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The oceans are places of wonder.

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Blue Planet II showed us the beauty

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and extraordinary behaviour
of marine life

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whilst highlighting how fragile
and threatened our seas have become.

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Now, as Blue Planet Live carries out
a health check

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on the world's oceans,
we are staying closer to home.

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Our British seas are rich, varied
and key to our island heritage,

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but how are our lifestyles
affecting them?

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Whoa!

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We'll meet the unsung heroes
dedicated to protecting our waters

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and the wildlife
that relies on them.

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If we don't look after nature,
nobody else will.

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And celebrate the scientists
striving for solutions

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to the challenges.

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Whoa!

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Plus we'll meet the crabs
with a flair for style.

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They're dressing up in seaweed

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as a means of camouflaging
themselves. Yeah.

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And delve into our very own deep sea
coral reefs.

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This is the most important deep sea
coral, I think, in the whole world

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and this is just off Scotland.

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So dip into our UK waters
and see them like you've never

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seen them before.

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BOTH: Welcome to Blue Planet UK.

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Hello and welcome to Blue Planet UK

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and it really is blue today.

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But whatever the weather,
there are some amazing things

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to explore in our oceans.

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There certainly are and today
I'm pleased to say we're back

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in my old stomping ground Kent
or more specifically

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the picture-perfect Victorian
seaside resort that's Herne Bay.

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Not only is it a place steeped
in history,

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the marine life here
is one of the best.

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So while the Blue Planet Live team
had been carrying out a health check

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on the world's oceans,
we are sticking closer to home

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where there are plenty
of incredible stories.

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There certainly are and this is
what's coming up today -

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how spiny dogfish
have taken a battering

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because of our love for
fish and chips.

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Who would have thought

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that underneath that lovely crispy
batter could be a kind of shark?

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I discover how British science
may offer a lifeline

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to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

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This is beautiful.

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Yeah, this is South East London's
coral reef.

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I love science experiments!

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I soak up the science as I find out

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how washing our clothes
can cause a plastic problem.

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We're finding a lot of fibres
in the marine environment

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and we're finding them in marine
creatures as well.

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And we join
the Blue Planet Live team

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as they descend into the unexplored
depths of Costa Rica.

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You know what, Gillian?

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It seems like us Brits enjoy nothing
more than finding a nice spot

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in the sun on the coast and tucking
in to the humble fish and chips.

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Well, you know, the great British
tradition of fish and chips

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originated in the 19th century.

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But the chip originated from
Belgium - les pommes frites -

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and fish came from Spain - pescado
frito - who'd have thought it?

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Doesn't sound that British at all!

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When did this simple supper
land in Britain?

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I've been investigating.

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Fish and chips first appeared
on our high streets way back

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in the 1860s and fast became
a firm favourite for the nation,

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so much so that it was one of
the few foods that wasn't rationed

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during World War II.

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I usually go for cod or plaice
myself,

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but there's always plenty of other
white fish on offer,

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although some varieties may not be
quite what you were expecting.

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Who would have thought that
underneath that lovely crispy batter

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could be a kind of shark?

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But you wouldn't have seen shark
advertised on any chippy menus.

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The industry has been using
different names for decades to make

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the fish in the dish more palatable
for the public.

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Rock salmon, rock, huss, rigg,
flake -

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these are all traditional
names for shark in the UK.

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Dr Andrew Griffiths of Exeter
University has been researching

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the use of shark products in the UK.

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Andrew and his team have trawled
fish and chip shops

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up and down the nation

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and brought fish suppers back
to the lab for DNA testing.

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We've analysed around about 89
fish and chip samples

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and what we discovered is that over
90% of the samples that we analysed

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were actually identified
as spiny dogfish.

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Spiny dogfish were once one
of the world's most abundant shark,

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but our taste for it
has led to numbers being decimated.

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Now endangered
in the northeast Atlantic,

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the EU has banned targeted
fishing since 2010.

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But the UK waters are still
no safe haven.

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Spiny dogfish have a low
reproductive rate,

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meaning their numbers are slow
to increase.

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Like many fish, they shoal
together for protection,

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but this behaviour is the species'
downfall because when they get

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caught accidentally,
it's in devastating numbers.

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However, there are people
trying to help.

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I'm joining the team
from SharkStuff,

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who are attempting to tag spiny
dogfish, headed by Georgia French.

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They're there somewhere, but you've
got to land over the shoal

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get on top of them... Yeah.
..and find them. Exactly.

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It's hoped that
by tagging the spiny dogfish

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they will be able to identify
their favourite marine habitats,

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in the hope of making them
protected sites

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to safeguard the species
in the future.

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The team will be using specialised
equipment to assess the size

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of specimens in the water.

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The stereo...ster... Oh, I'll be
honest, I can't pronounce its name.

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Using the stereo photogrammetry
equipment,

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we're getting measurements of
sharks in the water with big sharks.

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One of the worst things you can do
is take them out of the water,

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but it's important that you do know
how big they are, so we wanted

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to come up with a method where you
could do that in the water.

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We're getting bites.

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Not spiny dogfish,
but another type of shark -

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spotted catfish, to be precise -

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and they're small enough
to land safely

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and take manual measurements from,
which will help judge

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the accuracy of the equipment.

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Perfect.

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Bye, bubs.

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That's actually quite
a cool defence mechanism

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where they curl up like that.

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In South Africa,

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they've got species they call shy
sharks because they're supposed

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to hide, like, under their tail,
they curl up.

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As well as small spotted catfish,

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the equipment is also picking
up spotted ray - a close relative

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of the shark and a congo eel,
even a dolphin.

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No spiny dogfish yet,
but it's fishing, isn't it?

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There's no guarantees.

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One man who knows the challenges
of sea fishing better than most

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is Paul Burridge.

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He's an angler, not a scientist,
but he's more than happy

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to offer his expertise to the cause.

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Yeah, there's something on there.

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Little 'un.

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Got a nipper.

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About five years ago,
I started fishing large sharks

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and found it interesting
that the amount of information

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to be gained from the scientific
community as well as fishermen

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being out here on the boat.

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It's all worked hand in hand.

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Well, unfortunately, it looks like

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we're going to go back without
a spiny dogfish today,

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but are you surprised?

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Catching any fish on cue is always
a bit of a red herring really -

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it's quite hard work, but there's
not a lot of them around.

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They are under threat and when
there's not many of them,

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it's a needle in a haystack.

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What I really want to ask you
about on this is how important

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you feel, from a fisherman's side
of things,

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the stuff that SharkStuff are doing?

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I love their ethos.
You know, it's education.

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And most anglers,
especially big fish anglers,

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don't want to harm their catch.

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And if we can show the data to say -
"This is a better way of doing it,

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"this is how we suggest things are
done" - it's important.

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We haven't been lucky on this
expedition, but organisations

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like SharkStuff are providing hope
for the spiny dogfish,

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and scientists like Andrew
want to see changes in legislation.

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It'd be much more useful
to have clearer labelling

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which becomes much more tied
to a very small number of species

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or a single species, which would
allow the consumer to know exactly

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what they're buying.

