00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:04.690
The global ocean once contained

00:00:04.690 --> 00:00:06.690
all the life on Earth.

00:00:06.690 --> 00:00:12.230
It may still sustain 80% of it,
most of it at depths where

00:00:12.230 --> 00:00:14.670
humans can't survive.

00:00:14.670 --> 00:00:18.980
Now, for the first time in human
history, technology is

00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:22.230
taking us into the darkness and
crushing pressure of the

00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:27.062
deep seas into a world of
mystery and surprise.

00:00:27.062 --> 00:00:32.375


00:00:32.375 --> 00:00:35.770
What's down here?

00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:39.020
What is its nature?

00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:40.270
What are its secrets?

00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:44.600


00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:49.130
Scientists, today's explorers,
are in a race to answer these

00:00:49.130 --> 00:00:52.810
questions before our oceans
are laid waste by

00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:54.060
our reckless actions.

00:00:54.060 --> 00:00:58.920


00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:20.160
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:22.970
We've had a long and varied
relationship with our planet's

00:01:22.970 --> 00:01:26.680
coasts, but the open ocean
remains a place of our

00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:28.100
imaginations.

00:01:28.100 --> 00:01:33.030
To date, scientists have seen
only 5% of the deep sea, truly

00:01:33.030 --> 00:01:35.520
making it the last frontier.

00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:39.530
Today, technology allows us
to enter this alien world.

00:01:39.530 --> 00:01:43.590
Each deep sea exploration
uncovers new species, new

00:01:43.590 --> 00:01:47.730
mysteries that connect us to the
ocean's ancient past, and

00:01:47.730 --> 00:01:49.745
now, its uncertain future.

00:01:49.745 --> 00:01:54.020


00:01:54.020 --> 00:01:58.180
The research vessel Thomas G
Thompson is en route to the

00:01:58.180 --> 00:02:02.390
volcanic sea mounds of the
Pacific Ring of Fire, a place

00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:03.950
where few humans
have ventured.

00:02:03.950 --> 00:02:07.830


00:02:07.830 --> 00:02:12.000
Since 2002, there have been
six such voyages.

00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.840
Canadian biologist, Verena
Tunnicliffe, has

00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.510
been on three of them.

00:02:17.510 --> 00:02:21.020
Their objective, to map and
survey some of the most

00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:23.535
dramatic undersea topography
on Earth.

00:02:23.535 --> 00:02:31.200


00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:34.730
Setting out from the island of
Guam, itself a product of

00:02:34.730 --> 00:02:38.970
ancient volcanoes, Verena joins
20 scientists from four

00:02:38.970 --> 00:02:43.170
countries and multiple
disciplines, all eager to find

00:02:43.170 --> 00:02:46.420
what lies in this
great unknown.

00:02:46.420 --> 00:02:51.450
We targeted the subsea volcanoes
along the Mariana

00:02:51.450 --> 00:02:52.770
volcanic arc.

00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:56.725
And I think the most amazing
thing that we came back with

00:02:56.725 --> 00:02:59.250
was that everything was new.

00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:03.930
We've seen a lot, my buddies and
I going out to sea, and it

00:03:03.930 --> 00:03:06.490
was like going to sea for
the first time again.

00:03:06.490 --> 00:03:11.100


00:03:11.100 --> 00:03:15.070
Principal tool for exploration
is the remote submersible

00:03:15.070 --> 00:03:16.320
called Jason 2.

00:03:16.320 --> 00:03:20.305


00:03:20.305 --> 00:03:23.530
Able to cruise with ease in
pressures that would crush

00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:28.320
most submarines, it carries
tools, sensors, and multiple

00:03:28.320 --> 00:03:33.690
cameras wired to a control pod
on the Thompson's deck, where

00:03:33.690 --> 00:03:35.830
scientists prepare to
probe the mysteries

00:03:35.830 --> 00:03:37.080
of the Mariana arc.

00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:39.530


00:03:39.530 --> 00:03:43.670
The Mariana arc follows the
Mariana Trench, the deepest

00:03:43.670 --> 00:03:47.110
place on Earth, where the
Pacific tectonic plate

00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:50.590
collides with the Philippine
plate and plunges into the

00:03:50.590 --> 00:03:56.220
Earth's mantle, creating a
trench 11,000 meters deep.

00:03:56.220 --> 00:04:00.600
And rising up behind it, a
towering range of seamounts,

00:04:00.600 --> 00:04:01.990
submarine volcanoes.

00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:10.110


00:04:10.110 --> 00:04:14.360
Soon enough, Jason reaches 400
meters and the peak of the

00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:15.830
first seamount.

00:04:15.830 --> 00:04:18.465
And the cruise of discovery
begins.

00:04:18.465 --> 00:04:24.580


00:04:24.580 --> 00:04:28.660
Down here, a submersible with
its blazing lights can be a

00:04:28.660 --> 00:04:30.820
startling intruder.

00:04:30.820 --> 00:04:33.670
Ooh, wow.

00:04:33.670 --> 00:04:37.760
We're disturbing all the crabs,
all the squat lobsters

00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:41.920
around the bottom, and now
they're all floating back down

00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:43.690
to the bottom.

00:04:43.690 --> 00:04:47.910
Parachuting out of the sky.

00:04:47.910 --> 00:04:53.020
And just over the crest,
the unexpected.

00:04:53.020 --> 00:04:53.980
Oh my god.

00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:59.650
400 meters under the sea,
a lake of molten sulfur.

00:04:59.650 --> 00:05:02.652
It blew up, and all that gas
came out, you can see the

00:05:02.652 --> 00:05:04.830
whole thing kind of
past coming on.

00:05:04.830 --> 00:05:09.640
Then another surprise lying
right on the sulfur surface.

00:05:09.640 --> 00:05:13.530
There's a flatfish down there.

00:05:13.530 --> 00:05:16.000
He doesn't care.

00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.030
If it doesn't cook him,
it should poison him.

00:05:20.030 --> 00:05:24.140
Yet the flatfish seems
untroubled by a 200 degree

00:05:24.140 --> 00:05:26.750
vent of boiling sulfur.

00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:31.340
But the ultimate discovery is
revealed below the pool, under

00:05:31.340 --> 00:05:33.820
clouds of rising sulfur.

00:05:33.820 --> 00:05:36.480
You realize the bottom is
absolutely covered by these

00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:39.715
little flat fish, and they just
flapping all over it.

00:05:39.715 --> 00:05:42.340
It's like little butterflies
all over the bottom.

00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:46.340
What keeps them here
is anyone's guess.

00:05:46.340 --> 00:05:49.700
Then, a clue to the mystery
comes drifting down.

00:05:49.700 --> 00:05:51.940
Want to make a note that
a dead fish just

00:05:51.940 --> 00:05:53.012
landed on the bottom.

00:05:53.012 --> 00:05:55.690
It was a mid-water fish.

00:05:55.690 --> 00:05:57.880
Well that's the third one I've
seen now in a while.

