? 44 00:02:10,700 --> 00:02:13,460 Well, it's one of my favourites - it's a wolf fish. 45 00:02:13,460 --> 00:02:15,540 I mean, they are incredible. 46 00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:19,220 They have rows of teeth, the front teeth are sharp, conical teeth, 47 00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:23,540 and then behind that there's rows upon rows of these grinding molars 48 00:02:23,540 --> 00:02:27,220 that they use to crush sea urchins and shellfish. 49 00:02:27,220 --> 00:02:28,900 I think they're pretty cool. 50 00:02:28,900 --> 00:02:32,100 Most fish are pretty cool, but that one itself, pretty ugly. 51 00:02:32,100 --> 00:02:33,180 I mean, look at it, there. 52 00:02:33,180 --> 00:02:35,380 It looks like a big overgrown eel. 53 00:02:35,380 --> 00:02:37,900 As much as I love what's going on down there, 54 00:02:37,900 --> 00:02:40,860 I'm just as interested in what's above the waterline. 55 00:02:40,860 --> 00:02:44,100 Looking out on the cliffs, as a keen birder, I like looking out. 56 00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:46,140 I can see just behind us, here, there is 57 00:02:46,140 --> 00:02:48,820 a cormorant finishing up its fishing for the morning - 58 00:02:48,820 --> 00:02:51,380 and what a place to be, eh? It is. 59 00:02:51,380 --> 00:02:52,820 It's an absolutely stunning day - 60 00:02:52,820 --> 00:02:55,420 so, let's see what else is coming up on today's show. 61 00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:03,020 We make a big splash as Chris Packham meets an author 62 00:03:03,020 --> 00:03:06,580 who is passionate about us all connecting to our British waters. 63 00:03:09,020 --> 00:03:10,900 There's a mammal in the sea - 64 00:03:10,900 --> 00:03:14,140 but it's not a dolphin or a whale, it's a man. 65 00:03:14,140 --> 00:03:15,220 OK, go! 66 00:03:15,220 --> 00:03:18,260 We fly high behind the scenes on Blue Planet Live 67 00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:20,300 when they're looking for whales. 68 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:22,180 Flat, calm water. 69 00:03:22,180 --> 00:03:24,900 Really makes for lovely shots. 70 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:28,380 I join in with some traditional fishing off the Cornish coast... 71 00:03:28,380 --> 00:03:29,500 That's my first haul. 72 00:03:30,740 --> 00:03:33,020 ..and there's an unexpected catch. 73 00:03:33,020 --> 00:03:36,020 The size of this is absolutely phenomenal. 74 00:03:36,020 --> 00:03:40,100 And we uncover some of the secrets hiding around our British coastline. 75 00:03:46,860 --> 00:03:48,660 Now, you'd have to be pretty unaware 76 00:03:48,660 --> 00:03:51,540 to not to notice that our attitude towards single-use plastics 77 00:03:51,540 --> 00:03:53,340 has changed loads over the years. 78 00:03:53,340 --> 00:03:55,780 From being the answer to almost everything, 79 00:03:55,780 --> 00:03:58,740 it's now the problem that won't go away. Quite literally. 80 00:03:58,740 --> 00:04:02,380 It certainly is - and on Blue Planet II we highlighted, 81 00:04:02,380 --> 00:04:06,100 a few times, the catastrophe facing our marine life, 82 00:04:06,100 --> 00:04:08,660 and unfortunately, sadly, down to us. 83 00:04:11,940 --> 00:04:14,060 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Just over 100 years ago, 84 00:04:14,060 --> 00:04:17,220 we invented a wonderful new material 85 00:04:17,220 --> 00:04:19,700 that could be moulded into all kinds of shapes, 86 00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:22,020 and we took great trouble to ensure 87 00:04:22,020 --> 00:04:26,700 that it was hard-wearing, rot proof and virtually indestructible. 88 00:04:29,140 --> 00:04:34,940 Now, every year, we dump around 8 million tonnes of it into the sea. 89 00:04:37,500 --> 00:04:40,420 Now, those images are powerful - but since they were shown, 90 00:04:40,420 --> 00:04:42,700 I'm pleased to report that plastics 91 00:04:42,700 --> 00:04:45,580 have become a national political talking point. 92 00:04:45,580 --> 00:04:46,780 Here on Blue Planet UK, 93 00:04:46,780 --> 00:04:49,300 we're looking at the many inspirational stories 94 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:51,300 of people who are making a difference. 95 00:04:51,300 --> 00:04:55,580 Absolutely - and, to do just that, I went down to Devon recently. 96 00:05:04,340 --> 00:05:07,860 When synthetic fishing nets reach the end of their working lives, 97 00:05:07,860 --> 00:05:11,620 they're often lost or, even worse, discarded out to sea. 98 00:05:11,620 --> 00:05:14,420 The problem is, the plastics in them don't break down, 99 00:05:14,420 --> 00:05:17,660 and they cause biological booby traps known as ghost nets. 100 00:05:23,340 --> 00:05:26,860 They hang in wait - sometimes almost invisible, 101 00:05:26,860 --> 00:05:30,060 other times, mimicking vegetation - 102 00:05:30,060 --> 00:05:32,660 but always a hazard for sea life. 103 00:05:36,900 --> 00:05:39,020 Recreational diver Rob Thompson 104 00:05:39,020 --> 00:05:41,260 has been getting up close and personal 105 00:05:41,260 --> 00:05:43,540 to British wildlife for years... 106 00:05:44,780 --> 00:05:46,620 ..but he is continuously astounded 107 00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:48,940 by the devastation that most nets can cause. 108 00:05:50,380 --> 00:05:55,060 They float in the open ocean snaring or snagging on wrecks and reefs, 109 00:05:55,060 --> 00:05:57,260 killing marine life in its millions. 110 00:05:58,380 --> 00:06:00,020 Enough was enough for Rob. 111 00:06:00,020 --> 00:06:01,060 A few years ago, 112 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:04,300 he pledged to retrieve as many of the death traps as he could. 113 00:06:06,220 --> 00:06:10,900 Nowadays, when he is not collecting plastic underwater, he's on it. 114 00:06:10,900 --> 00:06:14,700 Rob uses a kayak to access plastic in those nooks and crannies 115 00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:16,780 which characterise our coastline, 116 00:06:16,780 --> 00:06:21,380 and, remarkably, his kayak itself is made from recycled plastic - 117 00:06:21,380 --> 00:06:23,780 and a key ingredient is ghost netting. 118 00:06:23,780 --> 00:06:25,740 So, Rob, ghost nets - how long can they last? 119 00:06:25,740 --> 00:06:30,100 Here's one example of how long they can potentially last. 120 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:32,460 This is a ghost net which went down 121 00:06:32,460 --> 00:06:35,300 with the wreck of the Conqueror in 1977. 122 00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:37,260 So, it had been in the water for 40 years. 123 00:06:37,260 --> 00:06:40,180 It was a wreck just outside of Mousehole down in Penzance, 124 00:06:40,180 --> 00:06:42,100 and it's got the full brunt of the elements, 125 00:06:42,100 --> 00:06:44,300 through all of the winter storms every year, 126 00:06:44,300 --> 00:06:46,620 and that has completely demolished the wreck. 127 00:06:46,620 --> 00:06:48,860 The wreck, now, is unrecognisable as a shipwreck. 128 00:06:48,860 --> 00:06:50,820 It's literally just plates on the seabed, 129 00:06:50,820 --> 00:06:54,900 and yet, the net, still completely recognisable, completely strong. 130 00:06:54,900 --> 00:06:58,140 It's designed to catch, it's designed to be very strong, 131 00:06:58,140 --> 00:07:01,020 to entangle things and not to be forgiving. 132 00:07:01,020 --> 00:07:03,500 In Cornwall, especially, we have lots of grey seals, 133 00:07:03,500 --> 00:07:07,580 and they're regularly found entangled in nets, 134 00:07:07,580 --> 00:07:09,380 because seals are naturally inquisitive. 