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If we embrace adaptations
like these,

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we can make informed decisions
and carry on enjoying

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our fish and chip suppers
without harming our sharks.

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So how can we enjoy a 150-year-old
British tradition

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without harming our fish stocks?

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Well, the Marine Conservation
Society have a Good Fish Guide

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where you can see which fish species

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are the most sustainable -
the green rated -

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and the least sustainable -
the red rated.

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There's loads more information
on the website.

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Very often, it's the scale
of the fishing that's the issue,

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and there's a lot
of smaller companies

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that just aren't finding it viable

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to compete against
the bigger outfits,

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but there's one lone fisherman
in Devon

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that's trying to keep
alive the tradition.

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For centuries, the seas around
Britain have provided a livelihood

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for coastal communities.

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Hope Cove is one of these

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historically vibrant
fishing villages.

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In the 1930s, there were more
than 30 men fishing from here.

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But times have changed.

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Centuries-old traditions and the
heritage of a Devon fishing village

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are on the brink
of being lost forever.

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Over the years, one by one,

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the fishermen have left and now only
one man remains.

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My name is David Morgan.

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I'm the last full-time fisherman
living in Hope Cove.

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If you're in fishing,
you have to work every day

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that presents an opportunity
for you to go fishing.

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I mean, our day typically starts

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at four or five o'clock
in the morning

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and if you're not prepared
to do that,

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then don't entertain the idea
of going fishing.

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We normally arrive at the first
fleet of the pots,

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any time between half past five
and six o'clock in the morning

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and we would haul maybe 500-600
pots continuously

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until about half past two,
three o'clock in the afternoon.

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In the winter, the weather
on average might affect us

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to the extent where we don't go to
sea for perhaps two or three weeks.

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The long-term decline is due largely
to the fact

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that it's no longer possible to earn

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a decent living
from small-scale fishing.

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Over the last 10 or 15 years,
the value of crab, in real terms,

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has gone down considerably.

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The crew don't live in Hope Cove.

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I would go so far as to say
that it's impossible to find

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any crew in Hope Cove and that's
been the case for...

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..many, many years.

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The resident local population
is just getting smaller and smaller

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and smaller, to the extent now
where, in the winter,

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you've barely got a community
of people here at all.

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It's very interesting
that when we were young lads,

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there were many of us
that couldn't wait to jump aboard

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a fishing boat
and find out about fishing,

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but I don't see that happening
at all any more.

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I cannot see the fishing industry
in Hope Cove ever returning

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to anything like it was
50, 60 years ago.

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There's nothing to say

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that small-scale fisheries
shouldn't succeed...

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..but you've got to be very
efficient at what you do.

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It's very difficult to compete with
the larger players in the market.

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I don't see too many coming
into the industry at all.

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It's a poignant story that young
film-maker Nick Adams captures

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perfectly and it's one
that's representative

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of many of our fishing villages,

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but there are some marine
communities that are bouncing back,

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so I went to go and find out more.

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I've come to Weymouth to meet
Charlotte Bolton.

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She's part of a national drive
to survey our seas

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and has a passion for spectacular
shellfish - the spiny lobster.

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What on Earth is a spiny lobster?

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It's like a lobster. But spiny!
It has spines... But spiny!

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All right, OK! And it lacks the big
pincers and it has stripy antenna...

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OK, right. ..so it tends to work
in the reef.

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And they've had a pretty rough time
of it

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in the past, haven't they? Oh, yes.

241
00:15:12,340 --> 00:15:15,620
Spiny lobsters were
effectively extinct in this country.

242
00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:19,500
Basically they were
fished out in the '70s and '80s

243
00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:21,940
and we just didn't see them at all.

244
00:15:21,940 --> 00:15:23,540
So that was a combination

245
00:15:23,540 --> 00:15:26,740
of commercial fishing pressures
and also divers.

246
00:15:26,740 --> 00:15:29,820
Divers have to take their share
of the blame here because they were

247
00:15:29,820 --> 00:15:33,500
also responsible for collecting them
and we simply didn't see them.

248
00:15:33,500 --> 00:15:37,540
So it's really nothing to do
with it being predated on

249
00:15:37,540 --> 00:15:40,620
or anything to do
with the environment,

250
00:15:40,620 --> 00:15:43,100
but it was purely overfishing.
It's us.

251
00:15:43,100 --> 00:15:47,540
It's us - the apex predator is to
blame again, unfortunately, yes.

252
00:15:47,540 --> 00:15:50,780
And I think... I mean, now they're
incredibly valuable

253
00:15:50,780 --> 00:15:54,700
because there are so few of them,
but we are seeing them coming back

254
00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:58,500
and last year we saw them here in
Dorset which was... It was amazing.

255
00:15:58,500 --> 00:16:02,020
As a local diver, it's really
exciting to know that they are back

256
00:16:02,020 --> 00:16:03,340
in our local waters.

257
00:16:03,340 --> 00:16:07,660
So what on Earth has brought
around all this change for them?

258
00:16:07,660 --> 00:16:09,860
If we're honest, we don't
really know.

259
00:16:09,860 --> 00:16:11,860
It might be one of these big
planetary,

260
00:16:11,860 --> 00:16:13,580
you know, sort of ocean systems.

261
00:16:13,580 --> 00:16:17,420
The Atlantic Decadal Oscillation
has been mentioned.

262
00:16:17,420 --> 00:16:20,340
Who knows? Is it the warming seas?

263
00:16:20,340 --> 00:16:23,660
We don't really know. And I suppose
that's one of the things, isn't it?

264
00:16:23,660 --> 00:16:27,340
There's so much going on with our
oceans at the moment, man-driven

265
00:16:27,340 --> 00:16:31,140
and otherwise, that it's hard
to be able to put your finger

266
00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:33,700
on why things might be changing.

267
00:16:33,700 --> 00:16:35,900
Yes, and it's so complicated out
there, you think...

268
00:16:35,900 --> 00:16:39,060
You know, one little thing changes
and then that knock-on effect -

269
00:16:39,060 --> 00:16:42,220
this whole web of life
we just don't know

270
00:16:42,220 --> 00:16:44,740
and that's what for me makes it
really exciting.

271
00:16:44,740 --> 00:16:49,180
But whatever that change is, to have
spiny lobster back on the shores

272
00:16:49,180 --> 00:16:52,540
of Britain is fantastic, isn't it?
Yes, it is, it is.

273
00:16:52,540 --> 00:16:54,500
As a diver, I love them.

274
00:16:54,500 --> 00:16:56,700
You can hear me finding them
underwater because I get

275
00:16:56,700 --> 00:16:58,260
all high pitched and I scream.

276
00:16:58,260 --> 00:17:00,700
They are just...they are really
exciting to find.

277
00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:03,940
I don't think I'd ever get
bored of it.

278
00:17:03,940 --> 00:17:05,140
It's not all doom and gloom.

279
00:17:05,140 --> 00:17:08,740
Some of it is, but there are plenty
of good news stories out there,

280
00:17:08,740 --> 00:17:10,580
which is really exciting.

281
00:17:22,700 --> 00:17:25,220
You know, I love a story like that

282
00:17:25,220 --> 00:17:27,740
and look at the passion
Charlotte's got.