00:05:57.880 --> 00:06:00.350
It's not the flatfish, it's the
ones from the mid-- oh,

00:06:00.350 --> 00:06:01.680
look at that.

00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:05.620
Eventually, they compare notes
and come up with a likely

00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:06.870
explanation.

00:06:06.870 --> 00:06:08.790


00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:13.250
The nearby sulfur vents act as
a natural trap, poisoning

00:06:13.250 --> 00:06:16.730
passing fish which then sink
to become dinner for the

00:06:16.730 --> 00:06:22.530
flatfish, who are somehow immune
to this chemical soup.

00:06:22.530 --> 00:06:25.270
It was amazing, the
density of them.

00:06:25.270 --> 00:06:27.730
I don't think anybody's ever
seen fish in that kind of

00:06:27.730 --> 00:06:30.510
density around hot vents before,
and brand new species.

00:06:30.510 --> 00:06:37.910


00:06:37.910 --> 00:06:41.240
Steadily, they make their way
along the chain of volcanic

00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:45.820
seamounts, sampling, collection,
measuring, and

00:06:45.820 --> 00:06:50.880
sending Jason on dive after dive
to probe this alien world

00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:52.130
beneath their ship.

00:06:52.130 --> 00:07:20.330


00:07:20.330 --> 00:07:22.920
Every volcano we went to,
something different.

00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:26.400
A different community, a
different set of chemistry, a

00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:29.650
different set of conditions,
a different behavior in the

00:07:29.650 --> 00:07:34.115
volcanoes, and new animals and
new communities everywhere.

00:07:34.115 --> 00:07:37.570


00:07:37.570 --> 00:07:42.380
It's a bonanza for Verena, but
20 scientists share control of

00:07:42.380 --> 00:07:47.020
Jason, and Bill Chadwick, senior
marine geologist, is

00:07:47.020 --> 00:07:50.050
less concerned with shrimp
and flatfish.

00:07:50.050 --> 00:07:55.100
His quarry is an erupting
volcano, but so far he's seen

00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:57.590
only steam vents and
sulfur plumes.

00:07:57.590 --> 00:08:02.390


00:08:02.390 --> 00:08:06.340
Then, during a night dive on
a seamount called Northwest

00:08:06.340 --> 00:08:09.550
Rota, it's Bill Chadwick's
shift.

00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:12.110
Yeah, well, once you know
the scale of that.

00:08:12.110 --> 00:08:16.550


00:08:16.550 --> 00:08:21.550
We're over the summit, going
down, and we started seeing

00:08:21.550 --> 00:08:23.427
the edge of this giant plume.

00:08:23.427 --> 00:08:27.170


00:08:27.170 --> 00:08:30.930
It's on the right, the
lower right there.

00:08:30.930 --> 00:08:32.589
This sure is easy.

00:08:32.589 --> 00:08:35.630
That's it, right there, huh.

00:08:35.630 --> 00:08:41.370
Camera-shaking vibrations tell
them this is no ordinary vent.

00:08:41.370 --> 00:08:43.360
Cool.

00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:44.220
Wow.

00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:45.730
Look at that, what
a great view.

00:08:45.730 --> 00:08:48.300


00:08:48.300 --> 00:08:50.740
This is the first time
anybody's seen this.

00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:52.357
Oh my god, look at that.

00:08:52.357 --> 00:09:01.303


00:09:01.303 --> 00:09:02.794
Look at that vent.

00:09:02.794 --> 00:09:05.776


00:09:05.776 --> 00:09:07.026
Holy cow.

00:09:07.026 --> 00:09:10.930


00:09:10.930 --> 00:09:18.590
Last night, it's just
jaw dropping.

00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:23.795
And the sea floor shaking, and
there's lava coming up in the

00:09:23.795 --> 00:09:27.440
vent, and there's exploding
gases, and rocks are being

00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.620
shoved out of the way.

00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:31.217
And everybody is just
going, whoa.

00:09:31.217 --> 00:09:33.900


00:09:33.900 --> 00:09:38.230
So not only are we learning
about how these eruptions

00:09:38.230 --> 00:09:41.320
happen and how they affect the
environment, but it's just

00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:44.640
incredibly exciting research
to witness.

00:09:44.640 --> 00:09:46.280
So that makes it really fun.

00:09:46.280 --> 00:09:49.840


00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:53.200
Surprisingly, for such a
violent place, it has

00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:56.550
something for the
biologist, too.

00:09:56.550 --> 00:09:59.710
On Northwest Rota there are two
species of shrimp, one of

00:09:59.710 --> 00:10:02.170
them is a brand new species and
this particular species

00:10:02.170 --> 00:10:05.090
has done incredibly well.

00:10:05.090 --> 00:10:07.060
There's very little competition,
nobody else wants

00:10:07.060 --> 00:10:08.100
to live there.

00:10:08.100 --> 00:10:10.140
And yet, there's a lovely
food source.

00:10:10.140 --> 00:10:14.230
And so perhaps they've become
cued to those volcanic

00:10:14.230 --> 00:10:17.520
emissions that other species
hate, that kill them.

00:10:17.520 --> 00:10:21.180
And yet they go a ha, a whiff of
sulfur, and I'm going to go

00:10:21.180 --> 00:10:23.955
down and follow that
sulfur cue.

00:10:23.955 --> 00:10:26.226
Oh, got a few in there.

00:10:26.226 --> 00:10:28.530
There's a nice, big, fat
one on that rock there.

00:10:28.530 --> 00:10:34.850


00:10:34.850 --> 00:10:39.450
Discovery is only the beginning
of exploration.

00:10:39.450 --> 00:10:43.270
Scientists have known about
seamounts for a long time, but

00:10:43.270 --> 00:10:46.430
it's only in the last few
decades that they've come to

00:10:46.430 --> 00:10:49.610
suspect their crucial role
in the ocean environment.

00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:52.870


00:10:52.870 --> 00:10:56.460
Where seamounts rise near the
surface, they often create

00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:00.450
local environments, as nutrient
rich bottom waters

00:11:00.450 --> 00:11:05.080
rise up the slopes to support
everything from coral reefs to

00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:06.700
teeming schools of fish.

00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:09.780


00:11:09.780 --> 00:11:14.020
A volcano's transformation
into habitat is poorly

00:11:14.020 --> 00:11:18.350
understood, and exploring the
Mariana arc may help explain

00:11:18.350 --> 00:11:19.600
the process.

00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:21.950


00:11:21.950 --> 00:11:27.480
Perpetual darkness, unvarying
cold, and crushing pressure

00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:29.610
make the deep ocean
more hostile to

00:11:29.610 --> 00:11:32.500
humans than outer space.

00:11:32.500 --> 00:11:36.040
And we've only been coming down
here since about the same

00:11:36.040 --> 00:11:38.470
time we started going
up there.

00:11:38.470 --> 00:11:44.360


00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:48.540
In the fourth century BC,
Alexander the Great is said to

00:11:48.540 --> 00:11:52.780
have used an inverted glass jar,
the first recorded diving

00:11:52.780 --> 00:11:56.520
bell, to dive beneath the
Mediterranean near the ancient

00:11:56.520 --> 00:11:58.850
city of Tyre.

