1 00:00:02,300 --> 00:00:04,660 The oceans are places of wonder. 2 00:00:06,580 --> 00:00:08,940 Blue Planet 2 showed us the beauty 3 00:00:08,940 --> 00:00:11,940 and extraordinary behaviour of marine life, 4 00:00:11,940 --> 00:00:16,620 whilst highlighting how fragile and threatened our seas have become. 5 00:00:16,620 --> 00:00:20,420 Now, as Blue Planet Live carries out a health check on 6 00:00:20,420 --> 00:00:22,940 the world's oceans, we are staying closer to home. 7 00:00:24,380 --> 00:00:30,100 Our British seas are rich, varied, and key to our island heritage. 8 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:33,300 But how are our lifestyles affecting them? 9 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:34,900 Whoa! 10 00:00:34,900 --> 00:00:38,620 We'll meet the unsung heroes dedicated to protecting our waters, 11 00:00:38,620 --> 00:00:40,780 and the wildlife that relies on them. 12 00:00:40,780 --> 00:00:44,020 If we don't look after nature, nobody else will. 13 00:00:44,020 --> 00:00:46,020 And celebrate the scientists 14 00:00:46,020 --> 00:00:48,060 striving for solutions to the challenges. 15 00:00:50,060 --> 00:00:53,340 Plus, we'll meet the crabs with a flair for style... 16 00:00:53,340 --> 00:00:56,900 They're dressing up in seaweed as a means of camouflage. Yes. 17 00:00:56,900 --> 00:01:01,260 ..and delve into our very own deep sea coral reefs. 18 00:01:01,260 --> 00:01:03,940 This is the most important deep sea coral, I think, 19 00:01:03,940 --> 00:01:06,420 in the whole world, and this is just off Scotland. 20 00:01:08,860 --> 00:01:11,380 So, dip into our UK waters and see them 21 00:01:11,380 --> 00:01:15,300 like you've never seen them before. BOTH: Welcome to Blue Planet UK. 22 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:30,580 Hello, and welcome to what is our final Blue Planet UK. What a week! 23 00:01:30,580 --> 00:01:33,820 What a week, indeed. And whilst we've been here, 24 00:01:33,820 --> 00:01:37,020 there's been teams all around the world checking in on the state 25 00:01:37,020 --> 00:01:40,460 of our oceans on Blue Planet Live, but for us, it's been what's 26 00:01:40,460 --> 00:01:44,540 going on here and looking into more detail about our own UK marine life. 27 00:01:44,540 --> 00:01:47,300 That's right. It's a real amazing place. 28 00:01:47,300 --> 00:01:49,420 Now, it's not just about the wildlife, 29 00:01:49,420 --> 00:01:51,620 it's about our connection with the oceans, 30 00:01:51,620 --> 00:01:54,140 and we've come back to Scotland, to St Abbs, 31 00:01:54,140 --> 00:01:56,900 on the south east coast, because this is an area that is 32 00:01:56,900 --> 00:02:00,020 steeped in a rich history of fishing. So much of it. 33 00:02:00,020 --> 00:02:03,260 And even just round the corner here is the St Abbs Lighthouse, 34 00:02:03,260 --> 00:02:06,740 and that was built right on the edge, and the idea was to protect 35 00:02:06,740 --> 00:02:10,420 the ships from the cliffs that are so often in fog. 36 00:02:10,420 --> 00:02:13,100 Nowadays, these lighthouses are automated, 37 00:02:13,100 --> 00:02:17,060 but back in the day, the lighthouse keepers had this really privileged 38 00:02:17,060 --> 00:02:20,740 access, a special connection with the oceans, as we'll find out later. 39 00:02:22,780 --> 00:02:27,340 I was a lighthouse keeper from 1976 till 1992. 40 00:02:27,340 --> 00:02:30,180 You'd see things that other people don't see. 41 00:02:30,180 --> 00:02:33,220 A wonderful feeling, to be associated with the sea like that. 42 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:39,900 Also today, we unlock the secrets of the deep at Edinburgh University. 43 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:45,100 We're actually looking at an area probably around 1,500 metres, 44 00:02:45,100 --> 00:02:47,900 so that's 1.5km deep. 45 00:02:47,900 --> 00:02:51,820 Chris reveals his personal connection to the coast. 46 00:02:51,820 --> 00:02:54,460 I like black and white birds, simple. 47 00:02:54,460 --> 00:02:56,660 And many of our seabirds are black and white, 48 00:02:56,660 --> 00:03:00,380 so things like Arctic tern. What a shape! 49 00:03:02,100 --> 00:03:06,140 And, in a world exclusive, Blue Planet UK brings you a sight 50 00:03:06,140 --> 00:03:09,300 not witnessed in our waters for 50 years. 51 00:03:09,300 --> 00:03:13,700 A great wall of herring going round and round me, like a dark shadow. 52 00:03:13,700 --> 00:03:15,180 It's fantastic. 53 00:03:21,420 --> 00:03:25,260 St Abbs is famed for its clear waters and great visibility, 54 00:03:25,260 --> 00:03:28,020 and one of the creatures that you might come across 55 00:03:28,020 --> 00:03:30,940 in the shallows around here is the snake pipefish. 56 00:03:30,940 --> 00:03:33,780 Now, these fish aren't great swimmers, but they can swim 57 00:03:33,780 --> 00:03:36,500 forwards and backwards, which is quite a neat trick. 58 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:40,460 Now, the numbers have been booming in recent years, which sounds like 59 00:03:40,460 --> 00:03:44,420 good news, but it has implications for the seabird colonies. 60 00:03:44,420 --> 00:03:47,300 You see, snake pipefish have rigid, bony structures, 61 00:03:47,300 --> 00:03:50,020 and it makes it difficult for young seabirds to swallow them, 62 00:03:50,020 --> 00:03:52,580 so they're not always the perfect food. 63 00:03:52,580 --> 00:03:56,380 Now, pipefish are related to another creature that people believe have 64 00:03:56,380 --> 00:04:00,540 almost mythical qualities, and Blue Planet UK went down to Devon 65 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:03,540 to meet a man who's dedicated his life to them. 66 00:04:11,620 --> 00:04:14,980 I remember the very first time I saw a seahorse in the wild. 67 00:04:14,980 --> 00:04:16,460 Absolutely amazing. 68 00:04:16,460 --> 00:04:19,340 I mean, they are one of these creatures that defies 69 00:04:19,340 --> 00:04:21,180 all the rules and regulations. 70 00:04:21,180 --> 00:04:24,140 They're supposed to be a fish, they are actually a true fish, 71 00:04:24,140 --> 00:04:26,700 but they have everything that is non-fishlike. 72 00:04:29,780 --> 00:04:33,780 The most famous aspect of seahorses is the male getting pregnant. 73 00:04:33,780 --> 00:04:37,540 And when he actually gives birth, he gives birth in a flurry, 74 00:04:37,540 --> 00:04:40,820 and it's a really quick flurry, and it can be over in seconds. 75 00:04:40,820 --> 00:04:44,340 As soon as they're born, that's it, they're gone. They're on their own. 76 00:04:44,340 --> 00:04:46,860 There's no parental care whatsoever. 77 00:04:46,860 --> 00:04:49,660 In fact, the male just disappears back down to the sea bed. 78 00:04:49,660 --> 00:04:50,900 Not concerned any more. 79 00:04:55,300 --> 00:04:56,900 People come up to me and they say, 80 00:04:56,900 --> 00:04:58,660 "We don't have seahorses here, do we? 81 00:04:58,660 --> 00:05:01,700 "They're a tropical fish, aren't they? They can't live here." 82 00:05:01,700 --> 00:05:06,100 And I say, "No." There are more seahorses living in cold water than 83 00:05:06,100 --> 00:05:07,620 there are in tropical waters. 84 00:05:09,180 --> 00:05:12,380 If you take, for instance, somewhere like Studland Bay in Dorset, 85 00:05:12,380 --> 00:05:15,980 every year, there are thousands of people visiting that beach. 86 00:05:15,980 --> 00:05:18,020 It's not very deep, the water. 