283
00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:31,380
It is amazing, but I have an even
bigger news story for you.

284
00:17:31,380 --> 00:17:32,860
Steve, listen to this.

285
00:17:32,860 --> 00:17:35,780
RAPID PULSING

286
00:17:35,780 --> 00:17:38,500
Well, that's a bit different,
isn't it?

287
00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:40,380
What am I listening to there?

288
00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:42,300
That is the very first minke whale

289
00:17:42,300 --> 00:17:45,260
to have been recorded
off the east coast of Scotland.

290
00:17:45,260 --> 00:17:47,180
No way! How cool's that?

291
00:17:47,180 --> 00:17:48,460
It is very.

292
00:17:51,900 --> 00:17:54,740
The minke whale is one of
the largest marine species

293
00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:57,980
that regularly visits the Scottish
coast, but it's secretive

294
00:17:57,980 --> 00:18:01,740
and unpredictable which means much
of its behaviour remains a mystery.

295
00:18:04,820 --> 00:18:07,580
They can grow up to eight or even
ten metres in length,

296
00:18:07,580 --> 00:18:10,260
but are hard to track
because of their behaviour.

297
00:18:10,260 --> 00:18:11,980
Unlike humpback whales and dolphins,

298
00:18:11,980 --> 00:18:14,620
they don't display
when they come to the surface.

299
00:18:17,660 --> 00:18:21,300
The Scottish Association for Marine
Science and Marine Scotland Science

300
00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:24,540
are thrilled to have captured
that audio and it is the beginning

301
00:18:24,540 --> 00:18:27,660
of hopefully learning more about
these really mysterious animals.

302
00:18:27,660 --> 00:18:29,700
And to be finding out
that kind of thing

303
00:18:29,700 --> 00:18:31,740
is really ground-breaking, isn't it?

304
00:18:31,740 --> 00:18:36,940
Now before Chris Packham headed
off to Mexico for Blue Planet Live,

305
00:18:36,940 --> 00:18:40,620
he caught up with a biologist
that has dedicated his career

306
00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:44,140
to looking at some of the wildlife
that lives on our British coasts.

307
00:18:48,180 --> 00:18:52,180
Today I've come to meet a man called
Paul Naylor and I like him.

308
00:18:52,180 --> 00:18:54,980
He applies classic
naturalist values,

309
00:18:54,980 --> 00:18:57,380
enhanced skills in observation,

310
00:18:57,380 --> 00:19:00,260
only he does it in the marine
environment

311
00:19:00,260 --> 00:19:03,140
and another thing I like
is that he's content to work

312
00:19:03,140 --> 00:19:05,220
with common species,

313
00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:09,140
but he wants to know not
just the species but individuals

314
00:19:09,140 --> 00:19:11,740
and learn about their personalities.

315
00:19:16,580 --> 00:19:20,620
Paul, what is it that lured you
in there in the first place?

316
00:19:20,620 --> 00:19:25,020
When the conditions are right
and you can get in there and see

317
00:19:25,020 --> 00:19:28,180
the animals that live in there,
you just find amazing characters.

318
00:19:28,180 --> 00:19:31,340
Hold on. We've got some
perfectly good animals on land.

319
00:19:31,340 --> 00:19:33,220
Yeah, but we see them all the time.

320
00:19:33,220 --> 00:19:35,460
The ones in the sea
are less familiar to us.

321
00:19:35,460 --> 00:19:39,540
And one of those animals you've got
to know is the tompot blenny

322
00:19:39,540 --> 00:19:42,580
and this is a familiar species
to anyone who's had their toe

323
00:19:42,580 --> 00:19:46,020
in a rocky...rock pools
and just offshore, isn't it?

324
00:19:46,020 --> 00:19:49,660
Yeah, it's a very close relative
of the common blenny or shanny,

325
00:19:49,660 --> 00:19:51,860
which is that small
greeny-brown fish

326
00:19:51,860 --> 00:19:54,020
that people know in rock pools
so well.

327
00:19:54,020 --> 00:19:56,580
What's so... I mean, I think apart
from them looking...

328
00:19:56,580 --> 00:20:01,180
A very sort of early '70s
glam rock fish, isn't it? Yeah.

329
00:20:01,180 --> 00:20:02,540
Yeah, they look great

330
00:20:02,540 --> 00:20:05,020
and then from a study point
of view, what's so brilliant

331
00:20:05,020 --> 00:20:08,940
about them is that they've these
individual skin markings

332
00:20:08,940 --> 00:20:10,180
and you can recognise them,

333
00:20:10,180 --> 00:20:11,740
so you can follow an individual.

334
00:20:11,740 --> 00:20:13,300
And this is a rogue's gallery

335
00:20:13,300 --> 00:20:15,340
on one particular reef
that we study.

336
00:20:15,340 --> 00:20:17,900
These are your blenny friends...
Yeah.

337
00:20:17,900 --> 00:20:20,980
..that you've got to know
as individual animals

338
00:20:20,980 --> 00:20:23,380
and that gives you a lot more
empowerment

339
00:20:23,380 --> 00:20:25,060
to study them. Absolutely.

340
00:20:25,060 --> 00:20:27,140
For a start, you can find out
how long a male -

341
00:20:27,140 --> 00:20:28,780
cos they're territorial,
the males -

342
00:20:28,780 --> 00:20:31,060
how long they keep territories.
Go on. Tell me.

343
00:20:31,060 --> 00:20:35,020
I would imagine a fish like this,
two or three years seasonally.

344
00:20:35,020 --> 00:20:37,740
Certainly up to five years... Five!

345
00:20:37,740 --> 00:20:41,420
..five years and they'll keep
the same territory. OK.

346
00:20:41,420 --> 00:20:43,180
I know you've got some footage here

347
00:20:43,180 --> 00:20:45,380
that you've shot
of some of your blennies.

348
00:20:45,380 --> 00:20:47,620
Let's have a look at this.
What's going on?

349
00:20:47,620 --> 00:20:50,140
Well, what's happening here is -

350
00:20:50,140 --> 00:20:52,980
this is a female
and she's laying eggs

351
00:20:52,980 --> 00:20:56,260
and, behind, is one
of the territorial males

352
00:20:56,260 --> 00:21:00,660
and appearing is what we thought
was another female,

353
00:21:00,660 --> 00:21:05,940
but when we looked very close
up later, we found that you could

354
00:21:05,940 --> 00:21:10,020
just see the glands underneath it
that make it a male.

355
00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:13,220
But this male has snuck in
presumably to try and fertilise

356
00:21:13,220 --> 00:21:15,300
some of the female's eggs...
Exactly.

357
00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:19,340
..which is a strategy that we see in
all sorts of other animals. Exactly.

358
00:21:19,340 --> 00:21:21,420
But never before in the tompot
blenny

359
00:21:21,420 --> 00:21:24,100
before these sets of observations.
And this is not a one-off.

360
00:21:24,100 --> 00:21:26,060
You've seen this repeatedly.
Absolutely.

361
00:21:26,060 --> 00:21:29,340
And just there, he seems to have
sussed it out and off he chases him.