00:11:58.850 --> 00:12:03.330
And The open bottom diving bell
limited us to dives under

00:12:03.330 --> 00:12:07.230
20 meters until well into
the last century.

00:12:07.230 --> 00:12:10.980
That remoteness, that
inaccessibility, has served to

00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:16.850
protect the ocean from a great
many forms of human

00:12:16.850 --> 00:12:18.430
perturbation.

00:12:18.430 --> 00:12:21.960
And it means, also, that we
seldom appreciate how

00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:26.020
significant it is in the ecology
of the whole planet.

00:12:26.020 --> 00:12:29.980
And it's home to the largest
animal communities on Earth,

00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:33.270
largest in terms of number of
individuals, largest in terms

00:12:33.270 --> 00:12:37.180
of number of species, largest
in terms of biomass.

00:12:37.180 --> 00:12:43.660
Most of the animals on this
planet live in the deep sea.

00:12:43.660 --> 00:12:46.690
Now working out of the Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research

00:12:46.690 --> 00:12:51.310
Institute in California, Bruce
Robison has been investigating

00:12:51.310 --> 00:12:54.100
these animals since the 1970s.

00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:59.370
I had been sampling the oceanic
water column with nets

00:12:59.370 --> 00:13:05.400
the way a century's worth of
my predecessors had done.

00:13:05.400 --> 00:13:08.110
It occurred to me that any
self-respecting desert

00:13:08.110 --> 00:13:11.620
ecologist or forest ecologist
would never attempt to

00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:14.390
describe the desert or the
forest without ever having

00:13:14.390 --> 00:13:19.420
been there, and yet that's
what I was doing.

00:13:19.420 --> 00:13:24.430
In 1974, Robison hitched a ride
into the deep on Alvin,

00:13:24.430 --> 00:13:26.663
the first of the modern
research submersibles.

00:13:26.663 --> 00:13:31.190


00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:32.680
I was thunderstruck.

00:13:32.680 --> 00:13:35.940
There were so many more animals
than I had ever

00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:39.210
imagined, particularly
the gelatinous forms.

00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:42.030
They were all over the place,
they were really abundant.

00:13:42.030 --> 00:13:45.920
And they were zipping around,
and moving, and swimming, and

00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:48.550
showing all kinds of
active behavior.

00:13:48.550 --> 00:13:53.280
Again, something that I
was unprepared for.

00:13:53.280 --> 00:13:57.630
Today, Doctor Robison still
spends about 50 days a year at

00:13:57.630 --> 00:14:02.280
sea, studying the animals that
live below 200 meters under

00:14:02.280 --> 00:14:04.210
the surface.

00:14:04.210 --> 00:14:07.560
As I used to say to my students,
there's only so much

00:14:07.560 --> 00:14:09.810
you can learn from
a dead fish.

00:14:09.810 --> 00:14:13.340
There's a great deal more to
be learned by entering the

00:14:13.340 --> 00:14:19.220
habitat, seeing the animals in
their natural environment.

00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:22.990
Setting out from California's
Monterey Bay Aquarium, the

00:14:22.990 --> 00:14:26.840
Western Flyer sails through some
of the best research deep

00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:28.090
water in the world.

00:14:28.090 --> 00:14:32.290


00:14:32.290 --> 00:14:35.600
Monterey Bay is the focal point
of a National Marine

00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:41.890
Sanctuary, and because the deep
begin so close to shore,

00:14:41.890 --> 00:14:44.215
it's a favorite destination
for explorers.

00:14:44.215 --> 00:14:47.910


00:14:47.910 --> 00:14:52.240
Yet so vast is the ocean in
relation to our understanding,

00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.630
that every trip holds
the promise of

00:14:54.630 --> 00:14:56.265
surprise, of discovery.

00:14:56.265 --> 00:14:59.420


00:14:59.420 --> 00:15:02.940
Once on station, the crew
prepares to launch MBARI's

00:15:02.940 --> 00:15:05.490
latest submersible,
the Doc Ricketts.

00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:08.060


00:15:08.060 --> 00:15:11.063
And another control room fires
up in anticipation.

00:15:11.063 --> 00:15:28.930


00:15:28.930 --> 00:15:32.510
As it descends, the Doc Ricketts
passes first through

00:15:32.510 --> 00:15:36.580
the upper waters, home to most
of the species we know.

00:15:36.580 --> 00:15:40.390
From sardines to sharks and
everything between.

00:15:40.390 --> 00:15:44.660
Here, light and oxygen support
life in all its abundance.

00:15:44.660 --> 00:15:55.450


00:15:55.450 --> 00:15:59.940
Somewhere around 200 meters, the
mesopelagic, or mid-water

00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:01.310
zone, begins.

00:16:01.310 --> 00:16:04.490
And things start
to get strange.

00:16:04.490 --> 00:16:08.160
Without the submersible's
headlamps, light is too faint

00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:10.380
for surface eyes to see.

00:16:10.380 --> 00:16:13.380
Too faint to support
plant life.

00:16:13.380 --> 00:16:17.710
That doesn't mean there is no
light, because from here down,

00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:19.970
creatures create their own.

00:16:19.970 --> 00:16:22.810
Bioluminescence is apparent
in animals

00:16:22.810 --> 00:16:25.080
throughout the water column.

00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:28.050
But as you go deeper,
bioluminescence becomes more

00:16:28.050 --> 00:16:32.490
and more important as the only
means of communication that

00:16:32.490 --> 00:16:33.830
we're aware of.

00:16:33.830 --> 00:16:37.870


00:16:37.870 --> 00:16:41.770
Most animals produce their
own bioluminescence.

00:16:41.770 --> 00:16:46.095
Others achieve it by giving a
home to photoactive bacteria,

00:16:46.095 --> 00:16:48.660
who repay the favor through
advertising.

00:16:48.660 --> 00:17:02.240


00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.950
Like cars on a freeway at night,
these creatures are

00:17:05.950 --> 00:17:08.829
communicating through
light, saying come

00:17:08.829 --> 00:17:11.700
closer or stay away.

00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:16.109
Certain celebrated species of
shrimp can even vomit a sort

00:17:16.109 --> 00:17:18.839
of bioluminescent pepper
spray that

00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:22.599
temporarily blinds an attacker.

00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:25.550
My colleague, Edie Widder,
says that, looked at

00:17:25.550 --> 00:17:29.560
objectively, bioluminescence
is the most important

00:17:29.560 --> 00:17:32.250
communication form on Earth.

00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:35.320
And I'm sure she's right because
of the vast numbers of

00:17:35.320 --> 00:17:38.980
plants and animals that create
light in order to communicate

00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:42.990
with one another to avoid
predation, to attract prey,

00:17:42.990 --> 00:17:47.360
and for all kinds of
other interactions.

