Like a massive, skulking sandworm out of Frank Herbert’s Dune, there exists an inescapable maw where all in its destructive path — from fish struggling to flee to crabs tangled up in the nets — are doomed.
But this isn’t the desert planet Arrakis, it’s Earth — and the beast is a bottom trawler, grinding the sea floor indiscriminately for fish.
This is the shocking point-of-view moment in Ocean with David Attenborough, the latest and potentially one of the legendary broadcaster’s last documentaries, releasing in select Canadian theatres today and streaming on Disney+ on June 8.
“After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land … but at sea,” Attenborough, who turned 99 this month, says in the film.
But beyond the horrors of industrial fishing, the film also brings an incredible look at the grandeur, fragility and community of a world beneath the waves.
One ocean, many wonders
Notably, the film is called Ocean, and not oceans, to drive home the interconnectedness of the waters on the planet and all the life that depends on it.
“The fish go where they go, they don’t need visas,” joked Rashid Sumaila, ocean and fisheries economist at the University of British Columbia.
“We put all these lines: Atlantic, Pacific, high seas and country waters. And so this thinking of one connected ocean is crucial if we are going to be able to manage our ocean.”
From giant seamounts in the open ocean to the “mesmerizing” coral reefs and swaying kelp forests of the coastal seas, the film brings viewers to “a world in delicate balance” that few have ever seen up close in this kind of detail.
Ewan Trégarot, marine ecologist and underwater photographer with the University of Portsmouth in England, knows the effort of filming in these ecosystems.
“I was just amazed by the profusion of life and the dynamism,” Trégarot described. His dives have taken him to French Guiana, French Polynesia and Martinique in the Caribbean.
“It takes a lot of patience. It’s really tricky because we are very limited in the time and depth as well,” Tregarot told CBC News from near Nice, France. “So you have to pick your moment.”
The beauty and vastness featured in Ocean also highlights a key misconception that experts say people have.
“It’s so large, the ocean, many people think we can never hurt it,” Sumaila said in an interview from Whitehorse. “But it’s also fragile enough that we have the capacity, the technology, the greed to actually take this thing down.”
Losing an Amazon every year
The trawling scene is made all the more stark because the practice is not only approved, but repetitive.
“An area the size of the Amazon rainforest is trawled every year and much of that seabed is trawled over and over,” Attenborough narrates in the film.
Ana Queirós, principal investigator at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in Devon, England, calls it a hard reality to grapple with.
“In the U.K., where we think we have pretty good environmental protections,” Queirós explained, “When you realize the extent of trawling, it’s quite shocking, actually.”
The film suggests that the constant dredging of these ocean sediments disturbs vast amounts of stored carbon, further contributing to global warming. Queirós warns that this might be an incomplete picture.
“Not all of the sea floor is borne the same, and there are areas that, indeed, hold very old and very long carbon stores that we definitely need to protect from these types of activities,” Queirós described, adding that there are other areas that hold less carbon. However, she says more mapping and knowledge is needed so that any future activities can consider how to limit their carbon impact.
Unequal Protection
To be clear, the film is not a treatise against fishing. If anything, it says the current methods are unsustainable and inequitable. Much like 2009’s The End of the Line, community voices help bring that message alive, including Indigenous and coastal fishers who struggle to compete against large commercial operations.
One of those voices, Aulani Wilhelm, introduces us to Papahānaumokuākea, a marine protected area (MPA) northwest of the Hawaiian islands. While Ocean shows us the stunning diversity found in this large Pacific preserve, it makes a wider point that MPAs can actually help boost sustainable fishing.
“All scientific research shows that having marine protected areas where marine life can breed, grow and sustain themselves actually increases the catch in the surrounding areas,” said Akaash Maharaj, head of policy for Nature Canada.
Canada currently has 14 MPAs, across Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic waters, and Nature Canada is pushing for more in order to keep the government’s pledge of protecting 30 per cent of its waters by 2030.
“In the Arctic, those areas are especially vulnerable to climate change, and indeed, climate change is moving at the fastest pace at the poles,” Maharaj said, also suggesting future increases of shipping traffic in the Pacific also threaten ecosystems there.
However, he and other experts warn MPAs are not always effectively protected and lack enforcement, leading to so-called “paper parks.” Protection may also not be permanent, as seen recently with another Hawaiian reserve, wherein a new U.S. executive order is seeking to allow commercial fishing.
Global responsibility
Ocean opens widely on streaming just before the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, where governments, researchers and other stakeholders work on issues of sustainable ocean management.
Experts see a crucial moment to curb the damage done by the multiplying threats of overfishing, pollution and climate change.
“There’s a lot of us working to try and fix these problems,” Queirós said. “What I really want is for people to feel that it’s really important that we continue to do this work for our kids and for the kids coming after them.”
Sumaila agrees, saying we have more than the power to destroy.
“We also have the empathy, the knowledge, the wisdom, to really work to protect our ocean, make sure it continues. Because it’s so important.”