362
00:21:29,340 --> 00:21:33,500
Do you know what's striking
about this is that just out there,

363
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:36,020
literally a few metres
off the beach,

364
00:21:36,020 --> 00:21:39,300
this new behaviour's now only
being uncovered.

365
00:21:39,300 --> 00:21:40,900
Exactly. What else have we got?

366
00:21:40,900 --> 00:21:43,860
Another animal is the spiny
spider crab.

367
00:21:43,860 --> 00:21:45,540
Now all round our coasts...

368
00:21:45,540 --> 00:21:50,420
This was filmed near Torquay
and groups of them come together

369
00:21:50,420 --> 00:21:54,100
and they go through what's called
the pubertal molt, where they emerge

370
00:21:54,100 --> 00:21:56,820
from their old armour as adults.

371
00:21:56,820 --> 00:22:00,700
But what we didn't realise was that
when they got this new armour,

372
00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:02,180
they need to camouflage it again

373
00:22:02,180 --> 00:22:04,260
and it's quite an intricate process.

374
00:22:04,260 --> 00:22:09,980
They rub each piece of seaweed
on the spines on their backs

375
00:22:09,980 --> 00:22:13,300
until it sticks. So they're
dressing up in seaweed

376
00:22:13,300 --> 00:22:15,340
as a means of camouflaging
themselves? Yes.

377
00:22:15,340 --> 00:22:18,700
Maybe they've evolved the spines
specifically to make it possible

378
00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:21,820
to attach the seaweed. I think so,
because in between the big spines,

379
00:22:21,820 --> 00:22:26,580
there are these tiny curved hooks
which, I think, is what the seaweed

380
00:22:26,580 --> 00:22:29,340
attaches to and those hooks look
just like Velcro,

381
00:22:29,340 --> 00:22:32,620
the hooks on Velcro, so the
spider crab invented Velcro.

382
00:22:32,620 --> 00:22:33,940
What about that?

383
00:22:33,940 --> 00:22:38,100
But, Paul, you don't have to be
a diver to access marine life.

384
00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:41,140
I mean, rock pools are full of
similar species, aren't they?

385
00:22:41,140 --> 00:22:42,300
Absolutely, yes.

386
00:22:42,300 --> 00:22:44,780
Look into any rock pool
and you can see animals

387
00:22:44,780 --> 00:22:46,060
going about their lives.

388
00:22:46,060 --> 00:22:48,740
And if you move things around,
it is an animal's home.

389
00:22:48,740 --> 00:22:51,740
I mean, it could be a blenny's
territory or a shanny's territory.

390
00:22:51,740 --> 00:22:54,580
Exactly. Put it back, and then
safety - a little bit of a concern -

391
00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:57,620
if you're going rock pooling, check
the tide times, good stout footwear,

392
00:22:57,620 --> 00:23:00,580
Wellingtons, that sort of stuff and
if you're a young person, make sure

393
00:23:00,580 --> 00:23:03,300
your parents know where you are.
Absolutely. That's the key thing.

394
00:23:03,300 --> 00:23:05,740
But, look, I have to say thank
you very much.

395
00:23:05,740 --> 00:23:08,620
It's been an absolute eye-opener.
Just out there.

396
00:23:08,620 --> 00:23:11,180
I've been looking at badgers
and birds -

397
00:23:11,180 --> 00:23:14,340
they don't dress themselves up
in weed.

398
00:23:14,340 --> 00:23:16,900
Amazing, absolutely amazing.

399
00:23:27,260 --> 00:23:30,660
And you can see Chris and the team
on Blue Planet Live tonight

400
00:23:30,660 --> 00:23:32,300
when they take another look to see

401
00:23:32,300 --> 00:23:34,420
how healthy the world's
oceans really are.

402
00:23:34,420 --> 00:23:38,780
And the health of the oceans or not,
a lot of it is down to us

403
00:23:38,780 --> 00:23:40,620
and although we're very aware

404
00:23:40,620 --> 00:23:43,140
of the problems
with single-use plastics,

405
00:23:43,140 --> 00:23:45,900
who knew the clothes you wear
can make such an impact?

406
00:23:51,340 --> 00:23:56,220
The UK puts on a staggering
seven billion washes a year,

407
00:23:56,220 --> 00:23:59,260
so, with that in mind,
anything that indicates

408
00:23:59,260 --> 00:24:01,500
they're causing plastic pollution
is a big deal.

409
00:24:06,060 --> 00:24:07,300
I'm visiting a lab

410
00:24:07,300 --> 00:24:11,060
at the International Marine Litter
Research Unit in Plymouth

411
00:24:11,060 --> 00:24:15,660
where Richard Thompson
and PhD student Imogen Napper

412
00:24:15,660 --> 00:24:18,500
have been researching
how washing our clothes

413
00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:20,900
can end up with synthetics
in our seas.

414
00:24:23,220 --> 00:24:25,380
Wow! You know, when you said "lab",

415
00:24:25,380 --> 00:24:27,780
this isn't quite what I was
expecting.

416
00:24:27,780 --> 00:24:29,500
This looks more like a launderette.

417
00:24:29,500 --> 00:24:32,180
It feels a bit like that sometimes,
but, actually, it is a lab.

418
00:24:32,180 --> 00:24:36,260
What we're trying to do here
is quantify how many fibres

419
00:24:36,260 --> 00:24:39,060
are coming off everyday items
of clothing when you wash them.

420
00:24:39,060 --> 00:24:42,260
A lot of people don't know that our
clothes are made out of plastic

421
00:24:42,260 --> 00:24:45,300
and this can be polyester, acrylic
or natural synthetic blends

422
00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:48,540
and when it's swishing and swirling
around in the washing machine,

423
00:24:48,540 --> 00:24:51,140
tiny fibres can come off
and go down the waste water

424
00:24:51,140 --> 00:24:52,900
and potentially into our oceans.

425
00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:54,740
We know that we're finding
a lot of fibres

426
00:24:54,740 --> 00:24:57,540
in the marine environment -
we're finding them in the deep sea,

427
00:24:57,540 --> 00:24:59,740
we're finding them in Arctic sea ice

428
00:24:59,740 --> 00:25:02,260
and we're finding them in marine
creatures as well.

429
00:25:02,260 --> 00:25:07,100
To find out what kind of fibres are
making their way into our oceans,

430
00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:10,940
we're going to run a test
on three different fabrics.

431
00:25:12,180 --> 00:25:17,620
So we've got 100% acrylic
jumper, 100% polyester jumper

432
00:25:17,620 --> 00:25:20,340
and then a blend of polyester
and cotton.

433
00:25:20,340 --> 00:25:22,220
Different colours means different
fibres

434
00:25:22,220 --> 00:25:24,580
and you just use that all the time?
Yeah. See, there was me

435
00:25:24,580 --> 00:25:27,220
just thinking you're separating
your lights and darks. Yeah.

436
00:25:27,220 --> 00:25:29,220
I love science experiments.

437
00:25:29,220 --> 00:25:31,140
Never been so excited about washing.

438
00:25:36,140 --> 00:25:38,900
Each item gets washed
on an identical cycle

439
00:25:38,900 --> 00:25:42,260
with the same detergent at the same
temperature.