87 00:05:18,020 --> 00:05:20,660 It's probably two, three metres deep at the best. 88 00:05:20,660 --> 00:05:23,500 And yet, right by their feet, in amongst the sea grass, 89 00:05:23,500 --> 00:05:24,980 there's seahorses. 90 00:05:26,380 --> 00:05:29,420 We've got these two amazing species here. 91 00:05:29,420 --> 00:05:30,940 We've got the spiny seahorse, 92 00:05:30,940 --> 00:05:33,980 and we've got the short-snouted seahorse. 93 00:05:33,980 --> 00:05:36,660 And they are literally right round the British Isles, 94 00:05:36,660 --> 00:05:38,060 up to the Shetland Islands. 95 00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:45,900 Seahorses have this very, 96 00:05:45,900 --> 00:05:49,780 very unique fingerprint on either side of the head, so we can 97 00:05:49,780 --> 00:05:56,020 identify individual seahorses, from dots and lines all over their heads. 98 00:05:58,620 --> 00:06:00,540 Having seen so many in the wild now, 99 00:06:00,540 --> 00:06:03,780 I truly believe each individual seahorse has its own personality, 100 00:06:03,780 --> 00:06:07,300 not maybe the way humans have, but some of them are really bold. 101 00:06:07,300 --> 00:06:10,380 They'll sit there and they'll say, "Who are you?" sort of thing. 102 00:06:10,380 --> 00:06:13,660 And other ones shy down. You've got to be really careful with them. 103 00:06:15,380 --> 00:06:19,740 They have this ability to change colour, very much like cuttlefish. 104 00:06:19,740 --> 00:06:23,020 If they're stressed, they go a really dark colour, really black, 105 00:06:23,020 --> 00:06:25,180 if they're courting, they could go white, 106 00:06:25,180 --> 00:06:27,660 they can go light colours, they can go yellow. 107 00:06:27,660 --> 00:06:31,580 So, the colour depends on the mood that they're actually in. 108 00:06:31,580 --> 00:06:35,260 Their eyesight is amazing. They can see in full colour, 109 00:06:35,260 --> 00:06:36,860 just as well as you and I can. 110 00:06:40,980 --> 00:06:44,020 It's no coincidence that seahorses are found on 111 00:06:44,020 --> 00:06:47,580 so many coats of arms and emblems, 112 00:06:47,580 --> 00:06:50,620 because they are this mystical sort of looking creature. 113 00:06:52,620 --> 00:06:56,380 In Chinese language, seahorse actually means "dragon's child," 114 00:06:56,380 --> 00:06:59,460 so they have this lovely sort of connection to dragons, 115 00:06:59,460 --> 00:07:01,060 even in Chinese language. 116 00:07:05,460 --> 00:07:09,500 They are a passion, purely because they're so unusual. 117 00:07:09,500 --> 00:07:12,580 We think we know everything about them, but we don't. 118 00:07:12,580 --> 00:07:15,940 We've literally just scratched the surface about seahorses. 119 00:07:15,940 --> 00:07:18,660 It would get boring if we knew all the answers about them, 120 00:07:18,660 --> 00:07:19,700 but we don't. 121 00:07:24,500 --> 00:07:27,140 How beautiful were those seahorses? I love seahorses. 122 00:07:27,140 --> 00:07:29,700 And do you know what's really amazing is that there's 123 00:07:29,700 --> 00:07:32,220 all sorts of species found all around the world, 124 00:07:32,220 --> 00:07:34,820 and they're often associated with this sort of thing. 125 00:07:34,820 --> 00:07:37,860 This is a piece of coral that was found for scientific research, but 126 00:07:37,860 --> 00:07:40,660 I want you to guess, Steve, where this coral might have come from. 127 00:07:40,660 --> 00:07:42,100 Well, coral's coral. 128 00:07:42,100 --> 00:07:44,580 You're thinking Australia, tropics, that kind of thing. 129 00:07:44,580 --> 00:07:47,140 I was hoping you were going to say that! You're wrong. 130 00:07:47,140 --> 00:07:50,620 Argh! This is actually from UK waters. Can you believe that? 131 00:07:50,620 --> 00:07:52,220 It's a cold water specialist, 132 00:07:52,220 --> 00:07:55,260 but not just that - it was found 200 metres deep. 133 00:07:55,260 --> 00:07:58,220 And this species of coral will create habitats for loads 134 00:07:58,220 --> 00:08:01,260 and loads of other species, and to find out more about them, 135 00:08:01,260 --> 00:08:03,500 I went to Edinburgh University to meet the team 136 00:08:03,500 --> 00:08:05,860 who are unlocking the secrets of the deep. 137 00:08:11,980 --> 00:08:14,380 Sea creatures at home amongst the coral beds. 138 00:08:15,540 --> 00:08:17,540 But not in the ocean. 139 00:08:17,540 --> 00:08:20,300 In a lab, where Murray Roberts studies them. 140 00:08:22,740 --> 00:08:25,700 Many of the specimens under investigation here 141 00:08:25,700 --> 00:08:29,260 were gathered on an expedition of deep waters off the west coast 142 00:08:29,260 --> 00:08:33,620 of Scotland, exploring life at depths of up to 1.5km. 143 00:08:36,380 --> 00:08:39,580 The team use a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, 144 00:08:39,580 --> 00:08:42,900 fitted with robotic arms to collect their finds. 145 00:08:44,900 --> 00:08:47,860 And Murray has hours of fascinating footage. 146 00:08:47,860 --> 00:08:49,820 You're about to launch it, is that right? 147 00:08:49,820 --> 00:08:52,420 It's being launched at the moment. You'll see the splashdown 148 00:08:52,420 --> 00:08:54,660 just in a second. There we go. That's it. Underwater. 149 00:08:54,660 --> 00:08:57,940 And this is the start of its journey now, down to the deep-water 150 00:08:57,940 --> 00:09:00,260 coral habitats that are hundreds 151 00:09:00,260 --> 00:09:02,220 of metres beneath the ship. 152 00:09:02,220 --> 00:09:05,740 And the really exciting bit is that we'll see things on the 153 00:09:05,740 --> 00:09:07,940 sea floor that have never been seen before. 154 00:09:07,940 --> 00:09:09,940 Absolutely nobody's laid eyes on them? 155 00:09:09,940 --> 00:09:12,380 No-one's ever seen these deep sea areas before. 156 00:09:12,380 --> 00:09:16,180 So this is almost like exploring outer space, but this is our planet. 157 00:09:16,180 --> 00:09:18,700 This is our planet, and this is just off our back yard. 158 00:09:18,700 --> 00:09:22,180 This is the deep sea off Scotland. Touchdown. 159 00:09:22,180 --> 00:09:25,660 This is touchdown, and we've landed right onto one of these 160 00:09:25,660 --> 00:09:27,300 deep-water coral reefs. 161 00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:31,220 So, what you can see is a whole colony of deep-water coral. 162 00:09:31,220 --> 00:09:34,380 It looks like a tropical coral reef. This is lophelia, is it? 163 00:09:34,380 --> 00:09:37,340 This is lophelia. This is the coral that makes all the big 164 00:09:37,340 --> 00:09:39,900 reef structures in the North Atlantic, so you can see 165 00:09:39,900 --> 00:09:43,420 that same really complicated skeleton that makes up the coral, 166 00:09:43,420 --> 00:09:47,580 and that's the structure that all these other species use as a home. 167 00:09:47,580 --> 00:09:50,020 That is a mind-blowingly huge structure. 168 00:09:50,020 --> 00:09:52,740 I mean, it is actually genuinely quite exciting to see 169 00:09:52,740 --> 00:09:54,740 this species in its natural habitat. 170 00:09:54,740 --> 00:09:58,660 This is the most important deep sea coral, I think, in the whole world. 171 00:09:58,660 --> 00:10:00,300 Really? And look at it. 172 00:10:00,300 --> 00:10:02,700 We normally associate coral with, like, tropical reefs, 173 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:04,340 needing lots of sunlight. 174 00:10:04,340 --> 00:10:07,620 How on Earth is this species surviving down there with 175 00:10:07,620 --> 00:10:10,420 no light at all? There's no light, but if you look really closely, 176 00:10:10,420 --> 00:10:14,060 you can see tiny little particles that are flowing past the corals. 