135 00:07:09,380 --> 00:07:11,620 They're a bit like dogs, really, they want to interact, 136 00:07:11,620 --> 00:07:13,220 they want to play with things... Yeah. 137 00:07:13,220 --> 00:07:14,820 ..and they see a net drifting round, 138 00:07:14,820 --> 00:07:16,740 it's just another thing to interact with. 139 00:07:16,740 --> 00:07:19,460 You see quite a lot of crustaceans sort of tangled up, 140 00:07:19,460 --> 00:07:21,940 but what you find is that as marine life goes into it, 141 00:07:21,940 --> 00:07:25,020 gets tangled, it then almost baits that trap again... Yeah! 142 00:07:25,020 --> 00:07:27,260 ..and then more stuff comes in to feed on it, 143 00:07:27,260 --> 00:07:29,780 and that whole cycle continues. 144 00:07:30,820 --> 00:07:34,340 Is he still alive? Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of live ones. 145 00:07:34,340 --> 00:07:37,740 Rob started with a small team of people to retrieve ghost nets 146 00:07:37,740 --> 00:07:39,100 and help trapped animals... 147 00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:43,700 ..but just organising clean-ups wasn't enough. 148 00:07:43,700 --> 00:07:45,740 He was looking for the next step - 149 00:07:45,740 --> 00:07:50,460 harnessing the positive potential of these super-strong nets. 150 00:07:50,460 --> 00:07:51,900 You've got a resource, there, 151 00:07:51,900 --> 00:07:55,660 very high-grade material that can be reused and repurposed. 152 00:07:55,660 --> 00:07:58,420 For me, the eureka moment was that black bag photo at the end, 153 00:07:58,420 --> 00:08:00,540 where you've got all your black bags lined up, 154 00:08:00,540 --> 00:08:02,740 and the kayak was physically sat there next to it, 155 00:08:02,740 --> 00:08:04,860 and I thought, that's it, that's what I want to do, 156 00:08:04,860 --> 00:08:07,500 actually make the kayaks out of the plastic we're gathering, 157 00:08:07,500 --> 00:08:09,740 and then that could be used to go back out on the water 158 00:08:09,740 --> 00:08:11,700 and recover more marine plastics. 159 00:08:14,460 --> 00:08:17,980 Rob sends his recovered plastics to a company in Denmark, 160 00:08:17,980 --> 00:08:20,460 where they process it into pellets 161 00:08:20,460 --> 00:08:22,540 and send them back to a factory in Somerset. 162 00:08:24,180 --> 00:08:26,620 Here, Paul Robertson oversees the process 163 00:08:26,620 --> 00:08:29,540 of turning the pellets into Rob's kayaks. 164 00:08:29,540 --> 00:08:31,380 He'd had an idea, he'd seen it through, 165 00:08:31,380 --> 00:08:33,940 followed a process and come up with the finished goods, 166 00:08:33,940 --> 00:08:36,340 and he called me up and says, "Do you want to test it?" 167 00:08:36,340 --> 00:08:38,900 and it was like, "Er, let me think for a second. Yes." 168 00:08:42,260 --> 00:08:44,700 It's a bit like baking a cake. 169 00:08:44,700 --> 00:08:47,660 With a mould, get it into the oven... 170 00:08:48,900 --> 00:08:51,780 ..just about 300 degrees Celsius, 171 00:08:51,780 --> 00:08:54,100 cooks for about 40 minutes, 172 00:08:54,100 --> 00:08:56,260 cool it down steadily, 173 00:08:56,260 --> 00:08:58,780 out comes a finished, solid kayak, 174 00:08:58,780 --> 00:09:01,340 which we then check over and add some fittings, 175 00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:02,740 some seats and bits and pieces, 176 00:09:02,740 --> 00:09:05,820 and pretty much goes out on the water, and people paddle it. 177 00:09:07,100 --> 00:09:08,340 It seems simple, 178 00:09:08,340 --> 00:09:12,500 but developing the right formula took Rob months to perfect. 179 00:09:12,500 --> 00:09:15,540 Back in Plymouth, I'm going to put one to the test. 180 00:09:15,540 --> 00:09:17,380 Argh! 181 00:09:18,460 --> 00:09:19,700 And we're in. 182 00:09:19,700 --> 00:09:20,740 Whoa! 183 00:09:22,140 --> 00:09:24,900 We're setting off from the Mountbatten Centre on the docks, 184 00:09:24,900 --> 00:09:28,140 which is surrounded by areas of natural beauty - 185 00:09:28,140 --> 00:09:30,060 but also heavily populated, 186 00:09:30,060 --> 00:09:32,820 sadly making it the perfect place to hunt for plastic. 187 00:09:34,260 --> 00:09:37,100 So, what do I do if I see any plastic? 188 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:40,300 Just literally try and get hold of it and hoick it into your boat. 189 00:09:44,220 --> 00:09:45,660 Eat my wake. 190 00:09:48,060 --> 00:09:52,020 I can't believe you call this a job! 191 00:09:52,020 --> 00:09:53,340 Whoa! 192 00:09:55,740 --> 00:09:58,940 It's been a long time since I've been on the water like this, 193 00:09:58,940 --> 00:10:00,820 and although we're paddling for plastic, 194 00:10:00,820 --> 00:10:03,300 it's not a bad way to spend the day. 195 00:10:05,420 --> 00:10:09,460 Enjoyment aside, it doesn't take us long to find a man-made mess. 196 00:10:10,740 --> 00:10:12,460 Lots of different types of plastic 197 00:10:12,460 --> 00:10:14,940 that's washed up along the breakwater, 198 00:10:14,940 --> 00:10:17,220 from rubber tyres to bits of rope... 199 00:10:17,220 --> 00:10:20,220 Looks like there's some kind of traffic cone over there, as well. 200 00:10:20,220 --> 00:10:22,020 Yeah, there is a traffic cone up there! 201 00:10:22,020 --> 00:10:24,300 But it's funny, isn't it, because on first glance, 202 00:10:24,300 --> 00:10:26,580 you can see the tide line, because of the wood in it, 203 00:10:26,580 --> 00:10:30,140 but it doesn't take much to start spotting the different colours 204 00:10:30,140 --> 00:10:32,100 of the rubbish amongst it. It doesn't. 205 00:10:34,500 --> 00:10:37,420 You could easily be working in one of the buildings above 206 00:10:37,420 --> 00:10:41,460 and have no idea of the rubbish lodged into the rocks below - 207 00:10:41,460 --> 00:10:44,820 which is why the kayaks provide such a unique viewpoint. 208 00:10:48,660 --> 00:10:51,060 Well, there's more than you think, isn't there? 209 00:10:51,060 --> 00:10:53,740 It is absolutely strewn along here. 210 00:10:53,740 --> 00:10:56,820 How many canoes have you got up there, do you reckon? A couple! 211 00:10:59,060 --> 00:11:02,740 I can't believe how much plastic Rob has retrieved. 212 00:11:02,740 --> 00:11:04,100 Including traffic cones. 213 00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:10,660 So, that was maybe 10 square metres in five minutes... Yeah. 214 00:11:10,660 --> 00:11:13,580 ..and you've got a kayak full of it. 215 00:11:13,580 --> 00:11:16,100 That illustrates how it doesn't really 216 00:11:16,100 --> 00:11:20,100 have to eat into your day that much. Couple of minutes' work. 217 00:11:20,100 --> 00:11:22,020 Yeah, it's good fun, scrabbling around rocks. 218 00:11:22,020 --> 00:11:24,740 Who could object to doing that? 219 00:11:24,740 --> 00:11:26,220 And do some good. 220 00:11:26,220 --> 00:11:29,060 It's about going out kayaking, and whilst you're there, 221 00:11:29,060 --> 00:11:30,900 pick up some rubbish, if you see it. 222 00:11:30,900 --> 00:11:33,420 Yeah, definitely - and it didn't seem like so much of a chore, 223 00:11:33,420 --> 00:11:34,780 and if everyone did that 224 00:11:34,780 --> 00:11:36,900 during their normal recreational activities, 225 00:11:36,900 --> 00:11:38,900 they'd have a fantastic cumulative effect. 226 00:11:44,860 --> 00:11:48,460 Now, that is inspiring - and incredible to think 227 00:11:48,460 --> 00:11:51,700 that all this plastic waste turns into a kayak 228 00:11:51,700 --> 00:11:55,020 that you can use to go out there and collect more plastic waste. 229 00:11:55,020 --> 00:11:56,300 I think that's brilliant. 230 00:11:56,300 --> 00:11:58,180 Now, joining me today is Calum Duncan 231 00:11:58,180 --> 00:11:59,940 from the Marine Conservation Society. 232 00:11:59,940 --> 00:12:02,940 Calum, tell me, the Blue Planet effect - 233 00:12:02,940 --> 00:12:05,060 have you, as a marine conservationist, 234 00:12:05,060 --> 00:12:07,740 noticed a big change since Blue Planet II came out? 235 00:12:07,740 --> 00:12:08,860 Absolutely. 