440
00:25:42,260 --> 00:25:44,820
MUSIC: Where's Me Jumper?
by The Sultans Of Ping FC

441
00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:02,060
The water from the outlet pipes
is filtered to collect any fibres

442
00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:05,100
that would have gone down the drain
and whatever is found is dried

443
00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:06,300
in a petri dish.

444
00:26:07,940 --> 00:26:12,580
Each sample has come from just one
item of clothing after a single wash

445
00:26:12,580 --> 00:26:16,460
and the next step is to take
a closer look under the microscope.

446
00:26:16,460 --> 00:26:18,340
OK, so first one I can see is blue

447
00:26:18,340 --> 00:26:20,740
and that was the hoodie,
wasn't it? Yep.

448
00:26:20,740 --> 00:26:24,660
This is the blue hoodie
and this was polyester-cotton blend.

449
00:26:24,660 --> 00:26:26,220
This is all of the fluff

450
00:26:26,220 --> 00:26:29,660
that we extracted from that
one hoodie in one wash.

451
00:26:29,660 --> 00:26:31,380
That is unreal, isn't it?

452
00:26:31,380 --> 00:26:34,860
Because normally I'd look at that
as fluff... Mmm.

453
00:26:34,860 --> 00:26:37,860
..but I don't think about what the
fluff is made up of. Yeah.

454
00:26:37,860 --> 00:26:39,260
So this is plastic fluff,

455
00:26:39,260 --> 00:26:40,940
well, polyester and cotton.

456
00:26:40,940 --> 00:26:44,740
Some past research that we did
showed that for a typical wash,

457
00:26:44,740 --> 00:26:47,820
on average, about 130,000
fibres can come off

458
00:26:47,820 --> 00:26:50,060
a polyester-cotton blend wash.

459
00:26:50,060 --> 00:26:53,860
And how many washes did
you get this average from?

460
00:26:53,860 --> 00:26:57,340
I did over 200 hours of washes.
Oh, my word!

461
00:26:57,340 --> 00:27:00,340
So you really do know
your blue hoodies

462
00:27:00,340 --> 00:27:05,540
and the fluff that comes off it. I
know this very well. OK. All right.

463
00:27:05,540 --> 00:27:07,820
So, moving on, what else
have we got?

464
00:27:07,820 --> 00:27:11,940
The next one that we had was
the fluffy black jumper

465
00:27:11,940 --> 00:27:14,580
and this was made
out of polyester,

466
00:27:14,580 --> 00:27:18,460
different material -
completely plastic this time.

467
00:27:18,460 --> 00:27:22,180
It's a big tangled mess.
That looks so different.

468
00:27:22,180 --> 00:27:27,140
For a typical wash, up to 500,000
fibres could come off in one wash,

469
00:27:27,140 --> 00:27:29,820
so three times more
than the polyester-cotton blend.

470
00:27:29,820 --> 00:27:34,260
Wow! All right. And we've still got
another one yet. Number three.

471
00:27:34,260 --> 00:27:38,820
So the next one was the beige
jumper. That was made of...?

472
00:27:38,820 --> 00:27:42,020
Acrylic. Hardest to see,
cos it's beige.

473
00:27:42,020 --> 00:27:47,140
But in our past research, we showed
up to 700,000 fibres could come off

474
00:27:47,140 --> 00:27:50,660
a typical clothes wash,
so the most by quite a mile.

475
00:27:50,660 --> 00:27:52,980
And that is all plastic. Yep.

476
00:27:52,980 --> 00:27:54,660
Oh, my word!

477
00:27:54,660 --> 00:27:57,580
These fibres could make their way
through the sewage treatment works

478
00:27:57,580 --> 00:28:01,220
and into our oceans,
making it a big plastic soup.

479
00:28:01,220 --> 00:28:04,780
So it really is
a one way street, isn't it?

480
00:28:04,780 --> 00:28:07,340
Once the plastics are in there,

481
00:28:07,340 --> 00:28:10,820
it's very hard to get such
small plastics out again.

482
00:28:10,820 --> 00:28:14,060
So what's the answer, then? I'll
just stop wearing acrylic, I guess.

483
00:28:14,060 --> 00:28:16,340
Well, it's really not that easy.

484
00:28:16,340 --> 00:28:17,860
Even though in our research

485
00:28:17,860 --> 00:28:20,260
we've shown that acrylic shed
the most fibres,

486
00:28:20,260 --> 00:28:23,140
it can depend how the clothes
are made, how they're woven,

487
00:28:23,140 --> 00:28:27,060
so we need to look right down to the
beginning of the manufacturing stage

488
00:28:27,060 --> 00:28:30,140
so we can stop them shedding fibres
when we're washing them.

489
00:28:30,140 --> 00:28:32,900
The devil really is in the detail
with this, isn't it?

490
00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:36,420
At every stage of the clothes
being manufactured... Yeah.

491
00:28:36,420 --> 00:28:39,780
..to the way that they're washed.
It's very complex.

492
00:28:40,900 --> 00:28:45,260
When it comes to shed-ability, we
can say that mixed fabric is bad -

493
00:28:45,260 --> 00:28:47,660
the polyester three times worse

494
00:28:47,660 --> 00:28:50,060
and the acrylic, by a country mile,

495
00:28:50,060 --> 00:28:51,660
is bottom of the tops.

496
00:28:59,260 --> 00:29:01,540
And these are the culprits here -

497
00:29:01,540 --> 00:29:04,940
the microfibres, the plastic fibres
that come out the clothes

498
00:29:04,940 --> 00:29:07,100
and there's no real solution
to it yet,

499
00:29:07,100 --> 00:29:10,460
but it's all being looked into
and one option is to put together

500
00:29:10,460 --> 00:29:14,020
a textile that doesn't give
off microfibres in the first place

501
00:29:14,020 --> 00:29:16,860
and the other is to find a way
to capture the microfibres

502
00:29:16,860 --> 00:29:19,100
before they make their way
to the ocean.

503
00:29:19,100 --> 00:29:21,420
And this is a prototype
to do just that.

504
00:29:21,420 --> 00:29:24,500
It's a washing machine filter.

505
00:29:24,500 --> 00:29:27,820
The idea being that every single
washing machine would be installed

506
00:29:27,820 --> 00:29:31,020
with one of these to capture
all those microfibres

507
00:29:31,020 --> 00:29:33,580
as micro plastic pollution entering
the environment.

508
00:29:33,580 --> 00:29:37,060
And it wouldn't just benefit
the large marine mammals,

509
00:29:37,060 --> 00:29:38,860
it would benefit
the tiny things as well

510
00:29:38,860 --> 00:29:43,020
cos even plankton is being affected
by this micro plastic pollution.

511
00:29:43,020 --> 00:29:46,780
And plankton is the cornerstone
for every ocean ecosystem,

512
00:29:46,780 --> 00:29:49,180
as The One Show's Mike Dilger
found out.

513
00:29:50,700 --> 00:29:53,380
If someone sent you the greatest
migration on Earth,

514
00:29:53,380 --> 00:29:54,620
what would you think of -

515
00:29:54,620 --> 00:29:57,300
wildebeest crossing
the Serengeti plains,

516
00:29:57,300 --> 00:29:59,620
caribou crossing the Arctic tundra?