177 00:10:14,060 --> 00:10:16,100 The corals grow into the water currents, 178 00:10:16,100 --> 00:10:18,900 and they feed from the food in the water currents. 179 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:22,940 They feed from tiny plankton, minute shrimp, little plant cells 180 00:10:22,940 --> 00:10:26,140 called phytoplankton that are moving past these corals. 181 00:10:26,140 --> 00:10:29,420 You can really see, it's like a thick soup of nutrients, 182 00:10:29,420 --> 00:10:32,460 I suppose, just all flowing past the coral structure. It's exactly that. 183 00:10:32,460 --> 00:10:35,420 The coral itself is also creating habitat, presumably, 184 00:10:35,420 --> 00:10:38,420 for all kinds of species. Yes, the skeletons the corals grow, 185 00:10:38,420 --> 00:10:41,980 when they die off quite naturally, they remain intact 186 00:10:41,980 --> 00:10:44,780 and it's that structure that's a city beneath the sea 187 00:10:44,780 --> 00:10:48,700 for the other animals to latch onto, and find a place to live. 188 00:10:48,700 --> 00:10:52,020 From the footage alone, it's hard to get a sense of scale, 189 00:10:52,020 --> 00:10:56,380 but Murray has a specimen picked from the sea bed which really 190 00:10:56,380 --> 00:10:58,580 puts things into perspective. 191 00:10:58,580 --> 00:11:02,860 Let me just get the lid off here and show you this. Oh! 192 00:11:02,860 --> 00:11:08,420 That is smelly! But, my goodness me! Look at this. 193 00:11:08,420 --> 00:11:12,140 This is the deep sea red crab. Very abundant in the North Atlantic. 194 00:11:12,140 --> 00:11:13,500 Look at the size of this. 195 00:11:13,500 --> 00:11:15,860 I'm going to put it back because we need to keep it 196 00:11:15,860 --> 00:11:18,540 in the preservative, which doesn't smell too great! 197 00:11:18,540 --> 00:11:21,540 Yeah, that is pretty powerful! Do you know what really strikes me 198 00:11:21,540 --> 00:11:24,060 about that is I would normally think something 199 00:11:24,060 --> 00:11:26,460 that lives in the deep sea, something that lives in the 200 00:11:26,460 --> 00:11:28,380 dark and cold water would grow very slowly, 201 00:11:28,380 --> 00:11:31,020 and getting to that size would be quite an achievement. 202 00:11:31,020 --> 00:11:32,580 This is one of the surprises. 203 00:11:32,580 --> 00:11:35,300 The deep oceans of the world are actually quite productive, 204 00:11:35,300 --> 00:11:37,660 because they're tightly coupled to the surface ocean, 205 00:11:37,660 --> 00:11:39,620 and the surface ocean in the North Atlantic, 206 00:11:39,620 --> 00:11:43,060 where that plankton is growing, is very, very dynamic. 207 00:11:43,060 --> 00:11:46,300 That food is focused down in these coral areas really quickly. 208 00:11:53,340 --> 00:11:55,900 The cold water reef makes a home for a huge 209 00:11:55,900 --> 00:11:57,780 number of species at various depths. 210 00:12:00,460 --> 00:12:03,780 Octopus and Chimaera, or rabbitfish. 211 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:10,380 Murray's team went even further into the depths, 212 00:12:10,380 --> 00:12:12,540 reaching the Logachev Mounds. 213 00:12:12,540 --> 00:12:15,940 The landscape here starts to get eerily sparse. 214 00:12:15,940 --> 00:12:18,620 But it's not without its surprises. 215 00:12:18,620 --> 00:12:21,820 Seamounts are underwater extinct volcanos. 216 00:12:21,820 --> 00:12:23,700 Right. And this is west of Scotland. 217 00:12:23,700 --> 00:12:27,820 We're actually looking at an area probably around 1,500m deep, 218 00:12:27,820 --> 00:12:32,740 so that's 1.5km deep, and we've found hundreds 219 00:12:32,740 --> 00:12:37,380 if not thousands of these egg cases on the side of the seamount. 220 00:12:37,380 --> 00:12:38,980 And here is one of them. 221 00:12:38,980 --> 00:12:42,620 It's an extraordinary sight, 30cm long. 222 00:12:42,620 --> 00:12:45,780 So, what species is this, now that you've got this back in the lab? 223 00:12:45,780 --> 00:12:47,220 Have you been able to ID it? 224 00:12:47,220 --> 00:12:50,700 Yes, it's called Bathyraja, this particular deep-water skate. 225 00:12:50,700 --> 00:12:53,740 And they're laying their eggs 1.5km deep, 226 00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:56,860 where the sea water is particularly rich in oxygen. 227 00:12:56,860 --> 00:12:58,340 We think that's really important 228 00:12:58,340 --> 00:13:00,940 for the development of the embryos inside these egg cases. 229 00:13:00,940 --> 00:13:04,500 We think, as part of climate change, the oxygen levels in the water 230 00:13:04,500 --> 00:13:08,060 are going to drop, and that could be bad news for this skate species. 231 00:13:11,220 --> 00:13:13,460 They may seem like alien landscapes, 232 00:13:13,460 --> 00:13:17,020 but what we do directly affects these habitats. 233 00:13:18,980 --> 00:13:20,700 Since the Industrial Revolution, 234 00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:23,060 we have massively increased the level of carbon dioxide 235 00:13:23,060 --> 00:13:26,380 in the atmosphere, and how that affects sea life 236 00:13:26,380 --> 00:13:30,300 is difficult to illustrate, but I have some help. 237 00:13:30,300 --> 00:13:34,940 Laurence has this really neat experiment where a rubber tube 238 00:13:34,940 --> 00:13:38,300 and a beaker can actually shed light on the whole thing, 239 00:13:38,300 --> 00:13:40,780 so, Laurence, tell me what I'm supposed to do. 240 00:13:40,780 --> 00:13:45,260 Yes, so this beaker here represents our ocean. 241 00:13:45,260 --> 00:13:49,180 So, we can use this little tube, and by blowing into the tube, 242 00:13:49,180 --> 00:13:53,220 you will increase the carbon dioxide in our mini ocean, and we will see 243 00:13:53,220 --> 00:13:57,460 how this increase in carbon dioxide in the ocean affects the acidity, 244 00:13:57,460 --> 00:14:02,620 which this instrument measures. OK. Well, into the ocean I go. Yeah. 245 00:14:08,900 --> 00:14:10,580 This number is going down, 246 00:14:10,580 --> 00:14:13,060 which means that the acidity is increasing. 247 00:14:16,820 --> 00:14:18,900 Gosh, that's happening very quickly. Yes. 248 00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:22,020 And so this has very important implications for cold water corals, 249 00:14:22,020 --> 00:14:25,260 because they're made out of limestone. 250 00:14:25,260 --> 00:14:27,820 And this limestone would then dissolve, which could have 251 00:14:27,820 --> 00:14:31,420 major implications for the animals that use these corals as a habitat. 252 00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:39,740 It's sobering to think that our actions can affect life 253 00:14:39,740 --> 00:14:42,140 found in some of our deeper waters. 254 00:14:42,140 --> 00:14:45,540 But with scientists exploring these uncharted territories, 255 00:14:45,540 --> 00:14:48,140 we may be able to gain a greater understanding 256 00:14:48,140 --> 00:14:50,220 of how to protect them in the future. 257 00:14:54,540 --> 00:14:58,300 It is so cool, seeing those deep sea creatures, but do you know? 258 00:14:58,300 --> 00:14:59,980 If you come down to the shores, 259 00:14:59,980 --> 00:15:03,700 you'll see all kinds of things, like this shore crab right here. 260 00:15:03,700 --> 00:15:06,420 Now, they share a really similar strategy, 261 00:15:06,420 --> 00:15:09,660 in fact, exactly the same strategy as those deep sea crabs, 262 00:15:09,660 --> 00:15:12,340 as Miranda Krestovnikoff found out for The One Show. 263 00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:19,980 A grisly scene lies scattered across a beach in North Wales. 