WEBVTT

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It\'s close to midnight, and
scientists are just

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beginning their day.

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Moored in the middle of
the North Pacific,

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they\'re jigging for squid.

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But the squid they want to
catch is no ordinary

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cephalopod.

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It\'s a voracious predator native
to Mexican waters.

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And now, it\'s raiding
the Canadian coast.

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Strange days are dawning
in the global sea.

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Creatures are on the move.

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Dead zones are expanding.

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And the foundation of life
is slowly eroding.

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Scientists around the world are
in a race to understand

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those changes and what they\'ll
mean for thousands of species,

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including ours.

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This is sea water, and the Earth
is covered in more than

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a billion, billion tons of it.

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It\'s hard to imagine that
humans could ever

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fundamentally alter something
as vast as the ocean.

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But that\'s exactly
what we\'re doing.

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We\'re interfering with basic
systems that have kept the

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ocean in sync for millions
of years.

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It means we\'re messing with the
life support system of the

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planet, ours included.

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We now have a choice in shaping
the future ocean.

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The question is, which future
will we choose?

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On the west coast of Vancouver
Island, a fishing boat heads

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into port to offload
its catch.

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It\'s been an unusual
season for hake

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fisherman, Corey Gale.

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The predator from Mexico has
invaded his fishing grounds.

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I was quite surprised.

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We just caught a
Humboldt squid.

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And we\'re only eight miles
off [INAUDIBLE]

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where we caught this fish.

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And the amount that we\'re seeing
now in the area, it\'s

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just unprecedented, really.

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It is impacting our fishery,
because they are

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showing up in our nets.

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And the hake that come up with
them, half of them, they\'re

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chewed right up.

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They\'re half eaten.

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This is a smaller Humboldt.

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We\'ve weighed mantles
at 25 pounds,

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just the mantle itself.

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They\'ve got a pretty nasty
little beak in here that\'s

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like a little parrot beak,
so they can eat.

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I\'ve seen them come up and grab
seagulls off the surface.

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Grabbing onto their toes and
ripping their toes off trying

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to eat them.

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It\'s unbelievable.

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On board the W.E. Ricker,
scientists are racing to

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assess the impact this
squid is having

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on the local fishery.

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Right now, they\'re trolling
for hake, part of a survey

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that sets next year\'s quota
for one of the biggest

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fisheries on the west coast.

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But this year, they\'re netting
fewer hake, and a lot more

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predatory squid.

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In 1998, I remember we caught,
I think, one jumbo squid.

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In fact, I didn\'t know
what it was.

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In 2007, we end up with 80.

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In this year, 2009, we have been
following squid in a very

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identifiable layer from the
Canadian US border, right on

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up to Queen Charlotte Sound,
where we are now.

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And they know that because this
year, they\'re not just

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counting hake.

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For the first time, they\'re
also surveying the squid.

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Using acoustical instruments to
identify its location, they

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confirm what they\'re seeing at
night by jigging, because

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that\'s when the squid feeds
near the surface.

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As the night gets darker, you
get to two in the morning,

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everything\'s moved up
the water column.

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The hand jigs are only working
the top 10 or 20 meters.

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The squid are right up
near the surface.

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When they\'re brought in on the
jigs, you can see other squid

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chasing them up as well.

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When we were doing the acoustic
work we saw a large

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layer, and that layer
went on for miles.

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If you have a school or a
population that\'s spread over

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that kind of an area, you
would be talking about

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millions of squid.

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And that\'s a lot of hungry squid
eating a lot of fish.

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In a life span of just one or
two years, the Humboldt can

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grow into a two meter long,
45 kilogram predator.

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To get that big that fast,
it\'s constantly feeding.

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And it doesn\'t eat alone.

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This squid hunts in packs
and feeds on whatever is

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available, from krill and
hake to its own kind.

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But this year, the squid
isn\'t just eating hake.

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It\'s changing its behavior.

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There is a change in the
distribution pattern of hake.

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They\'re down deeper, they\'re
more dispersed.

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We haven\'t seen the abundance
that might be

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expected in our waters.

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I\'m pretty sure I\'m seeing
some change in schooling

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behavior as a result
of the squid.

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And that\'s not the only
change Ken and his

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colleagues have seen.

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A fish that traditionally spawns
off California, the

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hake now seems to be breeding
up here, because the team is

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catching a lot more juveniles.

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And that could pose a serious
threat in the future.

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Sure, they\'re spawning off
of our waters, but

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are the young surviving?

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They may not have the same sort
of environment to survive

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in as a young fish as they did
in California [? Bay ?]

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for instance.

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So, that\'s a threat.

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So what\'s pushing the
hake and Humboldt

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further and further north?

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Some 2,000 kilometers south in
Monterey Bay, California, deep

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sea pioneer Bruce Robison
witnessed phase one of the

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Humboldt northward migration.

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On a day like this in 1998, he
and his team lowered their

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camera mounted ROV
into the ocean.

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When they get to the control
room and switch on the camera,

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they see this.

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The Humboldt squid.

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If we can get more of a look at
that, that would be great.

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Robison has been conducting
underwater surveys since the

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mid 1980s, and he\'s never seen
this particular squid before.

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And is there a statistical test
you can run on that to

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show it\'s not a fluke?

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Over the next few years, Robison
searches for clues to

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explain the sudden invasion.

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Lack of predation may be
part of the problem.

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Big predators have been fished
out in the squid\'s home range.

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Recent estimates suggest that
90% of the big fishes, the

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tunas, the billfishes,
have been fished out.

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Those big fishes eat
the baby squid.

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In response to that, in the
home range, the squid

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population grew, and grew,
and grew, and grew.

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But an exploding population
doesn\'t tell the whole story.

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So Robison looks back
at the records.

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Fishermen have seen this squid
before during warmer periods.

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And the year Robison spots
them is one of

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the warmest on record.

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We saw no evidence of Humboldt
squid until the

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1997, 1998 El Nino.

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And when that slug of warm water
moved into Monterey Bay,

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Humboldt squid came with it.

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The numbers of hake had dropped
off significantly

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while they were here.

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And then in 2002, there
was a little El Nino.