517
00:29:59,620 --> 00:30:02,540
Nice guesses but, no,
because it's plankton

518
00:30:02,540 --> 00:30:06,100
and this amazing journey
happens just off our shores.

519
00:30:09,940 --> 00:30:13,580
The animals that take part
in this huge migration underpin

520
00:30:13,580 --> 00:30:16,220
all marine life
in the British Isles,

521
00:30:16,220 --> 00:30:20,060
but, for the most part, you'll
probably have never even seen them.

522
00:30:21,420 --> 00:30:24,340
I've come to the west coast of
Scotland and the beautiful island

523
00:30:24,340 --> 00:30:27,700
of Mull to take a closer
look at plankton -

524
00:30:27,700 --> 00:30:31,020
these tiny
but incredibly important organisms.

525
00:30:32,060 --> 00:30:35,980
During the summer months, the seas
off the British Isles transform,

526
00:30:35,980 --> 00:30:38,220
filling up with swirling patterns

527
00:30:38,220 --> 00:30:40,820
covering hundreds of square
kilometres,

528
00:30:40,820 --> 00:30:42,980
which can even be seen from space.

529
00:30:42,980 --> 00:30:44,700
These patterns are, in fact,

530
00:30:44,700 --> 00:30:47,420
blooms of tiny plants
called phytoplankton -

531
00:30:47,420 --> 00:30:49,900
most no bigger than a pinhead.

532
00:30:49,900 --> 00:30:51,460
These tiny plants are so numerous.

533
00:30:51,460 --> 00:30:54,020
they produce over half
the oxygen we breathe,

534
00:30:54,020 --> 00:30:58,060
they even give the sea its smell
and, most importantly,

535
00:30:58,060 --> 00:31:01,980
they're the food of the creatures
I've come to investigate today.

536
00:31:03,140 --> 00:31:05,300
I'm on a quest to find zooplankton,

537
00:31:05,300 --> 00:31:08,380
some of the weirdest animals
on the planet.

538
00:31:08,380 --> 00:31:11,460
They're so small that if we want
to find them, we need to look out

539
00:31:11,460 --> 00:31:14,540
for the predators that feed on them.

540
00:31:14,540 --> 00:31:17,700
Zooplankton make an incredible
journey each day,

541
00:31:17,700 --> 00:31:20,420
moving between the surface waters
where they feed

542
00:31:20,420 --> 00:31:23,700
and the dark depths
where they're safe from predators.

543
00:31:23,700 --> 00:31:25,460
Some of these tiny individuals

544
00:31:25,460 --> 00:31:27,620
travel to depths of half
a kilometre.

545
00:31:28,620 --> 00:31:32,580
This monumental feat by so many
minuscule animals makes them part

546
00:31:32,580 --> 00:31:34,940
of the biggest migration
on the planet.

547
00:31:34,940 --> 00:31:39,380
Here off the Hebrides, the upwelling
waters, which are rich in nutrients,

548
00:31:39,380 --> 00:31:42,060
create a plankton hot spot.

549
00:31:42,060 --> 00:31:44,540
And in these waters
off the coast of Tiree,

550
00:31:44,540 --> 00:31:47,900
it isn't long before we find
what we're looking for.

551
00:31:49,860 --> 00:31:52,380
This is fabulous behaviour.

552
00:31:52,380 --> 00:31:54,540
You've got sand eel
that feed on plankton,

553
00:31:54,540 --> 00:31:57,020
being pushed
to the surface by bigger fish

554
00:31:57,020 --> 00:31:59,660
and then we've got the birds
piling in from the top.

555
00:31:59,660 --> 00:32:04,060
I'm watching gannets diving from
25 to 30 metres up and slamming

556
00:32:04,060 --> 00:32:07,500
into the water and they're feeding
on big shoals of fish

557
00:32:07,500 --> 00:32:11,980
and where there are fish, there are
going to be huge plankton blooms

558
00:32:11,980 --> 00:32:13,860
and that's what we want to see.

559
00:32:15,220 --> 00:32:18,700
Zooplankton may be amongst the most
numerous animals on Earth,

560
00:32:18,700 --> 00:32:20,780
but catching them isn't easy,

561
00:32:20,780 --> 00:32:24,460
so we've brought plankton
Professor David Pond to help us.

562
00:32:24,460 --> 00:32:26,500
With his specialist net system,

563
00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:30,420
we soon catch some of these marathon
migrators while they're up

564
00:32:30,420 --> 00:32:33,380
at the surface feeding
and head back to the lab.

565
00:32:35,100 --> 00:32:37,460
David, this is a whole new world.

566
00:32:37,460 --> 00:32:40,140
So talk me through this very
distinctive creature

567
00:32:40,140 --> 00:32:43,260
with what looks like a fantail
and red in its body.

568
00:32:43,260 --> 00:32:44,940
It's a really large copepod.

569
00:32:44,940 --> 00:32:46,500
It's about seven millimetres long

570
00:32:46,500 --> 00:32:48,100
and it's kind of the lion
of the sea.

571
00:32:48,100 --> 00:32:50,700
It's carnivorous and it basically
eats all the other chaps.

572
00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:52,820
There's one as well that's
incredibly distinctive

573
00:32:52,820 --> 00:32:55,620
with long antennae that also has red
running through its body

574
00:32:55,620 --> 00:32:57,540
and this seems almost
the most numerous.

575
00:32:57,540 --> 00:33:00,020
It's found across the North
Atlantic, up into the Arctic.

576
00:33:00,020 --> 00:33:02,020
It's really important as a source
of fish food

577
00:33:02,020 --> 00:33:05,180
for commercially important species
and you can see along here,

578
00:33:05,180 --> 00:33:07,180
running along the length of
its body,

579
00:33:07,180 --> 00:33:09,860
you can see an oil sac like lipid -
it's fat basically.

580
00:33:09,860 --> 00:33:13,620
Fish like herring and mackerel feed
on these copepods in huge numbers

581
00:33:13,620 --> 00:33:17,420
and then transfers that lipid,
that oil, into its tissues.

582
00:33:17,420 --> 00:33:20,900
And that's the omega-3 that
we need to eat for our own diet.

583
00:33:20,900 --> 00:33:22,660
Absolutely.

584
00:33:22,660 --> 00:33:25,500
It's incredible to think
that the world's marine life

585
00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:28,620
is so reliant on such tiny animals,

586
00:33:28,620 --> 00:33:31,500
so the next time you're sitting
down to a fish supper,

587
00:33:31,500 --> 00:33:34,300
remember -
it's all down to the plankton.

588
00:33:43,860 --> 00:33:47,820
Microscopic organisms are crucial
to healthy ocean habitats

589
00:33:47,820 --> 00:33:49,100
like coral reefs.

590
00:33:50,100 --> 00:33:52,740
Coral are affected by climate
change, however,

591
00:33:52,740 --> 00:33:57,340
because as sea temperatures rise,
it causes them to go white.

592
00:33:57,340 --> 00:34:01,460
It's called bleaching and can lead
to the coral dying.