264 00:15:19,980 --> 00:15:23,580 Heaps of washed up crabs littering the shore. 265 00:15:23,580 --> 00:15:26,900 Walking along this beach, I'm struck by what appears to be 266 00:15:26,900 --> 00:15:29,780 a dramatic loss of life, but looks can be deceptive. 267 00:15:34,020 --> 00:15:37,740 What looks like a dead crab is in fact a discarded shell, 268 00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:40,700 the remnants of the moult of the common shore crab, 269 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:42,700 a truly remarkable feat of nature. 270 00:15:44,740 --> 00:15:48,580 Common shore crabs live all around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. 271 00:15:48,580 --> 00:15:50,460 They're found from the high tide mark, 272 00:15:50,460 --> 00:15:54,460 all the way down to a depth of 60m, and they feed on anything 273 00:15:54,460 --> 00:15:58,140 they can find, including dead fish, and even other shore crabs. 274 00:15:58,140 --> 00:16:01,420 They're clearly a very successful species, 275 00:16:01,420 --> 00:16:05,220 but their design has a flaw, which makes moulting a necessity, 276 00:16:05,220 --> 00:16:07,940 as crab expert Professor Simon Webster explains. 277 00:16:07,940 --> 00:16:10,940 They don't grow in a linear fashion as we do, because they have 278 00:16:10,940 --> 00:16:15,020 this hard shell, an exoskeleton, so their growth is intermittent. 279 00:16:15,020 --> 00:16:17,660 So their skeleton's on the outside. 280 00:16:17,660 --> 00:16:20,100 Yes, it is on the outside, and so every year,, 281 00:16:20,100 --> 00:16:24,380 the have to shed this and then expand to their final size. 282 00:16:24,380 --> 00:16:25,460 So it's like, 283 00:16:25,460 --> 00:16:28,180 if I was a child and I was wearing clothes that were too small for me, 284 00:16:28,180 --> 00:16:30,740 I literally couldn't grow until I'd sort of got rid of them. 285 00:16:30,740 --> 00:16:32,380 That's a perfect analogy. 286 00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:36,780 Every part of the crab's body is encased in the hard skeleton, 287 00:16:36,780 --> 00:16:40,020 including the delicate and complicated mouth parts, 288 00:16:40,020 --> 00:16:42,460 the stalks of the eyes, and the antennae, 289 00:16:42,460 --> 00:16:46,500 which the crab uses to smell in the water. Even these small 290 00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:50,100 and delicate structures must be removed from the rigid exoskeleton 291 00:16:50,100 --> 00:16:52,900 during moulting, and Simon's been studying how that 292 00:16:52,900 --> 00:16:55,940 happens in his lab at Bangor University. 293 00:16:55,940 --> 00:16:58,860 So, talk me through this incredibly complicated process. 294 00:16:58,860 --> 00:17:01,940 The whole process is triggered by a series of hormones. 295 00:17:01,940 --> 00:17:04,780 There are two phases. The first phase, we call the passive phase. 296 00:17:04,780 --> 00:17:08,020 Here we have one that's begun to crack its shell open. 297 00:17:08,020 --> 00:17:11,460 It's decalcified its shell, and you can see here this line. 298 00:17:11,460 --> 00:17:13,060 It's called the epimeral line, 299 00:17:13,060 --> 00:17:15,140 and this is an area of much thinner shell. 300 00:17:15,140 --> 00:17:18,100 And this is like a sort of perforated seam. Yes, exactly. 301 00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:20,300 Right, and it's going to expand underneath that, 302 00:17:20,300 --> 00:17:21,780 and that's going to open up. Yes. 303 00:17:21,780 --> 00:17:24,340 And then, what happens after that breaks? 304 00:17:24,340 --> 00:17:29,740 Then, the crab undergoes a period of what we call passive ecdysis, 305 00:17:29,740 --> 00:17:31,180 or moulting. 306 00:17:31,180 --> 00:17:34,580 Here is one which has now taken on a little bit of water, 307 00:17:34,580 --> 00:17:38,340 and it's beginning to open up. 308 00:17:38,340 --> 00:17:42,140 The final active phase of the moult takes about 15 minutes, 309 00:17:42,140 --> 00:17:45,540 so we're setting up a time lapse camera to film the action. 310 00:17:45,540 --> 00:17:50,540 The crab drinks in more and more water, causing it to swell. 311 00:17:50,540 --> 00:17:54,540 The carapace opens up, and the crab extracts itself by pushing 312 00:17:54,540 --> 00:17:57,460 and compressing all of its appendages repeatedly, 313 00:17:57,460 --> 00:17:59,980 until it finally wrestles free. 314 00:17:59,980 --> 00:18:03,460 If the crab doesn't get out quickly, it will become trapped, 315 00:18:03,460 --> 00:18:05,580 and die in the old shell. 316 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:11,060 This is the exoskeleton of a newly-moulted crab, 317 00:18:11,060 --> 00:18:14,740 and this is the chap that's just come out of it. 318 00:18:14,740 --> 00:18:20,980 You can see he's a lot larger than the old shell, about 20% bigger. 319 00:18:20,980 --> 00:18:24,500 And if I touch him, he's absolutely as soft as jelly. 320 00:18:26,220 --> 00:18:29,340 It can take a few weeks for the shell to harden. 321 00:18:29,340 --> 00:18:32,700 Juvenile crabs have to endure this vulnerable state every few months, 322 00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:36,460 as they grow, but even adults will moult once a year. 323 00:18:36,460 --> 00:18:41,420 For females, this soft shell period is the only time they can mate. 324 00:18:41,420 --> 00:18:44,740 Amorous males pick up the females and carry them around, 325 00:18:44,740 --> 00:18:48,420 in the process keeping them safe from predators. 326 00:18:48,420 --> 00:18:51,980 Moulting also allows animals with exoskeletons to do something 327 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:54,060 which we vertebrates can only dream of. 328 00:18:56,060 --> 00:19:00,100 Besides allowing the crab to grow, moulting also allows regeneration 329 00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:04,460 of lost limbs, so you can see that this one's only got one front claw. 330 00:19:04,460 --> 00:19:06,140 At every subsequent moult, 331 00:19:06,140 --> 00:19:08,700 missing limbs will grow back a little bit more. 332 00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:11,980 After a couple of years, they should have completely regrown, 333 00:19:11,980 --> 00:19:15,620 an amazing act of regeneration, taking place all around our shores. 334 00:19:17,660 --> 00:19:20,900 So, next time you come across a common shore crab shell on a beach, 335 00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:24,140 remember the remarkable feat of animal escapology 336 00:19:24,140 --> 00:19:26,700 that created every single one of these. 337 00:19:31,540 --> 00:19:33,260 Crabs are cool! 338 00:19:33,260 --> 00:19:35,660 And what makes them even cooler is that 339 00:19:35,660 --> 00:19:38,940 each and every one behaves slightly differently. 340 00:19:38,940 --> 00:19:41,980 And I'm here at St Abbs Marine Station to find out 341 00:19:41,980 --> 00:19:43,820 a little bit more about crab personality. 342 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:53,780 So, I've got Karen with me, 343 00:19:53,780 --> 00:19:56,060 who's going to tell me all about crab personalities. 