236 00:12:08,860 --> 00:12:13,180 We've been running our Great British Beach Clean for 25 years now, 237 00:12:13,180 --> 00:12:16,700 but last year was the biggest ever event that we've had. 238 00:12:18,420 --> 00:12:21,980 We had the biggest ever in Scotland, we had 135 beaches, 239 00:12:21,980 --> 00:12:24,780 many thousands of people taking part. 240 00:12:24,780 --> 00:12:27,260 More and more people just want to get engaged, 241 00:12:27,260 --> 00:12:30,100 they want to do their bit, they want to help stop this plastic tide, 242 00:12:30,100 --> 00:12:33,300 so we are very grateful for the awareness 243 00:12:33,300 --> 00:12:35,020 that this programme has brought. 244 00:12:37,460 --> 00:12:40,140 Now, beach cleaners are a great way for people to get involved, 245 00:12:40,140 --> 00:12:41,620 to help to make a difference. 246 00:12:41,620 --> 00:12:42,780 What other work, though, 247 00:12:42,780 --> 00:12:45,500 what other things are MCS doing to get people involved? 248 00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:47,980 Were also asking people to report sightings of wildlife 249 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:51,660 such as basking sharks, turtles and jellyfish, which everybody can do. 250 00:12:51,660 --> 00:12:54,300 For those who dive, we've also got a project could Seasearch, 251 00:12:54,300 --> 00:12:57,380 and we've been very active here at St Abbs over the years, 252 00:12:57,380 --> 00:13:00,380 and we've also been making films to celebrate the connections 253 00:13:00,380 --> 00:13:04,380 the people living round the sea have with the sea. 254 00:13:04,380 --> 00:13:06,060 Everybody is connected to the sea, 255 00:13:06,060 --> 00:13:09,540 every second breath we take includes oxygen from the ocean. 256 00:13:11,220 --> 00:13:14,260 It's all about celebrating what an amazing resource 257 00:13:14,260 --> 00:13:16,860 and fantastic environment the ocean is. 258 00:13:16,860 --> 00:13:19,300 Well, that's incredible, and I believe this film - 259 00:13:19,300 --> 00:13:21,340 some of it, at least - has been filmed right here. 260 00:13:21,340 --> 00:13:22,460 So, let's take a look. 261 00:13:33,060 --> 00:13:37,380 I believe in that lifelong learning, keep learning, keep the brain going, 262 00:13:37,380 --> 00:13:40,460 and whenever you go diving, you see something different. 263 00:13:40,460 --> 00:13:43,460 Every time, you know, all the years I've been diving, 264 00:13:43,460 --> 00:13:45,780 I still see things that I haven't seen before. 265 00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:49,820 You never know what's going to come up. 266 00:13:49,820 --> 00:13:53,180 You know, the last couple of years, we've been seeing pods of dolphins 267 00:13:53,180 --> 00:13:55,060 along the coast here, which is beautiful. 268 00:13:55,060 --> 00:13:57,220 You never know if you're going to see them or not, 269 00:13:57,220 --> 00:14:00,900 so it's a little bit of anticipation of what excitement there might be. 270 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:18,140 Calum, you've been doing this work, marine conservation work, 271 00:14:18,140 --> 00:14:19,340 for almost two decades. 272 00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:20,940 How do you feel, now, 273 00:14:20,940 --> 00:14:23,820 about marine conservation and the future of marine life here? 274 00:14:23,820 --> 00:14:25,620 There's been a huge increase in awareness, 275 00:14:25,620 --> 00:14:27,940 there's been an increase in people getting involved, 276 00:14:27,940 --> 00:14:31,700 being part of the solution, so, everybody's getting more aware, 277 00:14:31,700 --> 00:14:36,340 and we need to take that awareness and change it into action, 278 00:14:36,340 --> 00:14:38,500 and that's where the people who are getting 279 00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:41,220 involved in our projects, they're the ones showing leadership 280 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:44,300 through our beach projects, through wildlife sightings, 281 00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:47,420 through diving, but what we need now is real leadership 282 00:14:47,420 --> 00:14:48,940 from government and industry 283 00:14:48,940 --> 00:14:51,220 to match that ambition shown by the people. 284 00:14:51,220 --> 00:14:55,060 I couldn't agree more with that. Thank you so much. Steve. 285 00:14:57,580 --> 00:14:59,940 Some whales and dolphins can be seen here 286 00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:03,500 off the coast in St Abbs, but an absolute hot spot for them 287 00:15:03,500 --> 00:15:08,100 this time of year is Baja California in Mexico, where Chris Packham 288 00:15:08,100 --> 00:15:11,740 is reporting for Blue Planet Live all this week - 289 00:15:11,740 --> 00:15:13,420 and everyone that knows Chris 290 00:15:13,420 --> 00:15:16,380 knows how passionate he is about British wildlife, 291 00:15:16,380 --> 00:15:19,940 so, before he left, he spent some time down on the south coast, 292 00:15:19,940 --> 00:15:21,940 where he lives, with some people 293 00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:24,420 that want to champion our British seas. 294 00:15:29,180 --> 00:15:30,220 Oh, goodness me. 295 00:15:31,220 --> 00:15:32,260 Oh, my goodness. 296 00:15:33,500 --> 00:15:35,340 There's a mammal in the sea - 297 00:15:35,340 --> 00:15:38,500 but it's not a dolphin or a whale, it's a man. 298 00:15:38,500 --> 00:15:39,540 Philip Hoare. 299 00:15:43,100 --> 00:15:45,620 He is an author, and he is passionate about animals 300 00:15:45,620 --> 00:15:48,740 that should be in the sea on a freezing cold day like this. 301 00:15:48,740 --> 00:15:50,140 Those whales and dolphins. 302 00:15:51,660 --> 00:15:55,020 Thank you! It's a real pleasure to meet you. And you! 303 00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:58,020 But before your metabolism shuts down, let's get out of here 304 00:15:58,020 --> 00:15:59,260 and into that warm cafe. 305 00:15:59,260 --> 00:16:02,260 Fantastic! Quick, get dry. Philip, get dry. 306 00:16:05,260 --> 00:16:06,620 Philip's love of the sea 307 00:16:06,620 --> 00:16:09,060 is beautifully described in his writing. 308 00:16:10,580 --> 00:16:14,220 Philip, two questions that I have to ask you immediately 309 00:16:14,220 --> 00:16:18,780 whilst you're supping your warm tea is, firstly, why do you do that, 310 00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:22,180 and secondly, metabolically, how do you do that? 311 00:16:22,180 --> 00:16:26,500 Why I do it - I think I'm making up for lost time. 312 00:16:26,500 --> 00:16:28,860 I grew up in Southampton, like you, 313 00:16:28,860 --> 00:16:33,540 but I had this absolute deep-seated fear of the sea. 314 00:16:33,540 --> 00:16:36,420 I mean, it just scared me so deeply. 315 00:16:36,420 --> 00:16:38,780 I didn't learn to swim until I was 29. 316 00:16:38,780 --> 00:16:40,940 I was living in the East End of Hackney 317 00:16:40,940 --> 00:16:43,340 and I realise that I just felt really inept 318 00:16:43,340 --> 00:16:45,060 in my relationship to the... 319 00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:49,860 ..you know, that great big thing, the biggest thing on our planet. 320 00:16:49,860 --> 00:16:51,540 I mean, that is the wild world, 321 00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:56,060 and just by one step you could be somewhere which is completely wild - 322 00:16:56,060 --> 00:17:00,220 and I think that is one of the reasons why I love swimming. 323 00:17:00,220 --> 00:17:02,060 You don't like calling it wild swimming. 324 00:17:02,060 --> 00:17:03,380 No. Why is that? 325 00:17:03,380 --> 00:17:07,100 Because I think that's a very middle class, commodified... 326 00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:09,700 You know, "We've suddenly discovered swimming." 