593
00:34:01,460 --> 00:34:05,220
It's a really sobering sight
but I went to London to meet

594
00:34:05,220 --> 00:34:08,300
a scientist who thinks
he may have come up with a solution.

595
00:34:10,460 --> 00:34:13,940
Jamie Craggs of the Horniman Museum
is leading the fight

596
00:34:13,940 --> 00:34:15,900
to save the world's coral,

597
00:34:15,900 --> 00:34:20,940
and this little piece of Australia's
Great Barrier Reef holds the key.

598
00:34:22,140 --> 00:34:24,500
Hello. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.

599
00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:26,620
Oh, my goodness. This is beautiful.

600
00:34:26,620 --> 00:34:30,060
Yeah, this is southeast London's
coral reef. That's incredible.

601
00:34:30,060 --> 00:34:33,700
So this is where all the action
happens? Absolutely, yeah.

602
00:34:33,700 --> 00:34:36,020
Reproduction is obviously
the process

603
00:34:36,020 --> 00:34:38,580
that a species and population
continues,

604
00:34:38,580 --> 00:34:42,220
so studying reproduction gives us
that fundamental knowledge,

605
00:34:42,220 --> 00:34:44,860
but then getting them to reproduce
is very difficult.

606
00:34:44,860 --> 00:34:48,700
So our work is focusing
on triggering them to reproduce

607
00:34:48,700 --> 00:34:51,500
and understanding what happens
in the wild,

608
00:34:51,500 --> 00:34:53,580
replicating that in aquariums.

609
00:34:53,580 --> 00:34:56,500
Some of these individual
corals are special,

610
00:34:56,500 --> 00:35:00,020
because they're genetically
resistant to coral bleaching.

611
00:35:00,020 --> 00:35:05,060
It's hoped their offspring can help
save the world's dying reefs.

612
00:35:05,060 --> 00:35:08,900
But breeding coral is easier
said than done.

613
00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:11,740
These corals only spawn over just
a couple of nights a year,

614
00:35:11,740 --> 00:35:14,940
so there's a very small window of
time to get the material you need

615
00:35:14,940 --> 00:35:16,460
for your experiments.

616
00:35:17,580 --> 00:35:22,220
Coral spawning is triggered by
a precise combination of day length,

617
00:35:22,220 --> 00:35:24,820
water temperature and the phase
of the moon.

618
00:35:24,820 --> 00:35:27,660
To get coral to breed in the lab,

619
00:35:27,660 --> 00:35:30,980
all these conditions
must be mirrored exactly.

620
00:35:32,420 --> 00:35:35,380
So that's the sun.
How do you replicate a moon?

621
00:35:35,380 --> 00:35:37,460
We have four LED lights and then

622
00:35:37,460 --> 00:35:41,140
a ping-pong ball's been cut in half
to act as a diffuser.

623
00:35:41,140 --> 00:35:43,980
And really importantly, three bits
of sticky tape have been put

624
00:35:43,980 --> 00:35:45,860
over the top to make sure it's

625
00:35:45,860 --> 00:35:48,940
exactly the same amount of light
as a full moon.

626
00:35:50,540 --> 00:35:54,420
In the natural world, other
creatures live amongst the coral,

627
00:35:54,420 --> 00:35:56,380
like sea urchins.

628
00:35:56,380 --> 00:35:59,300
These resilient little animals graze
on algae

629
00:35:59,300 --> 00:36:02,060
which can kill the coral
if left unchecked.

630
00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:06,220
So these are going to be like room
mates or tank mates, I should say,

631
00:36:06,220 --> 00:36:10,340
for the corals. Yeah, so we've got
four different age groups here

632
00:36:10,340 --> 00:36:13,060
of urchins and they each have
their own use.

633
00:36:13,060 --> 00:36:16,180
So when they're nice and small,
they're great with the baby corals.

634
00:36:16,180 --> 00:36:19,380
As they get older, we then move
them in to control the algae

635
00:36:19,380 --> 00:36:21,140
in with our adult corals.

636
00:36:22,460 --> 00:36:25,060
If the young corals are to feel
at home,

637
00:36:25,060 --> 00:36:27,540
they need the sea urchins there too.

638
00:36:27,540 --> 00:36:30,740
And Jamie has a breeding
programme to maintain his supply

639
00:36:30,740 --> 00:36:32,220
of juvenile urchins.

640
00:36:33,580 --> 00:36:36,820
It's all kicking off in here, isn't
it? Absolutely. Oh, my goodness.

641
00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:40,380
We've got five males spawning
and then a female over here

642
00:36:40,380 --> 00:36:44,300
is producing eggs. That's a huge,
massive egg. That's incredible.

643
00:36:47,820 --> 00:36:52,260
The Horniman Museum was the
first institution in the world

644
00:36:52,260 --> 00:36:55,540
to successfully breed coral
in captivity

645
00:36:55,540 --> 00:36:59,020
and they filmed the magical
moment it all began.

646
00:37:02,020 --> 00:37:06,940
Once the coral starts to spawn,
the eggs and the sperm are collected

647
00:37:06,940 --> 00:37:11,180
so that Jamie can maximise
the chances of fertilisation.

648
00:37:11,180 --> 00:37:14,820
While we can get the corals to spawn
in a very planned way now,

649
00:37:14,820 --> 00:37:19,980
we can rear potentially hundreds
of thousands of embryos.

650
00:37:19,980 --> 00:37:24,140
The next frontier and the next
challenge for us is to get those

651
00:37:24,140 --> 00:37:28,660
hundreds of thousands of larvae to
settle, grow into baby corals

652
00:37:28,660 --> 00:37:32,020
and then have hundreds of thousands
of corals.

653
00:37:33,860 --> 00:37:37,300
As the coral grows,
it's transplanted into tanks.

654
00:37:37,300 --> 00:37:40,420
Here, the team has come up with
a novel way

655
00:37:40,420 --> 00:37:42,660
of monitoring their health.

656
00:37:43,780 --> 00:37:47,100
I'm guessing these are here
for a reason.

657
00:37:47,100 --> 00:37:52,780
Yeah, if we use the light, the blue
light in combination with goggles,

658
00:37:52,780 --> 00:37:55,620
it allows us to highlight
the fluorescence

659
00:37:55,620 --> 00:37:57,340
that are inside the corals.

660
00:37:57,340 --> 00:37:59,060
That is beautiful.

661
00:37:59,060 --> 00:38:00,500
They glow.

662
00:38:00,500 --> 00:38:02,780
Why would coral need to fluoresce?

663
00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:04,540
There's a lot of debate about it.

664
00:38:04,540 --> 00:38:08,220
One thought is the proteins,
the fluorescent proteins, act

665
00:38:08,220 --> 00:38:11,860
as a sunscreen, a bit like suntan
lotion, for the corals

666
00:38:11,860 --> 00:38:16,060
and it protects them against
the harsh UV rays of the sun.

667
00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:20,820
In successfully spawning, breeding
and growing coral,

668
00:38:20,820 --> 00:38:23,740
Jamie has made amazing progress.