00:17:47.360 --> 00:17:51.770
In other words, more creatures
use light to communicate than

00:17:51.770 --> 00:17:55.810
all forms of sound put together,
from cricket chirps

00:17:55.810 --> 00:17:57.780
to human language.

00:17:57.780 --> 00:18:01.620
And when it comes to bizarre and
creative solutions to the

00:18:01.620 --> 00:18:06.700
challenges of life in the deep
sea, bioluminescence is only

00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:07.950
the beginning.

00:18:07.950 --> 00:18:12.350


00:18:12.350 --> 00:18:16.360
Somewhere below 600 meters,
Bruce Robison's remote

00:18:16.360 --> 00:18:19.850
submersible closes in
on a vampire squid.

00:18:19.850 --> 00:18:26.640


00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:31.160
The capture and classification
of specimens is a crucial

00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:35.840
element in the second stage of
exploration, making sense of

00:18:35.840 --> 00:18:37.490
what's down there.

00:18:37.490 --> 00:18:41.930
But some truly alien creatures
defy both capture and

00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:43.700
classification.

00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:47.290
Case in point, the largest
member of a family called

00:18:47.290 --> 00:18:50.460
siphonophores, possibly
the longest

00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:53.250
animal organism on Earth.

00:18:53.250 --> 00:18:56.910
The largest siphonophore
we've ever measured was

00:18:56.910 --> 00:19:00.510
41 meters in length.

00:19:00.510 --> 00:19:04.620
Siphonophores are gelatinous
predators that send out a

00:19:04.620 --> 00:19:08.880
curtain of tentacles that will
capture anything that happens

00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:10.880
to blunder into it.

00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:15.100
They are unusual in that they're
colonial animals.

00:19:15.100 --> 00:19:17.950
That doesn't mean they
gather in colonies.

00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:20.440
It means they are colonies.

00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:24.060
What seems like an almost
endless undersea snake is in

00:19:24.060 --> 00:19:27.230
fact thousands of animals
linked together to act

00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:30.010
cooperatively and
share resources.

00:19:30.010 --> 00:19:33.860
This arrangement has been so
successful that nature has

00:19:33.860 --> 00:19:36.685
found hundreds of ways
to express it.

00:19:36.685 --> 00:19:43.110


00:19:43.110 --> 00:19:48.640
Like ant colonies, there are
specialized individuals who

00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:53.580
have particular functional roles
within the community.

00:19:53.580 --> 00:19:58.980
There are propulsive units,
there are individuals that are

00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:03.540
reproductive elements, there are
individuals whose role is

00:20:03.540 --> 00:20:06.755
to catch and digest food.

00:20:06.755 --> 00:20:10.640


00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:14.900
Because no land animal organizes
itself this way,

00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:19.030
scientists can't decide
how to classify it.

00:20:19.030 --> 00:20:23.170
Do you treat it as a colony,
do you treat it as an

00:20:23.170 --> 00:20:26.660
individual, or do you think of
it as some sort of super

00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:30.810
organism, which is often
the fallback position.

00:20:30.810 --> 00:20:33.290
Well, it's special, it's
not like anything else.

00:20:33.290 --> 00:20:38.210
We'll call it a super organism
and leave it at that.

00:20:38.210 --> 00:20:42.580
Those deadly tentacles feed more
than just their owners,

00:20:42.580 --> 00:20:46.980
and watching siphonophores led
to the solution of the decades

00:20:46.980 --> 00:20:51.440
old mystery of a little fish
with big green eyes.

00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:55.640
Macropinna is a little fish that
we have known about for a

00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.050
great many years from net-caught
specimens.

00:20:58.050 --> 00:21:03.220
When we first came across one,
we were astonished to see that

00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:08.090
there was a transparent shield
over the top of its head.

00:21:08.090 --> 00:21:11.410
Every specimen that I'd seen
was drawn without a

00:21:11.410 --> 00:21:14.030
transparent shield.

00:21:14.030 --> 00:21:16.500
We were well aware that
they had tubular

00:21:16.500 --> 00:21:18.540
eyes that looked upward.

00:21:18.540 --> 00:21:22.440
And that always puzzled me,
that they seemed not to be

00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:26.250
able to include their mouth in
the field of view of their

00:21:26.250 --> 00:21:28.020
upward looking eyes.

00:21:28.020 --> 00:21:32.190
And how can you feed effectively
if you can't see

00:21:32.190 --> 00:21:33.270
what you're eating?

00:21:33.270 --> 00:21:37.200
Well, as soon as we begin to
observe these animals in their

00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:40.400
natural habitat, everything
became clear.

00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.820
And we've been able to determine
that the eyes are

00:21:43.820 --> 00:21:48.140
capable of rotating from their
upward looking position to a

00:21:48.140 --> 00:21:50.940
forward looking position.

00:21:50.940 --> 00:21:56.750
And these animals probably
swim along beneath large

00:21:56.750 --> 00:21:58.270
siphonophores.

00:21:58.270 --> 00:22:02.670
When it sees something in the
tentacles, it rotates the body

00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:06.830
and the mouth upwards, grabs
the food, rotates the body

00:22:06.830 --> 00:22:11.690
back down and proceeds down the
linear smorgasbord of food

00:22:11.690 --> 00:22:14.410
that the siphonophore
provides.

00:22:14.410 --> 00:22:18.190
The transparent shield protects
them from the

00:22:18.190 --> 00:22:21.020
stinging cells in the tentacles
of the siphonophore

00:22:21.020 --> 00:22:23.180
that they're swiping
food from.

00:22:23.180 --> 00:22:28.830
The paradox of how that fish
could see to eat was suddenly

00:22:28.830 --> 00:22:33.230
resolved by the fact that we
could enter its habitat and

00:22:33.230 --> 00:22:35.780
watch it first hand.

00:22:35.780 --> 00:22:40.840
We have been able to bring two
specimens of Macropinna alive

00:22:40.840 --> 00:22:45.270
to the surface to confirm the
observations that we've made

00:22:45.270 --> 00:22:46.860
with the ROV.

00:22:46.860 --> 00:22:52.030
It's important to be able to
make measurements in the lab

00:22:52.030 --> 00:22:55.590
that confirm what you see in
the ocean, and vice versa.

00:22:55.590 --> 00:22:58.170
If you do laboratory
experiments, it's very

00:22:58.170 --> 00:23:01.010
important to be able to confirm
your results in the

00:23:01.010 --> 00:23:04.120
natural habitat.

00:23:04.120 --> 00:23:05.370
But not today.

00:23:05.370 --> 00:23:09.730


00:23:09.730 --> 00:23:13.810
And that's the lesson of these
tales of deep sea adventure.

00:23:13.810 --> 00:23:17.800
Until we explore and document
the ocean's secrets, the

00:23:17.800 --> 00:23:22.140
splendid life within it remains
a mystery and risks

00:23:22.140 --> 00:23:23.560
becoming a casualty.

00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:27.340


00:23:27.340 --> 00:23:30.300
We don't know what we don't
know, that's for sure.