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But the squid came back, and
they\'ve been here ever since.

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I think that episodic range
expansions during El Nino

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periods were a natural
process.

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But the fact that that door has
been forced open and now

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stays open, is our
responsibility.

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And it\'s our responsibility
because of this.

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Thanks to a blanket of carbon
dioxide produced by the

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burning of fossil fuels, the
planet\'s warmest climate

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cycle, El Nino, may be getting
more persistent.

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That cycle originates in the
tropics, but it seems to be

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driving up ocean temperatures
in many other regions of the

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global sea.

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Climate change certainly
contributes to the fact that

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the Humboldt squid
are moving north.

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In the northern hemisphere
in south, in the southern

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hemisphere.

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We\'re making the waters that
they are now inhabiting much

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more welcoming to the squid.

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And it\'s highly likely that
a lot of other species are

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undergoing the same
kind of process.

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And that process may
be well under way.

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According to recent estimates,
the world\'s fish stocks are

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swimming poleward at
a rate of 40 to 60

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kilometers per decade.

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Some places might be so
perturbed by these new species

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coming in that they can\'t
function the way they used to

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be, and functionally collapse.

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Others may be just fine.

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That\'s something that people
are all over the world

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scrambling to find out.

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Because we have this window of
time to try to estimate which

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ecosystems are more at risk,
and then how the climate is

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going to affect that.

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But invading species aren\'t
the only threat.

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Scientists like Steve Palumbi
are equally concerned about

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plants and animals
that can\'t move.

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Many are sensitive to
temperature, and some form the

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foundation of entire
ecosystems.

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Here in Monterey Bay, kelp
forests are the primary

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coastal ecosystem, life support
for thousands of

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creatures that live above
the water and below it.

00:11:37.355 --> 00:11:40.090


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A favorite dive location for the
resident sea otter and for

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biologist, Steve Palumbi.

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Clear?

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Clear.

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Peaceful, majestic, and teeming
with life, kelp

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forests are found
in cool, coastal

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waters around the world.

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And they\'re among the most
productive and dynamic

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ecosystems on the planet.

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The productivity of it churns
out a whole set of species, of

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fish invertebrates.

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Not only feed on the water and
the plankton in it, but they

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also feed on the kelp, and they
feed on the nutrients

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that the kelp dumps back
into the water itself.

00:12:31.900 --> 00:12:38.136


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But giant kelp does
best in water

00:12:41.040 --> 00:12:44.280
temperatures of 10 to 18 degrees.

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So if temperature continues
to climb, this

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ecosystem will be at risk.

00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:52.340


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Every ecosystem, kelp forests,
sea grass beds, oyster reefs,

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coral reefs, they all are
feeling the brunt

00:13:00.770 --> 00:13:02.540
of this same problem.

00:13:02.540 --> 00:13:06.230


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But heat isn\'t the only problem
they\'re facing.

00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:12.950


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In 2006, in the deep ocean off
Oregon, thousands of creatures

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suddenly disappeared, and
scientists raced out to sea to

00:13:23.300 --> 00:13:24.550
find out why.

00:13:24.550 --> 00:13:32.730


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The Pacific Ocean just off
Cape Perpetua, Oregon.

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A bountiful ecosystem that\'s
produced enough fish and crabs

00:13:41.970 --> 00:13:43.873
to support generations
of fisherman.

00:13:43.873 --> 00:13:47.490


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But in 2002, a strange mystery
begins to unfold here.

00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.890
Fisherman send out
alarming reports.

00:13:55.890 --> 00:14:00.970
Dead or dying dungeness crabs
coming up in their traps.

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Others, like Al [? Pizarre ?],
witness even stranger events.

00:14:05.170 --> 00:14:08.020


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The crabs ran offshore, inshore
to the surf line or to

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the north out of the zone.

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As did the fish off the reefs,
some reefs down off Cape

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Perpetua, were found to
be vacant of fish.

00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.800


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And we immediately thought, as
did much of the public, that

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it was a toxin.

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Something in the water
was killing things.

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And we hurriedly looked
at the records.

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I had some from offshore.

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My colleagues had them from
right near shore.

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And we quickly compared
them and found

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that it was low oxygen.

00:14:41.390 --> 00:14:45.660


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We saw the unique occurrence.

00:14:48.260 --> 00:14:51.275
In the summertime, there\'s
usually an octopus spawn.

00:14:51.275 --> 00:14:55.330
And the little baby octopus,
inch and a half long, they

00:14:55.330 --> 00:14:57.740
were actually climbing
up our crab ropes.

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And we saw dozens of little
octopus in their attempt to

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escape the low oxygen
at the bottom, and

00:15:04.900 --> 00:15:06.150
getting up to the surface.

00:15:06.150 --> 00:15:08.750


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The strange events off Cape
Perpetua send ocean scientists

00:15:12.780 --> 00:15:17.780
Francis Chan and Jack Barth out
to sea to investigate why

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oxygen levels are dropping,
training their sensors on what

00:15:22.040 --> 00:15:25.280
will come to be known as
the Oregon Dead Zone.

00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:30.080


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Well, it was scary because the
question is, well, how big is

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this, and how long is
this going to last?

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We thought that that was just
a once in a lifetime event.

00:15:39.390 --> 00:15:42.960
But every year since then, we\'ve
been able to track this

00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:46.870
reappearance of low oxygen
water on a shelf.

00:15:46.870 --> 00:15:51.750
So what\'s causing the return
of the low oxygen zone?

00:15:51.750 --> 00:15:55.360
Barth and Chan immediately rule
out pollutants, because

00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.410
there are no major rivers
emptying into this coast.

00:15:59.410 --> 00:16:02.390
Which leaves just
one possibility.

00:16:02.390 --> 00:16:05.120
A change in the ocean itself.

00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.170
It\'s a alteration that
we\'re seeing.

00:16:08.170 --> 00:16:10.615
We kind of think of it
as an arrhythmia.

00:16:10.615 --> 00:16:14.750
So a change in the
natural rhythms.

00:16:14.750 --> 00:16:17.520
And the natural rhythms
here are set by a

00:16:17.520 --> 00:16:20.960
process called upwelling.