344 00:19:56,060 --> 00:19:59,820 Karen, one thing I will say is. I've been saying this all along - 345 00:19:59,820 --> 00:20:01,740 invertebrates have personalities, 346 00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:04,500 and now it looks like you can prove this. 347 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:07,060 Well, I'm trying to prove that. I agree with you. 348 00:20:07,060 --> 00:20:09,620 I've been thinking that many, many years 349 00:20:09,620 --> 00:20:12,220 when observing crabs in the field and mangroves in Australia, 350 00:20:12,220 --> 00:20:14,660 that I could actually tell who's who, 351 00:20:14,660 --> 00:20:17,060 just by their personality, and years ago, 352 00:20:17,060 --> 00:20:19,060 my supervisor didn't believe me, 353 00:20:19,060 --> 00:20:23,020 so I decided I need to follow up on this and here at the Marine Station, 354 00:20:23,020 --> 00:20:27,340 we decided to look at whether they do have personalities or not. 355 00:20:27,340 --> 00:20:28,860 We run tests with them. 356 00:20:28,860 --> 00:20:32,340 One would be - how do they react to a novel object, for example? 357 00:20:32,340 --> 00:20:36,060 Is it an exploratory type who looks at it and says, 358 00:20:36,060 --> 00:20:37,460 "I want to explore what it is. 359 00:20:37,460 --> 00:20:40,100 "Could it be food? Or could it be a shelter?" 360 00:20:40,100 --> 00:20:42,100 Or is it a shy personality that says, 361 00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:45,140 "Hm, I don't know this and I'd rather stay away"? 362 00:20:45,140 --> 00:20:48,500 And there's a really hi-tech way that you do this. 363 00:20:48,500 --> 00:20:50,740 I've got this plastic brick, and apparently, 364 00:20:50,740 --> 00:20:52,700 there's a bit of a technique here. 365 00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:54,740 I've got to submerge it, and then let go. 366 00:20:56,380 --> 00:20:57,820 And there you have it. 367 00:20:57,820 --> 00:21:00,020 The drop! 368 00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:02,900 And now we wait! I'm actually trying to stand back now, 369 00:21:02,900 --> 00:21:05,820 because I don't want to distract him. I don't want him to see me now. 370 00:21:05,820 --> 00:21:08,260 That's good. But you know this individual. You know this is 371 00:21:08,260 --> 00:21:10,860 a bold and brave crab, because you've filmed this before. 372 00:21:10,860 --> 00:21:14,460 When we did it before, it was one of the fastest reacting. 373 00:21:14,460 --> 00:21:16,220 Playing around and taking it, 374 00:21:16,220 --> 00:21:19,820 carrying it all round this little tank, actually. 375 00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:23,100 And if it was a shy crab, now, you've filmed that as well, right? 376 00:21:23,100 --> 00:21:27,140 Yes, shy crabs didn't do a thing. They didn't touch it. 377 00:21:27,140 --> 00:21:29,500 They walked around it, and gave it a look, 378 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:31,500 and wandered around from corner to corner, 379 00:21:31,500 --> 00:21:33,700 where they like to seek a bit of shelter, 380 00:21:33,700 --> 00:21:36,820 but in contrast to the brave one, never went straight for it. 381 00:21:39,780 --> 00:21:43,020 So, Karen, of course, I know it feels like a game, 382 00:21:43,020 --> 00:21:46,700 plastic toys with crabs, but this is what it's about, isn't it? 383 00:21:46,700 --> 00:21:50,460 Yeah, that's true. What you see here is a creel, crab pots, 384 00:21:50,460 --> 00:21:54,020 so what sort of crabs go inside this trap? 385 00:21:54,020 --> 00:21:57,460 Is it just any crab, or is it just the boldest ones, 386 00:21:57,460 --> 00:22:00,140 the exploratory ones, that these pots are catching? 387 00:22:00,140 --> 00:22:02,500 So, what does that mean for the whole population, 388 00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:04,900 if all we're doing is catching brave crabs? 389 00:22:04,900 --> 00:22:07,460 Well, obviously, there are fewer brave crabs out there, 390 00:22:07,460 --> 00:22:10,940 so the problem would only really arise if we found, 391 00:22:10,940 --> 00:22:13,740 and that's step three now of our research, 392 00:22:13,740 --> 00:22:17,220 if brave crabs also tend to be those that grow fastest 393 00:22:17,220 --> 00:22:21,860 and reproduce at a higher rate, then obviously you could decrease 394 00:22:21,860 --> 00:22:24,780 the productivity of the population over time and then, 395 00:22:24,780 --> 00:22:27,780 that would obviously be bad for the fishery as well. 396 00:22:27,780 --> 00:22:31,660 So, in an ideal world, what you want is brave crabs, shy crabs, 397 00:22:31,660 --> 00:22:34,020 and everything in between. Exactly. 398 00:22:40,700 --> 00:22:43,580 It's clear that British waters have an awful lot to offer, 399 00:22:43,580 --> 00:22:45,180 in terms of wildlife, 400 00:22:45,180 --> 00:22:48,820 but we need to be mindful of that balance with human activities. 401 00:22:48,820 --> 00:22:51,700 Exactly. And there's been a lot of damage done, 402 00:22:51,700 --> 00:22:53,900 but the situation can be reversed, 403 00:22:53,900 --> 00:22:55,860 as Springwatch's Iolo Williams found out 404 00:22:55,860 --> 00:22:59,500 when he went to the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland. 405 00:23:01,780 --> 00:23:05,500 Lamlash is an idyllic coastal town on the Isle of Arran, 406 00:23:05,500 --> 00:23:08,500 with pristine views out into the Firth of Clyde. 407 00:23:11,140 --> 00:23:14,020 These waters were once one of Europe's most commercially 408 00:23:14,020 --> 00:23:17,940 productive fishing areas, and Lamlash held international 409 00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:21,820 sea angling festivals, celebrating thriving populations of white fish, 410 00:23:21,820 --> 00:23:25,140 including herring, cod, and haddock. 411 00:23:25,140 --> 00:23:28,340 But in the 1980s, the tide turned. 412 00:23:28,340 --> 00:23:32,940 I remember fishing in 1986, and we'd catch 413 00:23:32,940 --> 00:23:36,940 so many fish that we wouldn't know what to do with. 414 00:23:36,940 --> 00:23:40,620 But the year after that, we went out, and caught nothing. 415 00:23:40,620 --> 00:23:44,980 A change in the law allowed bottom dredging close to the UK coast, 416 00:23:44,980 --> 00:23:48,700 coinciding with the introduction of a new destructive type 417 00:23:48,700 --> 00:23:50,700 of scallop dredger. 418 00:23:50,700 --> 00:23:54,700 There was factory boats coming in, and hoovering everything out 419 00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:57,860 the sea bed. It was horrible. 420 00:23:57,860 --> 00:24:00,940 It was a fishing revolution that eventually saw the Clyde 421 00:24:00,940 --> 00:24:04,100 labelled as a marine desert by scientists. 422 00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:08,500 Fish stocks fell by a devastating 96%. 423 00:24:08,500 --> 00:24:12,740 But the passion of two local divers who couldn't bear to watch 424 00:24:12,740 --> 00:24:17,540 an entire ecosystem disappear saw the creation of COAST, 425 00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:19,900 the Community Of Arran Seabed Trust. 426 00:24:23,180 --> 00:24:27,220 Local diver Howard Wood was one of those determined to make a change. 427 00:24:29,060 --> 00:24:33,500 When did you first dive these waters, Howard? 1974. 428 00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:36,020 And if I would have come with you on that first dive, 429 00:24:36,020 --> 00:24:37,700 what would I have seen? 430 00:24:37,700 --> 00:24:42,500 Dozens of flatfish, plaice, scabs, even big turbot. 