00:23:30.300 --> 00:23:33.540
We suspect that there's a hell
of a lot we don't know.

00:23:33.540 --> 00:23:37.590
Unlocking the secrets of the
deep has a practical urgency,

00:23:37.590 --> 00:23:41.180
because ignorance has never
stopped us from going after

00:23:41.180 --> 00:23:42.690
its riches.

00:23:42.690 --> 00:23:46.080
In the case of one deep sea
fish, what we didn't know

00:23:46.080 --> 00:23:49.795
brought an entire species to
the brink of extinction.

00:23:49.795 --> 00:23:55.780


00:23:55.780 --> 00:23:59.190
For most of our history, fishing
has been restricted to

00:23:59.190 --> 00:24:01.850
the species of the shallow
and coastal waters.

00:24:01.850 --> 00:24:04.850


00:24:04.850 --> 00:24:08.830
Many deep sea fishes never
venture up this far, and that

00:24:08.830 --> 00:24:10.540
kept them out of our
seafood diet.

00:24:10.540 --> 00:24:13.520


00:24:13.520 --> 00:24:17.630
But in the late 20th century,
technology made commercial

00:24:17.630 --> 00:24:20.210
deep sea fishing practical.

00:24:20.210 --> 00:24:23.690
This came just as catch rates
in most coastal and

00:24:23.690 --> 00:24:27.480
traditional fisheries were
facing a long, slow fall.

00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.670


00:24:30.670 --> 00:24:33.060
So what we see is that,
particularly, say, in the

00:24:33.060 --> 00:24:36.730
'60s, '70s, and '80s, we were
looking for new resources.

00:24:36.730 --> 00:24:39.170
In particular, the Japanese,
the Russians, some other

00:24:39.170 --> 00:24:42.010
nations, moved deeper and deeper
down the continental

00:24:42.010 --> 00:24:44.720
slope into the deep sea.

00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:47.380
The situation has
only worsened.

00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:51.480
Boris Worm, himself an undersea
enthusiast, shocked

00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:54.420
the world by announcing that
under current fishing

00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:58.890
practice, humanity's seafood
supply, all of it, will be

00:24:58.890 --> 00:25:00.950
gone by mid-century.

00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:04.120
We collected records going
back hundreds of years to

00:25:04.120 --> 00:25:06.860
track the depletion of
fisheries, and what we found

00:25:06.860 --> 00:25:11.540
was that there was a small
depletion of marine species

00:25:11.540 --> 00:25:13.870
over the last 1,000,
2,000 years, even.

00:25:13.870 --> 00:25:17.470
But accelerating over the last
hundred to 200 years.

00:25:17.470 --> 00:25:20.730
So that we're at a point, now,
where every year there's a

00:25:20.730 --> 00:25:23.680
larger number of species
collapse, meaning where that

00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.220
can't be commercially
fished anymore.

00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:28.370
If that trend would continue,
if you wouldn't change

00:25:28.370 --> 00:25:31.020
anything, just keep down that
track, you would run out of

00:25:31.020 --> 00:25:35.460
seafood resources by the
year 2048 or so.

00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:38.090
Fishers hoped that the
deep seas could

00:25:38.090 --> 00:25:40.320
fill the growing shortfall.

00:25:40.320 --> 00:25:45.180
They droped their nets to 500
meters, then 1,000, with

00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:49.780
little idea of what they might
find or where they'd find it.

00:25:49.780 --> 00:25:52.810
On the seamounts off New
Zealand, about a kilometer

00:25:52.810 --> 00:25:56.870
down, they found a winner.

00:25:56.870 --> 00:26:00.480
Science had known about orange
roughy since the late 1800s,

00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.820
but basically they lived
undisturbed for many

00:26:03.820 --> 00:26:07.425
millennia, until the mid 1970s
when they discovered orange

00:26:07.425 --> 00:26:10.850
roughy in New Zealand waters
on the east Chatham Rise.

00:26:10.850 --> 00:26:14.160
Orange roughy was commercially
ideal.

00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:17.630
A mild white meat that held
its firm texture through

00:26:17.630 --> 00:26:19.540
freezing and thawing.

00:26:19.540 --> 00:26:22.770
It looked like the deep seas
might indeed have solved the

00:26:22.770 --> 00:26:27.330
problem of declining shallow
water stocks, especially as

00:26:27.330 --> 00:26:30.550
other concentrations were
discovered in the Pacific,

00:26:30.550 --> 00:26:34.710
Indian, and North
Atlantic Oceans.

00:26:34.710 --> 00:26:38.170
Ships from many nations created
the deep sea gold

00:26:38.170 --> 00:26:41.702
rush, most with no quotas
to restraint them.

00:26:41.702 --> 00:26:44.540


00:26:44.540 --> 00:26:49.760
They mined the sea, and when
catches got ahead of demand,

00:26:49.760 --> 00:26:53.010
many tons of valuable roughy
went into landfills.

00:26:53.010 --> 00:26:57.680


00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:01.480
The wholesale slaughter
continued until catch rates

00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:07.110
began to fall far faster
than anyone expected.

00:27:07.110 --> 00:27:09.960
This was particularly disturbing
in New Zealand,

00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.900
where roughy had been a bonanza
for the country's

00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:16.790
small economy, and regulators
were determined to make it

00:27:16.790 --> 00:27:18.040
sustainable.

00:27:18.040 --> 00:27:21.240


00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:24.690
Because almost every zone they
fished fell within their

00:27:24.690 --> 00:27:28.380
national waters, they
could set quotas.

00:27:28.380 --> 00:27:32.410
To enforce them, they sent out
regular air patrols to detect

00:27:32.410 --> 00:27:36.660
and deter cheaters, just as
Canada does, just as many

00:27:36.660 --> 00:27:38.090
Maritime nations do.

00:27:38.090 --> 00:27:45.260


00:27:45.260 --> 00:27:48.520
Yet even though they could be
fairly sure fishers were

00:27:48.520 --> 00:27:51.270
keeping to quotas,
catches kept on

00:27:51.270 --> 00:27:53.610
falling toward collapse.

00:27:53.610 --> 00:27:56.380
Fisheries scientists were
asked to explain it.

00:27:56.380 --> 00:27:58.380
There was a very steep learning
curve for science in

00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:02.410
the 1980s, and it wasn't until
the late '80s and the early

00:28:02.410 --> 00:28:06.810
1990s that we began to discover
important aspects of

00:28:06.810 --> 00:28:08.340
their biology.

00:28:08.340 --> 00:28:12.310
The truth was, there were huge
gaps in their scientific

00:28:12.310 --> 00:28:15.090
knowledge, brushed
aside in the rush

00:28:15.090 --> 00:28:18.090
to exploit the resource.

00:28:18.090 --> 00:28:21.870
Scientists knew almost nothing
of the roughy except that it

00:28:21.870 --> 00:28:24.606
congregated near the
bottom between 800

00:28:24.606 --> 00:28:28.450
and 1200 meters deep.