00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:24.550
During the summer, powerful
winds from the north drive the

00:16:24.550 --> 00:16:27.615
nutrient-rich waters of the
deep up to the surface.

00:16:27.615 --> 00:16:31.250


00:16:31.250 --> 00:16:35.630
Those nutrients feed life forms
like this, millions of

00:16:35.630 --> 00:16:38.130
microscopic plants called
phytoplankton.

00:16:38.130 --> 00:16:49.340


00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:53.340
Food for countless creatures,
this astonishing floating

00:16:53.340 --> 00:16:56.070
forest fuels one of
the most valuable

00:16:56.070 --> 00:16:59.090
ecosystems on the planet.

00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:01.170
Though we\'re actually really
lucky to be working in such a

00:17:01.170 --> 00:17:04.410
productive ecosystem, because
there aren\'t that many places

00:17:04.410 --> 00:17:06.819
is the world\'s ocean
that\'s like this.

00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:09.250
And these upwelling ecosystems,
they\'re really

00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:12.900
small in area, maybe 1% of the
world\'s ocean, but they\'re

00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:17.770
responsible for nearly 25%
of the wild fish catches.

00:17:17.770 --> 00:17:21.200
So we\'re seeing this amazing
community of rockfish.

00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:23.720
There\'s a lot of different
species down here.

00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:27.740
Supporting some of these fishes
are this amazingly rich

00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:30.140
community of marine
vertebrate.

00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:34.870
And this is what a healthy and
productive ecosystem can look

00:17:34.870 --> 00:17:37.790
like off the Oregon coast.

00:17:37.790 --> 00:17:40.510
And it\'s phytoplankton
that help support

00:17:40.510 --> 00:17:42.810
this amazing ecosystem.

00:17:42.810 --> 00:17:48.370
But too much plankton can be
too much of a good thing.

00:17:48.370 --> 00:17:53.330
In 2006, unusually large
phytoplankton blooms begin to

00:17:53.330 --> 00:17:56.410
form off the Oregon coast.

00:17:56.410 --> 00:18:00.670
The blooms go on for weeks,
and a deadly process spins

00:18:00.670 --> 00:18:01.920
into motion.

00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:07.600


00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:12.450
Dead phytoplankton rains into
the depths as marine snow,

00:18:12.450 --> 00:18:16.460
where it\'s consumed by bacteria
that burns up oxygen

00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:19.100
at a furious rate.

00:18:19.100 --> 00:18:24.520
For the first time, levels
bottom out to zero, and 3,000

00:18:24.520 --> 00:18:28.490
square kilometers of ocean
become an oxygen-starved

00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:29.740
killing zone.

00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:35.635


00:18:35.635 --> 00:18:39.120
We saw no fish during this
period, because all of the

00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:42.460
fish either died, or they just
fled and tried to move, find

00:18:42.460 --> 00:18:45.050
waters that are richer
in oxygen.

00:18:45.050 --> 00:18:48.790
This was a beautiful Pycnopodia
star, literally

00:18:48.790 --> 00:18:51.070
degrading and disintegrating
and rotting in

00:18:51.070 --> 00:18:52.320
front of our eyes.

00:18:52.320 --> 00:18:58.200


00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:02.480
Only a major disruption in the
upwelling cycle could cause

00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:05.090
such a devastating
loss of life.

00:19:05.090 --> 00:19:10.700
And by 2006, Barth and Chan
suspect that climate change is

00:19:10.700 --> 00:19:11.810
the main culprit.

00:19:11.810 --> 00:19:14.310
Way off the corner there,
[? Mate ?].

00:19:14.310 --> 00:19:16.810
Grab the other boat hook.

00:19:16.810 --> 00:19:20.940
Global warming seems to be
driving stronger winds, and

00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:23.070
stronger winds are
super charging

00:19:23.070 --> 00:19:25.450
the upwelling process.

00:19:25.450 --> 00:19:28.810
But there\'s another massive
change happening some 500

00:19:28.810 --> 00:19:33.740
kilometers north that may also
be driving down oxygen levels

00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:37.730
in the Oregon Dead Zone.

00:19:37.730 --> 00:19:41.930
Just off Canada, in the
subarctic Pacific, the deep

00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:46.570
ocean is undergoing a disturbing
transformation, one

00:19:46.570 --> 00:19:49.725
that Frank Whitney has been
monitoring for over a decade.

00:19:49.725 --> 00:19:53.290


00:19:53.290 --> 00:19:56.720
For more than 50 years, chemical
oceanographers like

00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:01.360
Whitney have journeyed across
the same 1,400 kilometers of

00:20:01.360 --> 00:20:05.440
subarctic sea, sampling seawater
and measuring its

00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.200
properties.

00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:13.000
And after surveying more than
five decades of oxygen data,

00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.720
Whitney makes a shocking
discovery.

00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:20.040
The deep ocean here is
also losing oxygen.

00:20:20.040 --> 00:20:22.195
There was a distinct
trend over time.

00:20:22.195 --> 00:20:28.850
A 22?cline in oxygen from
about 150 to 600 meters.

00:20:28.850 --> 00:20:31.580
It\'s a huge drop.

00:20:31.580 --> 00:20:35.170
My evidence from deep ocean
suggested that a good part of

00:20:35.170 --> 00:20:36.760
the story was due
to the reduced

00:20:36.760 --> 00:20:38.720
ventilation of the ocean.

00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:42.640
And ventilation is the main
way the ocean breathes.

00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.110


00:20:46.110 --> 00:20:51.650
Most oxygen is absorbed at the
surface of the subpolar seas.

00:20:51.650 --> 00:20:54.950
Winter storms cool the surface
water, making it

00:20:54.950 --> 00:20:58.300
heavy enough to sink.

00:20:58.300 --> 00:21:02.220
Like a deep breath, that sinking
water transports

00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:03.665
oxygen into the depths.

00:21:03.665 --> 00:21:06.270


00:21:06.270 --> 00:21:11.075
But as the planet heats up and
glaciers melt, ocean breathing

00:21:11.075 --> 00:21:13.900
is slowing down.