431 00:24:42,500 --> 00:24:47,660 Thornback rays, cuckoo rays, shoals of pollock. 432 00:24:47,660 --> 00:24:52,340 I only really appreciated what I'd seen as a teenager 433 00:24:52,340 --> 00:24:55,780 maybe 10, 15 years later, when it was starting to disappear. 434 00:24:55,780 --> 00:24:58,980 But you weren't happy to just sit back and watch all this happen. 435 00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:01,700 You actually took action, didn't you? My friend, 436 00:25:01,700 --> 00:25:05,380 Don MacNeish, he kept poking me, saying, "We need to do something". 437 00:25:05,380 --> 00:25:08,500 Don had come back from New Zealand with the idea of no take zone, 438 00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:14,300 which is an area that no marine life or plants can be taken out of. 439 00:25:14,300 --> 00:25:17,500 And we tried to do something. 440 00:25:17,500 --> 00:25:21,900 As two or three people, nobody really took much notice, 441 00:25:21,900 --> 00:25:25,460 and so we realised we really needed the community on board. 442 00:25:25,460 --> 00:25:28,340 They say that, when you try and establish any kind of marine 443 00:25:28,340 --> 00:25:31,940 protection area, the people to persuade are the local fishermen. 444 00:25:31,940 --> 00:25:33,260 How did they react? 445 00:25:33,260 --> 00:25:35,420 We knew them, and we knew them very well, 446 00:25:35,420 --> 00:25:38,820 and some of them were our friends. So, it wasn't that difficult 447 00:25:38,820 --> 00:25:41,100 to actually convince the local fishermen. 448 00:25:42,460 --> 00:25:45,700 But even with the local fishermen on board, it took a further 13 years 449 00:25:45,700 --> 00:25:50,540 of lobbying, letters, and phone calls to persuade those in power. 450 00:25:50,540 --> 00:25:54,940 In 2008, the first ever no take zone in Scottish waters 451 00:25:54,940 --> 00:25:57,420 was established around Lamlash Bay. 452 00:25:57,420 --> 00:26:01,300 We were ecstatic. It was absolutely great. We held a small celebration. 453 00:26:01,300 --> 00:26:04,620 We've campaigned for 13 years to get this no take zone, 454 00:26:04,620 --> 00:26:07,580 but in reality, this is the start. 455 00:26:07,580 --> 00:26:10,340 It's like a living laboratory, 456 00:26:10,340 --> 00:26:15,300 what happens when you leave the sea to just naturally change, 457 00:26:15,300 --> 00:26:17,020 do what it wants to do. 458 00:26:19,620 --> 00:26:22,900 Now, it's been ten years since the no take zone was granted, 459 00:26:22,900 --> 00:26:26,340 so I suppose the big question is - has it worked? 460 00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:32,100 Dr Bryce Stewart from the University of York has been carrying out 461 00:26:32,100 --> 00:26:35,220 research and surveys in this protected area for the past 462 00:26:35,220 --> 00:26:39,500 ten years, documenting its recovery. 463 00:26:39,500 --> 00:26:44,380 Are you seeing a lot more marine life in the no take zones now, 464 00:26:44,380 --> 00:26:46,700 compared to the areas immediately around them? 465 00:26:46,700 --> 00:26:49,300 We're seeing much higher biodiversity, overall, 466 00:26:49,300 --> 00:26:51,980 in the no take zone. It's about 50% higher. 467 00:26:51,980 --> 00:26:55,820 And also, for some particular species, like lobsters, 468 00:26:55,820 --> 00:26:59,300 there's more than double the number in the no take zone. 469 00:26:59,300 --> 00:27:01,500 And scallops as well, and both the scallops 470 00:27:01,500 --> 00:27:04,660 and lobsters are much bigger as well, which is really important. 471 00:27:04,660 --> 00:27:08,580 So, this must have a knock-on effect for the fishermen. 472 00:27:08,580 --> 00:27:12,340 Yeah, that's what we think is going on, particularly for those 473 00:27:12,340 --> 00:27:14,300 key species, lobsters and scallops. 474 00:27:14,300 --> 00:27:18,260 Because they're much bigger, the females are producing lots of eggs, 475 00:27:18,260 --> 00:27:21,500 and those eggs are hatching, the larvae is spreading out 476 00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:24,660 in the currents, and reseeding the fishing grounds. 477 00:27:24,660 --> 00:27:26,780 So, by protecting just these small areas, 478 00:27:26,780 --> 00:27:29,140 you can actually have a big benefit. 479 00:27:29,140 --> 00:27:33,700 And for Howard the benefit includes seeing more on his dives once again. 480 00:27:33,700 --> 00:27:36,940 It's absolutely fantastic, to go down for a dive. 481 00:27:36,940 --> 00:27:39,740 "What are we going to see? What's going to have changed this year?" 482 00:27:42,020 --> 00:27:46,740 It's only 2.6 square kilometres, but it has numerous different types 483 00:27:46,740 --> 00:27:49,820 of habitats, so it's great seeing things spread out. 484 00:27:51,660 --> 00:27:54,420 We've seen a real good range of different types of nudibranchs, 485 00:27:54,420 --> 00:27:57,100 which divers get very excited about, because of all the colour. 486 00:27:59,460 --> 00:28:03,740 Last Monday, I had a great experience with a pleurobranchus, 487 00:28:03,740 --> 00:28:06,220 which is also commonly known as the highland dancer... 488 00:28:07,180 --> 00:28:11,300 ..and some fantastic octopuses, in amongst the bright pink live maerl. 489 00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:13,140 It's such a joy to see. 490 00:28:18,340 --> 00:28:21,980 If you were watching Blue Planet UK earlier in the week, you would know 491 00:28:21,980 --> 00:28:25,180 that the humble herring, after decades of overfishing, 492 00:28:25,180 --> 00:28:27,380 seems to be making a comeback. 493 00:28:27,380 --> 00:28:30,980 Last year, fishermen in Gairloch noticed that they were 494 00:28:30,980 --> 00:28:32,580 coming back to spawn, 495 00:28:32,580 --> 00:28:35,620 and it appears that, this year, numbers are even higher. 496 00:28:35,620 --> 00:28:39,580 It was too exciting a challenge to turn down, so we sent 497 00:28:39,580 --> 00:28:42,700 underwater cameraman Andy Jackson to see if he could capture the herring 498 00:28:42,700 --> 00:28:45,620 on the seabed, or even better, spawning. 499 00:28:47,900 --> 00:28:52,020 The west coast of Scotland has some of our most fertile waters, 500 00:28:52,020 --> 00:28:54,860 and the fishing village of Gairloch lies at its heart. 501 00:29:00,540 --> 00:29:03,660 Last year's news about the herring is exciting for locals 502 00:29:03,660 --> 00:29:05,220 like biologist Peter Cunningham. 503 00:29:08,260 --> 00:29:11,140 This winter, he's been keeping an eye out for the species, 504 00:29:11,140 --> 00:29:14,460 and he's heard that fishermen have spotted signs of their return 505 00:29:14,460 --> 00:29:15,780 to the area. 506 00:29:17,580 --> 00:29:20,940 Cameraman Andy Jackson went out on a mission with Peter 507 00:29:20,940 --> 00:29:22,980 to try and track the herring down. 508 00:29:25,220 --> 00:29:28,260 I've never filmed a shoal of herring before, 509 00:29:28,260 --> 00:29:30,260 and nor has anyone else in the UK. 510 00:29:31,540 --> 00:29:33,180 50 odd years since they were around. 511 00:29:36,980 --> 00:29:38,940 Oh, look at that sunshine. 512 00:29:38,940 --> 00:29:40,180 A cracking day. 513 00:29:44,340 --> 00:29:46,940 But even when you know the fish are in the area, 514 00:29:46,940 --> 00:29:50,340 before you can film them, you need to find them. 515 00:29:50,340 --> 00:29:53,140 Not an easy feat in the wild Scottish waters. 516 00:30:02,060 --> 00:30:04,460 Well, that's surprising - 517 00:30:04,460 --> 00:30:07,180 no fish, so the fish must have scattered. 