00:28:28.450 --> 00:28:31.980
They had based quotas on
experience with shallow water

00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:38.260
species, and evidently
something was wrong.

00:28:38.260 --> 00:28:41.550
The first imperative was to get
an accurate picture of the

00:28:41.550 --> 00:28:45.660
roughy's lifespan and rate
of reproduction.

00:28:45.660 --> 00:28:47.890
The way that we actually
age them is to use

00:28:47.890 --> 00:28:48.740
bones in their body.

00:28:48.740 --> 00:28:51.630
And the bones in their body,
they're like trees.

00:28:51.630 --> 00:28:53.780
And trees have growth rings.

00:28:53.780 --> 00:28:55.920
And fish bones will actually
do the same thing.

00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:59.010
And so we can use it to measure
how old they are.

00:28:59.010 --> 00:29:00.860
The bones that we choose to take
are the ones from their

00:29:00.860 --> 00:29:03.730
inner ear, which sit just
behind the brain.

00:29:03.730 --> 00:29:06.230
We take them out and then
we section them.

00:29:06.230 --> 00:29:08.150
And then you actually have to
put them under a microscope to

00:29:08.150 --> 00:29:09.762
see the rings.

00:29:09.762 --> 00:29:12.140
OK, so what have we got here?

00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:15.850
This is one of the
Cordella ones.

00:29:15.850 --> 00:29:20.390
We started looking at the ear
bones in the late 1980s.

00:29:20.390 --> 00:29:22.710
And that came in and showed
them to live to

00:29:22.710 --> 00:29:24.280
100 years or more.

00:29:24.280 --> 00:29:26.710
And that actually generated a
lot of controversy when it

00:29:26.710 --> 00:29:28.470
first happened.

00:29:28.470 --> 00:29:30.396
47's a faint one.

00:29:30.396 --> 00:29:35.750
48, 49, 50, and possibly a 51st
one right under there.

00:29:35.750 --> 00:29:39.320
Fishes often live
20, 30 years.

00:29:39.320 --> 00:29:42.530
But the idea of a fish living
to 100 years was

00:29:42.530 --> 00:29:44.930
unheard of at the time.

00:29:44.930 --> 00:29:49.750
In fact, it was key to
solving their puzzle.

00:29:49.750 --> 00:29:54.120
Determining age is important
because short-lived animals

00:29:54.120 --> 00:29:56.430
must reproduce much
more quickly

00:29:56.430 --> 00:29:58.430
than long-lived animals.

00:29:58.430 --> 00:30:02.830
So taking 20% a year from a
short-lived population may

00:30:02.830 --> 00:30:06.990
have no net effect on stocks,
because natural reproduction

00:30:06.990 --> 00:30:08.680
replaces it.

00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:13.590
But a long-lived animal may only
reproduce 10% a year, so

00:30:13.590 --> 00:30:17.790
taking 20% of its population
will result in just what was

00:30:17.790 --> 00:30:20.545
happening, rapid depletion.

00:30:20.545 --> 00:30:25.360


00:30:25.360 --> 00:30:28.760
By the time the government and
industry reluctantly accepted

00:30:28.760 --> 00:30:31.580
their evidence, it was
already too late

00:30:31.580 --> 00:30:33.130
for most of the planet.

00:30:33.130 --> 00:30:34.980
The roughy stocks collapsed.

00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:37.290
The Australian fishery is
effectively closed, there's

00:30:37.290 --> 00:30:38.540
one small fishery remaining.

00:30:38.540 --> 00:30:40.730
The Chilean fishery is closed.

00:30:40.730 --> 00:30:42.850
The EU are planning to close, by
my understanding, planning

00:30:42.850 --> 00:30:47.090
to close their orange roughy
fishing from next year.

00:30:47.090 --> 00:30:49.580
The Namibian fishery has been
reduced to a low level.

00:30:49.580 --> 00:30:51.870
So the New Zealand fishery's
continuing.

00:30:51.870 --> 00:30:54.170
In a way, it was the first,
and looks as though it may

00:30:54.170 --> 00:30:56.555
well be the last remaining
substantial

00:30:56.555 --> 00:30:58.980
orange roughy fishery.

00:30:58.980 --> 00:31:02.500
With industry support, New
Zealand has closed fishing

00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:06.150
grounds and drastically reduced
quotas in the hope of

00:31:06.150 --> 00:31:10.570
stopping the collapse and even
reversing the damage.

00:31:10.570 --> 00:31:14.960
Many believe it's too
little, too late.

00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:18.260
But on the other side of the
world, Boris Worm has followed

00:31:18.260 --> 00:31:21.180
the fate of other endangered
fisheries.

00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:25.080
I don't think it's too late
to change things.

00:31:25.080 --> 00:31:28.270
What gives me hope is that,
increasingly, we see where

00:31:28.270 --> 00:31:31.770
people are doing a good job and
where they are trying to

00:31:31.770 --> 00:31:34.590
manage things sustainably, we
see a recovery of fish stocks.

00:31:34.590 --> 00:31:37.980
We see rebounding both close to
shore and on the high seas.

00:31:37.980 --> 00:31:40.620
Swordfish stocks in this region,
for example, have been

00:31:40.620 --> 00:31:43.130
increasing recently due
to good management.

00:31:43.130 --> 00:31:44.790
And that's really
a sign of hope.

00:31:44.790 --> 00:31:49.980


00:31:49.980 --> 00:31:54.040
Encouraging news, but this
research, too, is based on

00:31:54.040 --> 00:31:56.250
stocks of shallow water fish.

00:31:56.250 --> 00:32:00.760
And as we now know, what works
near the surface may not apply

00:32:00.760 --> 00:32:02.010
1,000 meters down.

00:32:02.010 --> 00:32:05.130


00:32:05.130 --> 00:32:08.710
In any case, even if stocks
recovered, New Zealand's

00:32:08.710 --> 00:32:12.070
problems with the orange roughy
fishery don't end with

00:32:12.070 --> 00:32:13.320
overfishing.

00:32:13.320 --> 00:32:15.060


00:32:15.060 --> 00:32:18.670
There is a secondary issue that
excites the concern of

00:32:18.670 --> 00:32:22.650
activists and has become a
focus for researchers.

00:32:22.650 --> 00:32:25.980
That issue is the destruction
of the deep sea habitat.

00:32:25.980 --> 00:32:30.300


00:32:30.300 --> 00:32:34.650
Orange roughy hug the sea bottom
for protection, and in

00:32:34.650 --> 00:32:38.550
these waters, that means the
slopes of seamounts.

00:32:38.550 --> 00:32:41.120
To catch them, trawls
must be dragged

00:32:41.120 --> 00:32:44.170
directly along these slopes.

00:32:44.170 --> 00:32:47.540
So the scientists on the
fisheries vessel [INAUDIBLE]

00:32:47.540 --> 00:32:52.340
study both fished and unfished
seamounts to assess the impact

00:32:52.340 --> 00:32:54.190
of trawling.

00:32:54.190 --> 00:32:58.190
Sandy sediment down the base.