00:21:13.900 --> 00:21:17.940
Flooded with fresh water, the
surface layer is too light to

00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:20.720
sink, and that\'s cutting
off the oxygen

00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:22.495
supply in the deep ocean.

00:21:22.495 --> 00:21:27.190


00:21:27.190 --> 00:21:31.180
A gentle slope towards oxygen
loss, even down at 800 meters.

00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:34.450
It is very evident in the
subarctic Pacific, but it\'s

00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:37.820
also being picked up in the
North Atlantic where there is

00:21:37.820 --> 00:21:40.420
also a freshening of
the surface ocean.

00:21:40.420 --> 00:21:46.260
So if this problem really gets
rooted in the North Atlantic,

00:21:46.260 --> 00:21:47.810
then you\'re looking at something
that is going to

00:21:47.810 --> 00:21:50.870
carry through most of
the world\'s oceans.

00:21:50.870 --> 00:21:55.520
And if you look at the trouble
caused by just a 22?cline

00:21:55.520 --> 00:21:59.620
in oxygen, you get a sense
of the global threat.

00:21:59.620 --> 00:22:02.910
Especially to deep dwelling
ground fish like halibut,

00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:07.550
whose numbers here
are shrinking.

00:22:07.550 --> 00:22:11.120
It\'s scary, because a lot of
fish that are unable to

00:22:11.120 --> 00:22:14.420
tolerate low oxygen either get
crowded into a narrower

00:22:14.420 --> 00:22:17.110
habitat, or they\'re going to
be forced into northward

00:22:17.110 --> 00:22:21.410
migrations up into areas where
there is more oxygen.

00:22:21.410 --> 00:22:26.480


00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.380
But that\'s not Whitney\'s
only concern.

00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:34.180
As low oxygen or hypoxic zones
expand, it\'s not just fish

00:22:34.180 --> 00:22:37.250
that will suffer.

00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:41.210
When we think of hypoxic waters
becoming shallower

00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:44.460
along the BC coast, we have to
think about impacts to all the

00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:47.660
organisms that can\'t move
out of their habitat.

00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:50.990
And a lot of those organisms
are probably very important

00:22:50.990 --> 00:22:56.020
for just keeping the
ecosystem healthy.

00:22:56.020 --> 00:22:58.710
Sponges and corals on the
coast, some of them very

00:22:58.710 --> 00:23:00.790
unique to the BC coast.

00:23:00.790 --> 00:23:03.640
Hypoxia is going
to stress them.

00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:04.890
There\'s no question.

00:23:04.890 --> 00:23:09.530


00:23:09.530 --> 00:23:13.240
But it\'s not just subarctic
species that are at risk,

00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:17.000
because the low oxygen waters
here are carried all the way

00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:21.250
down this coast on the
California current, deep water

00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:24.850
that\'s fueling the Oregon Dead
Zone, and threatening the

00:23:24.850 --> 00:23:26.890
entire North American coast.

00:23:26.890 --> 00:23:30.170


00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:33.020
We have very precise
measurements over many, many

00:23:33.020 --> 00:23:37.890
years, and we can detect a trend
that is going to lower

00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:38.720
and lower oxygen.

00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:43.400
And it\'s the same trend from
Vancouver, British Columbia,

00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:46.940
down through Oregon, down
through Monterey Bay, down

00:23:46.940 --> 00:23:48.570
into Southern California,
and even

00:23:48.570 --> 00:23:52.060
connecting down to the equator.

00:23:52.060 --> 00:23:56.080
So I think you can call it a
global phenomena that we\'ve

00:23:56.080 --> 00:23:58.830
got to keep our eyes on.

00:23:58.830 --> 00:24:02.860
And it truly is a
global problem.

00:24:02.860 --> 00:24:07.410
On the South African and South
American coasts, dead zones,

00:24:07.410 --> 00:24:10.360
like the one in Oregon,
are getting worse.

00:24:10.360 --> 00:24:13.570
And low oxygen zones
are expanding in

00:24:13.570 --> 00:24:14.820
the tropical seas.

00:24:14.820 --> 00:24:17.210


00:24:17.210 --> 00:24:21.810
And if oxygen levels continue to
drop, millions of creatures

00:24:21.810 --> 00:24:23.900
will feel the impact.

00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:26.260
Some may adapt.

00:24:26.260 --> 00:24:27.626
Others won\'t.

00:24:27.626 --> 00:24:31.610


00:24:31.610 --> 00:24:36.480
But there\'s another disturbing
change occurring in the ocean.

00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:40.260
Its basic chemistry is changing,
and that could spell

00:24:40.260 --> 00:24:42.730
disaster for life in
the global sea.

00:24:42.730 --> 00:24:51.650


00:24:51.650 --> 00:24:56.290
Almost two trillion metric
tons of carbon dioxide.

00:24:56.290 --> 00:24:57.730
That\'s what we\'ve released
into the

00:24:57.730 --> 00:25:00.680
atmosphere in just 200 years.

00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:06.480
And more than a quarter has been
absorbed by the ocean.

00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.340
As a result, seawater is
becoming more acidic.

00:25:10.340 --> 00:25:17.650


00:25:17.650 --> 00:25:21.580
Scientist Richard Feely and
Debbie Ianson have been

00:25:21.580 --> 00:25:25.860
tracking ocean acidification
on the North Pacific coast.

00:25:25.860 --> 00:25:30.110
They and other scientists
predict a massive upsurge by

00:25:30.110 --> 00:25:33.890
the end of this century, as
much as a 200% percent

00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:37.480
increase in ocean acidity.

00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:40.680
This is more than we have
seen over the last 20

00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.430
to 25 million years.

00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:47.290
About 22 million tons of carbon
dioxide, everyday, goes

00:25:47.290 --> 00:25:49.690
into the oceans.

00:25:49.690 --> 00:25:53.010
The impact of that uptake of
carbon dioxide in our ocean

00:25:53.010 --> 00:25:56.210
ecosystem is really quite
dramatic, and we\'re very

00:25:56.210 --> 00:25:57.460
concerned about that.

00:25:57.460 --> 00:25:59.670


00:25:59.670 --> 00:26:03.120
The ocean is the largest
reservoir of active carbon on

00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:04.530
the planet.