327 00:17:09,700 --> 00:17:11,180 I do it, very often, in the dark - 328 00:17:11,180 --> 00:17:14,100 I did it this morning, actually, at 2am, in the dark. 2am? 329 00:17:14,100 --> 00:17:17,620 Yeah. You went into the sea... Yeah. ..at 2am? Yeah. 330 00:17:20,180 --> 00:17:23,180 It's a strange compulsion, isn't it? Do you feel better for it? 331 00:17:23,180 --> 00:17:26,580 I absolutely do. Actually... Physically? I absolutely do - 332 00:17:26,580 --> 00:17:29,980 and, for me, that's the great sort of thing about the water, 333 00:17:29,980 --> 00:17:33,060 is that, briefly, I can be like a whale, or a dolphin. 334 00:17:33,060 --> 00:17:36,740 Is difficult to say, Philip, that anyone animal, organism, 335 00:17:36,740 --> 00:17:39,180 is more important than any others, 336 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:42,140 but whales are important for so many reasons - 337 00:17:42,140 --> 00:17:44,700 the things you've written about. 338 00:17:44,700 --> 00:17:47,620 Yeah, because they are us. They are very like us. 339 00:17:47,620 --> 00:17:50,060 The social structure, the communication. 340 00:17:50,060 --> 00:17:52,020 In your book here, Leviathan, you've said, 341 00:17:52,020 --> 00:17:54,140 "It's becoming clear that whales and dolphins 342 00:17:54,140 --> 00:17:56,980 "have brains matched only by the higher primates and humans, 343 00:17:56,980 --> 00:17:59,500 "with whom they share the same convoluted neocortex 344 00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:02,220 "part of the brain, the characteristic wrinkles and whirls 345 00:18:02,220 --> 00:18:03,660 "on that top layer of the organ, 346 00:18:03,660 --> 00:18:06,460 "and which indicate exceptional intelligence. 347 00:18:06,460 --> 00:18:09,940 "Studies show that cetaceans can solve problems, use tools, 348 00:18:09,940 --> 00:18:13,420 "exhibit joy and grief, live in complex societies - 349 00:18:13,420 --> 00:18:16,260 "but, not only that, they pass on these abilities 350 00:18:16,260 --> 00:18:19,180 "in cultural transmission." 351 00:18:19,180 --> 00:18:22,220 There is another couple of things I'd like to quote from your book. 352 00:18:22,220 --> 00:18:24,340 This is the thing, I marked this page when I read it, 353 00:18:24,340 --> 00:18:25,980 because it was terrifying to me. 354 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:29,380 You were talking about the hunting of sperm whales, 355 00:18:29,380 --> 00:18:32,180 and you write here that between 1964 and '74, 356 00:18:32,180 --> 00:18:34,980 they managed to kill a quarter of a million animals. 357 00:18:34,980 --> 00:18:39,020 "It was as if, in advance of the end they knew that must come, 358 00:18:39,020 --> 00:18:42,060 "they exerted themselves all the more in the effort." 359 00:18:42,060 --> 00:18:44,020 That was going on in our lifetime! 360 00:18:44,020 --> 00:18:48,500 That's right - and there were ships coming up from the South Atlantic 361 00:18:48,500 --> 00:18:52,260 laden with whale fat, which became margarine. 362 00:18:52,260 --> 00:18:55,180 You and I probably ate margarine with whale blubber in it. 363 00:18:55,180 --> 00:18:56,500 Um... 364 00:18:56,500 --> 00:18:58,820 You know, your mother... It's astonishing, isn't it? 365 00:18:58,820 --> 00:19:02,540 Yeah, no, it's astonishing - but we stopped killing them in 1983. 366 00:19:02,540 --> 00:19:06,380 Generally, most people stopped killing great whales. 367 00:19:06,380 --> 00:19:08,700 That's an amazing thing that we human beings did. 368 00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:12,820 In order to, you know, continue that, 369 00:19:12,820 --> 00:19:15,260 so that people can cherish not just whales 370 00:19:15,260 --> 00:19:17,580 but everything else that lives in the ocean, 371 00:19:17,580 --> 00:19:21,460 and the oceans themselves, we've got to connect people to it. 372 00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:22,940 How do we do it? 373 00:19:22,940 --> 00:19:25,620 I think, you know, physically, you go back to it, you know? 374 00:19:25,620 --> 00:19:26,740 You go swimming, you mean? 375 00:19:26,740 --> 00:19:29,900 I would say so. You're trying to get me... 376 00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:32,740 You're trying to get me in... You need to get in there, Chris! 377 00:19:32,740 --> 00:19:34,860 Get your kit off. 378 00:19:34,860 --> 00:19:36,300 Into the water. 379 00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:39,540 Let that big, white, surging, monstrous animal 380 00:19:39,540 --> 00:19:42,180 engulf you in its embrace. 381 00:19:42,180 --> 00:19:43,540 I'm not sure. 382 00:19:43,540 --> 00:19:46,260 There's nothing wrong with British waters - I love the colour, 383 00:19:46,260 --> 00:19:50,260 the colour's amazing, it's just... it's just the temperature. 384 00:19:50,260 --> 00:19:51,460 I don't blame you. 385 00:19:55,060 --> 00:19:57,300 If you've been inspired to take a plunge in the sea, 386 00:19:57,300 --> 00:20:01,460 then please do visit our website for advice on how to swim safely. 387 00:20:05,620 --> 00:20:08,660 You know, it's so true that although this is an island nation, 388 00:20:08,660 --> 00:20:10,700 so many of us don't feel connected to the sea. 389 00:20:10,700 --> 00:20:13,060 No, there's a lot of us that have got no connection at all. 390 00:20:13,060 --> 00:20:16,940 Now, whilst Chris is abroad reporting for Blue Planet Live, 391 00:20:16,940 --> 00:20:19,460 we've been given access to some extraordinary 392 00:20:19,460 --> 00:20:21,340 behind-the-scenes footage. 393 00:20:21,340 --> 00:20:24,500 You might remember during Blue Planet II there was a moment 394 00:20:24,500 --> 00:20:27,300 when the team managed to get a camera onto a sperm whale. 395 00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:31,780 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Sperm whales don't wait for their prey 396 00:20:31,780 --> 00:20:33,820 to rise to the surface, 397 00:20:33,820 --> 00:20:37,460 they swim down into the depths to find it. 398 00:20:53,820 --> 00:20:57,420 The calf sticks to its mother as closely as it can... 399 00:20:59,060 --> 00:21:01,020 ..touching her frequently... 400 00:21:03,500 --> 00:21:05,220 ..as if for reassurance. 401 00:21:17,220 --> 00:21:20,740 The Blue Planet Live team returned to film those sperm whales, 402 00:21:20,740 --> 00:21:22,740 and one of the shots they wanted to get 403 00:21:22,740 --> 00:21:26,060 was to show the size of the sperm whale in relation to the boat. 404 00:21:26,060 --> 00:21:27,540 This is what happened. 405 00:21:41,180 --> 00:21:45,220 So, I am just preparing my drone to fly over the water here. 406 00:21:45,220 --> 00:21:47,940 The drones really have become a completely essential 407 00:21:47,940 --> 00:21:51,740 part of the film-making experience now, particularly of marine mammals 408 00:21:51,740 --> 00:21:54,580 that spend only a portion of their time at the surface. 409 00:21:54,580 --> 00:21:57,060 To be able to get them at the surface from above them 410 00:21:57,060 --> 00:21:58,860 is an amazing vantage point. 411 00:22:00,900 --> 00:22:03,260 The team are attempting to film sperm whales, 412 00:22:03,260 --> 00:22:05,820 which spend most of their time underwater... 413 00:22:06,940 --> 00:22:08,700 ..but briefly surface to breathe. 414 00:22:11,620 --> 00:22:13,820 To have any chance of getting the shot, 415 00:22:13,820 --> 00:22:16,740 the drone needs to be in the air, waiting. 