00:32:58.190 --> 00:32:59.690
OK.

00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:00.690
Corals.

00:33:00.690 --> 00:33:04.190
Some Gorgonian corals
through the lift.

00:33:04.190 --> 00:33:06.060
The orange roughy are just
hanging there, motionless.

00:33:06.060 --> 00:33:09.100
The fishing gear used for orange
roughy fishing at those

00:33:09.100 --> 00:33:10.840
depths weighs about
three tons.

00:33:10.840 --> 00:33:14.390
So the impact on fragile fauna,
on vulnerable fauna

00:33:14.390 --> 00:33:17.570
like corals and sponges,
is considerable.

00:33:17.570 --> 00:33:21.980
That impact is unmistakable
in these undersea images.

00:33:21.980 --> 00:33:25.280
Seamount slopes are not
agricultural farmland where

00:33:25.280 --> 00:33:29.430
great change comes with
every season.

00:33:29.430 --> 00:33:33.010
Down here, temperature and light
levels barely fluctuate

00:33:33.010 --> 00:33:36.280
by terrestrial standards.

00:33:36.280 --> 00:33:40.090
Undisturbed for millennia, these
corals and sponges have

00:33:40.090 --> 00:33:43.810
never adapted to change.

00:33:43.810 --> 00:33:46.190
The growth rate of those
corals is very slow.

00:33:46.190 --> 00:33:48.730
We think it's only millimeters
per year.

00:33:48.730 --> 00:33:52.760
So any recovery, if in fact it
can occur at all, is going to

00:33:52.760 --> 00:33:54.010
be very, very slow.

00:33:54.010 --> 00:33:58.190


00:33:58.190 --> 00:34:03.450
The orange roughy story isn't
over, but its lesson is clear.

00:34:03.450 --> 00:34:06.560
Exploiting the deep sea without
properly understanding

00:34:06.560 --> 00:34:10.139
its complexities puts the
largest ecosystem on the

00:34:10.139 --> 00:34:11.630
planet at risk.

00:34:11.630 --> 00:34:16.620


00:34:16.620 --> 00:34:20.750
To create a new relationship
with the ocean, we have to

00:34:20.750 --> 00:34:25.040
re-imagine it as the three
dimensional world that it is.

00:34:25.040 --> 00:34:28.025
And that is a radical
new way of thinking.

00:34:28.025 --> 00:34:32.300


00:34:32.300 --> 00:34:36.219
If the creatures of the deep
could study us as we study

00:34:36.219 --> 00:34:40.130
them, they would probably think
our waterless habitat is

00:34:40.130 --> 00:34:44.469
impoverished, barely capable
of sustaining life.

00:34:44.469 --> 00:34:48.730
Exposed to appalling extremes
of light and temperature, we

00:34:48.730 --> 00:34:53.040
are mere bottom crawlers,
gravity's prisoners, condemned

00:34:53.040 --> 00:34:56.210
to live in two dimensions
on the floor of

00:34:56.210 --> 00:34:57.460
our atmospheric sea.

00:34:57.460 --> 00:35:04.690


00:35:04.690 --> 00:35:07.980
In contrast, the deep
sea is a far more

00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:10.270
hospitable place for life.

00:35:10.270 --> 00:35:14.470
Predictable, stable, effectively
without limits,

00:35:14.470 --> 00:35:18.510
for most creatures will never
encounter a solid surface.

00:35:18.510 --> 00:35:22.630
Where up and down are just
directions, as available as

00:35:22.630 --> 00:35:26.628
forward and back are to us.

00:35:26.628 --> 00:35:31.830
[SEA LION BARKING]

00:35:31.830 --> 00:35:34.920
A few broad-minded terrestrials
grasp this

00:35:34.920 --> 00:35:38.730
essential difference between our
planet's two worlds, and

00:35:38.730 --> 00:35:42.790
prominent among them is Graham
Hawkes, an engineer who has

00:35:42.790 --> 00:35:45.200
spent his life learning
how to become a

00:35:45.200 --> 00:35:47.640
traveler in the depths.

00:35:47.640 --> 00:35:50.300
We're just not accustomed to
thinking three dimensionally,

00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:53.660
so I think we take our
terrestrial view of things and

00:35:53.660 --> 00:35:55.680
imprint it on the ocean.

00:35:55.680 --> 00:35:58.480
So our view of the ocean
has this surface,

00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:00.700
and it has this surface.

00:36:00.700 --> 00:36:03.960
And if we could move on that
one, and that one, and travel

00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:05.600
between them, we're done.

00:36:05.600 --> 00:36:08.860


00:36:08.860 --> 00:36:13.800
But this three dimensional
space, that is this planet.

00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:16.580
94% of life on Earth
lives in there.

00:36:16.580 --> 00:36:19.290


00:36:19.290 --> 00:36:24.120
Some of us think we have to
learn to move and master that

00:36:24.120 --> 00:36:27.910
three dimensional space
as the animals have.

00:36:27.910 --> 00:36:31.990
I mean, if you look at the sea
lions here, they don't open

00:36:31.990 --> 00:36:34.860
valves and sink up and down and
then try to catch a fish

00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:35.830
on the way.

00:36:35.830 --> 00:36:37.080
They zoom.

00:36:37.080 --> 00:36:52.340


00:36:52.340 --> 00:36:57.980
We need to fly in that space the
same way that we have the

00:36:57.980 --> 00:37:00.050
freedom to fly in air space
and the freedom

00:37:00.050 --> 00:37:01.410
to fly in near space.

00:37:01.410 --> 00:37:02.660
This is no different.

00:37:02.660 --> 00:37:05.490


00:37:05.490 --> 00:37:09.610
For some reason, it's taken a
hundred years since we first

00:37:09.610 --> 00:37:12.860
flew in air space to
fly in blue space.

00:37:12.860 --> 00:37:14.600
And I can't explain why
it took that long.

00:37:14.600 --> 00:37:22.510


00:37:22.510 --> 00:37:27.390
Designed to operate down to 300
meters, the Super Falcon

00:37:27.390 --> 00:37:30.210
is an expression of Hawkes'
philosophy of ocean

00:37:30.210 --> 00:37:32.720
exploration.

00:37:32.720 --> 00:37:36.130
It was developed in reaction to
conventional submersibles,

00:37:36.130 --> 00:37:39.570
including his own Deep Rover,
which bristles with high

00:37:39.570 --> 00:37:41.955
powered lights and heavy
electric motors.

00:37:41.955 --> 00:37:45.310


00:37:45.310 --> 00:37:49.820
In the past, we've been so
obnoxious, we've been painful.

00:37:49.820 --> 00:37:53.420
We go down with noisy vehicles
blasting out light, they're

00:37:53.420 --> 00:37:57.610
going to damage eyeballs, and
we expect to see things.

00:37:57.610 --> 00:37:58.630
It's kind of silly.

00:37:58.630 --> 00:38:01.200
Let me try to give
you an example.