518 00:30:10,860 --> 00:30:13,740 Day two and it's flat calm - perfect. 519 00:30:19,620 --> 00:30:21,860 But there's not a herring in sight. 520 00:30:23,340 --> 00:30:25,980 They haven't come into the shallow water yet to spawn. 521 00:30:27,300 --> 00:30:28,940 We're maybe just a few days too early. 522 00:30:37,260 --> 00:30:39,460 It's day four, 523 00:30:39,460 --> 00:30:42,260 and the forecast was absolutely bang on. 524 00:30:42,260 --> 00:30:44,180 There's no way we're going anywhere today! 525 00:30:56,380 --> 00:30:58,100 Finally, the skies are clear. 526 00:31:03,020 --> 00:31:05,780 We spotted the gannets. The gannets were the main clue. 527 00:31:07,340 --> 00:31:09,580 The gannets and the seals are hunting. 528 00:31:09,580 --> 00:31:11,820 It's a sure sign that fish are about. 529 00:31:12,980 --> 00:31:15,100 There is a huge number of seals here. 530 00:31:15,100 --> 00:31:17,060 I think they're mostly grey seals. 531 00:31:17,060 --> 00:31:20,500 This is exciting, seals and gannets in the same place, 532 00:31:20,500 --> 00:31:22,820 and they're feeding. 533 00:31:22,820 --> 00:31:24,220 But are they herring? 534 00:31:27,180 --> 00:31:30,380 With bad weather forecast soon, it's a tense moment. 535 00:31:36,900 --> 00:31:39,220 Out of the murk, there is a glimmer. 536 00:31:53,060 --> 00:31:57,380 This extraordinary sight hasn't been seen off Britain's coasts 537 00:31:57,380 --> 00:31:58,740 for 50 years. 538 00:32:02,500 --> 00:32:04,260 I've been surrounded by herring. 539 00:32:05,340 --> 00:32:09,380 A great wall of herring going round and round me like a dark shadow, 540 00:32:09,380 --> 00:32:10,860 it's fantastic. 541 00:32:10,860 --> 00:32:11,980 Whoa! 542 00:32:31,300 --> 00:32:33,500 A true natural wonder, 543 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:36,740 but Andy still hasn't found what he came here for. 544 00:32:41,940 --> 00:32:44,180 Will he see the herring spawn? 545 00:32:47,380 --> 00:32:50,020 Over the next couple of weeks Andy stayed on. 546 00:32:50,020 --> 00:32:53,620 He was determined to capture that sequence he was really after, 547 00:32:53,620 --> 00:32:55,060 and this is what he got. 548 00:32:59,660 --> 00:33:02,140 Just after dawn, Andy dives again. 549 00:33:04,540 --> 00:33:07,420 This time the fish are too busy to be afraid. 550 00:33:09,820 --> 00:33:11,220 The reason? 551 00:33:11,220 --> 00:33:15,420 The water is murky with the magical sight of herring eggs 552 00:33:15,420 --> 00:33:17,340 which settle on the seabed. 553 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:24,260 In a few weeks, millions of embryos will be visible. 554 00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:31,500 No-one has ever filmed herring breeding here before. 555 00:33:31,500 --> 00:33:33,060 These pictures are unique. 556 00:33:35,740 --> 00:33:39,100 More eggs this year should mean there's more fish the next. 557 00:33:46,540 --> 00:33:48,980 The future looks bright for the herring. 558 00:33:48,980 --> 00:33:51,580 This is their second year spawning here, 559 00:33:51,580 --> 00:33:54,540 and their numbers are greater than in decades. 560 00:33:57,300 --> 00:33:59,660 Andy's perseverance has finally paid off. 561 00:34:00,980 --> 00:34:02,500 He's almost lost for words. 562 00:34:04,620 --> 00:34:07,060 It's all a bit much at the moment, I can't take it all in. 563 00:34:07,060 --> 00:34:09,140 It's just so fresh. 564 00:34:09,140 --> 00:34:11,660 You know, we've been trying to do this for the last two weeks, 565 00:34:11,660 --> 00:34:15,620 and then suddenly, you know, you go out, you get up early, 566 00:34:15,620 --> 00:34:18,180 there's a window in the weather, you go out and you do it, 567 00:34:18,180 --> 00:34:20,420 and it's all over, and we're finished. 568 00:34:20,420 --> 00:34:22,140 I'm stunned! 569 00:34:22,140 --> 00:34:23,580 What can I say? 570 00:34:23,580 --> 00:34:24,820 Stunned. 571 00:34:29,020 --> 00:34:30,420 GILLIAN: What a beautiful sight. 572 00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:35,260 Now, behind me is St Abbs lighthouse, 573 00:34:35,260 --> 00:34:38,140 and if there was one historic job that meant you got to see everything 574 00:34:38,140 --> 00:34:41,420 that went on out at sea, whether it was whales breaching, 575 00:34:41,420 --> 00:34:44,780 or a fishing fleet, it was that of a lighthouse keeper. 576 00:34:44,780 --> 00:34:48,060 Nowadays, of course, lighthouses are all automated. 577 00:34:48,060 --> 00:34:51,620 The one behind me, the lighthouse keeper left in 1993. 578 00:34:51,620 --> 00:34:54,540 And that's just a year before one of Scotland's most remote 579 00:34:54,540 --> 00:34:56,260 lighthouses was automated. 580 00:35:01,060 --> 00:35:02,700 My name is Ian Duff. 581 00:35:02,700 --> 00:35:07,060 I was the lighthouse keeper from 1976 till 1992. 582 00:35:17,180 --> 00:35:18,500 When I was a little boy, I said 583 00:35:18,500 --> 00:35:20,620 I wanted to be a lighthouse keeper when I grew up. 584 00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:27,580 To be a lighthouse keeper at these places in Scotland 585 00:35:27,580 --> 00:35:33,620 allows you access to places that most normal people 586 00:35:33,620 --> 00:35:35,740 don't ever get to see, 587 00:35:35,740 --> 00:35:37,180 or live in. 588 00:35:49,100 --> 00:35:51,140 You see things that other people don't see - 589 00:35:51,140 --> 00:35:54,180 the puffins would walk into the lighthouse accommodation. 590 00:35:56,260 --> 00:35:59,620 A wonderful feeling to be associated with the sea like that. 591 00:36:02,460 --> 00:36:04,340 On a wild day, 592 00:36:04,340 --> 00:36:08,940 in the morning, we would stand in the door for two hours 593 00:36:08,940 --> 00:36:13,420 till lunchtime, just watching the power of the sea breaking over 594 00:36:13,420 --> 00:36:16,260 the grating, or jumping back in if the sea was going to hit the door 595 00:36:16,260 --> 00:36:17,620 which is 30 feet up. 596 00:36:17,620 --> 00:36:21,500 One day, I was to go ashore, the helicopter landed on the helipad, 597 00:36:21,500 --> 00:36:26,220 and a giant freak wave just broke over the top of the 598 00:36:26,220 --> 00:36:29,340 lighthouse helicopter and injured one of the keepers who was coming on 599 00:36:29,340 --> 00:36:30,660 to replace me. 600 00:36:42,420 --> 00:36:45,700 I mean, all the time I was at Duncansby, you could see, 601 00:36:45,700 --> 00:36:51,340 year on year out, more plastic fish boxes and other bits of plastic 602 00:36:51,340 --> 00:36:56,940 that washed in. I even collected a plastic milk bottle, 603 00:36:56,940 --> 00:36:59,820 and I took it home because it had a lighthouse on it, 604 00:36:59,820 --> 00:37:02,620 and it came from Norway, funnily enough. 605 00:37:05,020 --> 00:37:09,340 When I was at Pladda, they were still hunting for sharks 606 00:37:09,340 --> 00:37:13,060 at that particular time, and one day, we saw, when we looked 607 00:37:13,060 --> 00:37:16,380 through the binoculars, they had a shark on deck of the boat, 608 00:37:16,380 --> 00:37:18,140 and they were cutting it up - 609 00:37:18,140 --> 00:37:21,540 hopefully never see anything like that any more. 610 00:37:21,540 --> 00:37:24,980 Quite often seen basking sharks at Hyskeir. 611 00:37:24,980 --> 00:37:27,980 That's a nice place to view them at Hyskeir, 612 00:37:27,980 --> 00:37:32,620 because the water, the sea at Hyskeir used to be 613 00:37:32,620 --> 00:37:35,540 a different colour from the sea at Skerryvore, 614 00:37:35,540 --> 00:37:37,980 it used to be a lovely aquamarine sort of green. 