416 00:22:16,740 --> 00:22:19,220 OK, go! 417 00:22:19,220 --> 00:22:21,420 OK, where are they? 418 00:22:25,740 --> 00:22:30,780 Launching from the water is making me a bit more nervous, 419 00:22:30,780 --> 00:22:33,540 because obviously Mark is fantastic, kind of, like, guiding 420 00:22:33,540 --> 00:22:35,140 the drone into your hands and stuff, 421 00:22:35,140 --> 00:22:38,180 but if one wave moves or something like that, and something knocks, 422 00:22:38,180 --> 00:22:41,580 then you could end up hitting the drone, or else just not catching it. 423 00:22:41,580 --> 00:22:43,460 It's a real risk to losing it altogether, 424 00:22:43,460 --> 00:22:46,500 and it's not like we're recording footage directly from the drone 425 00:22:46,500 --> 00:22:48,540 onto something else - if that drone goes down, 426 00:22:48,540 --> 00:22:51,220 everything that we've shot on that card goes with it. 427 00:22:53,100 --> 00:22:55,140 So, it's a lot of tension. 428 00:22:55,140 --> 00:22:56,820 The whales break the surface. 429 00:22:59,980 --> 00:23:01,620 The whale's gone. 430 00:23:01,620 --> 00:23:04,300 So, first attempt at trying to get a two shot 431 00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:09,940 of a sperm whale at the surface and our boat was half successful. 432 00:23:09,940 --> 00:23:11,660 I was able to get in position, 433 00:23:11,660 --> 00:23:14,620 but the horizon on the drone was a bit out, 434 00:23:14,620 --> 00:23:18,420 so I just had to adjust for that, and by the time that had finished, 435 00:23:18,420 --> 00:23:21,260 then the whale had just got the last of its dive. 436 00:23:21,260 --> 00:23:23,540 But I think it's just a shallow dive, 437 00:23:23,540 --> 00:23:25,660 so it should actually be at the surface again 438 00:23:25,660 --> 00:23:27,860 in the not-too-distant future. 439 00:23:30,020 --> 00:23:31,100 The team are in luck. 440 00:23:32,860 --> 00:23:36,980 OK, so, they did indeed go for a shallow dive, 441 00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:40,900 and it's basically a family of sperm whales at the surface, 442 00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:44,940 two adults and a calf, and Shane's boat, that I'm filming, 443 00:23:44,940 --> 00:23:48,980 is following them - at a nice safe distance, of course. 444 00:23:48,980 --> 00:23:50,740 So, I'm just trying to get ahead 445 00:23:50,740 --> 00:23:53,420 and get some nice shots of them at the surface. 446 00:24:02,620 --> 00:24:04,460 Oh, it's so wonderful to see these whales. 447 00:24:04,460 --> 00:24:06,380 They haven't been seen for a couple of days, 448 00:24:06,380 --> 00:24:09,260 So, really glad that they're back with us today, 449 00:24:09,260 --> 00:24:13,780 and the conditions are wonderful. Really flat, calm water. 450 00:24:13,780 --> 00:24:15,660 Really makes for lovely shots. 451 00:24:17,900 --> 00:24:21,620 One of the reasons we want to get a two shot of the whale and the boat 452 00:24:21,620 --> 00:24:24,340 is just to show the scale of them. They are huge animals. 453 00:24:24,340 --> 00:24:26,100 I'm just trying to make the most of it. 454 00:24:26,100 --> 00:24:27,940 This might be our only opportunity. 455 00:24:33,860 --> 00:24:36,420 A low battery warning has just popped up on my drone, 456 00:24:36,420 --> 00:24:38,140 so, even though I got really excited 457 00:24:38,140 --> 00:24:40,220 that I've captured all this lovely footage, 458 00:24:40,220 --> 00:24:43,420 it's going to mean nothing if I don't get this drawn back, 459 00:24:43,420 --> 00:24:46,140 so, yeah, going to have to really concentrate now 460 00:24:46,140 --> 00:24:48,540 and just make sure we get a safe landing 461 00:24:48,540 --> 00:24:51,060 and bring this drone and the car at home. 462 00:24:52,060 --> 00:24:57,340 It's a nail-biting moment, but the retrieval of the drone as a success. 463 00:24:57,340 --> 00:24:59,660 Phew! 464 00:24:59,660 --> 00:25:00,860 Well done. 465 00:25:00,860 --> 00:25:03,540 High five. Always... Squeaky bum time. Always a relief. 466 00:25:03,540 --> 00:25:05,660 Well done. Oh, my God. 467 00:25:05,660 --> 00:25:07,540 OK, great. That's excellent. 468 00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:12,500 Just as we were running out of time, 469 00:25:12,500 --> 00:25:15,540 pretty much the last chance we had before this boat's got to go, 470 00:25:15,540 --> 00:25:18,620 and the last of the drone batteries, we got our shot. 471 00:25:25,260 --> 00:25:29,620 What an amazing shot that was - that really paid off. 472 00:25:29,620 --> 00:25:31,220 We have a drone up there, too... 473 00:25:32,340 --> 00:25:34,660 ..and a lifeboat heading out - 474 00:25:34,660 --> 00:25:36,580 and that's what drones are really useful for. 475 00:25:36,580 --> 00:25:39,340 You get these incredible shots, incredible perspective, 476 00:25:39,340 --> 00:25:41,180 as we're doing this morning over here, 477 00:25:41,180 --> 00:25:42,940 but they're not just useful for filming. 478 00:25:42,940 --> 00:25:45,140 They're useful for science and research, 479 00:25:45,140 --> 00:25:48,460 as Mike Dilger found out when he went to West Wales for The One Show. 480 00:25:54,060 --> 00:25:58,460 I've come to Cardigan Bay to look for the UK's most sociable animals - 481 00:25:58,460 --> 00:26:02,220 but to find them, I'm going to have to head out there, 482 00:26:02,220 --> 00:26:04,540 because I'm after bottlenose dolphins. 483 00:26:07,220 --> 00:26:09,820 Katrin Lohrengel from the Sea Watch Foundation 484 00:26:09,820 --> 00:26:13,620 has been studying these dolphins for three years. 485 00:26:13,620 --> 00:26:15,620 Until recently, dolphin behaviour 486 00:26:15,620 --> 00:26:18,060 could only be observed from the boat - 487 00:26:18,060 --> 00:26:22,380 but now drone technology is giving a fresh perspective. 488 00:26:22,380 --> 00:26:24,940 By getting aerial shots of the dolphins 489 00:26:24,940 --> 00:26:27,460 we can get a bit more information 490 00:26:27,460 --> 00:26:29,340 on how they're interacting with each other. 491 00:26:29,340 --> 00:26:31,260 We can see better with the drone, really, 492 00:26:31,260 --> 00:26:33,580 because we have a better view of them. 493 00:26:33,580 --> 00:26:35,420 It can approach them quite closely 494 00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:37,460 without causing a lot of disturbance. 495 00:26:37,460 --> 00:26:39,100 Also, if we see them from above, 496 00:26:39,100 --> 00:26:41,620 often you can see deeper into the water, 497 00:26:41,620 --> 00:26:44,940 so you're able to get a definite count of the animals. 498 00:26:44,940 --> 00:26:47,740 So, it's an exciting time, being a researcher on dolphins. 499 00:26:47,740 --> 00:26:49,380 Yes, definitely. 500 00:26:49,380 --> 00:26:53,660 Drones surveying of marine mammals is still in its infancy in the UK, 501 00:26:53,660 --> 00:26:55,180 and can only be conducted 502 00:26:55,180 --> 00:26:57,860 by certified researchers with a licence. 503 00:26:57,860 --> 00:27:00,980 And what they find will help us understand 504 00:27:00,980 --> 00:27:05,860 how and why dolphins socialise - but first, we need to find some. 505 00:27:06,860 --> 00:27:08,220 At this time of year, 506 00:27:08,220 --> 00:27:11,620 bottlenose dolphin numbers are at their peak in the bay, 507 00:27:11,620 --> 00:27:15,340 and Katrin is taking us to some known hot spots. 508 00:27:15,340 --> 00:27:18,220 It isn't long before we glimpse some in the distance. 509 00:27:18,220 --> 00:27:19,540 Ohh! 510 00:27:19,540 --> 00:27:23,980 Lovely hook fin, beautiful black-grey back - 511 00:27:23,980 --> 00:27:26,580 that's a bottlenose. 512 00:27:26,580 --> 00:27:29,940 Due to the extra blubber needed to keep warm in UK seas, 513 00:27:29,940 --> 00:27:32,660 these dolphins are some of the largest in the world, 514 00:27:32,660 --> 00:27:35,460 reaching an impressive 4m in length. 515 00:27:41,940 --> 00:27:43,740 Bottlenose dolphin. 516 00:27:47,220 --> 00:27:49,100 Oh-ho-ho! 517 00:27:49,100 --> 00:27:52,860 That was probably 2m, leaping out of the water. 518 00:27:52,860 --> 00:27:54,580 Brilliant. 519 00:27:54,580 --> 00:27:59,300 With the survey complete, it's time for us to look at the footage. 