00:26:04.530 --> 00:26:07.080
It ultimately controls what
the atmospheric CO2

00:26:07.080 --> 00:26:09.740
concentration is.

00:26:09.740 --> 00:26:13.300
The carbon that\'s coming from
our cars, and factories, et

00:26:13.300 --> 00:26:16.050
cetera, that carbon enters
at the surface.

00:26:16.050 --> 00:26:20.830
And the organisms that we depend
upon, much of the light

00:26:20.830 --> 00:26:22.830
is in the surface, because
that\'s where the light is.

00:26:22.830 --> 00:26:26.460


00:26:26.460 --> 00:26:30.480
And once that carbon dioxide
gets into the ocean, it reacts

00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:34.420
with seawater, forming carbonic
acid and consuming

00:26:34.420 --> 00:26:36.150
carbonate ions.

00:26:36.150 --> 00:26:39.590
Double jeopardy for calcifying
creatures like these.

00:26:39.590 --> 00:26:44.160


00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.950
In the future, they won\'t have
enough calcium carbonate to

00:26:47.950 --> 00:26:49.580
build their shells.

00:26:49.580 --> 00:26:53.550
And too much carbonic acid may
dissolve the shells they

00:26:53.550 --> 00:26:54.800
already have.

00:26:54.800 --> 00:27:01.340


00:27:01.340 --> 00:27:05.420
And the same fate may be facing
the world\'s coral

00:27:05.420 --> 00:27:09.260
reefs, one of the largest
and most important ocean

00:27:09.260 --> 00:27:10.570
ecosystems in the world.

00:27:10.570 --> 00:27:17.960


00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:22.480
Millions of creatures depend on
these reefs for survival.

00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.860
So if they disappear,
many other species

00:27:25.860 --> 00:27:27.110
will vanish with them.

00:27:27.110 --> 00:27:29.740


00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:34.320
Biological oceanographer Chris
Langdon has been studying the

00:27:34.320 --> 00:27:38.810
impact of acidification on
corals for more than a decade.

00:27:38.810 --> 00:27:42.330
Today, he\'s heading out to dive
on a reef just off the

00:27:42.330 --> 00:27:43.580
Florida Keys.

00:27:43.580 --> 00:27:45.720


00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:48.160
I just look forward to getting
out of the office and getting

00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:49.495
out here on the reef.

00:27:49.495 --> 00:27:53.380
It just makes me very sad to
think that what I\'m seeing

00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:57.110
here today, my children and
grandchildren may not get to

00:27:57.110 --> 00:28:00.990
experience because of the rapid
decline of the positions

00:28:00.990 --> 00:28:02.240
of the reefs.

00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.560


00:28:07.560 --> 00:28:11.870
Pollution, disease,
global warming.

00:28:11.870 --> 00:28:15.800
From Florida to Australia,
almost 20% of the world\'s

00:28:15.800 --> 00:28:20.190
corals have already been
lost, thanks to us.

00:28:20.190 --> 00:28:23.293
And the rest may be claimed
by ocean acidification.

00:28:23.293 --> 00:28:27.766


00:28:27.766 --> 00:28:30.390
The organisms I\'m particularly
interested in are the hard

00:28:30.390 --> 00:28:34.650
corals that build a limestone
skeleton from dissolved

00:28:34.650 --> 00:28:37.550
calcium and carbonate ions
in the seawater.

00:28:37.550 --> 00:28:41.170
And as the oceans become more
acidic, the carbonate ion

00:28:41.170 --> 00:28:44.230
concentration declines, and
that\'s really why the corals

00:28:44.230 --> 00:28:45.480
are sensitive to it.

00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:51.480


00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:57.060
And Langdon\'s experiments show
just how sensitive they are.

00:28:57.060 --> 00:29:00.700
He\'s been studying different
hard corals, placing them in

00:29:00.700 --> 00:29:03.540
tanks at different
acidity levels.

00:29:03.540 --> 00:29:06.960
One normal, the other at levels
predicted for the end

00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:09.090
of this century.

00:29:09.090 --> 00:29:13.970
And his measurements tell
a distressing story.

00:29:13.970 --> 00:29:16.750
The corals all look healthy.

00:29:16.750 --> 00:29:22.820
But in high acidity, growth
rates plummet by 40 to 60%.

00:29:22.820 --> 00:29:26.540
And if levels climb even higher,
corals will stop

00:29:26.540 --> 00:29:31.490
growing altogether and
eventually erode away, perhaps

00:29:31.490 --> 00:29:34.000
never to be replaced.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.340
Because acidification
may affect

00:29:36.340 --> 00:29:39.550
their ability to reproduce.

00:29:39.550 --> 00:29:43.820
And reproduction is one of the
most miraculous cycles in a

00:29:43.820 --> 00:29:45.070
coral\'s life.

00:29:45.070 --> 00:29:51.000


00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:54.210
With their visual sensors timed
to the light of the

00:29:54.210 --> 00:29:58.870
moon, corals release
their spawn.

00:29:58.870 --> 00:30:03.190
They do it on the same night
at virtually the same time,

00:30:03.190 --> 00:30:06.585
and only when the water is just
at the right temperature.

00:30:06.585 --> 00:30:25.390


00:30:25.390 --> 00:30:29.540
They release their larvae during
new moons or full moons

00:30:29.540 --> 00:30:31.970
during just a few months
out of the year.

00:30:31.970 --> 00:30:35.440
Other colonies of the same
species remotely are doing the

00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:36.220
same thing.

00:30:36.220 --> 00:30:38.620
So there\'s an opportunity
for the eggs and

00:30:38.620 --> 00:30:39.800
sperm to come together.

00:30:39.800 --> 00:30:43.980
Because otherwise the ocean\'s
a very vast space.

00:30:43.980 --> 00:30:47.930
Given that vast space, it\'s
no surprise that juvenile

00:30:47.930 --> 00:30:52.570
survival rates may be
as low as 1 to 6%.

00:30:52.570 --> 00:30:56.400
And new research in Langdon\'s
lab suggests that numbers will

00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:59.775
plunge even further as acidity
levels increase.