00:38:01.200 --> 00:38:04.260
We're terrestrials, so we know
enough that if we were doing a

00:38:04.260 --> 00:38:07.570
scientific expedition in the
jungle to film a tiger, we

00:38:07.570 --> 00:38:11.900
don't go in with a marching band
and smelly, stinky socks,

00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:14.480
making as much noise.

00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:16.110
But that's what we
do in the ocean.

00:38:16.110 --> 00:38:19.310
So if we went into the jungle
making a lot of noise and

00:38:19.310 --> 00:38:21.990
smelly socks, we'd come out
and we'd have a press

00:38:21.990 --> 00:38:24.780
conference and we'd say,
no lions and tigers

00:38:24.780 --> 00:38:25.680
and bears in there.

00:38:25.680 --> 00:38:28.240
We did see butterflies
and slugs.

00:38:28.240 --> 00:38:30.850
And we found a footprint
of a tiger.

00:38:30.850 --> 00:38:33.400
So we know they exist but we
think they're extremely rare.

00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:37.755
I think that's how silly we've
been going into the ocean.

00:38:37.755 --> 00:38:42.730


00:38:42.730 --> 00:38:49.010
So, first of all we worked on
making that sub very quiet.

00:38:49.010 --> 00:38:50.970
And with these machines
we've been getting

00:38:50.970 --> 00:38:52.220
very close to animals.

00:38:52.220 --> 00:39:07.250


00:39:07.250 --> 00:39:09.850
And then we've learned to put
very, actually low power--

00:39:09.850 --> 00:39:11.710
we call it mood lighting--

00:39:11.710 --> 00:39:13.250
around the submersible.

00:39:13.250 --> 00:39:16.270
So we try and probe
ahead with lasers.

00:39:16.270 --> 00:39:19.510
And then we put the smallest
amount of light out we can

00:39:19.510 --> 00:39:23.440
just around, so that anything
we get close to we can

00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:24.690
actually see.

00:39:24.690 --> 00:39:33.175


00:39:33.175 --> 00:39:36.070
I think you're going to find
in the future, machines we

00:39:36.070 --> 00:39:39.960
build in the ocean are elegant,
beautiful, quiet.

00:39:39.960 --> 00:39:42.570
Far more compatible with
that environment.

00:39:42.570 --> 00:39:47.630
And quite comfortable for a
whale to be swimming alongside

00:39:47.630 --> 00:39:49.790
one of our machines, just
flying alongside.

00:39:49.790 --> 00:39:52.450
I mean, that's a dream, when
we can bring these machines

00:39:52.450 --> 00:39:54.720
close to these big animals and
they're comfortable with us.

00:39:54.720 --> 00:40:05.780


00:40:05.780 --> 00:40:09.460
As noteworthy as the technology
of deep flight is

00:40:09.460 --> 00:40:11.920
the shift in attitude
it signals in our

00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:14.160
approach to the deep seas.

00:40:14.160 --> 00:40:18.140
It allows us to make the leap
from distant observer to

00:40:18.140 --> 00:40:19.390
direct participant.

00:40:19.390 --> 00:40:21.980


00:40:21.980 --> 00:40:25.700
If we're to make the deep sea
part of our world, we'll have

00:40:25.700 --> 00:40:29.320
to go much further down this
road, even as we greatly

00:40:29.320 --> 00:40:33.320
expand established methods
of research.

00:40:33.320 --> 00:40:37.010
The potential of this vast
world is so great that no

00:40:37.010 --> 00:40:39.280
amount of effort would
be wasted.

00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:44.070
No amount of money spent
in discovery too much.

00:40:44.070 --> 00:40:48.450
Yet ocean research receives a
tiny fraction of the resources

00:40:48.450 --> 00:40:53.350
lavished on that other great
frontier, space.

00:40:53.350 --> 00:40:56.110
The question of why we spend
more money in space and not

00:40:56.110 --> 00:41:00.210
the ocean, it doesn't make any
sense to me whatsoever.

00:41:00.210 --> 00:41:05.620
Our whole future of mankind
depends on understanding and

00:41:05.620 --> 00:41:06.690
working with the oceans.

00:41:06.690 --> 00:41:10.680
The oceans hold all of minerals,
food, energy, and

00:41:10.680 --> 00:41:14.340
space for expansion of the human
race for the future.

00:41:14.340 --> 00:41:14.900
Not near space.

00:41:14.900 --> 00:41:17.080
Near space, it's a
sterile vacuum.

00:41:17.080 --> 00:41:20.770
A great view, what else?

00:41:20.770 --> 00:41:26.330
That view confirms what Graham
Hawkes contends, that ours is

00:41:26.330 --> 00:41:28.900
an ocean planet.

00:41:28.900 --> 00:41:32.450
And if scientists are right
about its importance to our

00:41:32.450 --> 00:41:35.130
future, there is no
time to waste.

00:41:35.130 --> 00:41:38.170


00:41:38.170 --> 00:41:42.110
But for the explorers
themselves, those who spend

00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:45.310
their working lives in the
deep sea, it isn't an

00:41:45.310 --> 00:41:48.750
abstraction like the future of
humanity that makes it all

00:41:48.750 --> 00:41:50.310
worthwhile.

00:41:50.310 --> 00:41:54.740
It's the revealing moment, the
unexpected discovery that

00:41:54.740 --> 00:41:59.600
leaps across the Gulf and
connects our two worlds.

00:41:59.600 --> 00:42:03.990
Several years ago we came across
a squid, Gonatus onyx,

00:42:03.990 --> 00:42:09.075
holding this enormous mass of
hundreds and hundreds of eggs.

00:42:09.075 --> 00:42:11.830


00:42:11.830 --> 00:42:14.790
There was no known
case of parental

00:42:14.790 --> 00:42:17.810
care by squids anywhere.

00:42:17.810 --> 00:42:20.430


00:42:20.430 --> 00:42:25.140
Subsequently, we learned that
this period of brooding can

00:42:25.140 --> 00:42:28.310
last from six to nine months.

00:42:28.310 --> 00:42:31.070
During that period she
doesn't feed while

00:42:31.070 --> 00:42:34.090
she guards the babies.

00:42:34.090 --> 00:42:38.510
Once they all hatch out, then
she's done with her job and

00:42:38.510 --> 00:42:44.880
she can die as all other
mother squids do.

00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:47.150
This is the first example
of parental

00:42:47.150 --> 00:42:51.590
care by squids anywhere.

00:42:51.590 --> 00:42:56.260
There are so many things like
this story going on in the

00:42:56.260 --> 00:43:00.460
deep ocean that we are,
as yet, unaware of.

00:43:00.460 --> 00:43:08.360
And if the changes that we're
making to the ocean prevent us

00:43:08.360 --> 00:43:11.770
from ever learning those things,
if all that were to

00:43:11.770 --> 00:43:15.760
disappear before we even have
a chance to learn about it,

00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:18.080
then it would be a tremendous
loss for us all.

00:43:18.080 --> 00:43:29.350


00:43:29.350 --> 00:44:00.574
[MUSIC PLAYING]