520 00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:02,660 Really clear shots of dolphins... Yeah. ..from above, into the water. 521 00:28:02,660 --> 00:28:06,020 Yeah, it really shows that the views that we get from above 522 00:28:06,020 --> 00:28:09,780 can be a lot clearer than what we would see sort of from eye level. 523 00:28:09,780 --> 00:28:12,220 Traditionally, researchers assumed that dolphins 524 00:28:12,220 --> 00:28:13,820 hung out in family groups, 525 00:28:13,820 --> 00:28:17,380 but the drones show that isn't always the case. 526 00:28:17,380 --> 00:28:21,700 What we think is happening here in Cardigan Bay at the moment 527 00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:24,580 is that we have mainly females spending time together. 528 00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:27,100 So, females and calves, and then males and males, 529 00:28:27,100 --> 00:28:30,500 so animals of the same gender and age tend to stick together, 530 00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:33,380 and particularly females with calves will hang out together, 531 00:28:33,380 --> 00:28:36,500 because they often babysit each other's calves for each other. 532 00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:37,940 Look at this, here! 533 00:28:37,940 --> 00:28:41,260 I mean, these dolphins are touching, they're quite close together. Yeah. 534 00:28:41,260 --> 00:28:42,380 What's going on? 535 00:28:42,380 --> 00:28:44,620 So, this is probably a slightly sexual interaction. 536 00:28:44,620 --> 00:28:48,420 So, we have one of the dolphins coming up underneath the other one, 537 00:28:48,420 --> 00:28:51,220 and sort of nudging the other animal's belly... 538 00:28:51,220 --> 00:28:53,940 So, a male, an over-amorous male with a female? 539 00:28:53,940 --> 00:28:56,020 Not necessarily female, to be honest. 540 00:28:56,020 --> 00:28:58,860 They do interact with members of the same sex that way, as well, 541 00:28:58,860 --> 00:29:00,340 particularly males. 542 00:29:00,340 --> 00:29:04,060 The tend to touch each other a lot with their pectoral fins, and... 543 00:29:04,060 --> 00:29:07,380 Quite tactile. Yeah, they're very tactile when they're socialising. 544 00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:10,500 Today's drone survey has shown two dolphins 545 00:29:10,500 --> 00:29:14,780 that Katrin's very familiar with in a completely new light. 546 00:29:14,780 --> 00:29:17,940 We've not, that I know of, seen them together in a group before, 547 00:29:17,940 --> 00:29:19,500 so that's quite interesting. 548 00:29:19,500 --> 00:29:22,900 Start of something exciting. Yes, definitely. 549 00:29:22,900 --> 00:29:24,460 The drone is also important 550 00:29:24,460 --> 00:29:27,580 in assessing the health of individual dolphins. 551 00:29:27,580 --> 00:29:30,580 Using the footage, they can accurately measure 552 00:29:30,580 --> 00:29:35,380 whether they're healthy, or indeed pregnant, without disturbing them. 553 00:29:35,380 --> 00:29:37,900 We are only just scratching the surface 554 00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:41,340 in terms of our understanding of these mercurial animals - 555 00:29:41,340 --> 00:29:44,900 but hopefully the drone research is a game changer 556 00:29:44,900 --> 00:29:47,580 and is going to grant us brand-new insights 557 00:29:47,580 --> 00:29:51,220 into the complex social lives of these dolphins. 558 00:29:54,900 --> 00:29:58,660 Technology really is helping us understand our marine biology, 559 00:29:58,660 --> 00:30:01,620 and even here, we've got it today in St Abbs. 560 00:30:01,620 --> 00:30:05,020 Mario, what is that piece of kit you've got there? 561 00:30:05,020 --> 00:30:08,300 Yeah, this is a 360 underwater camera. 562 00:30:08,300 --> 00:30:11,020 We've got three cameras, so when you take this underwater, 563 00:30:11,020 --> 00:30:13,260 you will be able to see every single direction, 564 00:30:13,260 --> 00:30:16,420 and because St Abbs is such an incredible place to dive, 565 00:30:16,420 --> 00:30:17,860 we want to take this out there 566 00:30:17,860 --> 00:30:21,500 and show people the amazing marine life you can see out there. 567 00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:23,580 Well, talking of amazing marine life, 568 00:30:23,580 --> 00:30:25,220 what we do have is some footage 569 00:30:25,220 --> 00:30:27,900 of some of the stuff that is just out here behind us. 570 00:30:30,620 --> 00:30:32,260 Now, this, here, is an anemone. 571 00:30:32,260 --> 00:30:34,340 It's really hard to tell what it is, 572 00:30:34,340 --> 00:30:38,340 but as it spits the starfish out - it was obviously not to its taste - 573 00:30:38,340 --> 00:30:40,180 you can see that's a dahlia anemone... 574 00:30:42,660 --> 00:30:45,980 ..and there's other creatures. I mean, it really is a busy seabed. 575 00:30:45,980 --> 00:30:48,620 This is carpeted with brittle stars - 576 00:30:48,620 --> 00:30:50,540 but check this, they get out of the way, 577 00:30:50,540 --> 00:30:52,660 because that is a predatory starfish. 578 00:30:55,940 --> 00:30:59,060 This is an extraordinary footage - and that's the kind of thing 579 00:30:59,060 --> 00:31:01,940 you're trying to capture with that, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. 580 00:31:01,940 --> 00:31:06,100 We are going to take this through all the best dive sites around here, 581 00:31:06,100 --> 00:31:08,340 so, through tunnels into sea caves, 582 00:31:08,340 --> 00:31:10,980 and really try to capture some of the amazing life around here. 583 00:31:10,980 --> 00:31:15,500 And I suppose it is about making it accessible to everybody. 584 00:31:15,500 --> 00:31:16,740 Yeah, exactly. 585 00:31:16,740 --> 00:31:19,740 That is one of our key goals at the voluntary marine reserve. 586 00:31:19,740 --> 00:31:23,860 It's going to be accessible on the virtual reality headsets, 587 00:31:23,860 --> 00:31:27,780 so even if you don't want to dive, you're too scared to drive, 588 00:31:27,780 --> 00:31:31,620 you think you're too old, you'll be able to go diving out here, as well. 589 00:31:31,620 --> 00:31:35,700 And at home with a cup of tea. Exactly, yeah. Oh, can you imagine? 590 00:31:35,700 --> 00:31:39,500 A whole world opening up - and that's life on the seabed, 591 00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:42,340 and there's another creature that makes its home in the seabed, 592 00:31:42,340 --> 00:31:45,420 but its numbers have not been so prevalent lately, 593 00:31:45,420 --> 00:31:46,940 and that is oysters. 594 00:31:46,940 --> 00:31:50,860 George McGavin from The One Show has gone out to find how whisky... 595 00:31:50,860 --> 00:31:53,300 Whisky?! Yes, whisky - is giving it a boost. 596 00:31:56,300 --> 00:32:00,020 The Dornoch Firth on the north-east coast of Scotland. 597 00:32:00,020 --> 00:32:02,500 It's something of a hidden gem - 598 00:32:02,500 --> 00:32:05,940 a place of outstanding natural beauty. 599 00:32:05,940 --> 00:32:08,020 And a sanctuary for rare wildlife. 600 00:32:09,500 --> 00:32:11,700 But there is an animal that's missing... 601 00:32:12,700 --> 00:32:15,220 ..a vital part of this precious habitat, 602 00:32:15,220 --> 00:32:17,620 that vanished over 100 years ago. 603 00:32:19,300 --> 00:32:22,900 Bill Sanderson from Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University 604 00:32:22,900 --> 00:32:26,540 has a fascination with this missing creature. 605 00:32:26,540 --> 00:32:29,340 Now, the first thing that is really obvious here 606 00:32:29,340 --> 00:32:31,260 is that we've got lots of these. 