00:30:59.775 --> 00:31:03.490


00:31:03.490 --> 00:31:06.540
If the replacement rate by
sexual reproduction doesn\'t

00:31:06.540 --> 00:31:09.730
keep up, then populations
are just doomed to

00:31:09.730 --> 00:31:10.980
decline over time.

00:31:10.980 --> 00:31:14.050


00:31:14.050 --> 00:31:18.350
And that could spell disaster
for countless species,

00:31:18.350 --> 00:31:19.600
including ours.

00:31:19.600 --> 00:31:25.730


00:31:25.730 --> 00:31:28.640
About a quarter of all the fish
life in the ocean spends

00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:33.410
some part of their life
cycle on a reef.

00:31:33.410 --> 00:31:35.870
A lot of people depend, for
quite a large share of their

00:31:35.870 --> 00:31:39.950
protein, on the fish they
catch on the reef.

00:31:39.950 --> 00:31:43.480
I hope people can understand
this, and realize that food

00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:45.650
just doesn\'t come
from a store.

00:31:45.650 --> 00:31:49.570
It comes from real live plants
and animals that need clean

00:31:49.570 --> 00:31:52.650
air, clean water to survive
just as we do.

00:31:52.650 --> 00:31:54.329
And we need to take
care of them.

00:31:54.329 --> 00:32:00.430


00:32:00.430 --> 00:32:03.670
And if we don\'t take care,
it won\'t just be

00:32:03.670 --> 00:32:05.680
coral reefs that suffer.

00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:09.300
Because acidification could
destroy some of the most

00:32:09.300 --> 00:32:11.820
important creatures
in the global sea.

00:32:11.820 --> 00:32:17.210


00:32:17.210 --> 00:32:21.170
They\'re called zooplankton, tiny
animals that sit at the

00:32:21.170 --> 00:32:22.815
heart of the ocean food web.

00:32:22.815 --> 00:32:25.680


00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:29.740
Some, like these delicate
snails, form shells.

00:32:29.740 --> 00:32:34.330
It\'s just one variety of
Terapod, a species eaten by so

00:32:34.330 --> 00:32:37.100
many other creatures, they\'re
called the potato

00:32:37.100 --> 00:32:38.350
chips of the sea.

00:32:38.350 --> 00:32:44.550


00:32:44.550 --> 00:32:49.140
And that\'s why plankton expert
Dave Mackos is so worried.

00:32:49.140 --> 00:32:53.070
If their shells dissolve, a
critical part of the food web

00:32:53.070 --> 00:32:54.830
dissolves with them.

00:32:54.830 --> 00:32:58.630
And here in the North Pacific,
surface waters are becoming

00:32:58.630 --> 00:32:59.910
more and more acidic.

00:32:59.910 --> 00:33:05.260


00:33:05.260 --> 00:33:07.460
The parts of the ocean that
they live in are becoming

00:33:07.460 --> 00:33:11.100
corrosive for their shells.

00:33:11.100 --> 00:33:14.940
The area and the fraction of
the year that the water is

00:33:14.940 --> 00:33:18.730
going to be corrosive, if we
keep dumping CO2 into the

00:33:18.730 --> 00:33:22.410
atmosphere and into the ocean,
the amount of available

00:33:22.410 --> 00:33:25.870
habitat for these things is
going to get smaller, and

00:33:25.870 --> 00:33:29.620
smaller, and smaller,
and smaller.

00:33:29.620 --> 00:33:32.670
For years, Mackos and his
colleagues have been

00:33:32.670 --> 00:33:36.750
conducting plankton tows off
the BC coast, monitoring

00:33:36.750 --> 00:33:38.670
various populations.

00:33:38.670 --> 00:33:42.560
And their findings suggest that
every aspect of climate

00:33:42.560 --> 00:33:46.890
change, from warming to
acidification, is hammering

00:33:46.890 --> 00:33:49.460
the Terapod population.

00:33:49.460 --> 00:33:53.680
In one of our longest time
series, it does look like the

00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:56.170
Terapods have declined.

00:33:56.170 --> 00:33:59.030
We are changing the temperature
of the world.

00:33:59.030 --> 00:34:01.880
We are changing the chemistry
of the ocean.

00:34:01.880 --> 00:34:07.380
So I think it\'s actually a bit
of a mistake to say, what is

00:34:07.380 --> 00:34:09.199
the one smoking gun?

00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:12.980
It\'s kind of like asking, if the
apocalypse is coming, are

00:34:12.980 --> 00:34:17.190
you worried about the war, the
famine, or the pestilence?

00:34:17.190 --> 00:34:18.230
Which one\'s going to kill you?

00:34:18.230 --> 00:34:20.949
Well, any one of them could.

00:34:20.949 --> 00:34:24.960
And together, their cumulative
effect is almost certainly far

00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:28.980
worse than their individual
effect.

00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:33.030
And Terapods aren\'t the only
creatures on the front line.

00:34:33.030 --> 00:34:35.880


00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:39.570
Other plankton species build
protective shells.

00:34:39.570 --> 00:34:43.440
And if they disappear, the
bottom of the food chain will

00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:44.690
take a major hit.

00:34:44.690 --> 00:34:51.179


00:34:51.179 --> 00:34:55.520
Certainly if we affect the base
of the food chain, that

00:34:55.520 --> 00:34:59.030
will have a dramatic impact on
the top of the food chain that

00:34:59.030 --> 00:35:00.300
we are concerned about.

00:35:00.300 --> 00:35:04.890
The fish, the mammals, the
birds, that we know and love.

00:35:04.890 --> 00:35:07.640
The whales are directly
dependent on the food

00:35:07.640 --> 00:35:10.478
resources from the base
of the food chain.

00:35:10.478 --> 00:35:16.110


00:35:16.110 --> 00:35:19.270
There was a mass extinction
55 million years ago.

00:35:19.270 --> 00:35:21.910
And the oceans became acidic.

00:35:21.910 --> 00:35:26.000
But the difference now is that
our experiment, we\'re burning

00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:27.900
carbon so rapidly.