669
00:38:23,740 --> 00:38:27,900
The next hurdle is to grow thousands
of warm-water-tolerant coral

670
00:38:27,900 --> 00:38:30,100
and take them back into the oceans

671
00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:33,420
to help fortify our reefs
against climate change.

672
00:38:42,300 --> 00:38:44,500
That was a superb bit of research

673
00:38:44,500 --> 00:38:47,500
and hopefully will make
a real difference.

674
00:38:47,500 --> 00:38:50,900
Tomorrow, we're going to be looking
at British coral reefs,

675
00:38:50,900 --> 00:38:52,460
only in much deeper water.

676
00:38:52,460 --> 00:38:55,820
And to help understand
the challenges, our cameras follow

677
00:38:55,820 --> 00:38:58,660
the Blue Planet Live team as they
drill down

678
00:38:58,660 --> 00:39:00,860
deep off the coast of Costa Rica.

679
00:39:15,100 --> 00:39:17,620
So it's about five o'clock
in the morning.

680
00:39:17,620 --> 00:39:19,740
We've been up since about four,
four-thirty.

681
00:39:19,740 --> 00:39:21,300
We're about 50 miles off

682
00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:23,740
the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

683
00:39:23,740 --> 00:39:25,420
As you can probably see,

684
00:39:25,420 --> 00:39:29,420
we're just about to rendezvous
with the RV Atlantis.

685
00:39:29,420 --> 00:39:32,060
The Atlantis is a scientific
research vessel

686
00:39:32,060 --> 00:39:34,140
carrying some very special cargo.

687
00:39:36,100 --> 00:39:41,420
We are filming with Erik Cordes,
who's the leader of this expedition

688
00:39:41,420 --> 00:39:46,620
to a series of sea mounts that have
never been explored before.

689
00:39:46,620 --> 00:39:49,140
What they're going to find -
who knows?

690
00:39:50,180 --> 00:39:54,020
These underwater mountains
rise from the ocean's floor

691
00:39:54,020 --> 00:39:57,500
but their peaks never break
the water's surface.

692
00:39:59,380 --> 00:40:02,940
To embark on the expedition,
Erik Cordes will be using

693
00:40:02,940 --> 00:40:04,740
a submarine called Alvin.

694
00:40:06,460 --> 00:40:10,260
So, Alvin, by the time we get
on board, is already in operation.

695
00:40:10,260 --> 00:40:11,820
They're doing their dive checks

696
00:40:11,820 --> 00:40:14,540
and making sure it's completely
safe, it's operational.

697
00:40:14,540 --> 00:40:16,940
So that's all going on
as we turn up,

698
00:40:16,940 --> 00:40:18,900
so as soon as we start the day,

699
00:40:18,900 --> 00:40:21,140
as soon as we get on board,
it's go.

700
00:40:24,940 --> 00:40:27,060
So they're just about to go
on a dive.

701
00:40:27,060 --> 00:40:29,220
You can see here at the front
of Alvin,

702
00:40:29,220 --> 00:40:30,580
you've got all the area

703
00:40:30,580 --> 00:40:34,100
where essentially these robotic arms
can pick up samples.

704
00:40:34,100 --> 00:40:36,140
We've got soil samples here.

705
00:40:36,140 --> 00:40:39,100
You've got places where they can
pick up specimens and keep them

706
00:40:39,100 --> 00:40:41,940
until they're on the way up.

707
00:40:41,940 --> 00:40:44,980
Just as a bit of filming equipment,
it's pretty incredible.

708
00:40:44,980 --> 00:40:48,340
You have pan and tilt cameras
up the top there.

709
00:40:48,340 --> 00:40:50,900
It's equipped with 4K camera.

710
00:40:50,900 --> 00:40:54,060
It's got cameras on the arms here.

711
00:40:55,140 --> 00:40:59,660
It can actually grab cameras
with these arms and then place them

712
00:40:59,660 --> 00:41:03,620
on the sea floor and then be
able to move around them.

713
00:41:03,620 --> 00:41:04,980
It's absolutely incredible.

714
00:41:04,980 --> 00:41:09,020
All of them of course have got their
own pressure...specialised casing,

715
00:41:09,020 --> 00:41:10,820
so they can deal with the pressures

716
00:41:10,820 --> 00:41:13,140
at thousands
and thousands of metres deep.

717
00:41:14,980 --> 00:41:18,460
So we haven't be able to take our
own cameras into Alvin,

718
00:41:18,460 --> 00:41:22,260
so we are using
the cameras that they've got.

719
00:41:22,260 --> 00:41:25,980
You know, we've been having to test
that out as we go.

720
00:41:25,980 --> 00:41:27,980
Usually you do that back at base -

721
00:41:27,980 --> 00:41:32,060
you'd do that before you'd arrive,
but it's still just a challenge,

722
00:41:32,060 --> 00:41:35,540
just to try and work that out
and make sure that we get it right,

723
00:41:35,540 --> 00:41:38,140
because Erik is only going
down once.

724
00:41:38,140 --> 00:41:40,100
So if it goes wrong...

725
00:41:41,140 --> 00:41:42,700
..then we could have a problem.

726
00:41:45,140 --> 00:41:49,940
With final checks complete,
Alvin is ready to start its mission

727
00:41:49,940 --> 00:41:51,740
exploring the sea mounts.

728
00:41:57,820 --> 00:41:59,180
So Erik's just left now.

729
00:41:59,180 --> 00:42:02,140
He's going to be down there
for about eight hours.

730
00:42:02,140 --> 00:42:04,740
I just can't wait to see
what he comes back with.

731
00:42:04,740 --> 00:42:06,340
It's going to be amazing.

732
00:42:09,260 --> 00:42:10,780
Watch Blue Planet Live

733
00:42:10,780 --> 00:42:14,140
to find out the results of Alvin's
deep sea dive.

734
00:42:23,780 --> 00:42:24,980
That's it for today.

735
00:42:24,980 --> 00:42:27,940
Don't forget Blue Planet Live
on BBC One tonight.

736
00:42:27,940 --> 00:42:31,260
We're going to be back tomorrow,
same time, but from Scotland

737
00:42:31,260 --> 00:42:34,780
for our final Blue Planet UK.
See you then.

738
00:42:35,860 --> 00:42:41,420
In our final programme, I delve
into the deep of our British oceans.

739
00:42:41,420 --> 00:42:45,620
We're actually looking at an area
1.5km deep.

740
00:42:45,620 --> 00:42:49,660
We learn about one of the most
secretive species in UK waters.

741
00:42:49,660 --> 00:42:53,100
I remember the very first time I saw
a seahorse in the wild.

742
00:42:53,100 --> 00:42:54,340
Absolutely amazing.

743
00:42:55,300 --> 00:42:59,060
Chris reveals why he has a passion
for our coastline.

744
00:42:59,060 --> 00:43:02,900
I feel a closeness to the sea
because of the birds

745
00:43:02,900 --> 00:43:06,100
that are an intrinsic part
of that environment.

746
00:43:06,100 --> 00:43:10,220
And there's a sight to behold as
herring return to Scotland's coast.

747
00:43:10,220 --> 00:43:12,980
There's a great wall of herring
going round and round me.

748
00:43:12,980 --> 00:43:14,380
It's fantastic.