607 00:32:31,260 --> 00:32:32,500 What have we got here? 608 00:32:32,500 --> 00:32:36,180 Yeah, these are the European flat oysters. How old do you think it is? 609 00:32:36,180 --> 00:32:40,300 Well, it's impossible to tell, really, but I have got one here - 610 00:32:40,300 --> 00:32:43,300 this one came from the Dornoch Firth, we've carbon dated this. 611 00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:45,140 This is 6,000 years old. 612 00:32:45,140 --> 00:32:48,180 Wow. So, they've been here for a very long time. 613 00:32:50,100 --> 00:32:53,540 Oysters were once so abundant in UK waters 614 00:32:53,540 --> 00:32:57,020 that they were considered a cheap fast food - 615 00:32:57,020 --> 00:33:01,020 but with the rise of industrial fishing in the late 1800s, 616 00:33:01,020 --> 00:33:04,460 Britain's vast oyster reefs vanished. 617 00:33:04,460 --> 00:33:09,420 Now, Bill has a dream of bringing oysters back to the Dornoch Firth. 618 00:33:09,420 --> 00:33:13,660 I can see the value of trying to put animals back that were once there. 619 00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:15,900 Mm. Is that all there is to it? No. 620 00:33:15,900 --> 00:33:20,340 The thing about oysters is that they create structure on the seabed - 621 00:33:20,340 --> 00:33:23,060 but they're also amazing biofilters. 622 00:33:23,060 --> 00:33:25,420 They suck the water clean of all the particles. 623 00:33:25,420 --> 00:33:26,580 So, they do two things - 624 00:33:26,580 --> 00:33:29,460 they create a habitat where hundreds of other species will live, 625 00:33:29,460 --> 00:33:31,700 but they also improve water quality. 626 00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:37,980 Bill's dream may have remained just that, had it not been for whisky. 627 00:33:37,980 --> 00:33:42,340 Glenmorangie has been distilling on the banks of the Dornoch Firth 628 00:33:42,340 --> 00:33:44,860 for over 150 years. 629 00:33:44,860 --> 00:33:48,700 Dougie Murray is a second-generation whisky craftsman. 630 00:33:48,700 --> 00:33:53,900 My father started here in 1972 and I've been here for 23 years. 631 00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:57,740 And in that time, since your father began, how have things changed? 632 00:33:57,740 --> 00:33:59,100 They've changed a lot. 633 00:33:59,100 --> 00:34:02,060 The distillery's upped production two or three times, 634 00:34:02,060 --> 00:34:06,260 big investments, as well, which has helped the company grow and grow. 635 00:34:06,260 --> 00:34:08,140 But as the distillery has grown, 636 00:34:08,140 --> 00:34:10,540 so has its impact on the Dornoch Firth. 637 00:34:11,860 --> 00:34:13,900 Waste water from the distilling process 638 00:34:13,900 --> 00:34:17,020 is cleaned and then discharged into the estuary - 639 00:34:17,020 --> 00:34:20,100 but it still contains some organic matter. 640 00:34:20,100 --> 00:34:24,100 This promotes the growth of algae, robbing oxygen from the water - 641 00:34:24,100 --> 00:34:27,540 and this is where the oysters come in, 642 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:31,060 because oysters just love to feast on algae. 643 00:34:31,060 --> 00:34:33,860 Let me show you what I mean. 644 00:34:33,860 --> 00:34:37,340 Here we have two tanks filled with algae-rich water, 645 00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:39,500 like that in the Dornoch Firth. 646 00:34:39,500 --> 00:34:44,180 In this tank, there are 15 European flat oysters, 647 00:34:44,180 --> 00:34:46,700 while in this tank, there are none. 648 00:34:46,700 --> 00:34:48,540 And now, we wait. 649 00:34:58,220 --> 00:35:00,260 Five hours later - 650 00:35:00,260 --> 00:35:02,180 quite remarkable. 651 00:35:04,260 --> 00:35:08,140 One oyster can filter over 200 litres of water a day. 652 00:35:09,140 --> 00:35:13,500 So, imagine what a reef with millions of oysters can do. 653 00:35:13,500 --> 00:35:16,180 With the financial support of the whisky distillery, 654 00:35:16,180 --> 00:35:18,220 it's a big day for Bill. 655 00:35:18,220 --> 00:35:21,700 His team are putting 300 oysters into the firth 656 00:35:21,700 --> 00:35:23,900 in a pioneering experiment. 657 00:35:23,900 --> 00:35:26,540 Height, width and depth. That's right, yeah. 658 00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:28,940 For every single one. 659 00:35:28,940 --> 00:35:31,340 These are pretty special oysters. They are. 660 00:35:31,340 --> 00:35:34,820 Yeah. These are the first ones back in the Dornoch in 100 years. 661 00:35:36,380 --> 00:35:40,580 All this research and effort is now riding on this. 662 00:35:45,340 --> 00:35:47,700 So, Bill, how do you feel? Oh... This is... 663 00:35:47,700 --> 00:35:50,860 I can't stop grinning, actually. Yeah? Yeah, this is brilliant. 664 00:35:53,900 --> 00:35:55,900 If this batch of oysters settles in, 665 00:35:55,900 --> 00:35:58,100 they will be followed by more. 666 00:35:58,100 --> 00:35:59,420 The vision, eventually, 667 00:35:59,420 --> 00:36:03,220 is for several reefs to be established in the estuary. 668 00:36:03,220 --> 00:36:05,500 Well, I really hope the oysters will thrive 669 00:36:05,500 --> 00:36:07,660 here in the Dornoch Firth once again, 670 00:36:07,660 --> 00:36:12,700 bringing even more life to this beautiful and unique estuary. 671 00:36:12,700 --> 00:36:14,700 I think we can all drink to that. 672 00:36:20,780 --> 00:36:23,420 And I can tell you that the number of oysters has grown 673 00:36:23,420 --> 00:36:25,940 since George was down there, which is great news - 674 00:36:25,940 --> 00:36:28,420 but there are still natural native populations 675 00:36:28,420 --> 00:36:30,500 hanging on in there around the country. 676 00:36:30,500 --> 00:36:32,020 One of those is in Cornwall, 677 00:36:32,020 --> 00:36:33,940 so Gillian went down to find out why. 678 00:36:40,300 --> 00:36:45,100 This is Carrick Roads, Cornwall's largest estuary. 679 00:36:47,620 --> 00:36:50,340 This is a part of the world that I now call home, 680 00:36:50,340 --> 00:36:53,460 and it's got an incredibly complex and beautiful 681 00:36:53,460 --> 00:36:55,180 marine and coastal environment. 682 00:36:56,660 --> 00:37:00,100 And a stronghold for the UK's native oyster. 683 00:37:01,780 --> 00:37:05,140 Here on the Fal, mechanised harvesting of the shellfish 684 00:37:05,140 --> 00:37:08,540 has been banned, and more traditional methods are used. 685 00:37:09,620 --> 00:37:13,460 To protect the oyster stocks, you can only fish here under sail, 686 00:37:13,460 --> 00:37:16,380 casting small nets which dredge the seabed 687 00:37:16,380 --> 00:37:20,580 before being hauled aboard and sifted by hand for mature oysters. 688 00:37:22,380 --> 00:37:24,220 It's backbreaking labour, 689 00:37:24,220 --> 00:37:28,500 and only undertaken in the coldest months, from October to March. 690 00:37:28,500 --> 00:37:31,300 There are no fair weather oyster fishermen round here. 691 00:37:32,540 --> 00:37:34,580 I've often watched these old sailing boats 692 00:37:34,580 --> 00:37:37,420 working their way back and forth across the estuary, 693 00:37:37,420 --> 00:37:40,020 but today I get to see what they do up close. 694 00:37:50,380 --> 00:37:54,700 I'm joining the traditional working boat Boy Willie, 695 00:37:54,700 --> 00:37:58,460 and skipper Timmy Vinnicombe is bringing up the first dredging net. 696 00:38:00,220 --> 00:38:02,380 They're much lighter and less destructive 697 00:38:02,380 --> 00:38:04,260 than modern industrial dredgers. 698 00:38:05,940 --> 00:38:07,860 They pass over a lot of the shellfish. 699 00:38:07,860 --> 00:38:11,740 They just tease over the shells, and a few go into the dredge. 700 00:38:11,740 --> 00:38:13,380 A lot stay behind. 701 00:38:13,380 --> 00:38:15,700 They're very inefficient, really. 702 00:38:15,700 --> 00:38:19,460 There's a certain irony that this technique is so inefficient 703 00:38:19,460 --> 00:38:23,140 that it actually is what makes this a sustainable fishery. Absolutely. 