00:35:27.900 --> 00:35:30.160
We\'re doing this at least
10 times faster than

00:35:30.160 --> 00:35:32.860
any time in the past.

00:35:32.860 --> 00:35:34.350
Maybe 30 times faster.

00:35:34.350 --> 00:35:35.600
That\'s what we estimate.

00:35:35.600 --> 00:35:38.900


00:35:38.900 --> 00:35:42.810
And the geological record shows
fairly clearly that in

00:35:42.810 --> 00:35:46.050
many cases, many of these
species, particularly the

00:35:46.050 --> 00:35:48.230
calcifying species and
the coral reef

00:35:48.230 --> 00:35:50.780
species, went extinct.

00:35:50.780 --> 00:35:53.970
And those ecosystems
had to re-evolve.

00:35:53.970 --> 00:35:57.370
Had to start over again and
re-evolve, taking anywhere

00:35:57.370 --> 00:36:00.390
from two to 10 million years
for that to occur.

00:36:00.390 --> 00:36:05.310


00:36:05.310 --> 00:36:08.930
The cause of those past
extinctions seems to have been

00:36:08.930 --> 00:36:12.890
massive volcanic eruptions that
filled the atmosphere,

00:36:12.890 --> 00:36:16.900
then the ocean, with
carbon dioxide.

00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:21.360
The future cause may be us.

00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:25.080
So is mass extinction
the inevitable fate

00:36:25.080 --> 00:36:27.930
of the global sea?

00:36:27.930 --> 00:36:32.110
The waters near an ancient
Mediterranean volcano may hold

00:36:32.110 --> 00:36:33.360
the answer.

00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:42.680


00:36:42.680 --> 00:36:46.820
It towers like a menacing giant
over the city of Naples

00:36:46.820 --> 00:36:49.530
and the Mediterranean Sea.

00:36:49.530 --> 00:36:54.140
Vesuvius is still an active
volcano, and its impact can be

00:36:54.140 --> 00:36:57.130
felt 30 kilometers away
in the waters off

00:36:57.130 --> 00:36:58.380
the island of Ischia.

00:36:58.380 --> 00:37:05.800


00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:10.140
Marine ecologist Jason Hall
Spencer has been studying the

00:37:10.140 --> 00:37:12.820
ocean just off the
Ischian coast.

00:37:12.820 --> 00:37:16.260
And what he\'s discovered
may be a microcosm

00:37:16.260 --> 00:37:19.040
of the future sea.

00:37:19.040 --> 00:37:24.600
Thanks to Vesuvius, this small
patch of ocean is saturated

00:37:24.600 --> 00:37:25.850
with carbon dioxide.

00:37:25.850 --> 00:37:29.330


00:37:29.330 --> 00:37:31.080
It\'s pretty amazing to
look at, actually.

00:37:31.080 --> 00:37:33.120
Because there\'s a load of
bubbles bubbling up from the

00:37:33.120 --> 00:37:34.630
sea bed with the
carbon dioxide.

00:37:34.630 --> 00:37:36.590
And the reason that\'s happening
is that chalk is

00:37:36.590 --> 00:37:40.350
being boiled by the volcano of
Vesuvius, the famous volcano.

00:37:40.350 --> 00:37:42.460
It\'s driving this chalk up and
it\'s coming up at normal

00:37:42.460 --> 00:37:43.175
temperature.

00:37:43.175 --> 00:37:45.490
But it\'s acidifying the water
around it, just like we\'re

00:37:45.490 --> 00:37:48.610
doing to the planet worldwide
with increasing CO2.

00:37:48.610 --> 00:37:50.260
And this is a way of looking
into the future of the

00:37:50.260 --> 00:37:51.200
planet\'s ecosystems.

00:37:51.200 --> 00:37:53.540
Because naturally, this
area has been

00:37:53.540 --> 00:37:56.130
acidified for millennia.

00:37:56.130 --> 00:37:59.890
Today, Hall Spencer and his
colleagues are heading out to

00:37:59.890 --> 00:38:03.870
the CO2 vents to collect
specimens and check on an

00:38:03.870 --> 00:38:08.170
experiment being conducted by
sea grass expert, Maria

00:38:08.170 --> 00:38:12.950
Cristina Buia It\'s just one of
many studies they\'ve done

00:38:12.950 --> 00:38:16.890
assessing the impact of carbon
dioxide on everything from

00:38:16.890 --> 00:38:20.600
plankton and shellfish to
corals and urchins.

00:38:20.600 --> 00:38:24.040
I think we know anyway that the
CO2 increases the growth

00:38:24.040 --> 00:38:24.710
of the sea grass.

00:38:24.710 --> 00:38:28.970
But we want to know how the
knock-on affects the other

00:38:28.970 --> 00:38:30.220
marine life.

00:38:30.220 --> 00:38:41.580


00:38:41.580 --> 00:38:42.830
Go.

00:38:42.830 --> 00:38:48.520


00:38:48.520 --> 00:38:52.720
At first glance, it looks like
a lush green environment.

00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:55.130
But look a little closer,
and another

00:38:55.130 --> 00:38:57.650
picture begins to emerge.

00:38:57.650 --> 00:39:02.240
Because of the CO2 bubbling into
these sea grass beds, the

00:39:02.240 --> 00:39:06.220
acidity level here is close to
that predicted for the end of

00:39:06.220 --> 00:39:08.540
the century.

00:39:08.540 --> 00:39:12.620
Sea grass loves this
environment, because all that

00:39:12.620 --> 00:39:15.200
CO2 acts like a fertilizer.

00:39:15.200 --> 00:39:20.390
But Hall Spencer has conducted
detailed animal surveys here,

00:39:20.390 --> 00:39:23.240
and the results are troubling.

00:39:23.240 --> 00:39:25.810
We\'ve actually counted every
single organism we can find.

00:39:25.810 --> 00:39:28.350
And we found that\'s there\'s a
30% reduction, a crash in the

00:39:28.350 --> 00:39:30.010
biodiversity of the area.

00:39:30.010 --> 00:39:32.720
All the things that should be
there, reproducing and growing

00:39:32.720 --> 00:39:34.010
well, have gone.

00:39:34.010 --> 00:39:37.940
And it\'s like comparing a
desert to a rainforest.