615 00:37:42,620 --> 00:37:45,060 I do miss being a lighthouse keeper. 616 00:37:45,060 --> 00:37:49,140 I think it was a great honour to be at these lighthouses 617 00:37:49,140 --> 00:37:51,500 when they were manned. 618 00:37:51,500 --> 00:37:54,420 I just loved waking up on a summer's morning, 619 00:37:54,420 --> 00:37:57,700 or being on watch on a summer's morning, at a place like Skerryvore, 620 00:37:57,700 --> 00:38:02,580 seeing all the seals lying in the rock and at peace with the world. 621 00:38:02,580 --> 00:38:06,100 And then, of course, in the winter time when the sea's breaking up 622 00:38:06,100 --> 00:38:09,620 over the tower door, you stand, awe-inspiring... 623 00:38:09,620 --> 00:38:11,740 Watching the waves breaking past you. 624 00:38:16,780 --> 00:38:19,140 It's a great honour to be a lighthouse keeper 625 00:38:19,140 --> 00:38:20,740 in that environment, I think. 626 00:38:28,100 --> 00:38:30,700 What a beautiful film, and you have all been sending us 627 00:38:30,700 --> 00:38:32,900 beautiful pictures, as well, from across the country 628 00:38:32,900 --> 00:38:34,500 right around our coastlines, 629 00:38:34,500 --> 00:38:36,660 and here is a selection of just a few of them. 630 00:38:58,260 --> 00:38:59,940 Someone who's checking up on the health 631 00:38:59,940 --> 00:39:02,420 of the world's oceans is Chris Packham. 632 00:39:02,420 --> 00:39:06,140 He's in Mexico right now, but his heart is always at home. 633 00:39:06,140 --> 00:39:10,140 Before he left, he explained why he champions the British Seas. 634 00:39:15,100 --> 00:39:19,180 Now, all week, I've been meeting people who get into the sea, 635 00:39:19,180 --> 00:39:22,780 either because they feel a spiritual connection with it, 636 00:39:22,780 --> 00:39:27,500 a need to immerse their body, to connect with a purer form of nature, 637 00:39:27,500 --> 00:39:31,580 or because they're fascinated with the extraordinary marine life 638 00:39:31,580 --> 00:39:34,260 that's living just out there. 639 00:39:34,260 --> 00:39:36,380 That's them, and I'm me, 640 00:39:36,380 --> 00:39:41,180 because if I'm very honest with you, I'm frightened of that. 641 00:39:41,180 --> 00:39:44,380 You know, historically, in my family 642 00:39:44,380 --> 00:39:48,060 people have drowned in those oceans. 643 00:39:48,060 --> 00:39:50,380 I'm not a great swimmer. 644 00:39:50,380 --> 00:39:55,580 But I still feel a closeness to the sea because of the creatures 645 00:39:55,580 --> 00:39:59,380 that I admire that prosper in that environment, 646 00:39:59,380 --> 00:40:01,700 and principally the birds, of course. 647 00:40:01,700 --> 00:40:04,340 Now, when it comes to birds, 648 00:40:04,340 --> 00:40:07,060 all birds are equal, but some are more equal than others 649 00:40:07,060 --> 00:40:09,980 and the ones that, for me, are the better ones 650 00:40:09,980 --> 00:40:12,340 are the ones which are simplest in their form. 651 00:40:12,340 --> 00:40:15,180 So, I'm not a kingfisher man, I'm not a puffin bloke, 652 00:40:15,180 --> 00:40:17,540 all that colour, all of that mess, no. 653 00:40:17,540 --> 00:40:20,140 I like black and white birds, simple, 654 00:40:20,140 --> 00:40:22,300 and many of our seabirds are black and white. 655 00:40:22,300 --> 00:40:24,700 So, things like arctic tern. 656 00:40:24,700 --> 00:40:26,620 What a shape! 657 00:40:26,620 --> 00:40:30,100 What a beautiful natural construction they are, 658 00:40:30,100 --> 00:40:33,300 with their long wings and their tail streamers. 659 00:40:33,300 --> 00:40:36,940 And I love to photograph them, because against the light, 660 00:40:36,940 --> 00:40:40,220 with it shining through their feathers, they glow. 661 00:40:40,220 --> 00:40:43,860 And then you've got bigger, more powerful species, 662 00:40:43,860 --> 00:40:46,660 things like gannets with their beautiful faces, 663 00:40:46,660 --> 00:40:49,100 that cappuccino wash, 664 00:40:49,100 --> 00:40:52,620 those beautiful almost sort of Art Deco lines that run 665 00:40:52,620 --> 00:40:54,900 around the eyes and down the beak, 666 00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:56,540 but you're still looking at the sea, 667 00:40:56,540 --> 00:41:00,460 you're looking at that powerful beak which breaks their entrance 668 00:41:00,460 --> 00:41:04,900 into the water when they're plunge diving at speeds of up to 40mph. 669 00:41:04,900 --> 00:41:07,380 And then, of course, when you see them in the air, 670 00:41:07,380 --> 00:41:09,380 those wings, 671 00:41:09,380 --> 00:41:11,780 strong and powerful. 672 00:41:11,780 --> 00:41:15,700 But if I have one favourite seabird to photograph, 673 00:41:15,700 --> 00:41:18,340 it would be the northern fulmar, 674 00:41:18,340 --> 00:41:22,380 because, really, they're a Northern Hemisphere albatross, 675 00:41:22,380 --> 00:41:25,660 a little bit smaller, of course, and they've got very stiff wings. 676 00:41:25,660 --> 00:41:28,340 They look a bit wooden when they're flying and gliding, 677 00:41:28,340 --> 00:41:30,020 and from a photographic point of view, 678 00:41:30,020 --> 00:41:32,860 we're talking about a grey bird, 679 00:41:32,860 --> 00:41:35,500 so you've got to do something with that, using the light, 680 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:36,860 using the water. 681 00:41:36,860 --> 00:41:39,700 It's always a challenge, when you take something 682 00:41:39,700 --> 00:41:42,900 that you feel so passionately about, 683 00:41:42,900 --> 00:41:47,540 that you love the shape and the form of, the movement... 684 00:41:47,540 --> 00:41:48,860 Everything about it. 685 00:41:48,860 --> 00:41:53,220 And you're trying to capture it in one photograph and say all of that, 686 00:41:53,220 --> 00:41:55,740 that's why photography is so difficult, 687 00:41:55,740 --> 00:41:59,340 and particularly when you're working with these sorts of elements. 688 00:41:59,340 --> 00:42:04,340 And, I suppose, that's a challenge that connects me to the sea. 689 00:42:04,340 --> 00:42:08,140 It's the birds that are an intrinsic part of that environment, 690 00:42:08,140 --> 00:42:10,580 and I love photographing them. 691 00:42:10,580 --> 00:42:12,580 I haven't got a decent photograph yet, 692 00:42:12,580 --> 00:42:15,460 but I'll be working hard for the rest of my life. 693 00:42:19,900 --> 00:42:22,820 GILLIAN: Don't forget to watch Chris, Liz and Steve 694 00:42:22,820 --> 00:42:24,300 on Blue Planet Live this weekend. 695 00:42:24,300 --> 00:42:28,180 They have already witnessed some incredible spectacles, and no doubt 696 00:42:28,180 --> 00:42:29,620 they've saved the best till last. 697 00:42:29,620 --> 00:42:31,700 Well, fingers crossed, let's hope so. 698 00:42:31,700 --> 00:42:35,140 We've had a fantastic time here on Blue Planet UK, 699 00:42:35,140 --> 00:42:38,660 not just learning about the marine life on our doorstep, 700 00:42:38,660 --> 00:42:42,540 but how human interaction can have such an impact on it. 701 00:42:42,540 --> 00:42:45,860 Well, all that's left to do is to say a huge thank you to everyone 702 00:42:45,860 --> 00:42:47,620 that's taken part in the series, 703 00:42:47,620 --> 00:42:50,020 and we're going to leave you with the highlights. 704 00:42:50,020 --> 00:42:51,180 Bye. Bye-bye. 705 00:42:55,900 --> 00:42:57,260 That's my first haul. 706 00:43:01,060 --> 00:43:02,380 My goodness me! 707 00:43:09,940 --> 00:43:12,500 I can't believe you call this a job!