704 00:38:23,140 --> 00:38:27,140 Some people come out and say, "You must be crazy doing this," you know? 705 00:38:31,180 --> 00:38:34,860 I can see at least three, four other oyster boats at the moment. 706 00:38:34,860 --> 00:38:36,300 Do you work together, 707 00:38:36,300 --> 00:38:39,140 or do you kind of work to your own patch in the estuary? 708 00:38:39,140 --> 00:38:41,340 We watch each other quite closely, 709 00:38:41,340 --> 00:38:44,020 you'll see someone go back to a little spot several times, 710 00:38:44,020 --> 00:38:46,900 you'll think, "Ah, I wonder if there are some oysters there," you know? 711 00:38:46,900 --> 00:38:48,260 Yeah! You'll nip and have a look, 712 00:38:48,260 --> 00:38:49,940 and sure enough, someone's found some 713 00:38:49,940 --> 00:38:51,660 and tried to keep it a bit secret. Yep. 714 00:38:54,140 --> 00:38:56,180 And how old is this boat? 715 00:38:56,180 --> 00:39:00,500 This boat was built around 1870, I believe, 716 00:39:00,500 --> 00:39:03,940 because she came into the family in 1923, 717 00:39:03,940 --> 00:39:07,700 needed a rebuild then, in 1923... Right! So, it was an old boat then. 718 00:39:09,380 --> 00:39:12,340 The traditional boats are as much a part of the landscape 719 00:39:12,340 --> 00:39:14,020 as they are in Timmy's blood. 720 00:39:14,020 --> 00:39:16,140 He is the fifth generation of his family 721 00:39:16,140 --> 00:39:18,940 to work these waters using these methods. 722 00:39:18,940 --> 00:39:22,900 We've been on the oyster fisheries since around 1880. 723 00:39:22,900 --> 00:39:24,620 Which is a fair old time. 724 00:39:24,620 --> 00:39:27,740 A few hints been passed down through the generations 725 00:39:27,740 --> 00:39:31,020 of what to do and what not to do, and it can be quite helpful. 726 00:39:32,980 --> 00:39:36,580 We're sorting through Timmy's catch to pick out the oysters, 727 00:39:36,580 --> 00:39:39,620 which has to measure up to strict rules. 728 00:39:39,620 --> 00:39:44,820 Those with a diameter of less than 67mm must be thrown back. 729 00:39:44,820 --> 00:39:47,500 Presumably, that's too small. Yeah, it is a bit small. 730 00:39:48,980 --> 00:39:50,540 How about that one? 731 00:39:50,540 --> 00:39:51,700 Yeah... Keeper? Yeah. 732 00:39:53,460 --> 00:39:56,940 This is what this is all about. These are the oysters, here. 733 00:39:56,940 --> 00:39:59,140 They've kind of got a round shape. 734 00:39:59,140 --> 00:40:03,860 Now, this has a concave back and it sits on the seabed like that, 735 00:40:03,860 --> 00:40:05,740 and its lid will open, 736 00:40:05,740 --> 00:40:11,340 and it filters up to, it's thought, 399 pints of sea water a day - 737 00:40:11,340 --> 00:40:13,340 and if you think about thousands of these 738 00:40:13,340 --> 00:40:15,020 doing the same thing every day, 739 00:40:15,020 --> 00:40:18,260 that adds up to an amazing, like, ecosystem service. 740 00:40:22,900 --> 00:40:26,260 Oysters are considered to be ecosystem engineers, 741 00:40:26,260 --> 00:40:30,620 providing the foundations for diverse marine habitats - 742 00:40:30,620 --> 00:40:32,940 even becoming nurseries for other species. 743 00:40:36,580 --> 00:40:38,820 Oh, that is beautiful! 744 00:40:38,820 --> 00:40:42,660 I mean, this is like rock pooling on a massive scale - 745 00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:45,780 the dredging here, in a sense, is sort of sampling the seabed, 746 00:40:45,780 --> 00:40:47,260 sampling the social communities 747 00:40:47,260 --> 00:40:49,660 and animals that live down in these oyster beds, 748 00:40:49,660 --> 00:40:52,260 and over the short time that we've been here, 749 00:40:52,260 --> 00:40:54,740 I've got two bucket-loads of curiosities. 750 00:40:54,740 --> 00:40:59,740 Got an urchin in here - absolutely gorgeous snakelock anemone. 751 00:40:59,740 --> 00:41:02,940 I mean, I would normally, on the beach, 752 00:41:02,940 --> 00:41:06,380 see much smaller relatives of this, a spiny starfish, 753 00:41:06,380 --> 00:41:10,140 but this - the size of this is absolutely phenomenal. 754 00:41:10,140 --> 00:41:12,820 So, if you flip this over, it's a really good chance 755 00:41:12,820 --> 00:41:15,140 just to see the underside of these animals. 756 00:41:15,140 --> 00:41:19,900 The mouth is there, and all along, on each limb, 757 00:41:19,900 --> 00:41:22,700 are covered with hundreds of these feet, 758 00:41:22,700 --> 00:41:25,060 and they all sort of work in unison, 759 00:41:25,060 --> 00:41:28,300 so that it can actually march along the seabed. 760 00:41:28,300 --> 00:41:29,740 It's really beautiful. 761 00:41:31,220 --> 00:41:34,780 This probably tells the story better than anything else. 762 00:41:34,780 --> 00:41:38,260 This is a huge shell, and inside there is a hermit crab 763 00:41:38,260 --> 00:41:42,300 living in the shell, and on the shell is an anemone, as well. 764 00:41:42,300 --> 00:41:45,580 I mean, that's three organisms all rolled up into one. 765 00:41:45,580 --> 00:41:47,420 I think that's pretty cool. 766 00:41:47,420 --> 00:41:51,060 Of course, all of these wonders go back where they belong. 767 00:41:52,540 --> 00:41:54,140 Now, before we head back, 768 00:41:54,140 --> 00:41:57,340 I can't resist having a go at hauling in 769 00:41:57,340 --> 00:41:58,700 the last catch of the day. 770 00:41:58,700 --> 00:42:00,620 Yeah. Keep pulling. 771 00:42:00,620 --> 00:42:01,780 Keep pulling! 772 00:42:01,780 --> 00:42:03,140 This is not one of those jokes 773 00:42:03,140 --> 00:42:05,460 where it just keeps going and keeps going, is it? 774 00:42:05,460 --> 00:42:07,660 So, what's the technique? Get this on? Yeah. 775 00:42:07,660 --> 00:42:08,780 Agh! 776 00:42:08,780 --> 00:42:10,220 See, and lift out there. 777 00:42:10,220 --> 00:42:12,220 Urgh! That's it. 778 00:42:12,220 --> 00:42:14,420 Now press down... 779 00:42:14,420 --> 00:42:16,300 That's it! 780 00:42:16,300 --> 00:42:18,340 That's my first haul. 781 00:42:18,340 --> 00:42:20,060 Well done. Very good. 782 00:42:20,060 --> 00:42:22,100 Very good for a first... Have I got a job, then? 783 00:42:22,100 --> 00:42:23,140 Yes, definitely. 784 00:42:23,140 --> 00:42:24,380 SHE LAUGHS Cleaning up. 785 00:42:26,060 --> 00:42:28,100 Yeah, I made a bit of a mess. Yeah. 786 00:42:30,260 --> 00:42:32,460 You know, what I love about that was the diversity. 787 00:42:32,460 --> 00:42:34,940 You know, it wasn't just oysters down there, was it? 788 00:42:34,940 --> 00:42:36,500 No, you're absolutely right. 789 00:42:36,500 --> 00:42:40,140 We are so lucky with the marine life we have in this country. 790 00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:43,460 Well, that is it for today, but I'd like to thank everyone 791 00:42:43,460 --> 00:42:46,620 and everything that's been part of Blue Planet UK - 792 00:42:46,620 --> 00:42:48,180 not least our marine life 793 00:42:48,180 --> 00:42:50,980 that we are lucky to share this country with. 794 00:42:50,980 --> 00:42:52,500 Don't forget to join us tomorrow, 795 00:42:52,500 --> 00:42:55,380 when will be back in the beautiful St Abbs. 796 00:42:55,380 --> 00:42:56,500 Bye-bye for now. Bye! 797 00:42:57,860 --> 00:43:00,620 Next time on Blue Planet UK, 798 00:43:00,620 --> 00:43:03,420 I delve into the history of a sea bird colony 799 00:43:03,420 --> 00:43:05,260 that is reaching new heights. 800 00:43:05,260 --> 00:43:08,220 Oh, my word! 801 00:43:08,220 --> 00:43:09,500 Coming up! 802 00:43:09,500 --> 00:43:12,580 We learn the importance of surveying our Scottish sea life 803 00:43:12,580 --> 00:43:14,780 in all seasons... 804 00:43:14,780 --> 00:43:18,820 ..and Chris finds out about some rather relaxed rays. 805 00:43:18,820 --> 00:43:21,540 They were bending, and it was like, "Do it again. 806 00:43:21,540 --> 00:43:22,700 "Ooh, do it again!" 807 00:43:22,700 --> 00:43:26,540 So, this is ray back massage. This is ray massage.