00:39:37.940 --> 00:39:41.073
And the shelled creatures that
do make their way into the

00:39:41.073 --> 00:39:43.030
vents don\'t last long.

00:39:43.030 --> 00:39:46.325


00:39:46.325 --> 00:39:50.285
[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

00:39:50.285 --> 00:39:52.770
Thanks.

00:39:52.770 --> 00:39:55.080
I tried to collect
these intact.

00:39:55.080 --> 00:39:57.910
Normally with a limpet, you
can get the whole animal.

00:39:57.910 --> 00:39:58.610
Yeah.

00:39:58.610 --> 00:39:59.750
It\'s easy.

00:39:59.750 --> 00:40:01.830
But these, they\'re so thin.

00:40:01.830 --> 00:40:02.610
They\'re just--

00:40:02.610 --> 00:40:03.300
[INAUDIBLE] broke, yeah.

00:40:03.300 --> 00:40:04.350
Yeah, they\'re just breaking
in my hands.

00:40:04.350 --> 00:40:05.255
They just open up.

00:40:05.255 --> 00:40:05.630
You know?

00:40:05.630 --> 00:40:07.450
That\'s [INAUDIBLE].

00:40:07.450 --> 00:40:08.800
Yes.

00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:10.490
They have recruited into the
[? cycling because there\'s ?]

00:40:10.490 --> 00:40:12.640
lots of food.

00:40:12.640 --> 00:40:15.380
Fertilized by this here too,
but it\'s their graveyard.

00:40:15.380 --> 00:40:16.200
They just dissolve.

00:40:16.200 --> 00:40:17.484
They don\'t resist.

00:40:17.484 --> 00:40:19.180
No.

00:40:19.180 --> 00:40:21.760
But strangely enough,
there are still

00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:25.090
fish in these waters.

00:40:25.090 --> 00:40:27.290
Certainly when you see these
sites with fish swimming

00:40:27.290 --> 00:40:29.730
around through the CO2 bubbles,
then maybe the whole

00:40:29.730 --> 00:40:31.530
fishing industry will breathe
a huge sigh of relief.

00:40:31.530 --> 00:40:34.005
Go, OK, there\'s plenty of
fish in the future.

00:40:34.005 --> 00:40:36.540
It doesn\'t matter how much CO2
you pump into the sea.

00:40:36.540 --> 00:40:38.060
Unfortunately, that\'s
a false view.

00:40:38.060 --> 00:40:41.000
What\'s happening is the fish are
able to swim in and out of

00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:43.980
this very high CO2 area that
we\'ve got here, but they

00:40:43.980 --> 00:40:45.480
cannot reproduce there.

00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:48.540
And some experiments that are
going on at my laboratory show

00:40:48.540 --> 00:40:51.620
that the very early life history
stages of fish are

00:40:51.620 --> 00:40:52.580
vulnerable in their

00:40:52.580 --> 00:40:54.140
development to high CO2 levels.

00:40:54.140 --> 00:40:59.610


00:40:59.610 --> 00:41:02.610
While I\'m saying I don\'t know
what the future is, what I can

00:41:02.610 --> 00:41:05.000
do is say that the sites
we\'re studying, it

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:05.680
doesn\'t look good.

00:41:05.680 --> 00:41:08.590
And if we carry on doing what
we\'re doing, it looks bad.

00:41:08.590 --> 00:41:10.660
Because, for example,
corals have gone.

00:41:10.660 --> 00:41:14.570
For example, all of the
calcified organisms have gone.

00:41:14.570 --> 00:41:16.820
And that\'s bound to affect the
whole food chain, right up to

00:41:16.820 --> 00:41:18.070
fish and mankind.

00:41:18.070 --> 00:41:22.430


00:41:22.430 --> 00:41:26.630
And if that chain of life
unravels, then the nurturing

00:41:26.630 --> 00:41:31.550
sea, the one that gave us life,
will change beyond all

00:41:31.550 --> 00:41:32.800
recognition.

00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:47.980


00:41:47.980 --> 00:41:51.940
Previously, the oceans were able
to adjust and buffer the

00:41:51.940 --> 00:41:55.320
effects of high CO2, so the
pH didn\'t alter so much.

00:41:55.320 --> 00:41:58.210
But now, we\'re ramping it up
so quickly that it cannot

00:41:58.210 --> 00:42:00.270
adjust in time.

00:42:00.270 --> 00:42:03.680
So if we can just for goodness
sake, reduce the amount of CO2

00:42:03.680 --> 00:42:06.740
and the amount of energy we
consume, then that\'s going to

00:42:06.740 --> 00:42:08.740
benefit the oceans worldwide.

00:42:08.740 --> 00:42:13.120


00:42:13.120 --> 00:42:17.520
The decisions that we make in
our generation over the next

00:42:17.520 --> 00:42:22.300
20 to 30 years, will impact
hundreds of generations of

00:42:22.300 --> 00:42:25.610
mankind in the future.

00:42:25.610 --> 00:42:27.340
So we better get this right.

00:42:27.340 --> 00:42:30.250
And we better get this
right right now.

00:42:30.250 --> 00:42:32.180
I\'m a father and
a grandfather.

00:42:32.180 --> 00:42:43.255
And I\'m very concerned that we
leave this for them in a state

00:42:43.255 --> 00:42:48.960
that they can appreciate,
that they can utilize.

00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:52.275
Not one where they look back
and say, this generation

00:42:52.275 --> 00:42:53.564
didn\'t do its job.

00:42:53.564 --> 00:42:57.080


00:42:57.080 --> 00:43:00.860
So how will our generation
be remembered?

00:43:00.860 --> 00:43:04.950
Perhaps as one that formed a new
partnership with the ocean

00:43:04.950 --> 00:43:07.640
and its astonishing creatures.

00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:12.480
If not, then it may be us and
thousands of other species

00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:16.660
that pay the ultimate price.

00:43:16.660 --> 00:43:21.470
The ocean will endure with or
without us, source waters of

00:43:21.470 --> 00:43:24.395
the planet, and the cradle
of new life.

00:43:24.395 --> 00:44:01.920