1 00:00:06,194 --> 00:00:09,154 2 00:00:58,074 --> 00:01:00,074 For a long, long time, 3 00:01:00,154 --> 00:01:03,074 I contemplated the ocean without understanding it. 4 00:01:04,034 --> 00:01:06,914 I could feel the immense energy of its waters. 5 00:01:07,994 --> 00:01:11,034 I was astonished by the depths of its blues. 6 00:01:11,074 --> 00:01:13,914 I breathed the air of the wide open seas. 7 00:01:14,514 --> 00:01:17,234 But in reality, I saw nothing. 8 00:01:19,354 --> 00:01:21,594 Here at Shark Bay in Australia, 9 00:01:21,674 --> 00:01:24,674 the cliffs whisper to me the history of the Earth. 10 00:01:25,634 --> 00:01:27,674 They are born from the life of the ocean, 11 00:01:28,954 --> 00:01:33,274 a vast graveyard created by billions of skeletons of marine animals 12 00:01:33,314 --> 00:01:39,234 accumulated at the bottom of the seas when the Earth itself was entirely ocean. 13 00:01:40,474 --> 00:01:43,274 These organisms created the air that I breathe 14 00:01:43,354 --> 00:01:46,594 and the atmosphere which protects me. 15 00:01:48,794 --> 00:01:52,354 I see powerful tides carving furrows in the sand. 16 00:01:52,794 --> 00:01:56,394 I don't see that this movement is the source of all life. 17 00:02:00,794 --> 00:02:03,314 I see the winds shaping the dunes. 18 00:02:04,354 --> 00:02:08,634 I don't see the deep relationship between the earth and the sea. 19 00:02:14,914 --> 00:02:17,834 I see the salt bleaching the arid earth. 20 00:02:18,554 --> 00:02:22,274 I don't see what the ocean brings to life on the continents. 21 00:02:28,354 --> 00:02:30,594 I see immense prairies colonise the depths 22 00:02:30,714 --> 00:02:33,234 that I have never seen on land. 23 00:02:35,474 --> 00:02:38,834 But at Shark Bay, there is more than that. 24 00:02:39,874 --> 00:02:42,754 Here are the origins of our story, 25 00:02:42,834 --> 00:02:45,234 us, mankind. 26 00:02:47,394 --> 00:02:51,234 It begins here, with a colony of living fossils, 27 00:02:51,314 --> 00:02:56,834 bacteria who live at the surface of the ocean, called stromatolites. 28 00:02:57,474 --> 00:03:00,074 I am a descendant of this form of life, 29 00:03:00,674 --> 00:03:05,874 the most ancient known on Earth, which came into being four billion years ago. 30 00:03:06,914 --> 00:03:10,474 I come from here, I come from the ocean. 31 00:03:17,394 --> 00:03:18,594 And now, 32 00:03:18,714 --> 00:03:23,874 facing the ocean, all I can see is us, mankind. 33 00:03:24,394 --> 00:03:27,274 We are seven billion human beings. 34 00:03:27,354 --> 00:03:29,594 More than the total number of people who have lived on Earth 35 00:03:29,634 --> 00:03:31,914 since the beginnings of humanity. 36 00:03:32,034 --> 00:03:34,514 We have shaped the world in our image. 37 00:03:35,914 --> 00:03:37,114 On the shores of the ocean, 38 00:03:37,154 --> 00:03:40,554 we have built vast cities where we live in our millions. 39 00:03:40,634 --> 00:03:44,754 We have dug out ports, flattened islands to construct our factories. 40 00:03:44,834 --> 00:03:48,994 The ocean has brought us all the mineral riches of the world. 41 00:03:49,074 --> 00:03:52,914 We work materials, meld steel, cut and slice. 42 00:03:52,994 --> 00:03:55,794 One hundred thousand of our ships crisscross the seas. 43 00:03:56,634 --> 00:04:01,834 All that lives, all that grows on the Earth will one day pass through our iron grasp. 44 00:04:01,914 --> 00:04:04,674 We even transport the forests. 45 00:04:06,234 --> 00:04:10,274 We delve unceasingly into the ocean to nourish ourselves. 46 00:04:11,354 --> 00:04:13,714 We have become super predators. 47 00:04:18,234 --> 00:04:20,034 We have canned the entire world, 48 00:04:20,034 --> 00:04:24,194 600 million containers that we can transport, thanks to the ocean. 49 00:04:25,514 --> 00:04:29,434 The ocean that offered us the possibility of globalisation. 50 00:04:33,474 --> 00:04:35,754 The planet is ours. 51 00:04:36,914 --> 00:04:39,954 But now, where are we going? 52 00:05:12,594 --> 00:05:16,234 I am becoming aware of the consequences of my power. 53 00:05:16,354 --> 00:05:19,554 Overfishing, global warming, 54 00:05:19,594 --> 00:05:22,434 depletion of resources, pollution, 55 00:05:23,034 --> 00:05:25,634 my drive has taken me a long way. 56 00:05:25,674 --> 00:05:26,674 I know this 57 00:05:26,754 --> 00:05:29,994 because I am capable of understanding what happens to me. 58 00:05:30,594 --> 00:05:32,794 How have I gotten to this point 59 00:05:32,874 --> 00:05:35,514 where I no longer see what is around me? 60 00:05:35,914 --> 00:05:39,874 To understand that, we have to return to the very beginning. 61 00:06:23,194 --> 00:06:27,114 In the beginning, the Earth consumed itself, 62 00:06:27,194 --> 00:06:29,194 shaken by violent convulsions. 63 00:06:29,954 --> 00:06:33,594 The fusing matter was subjected to violent bombardments of meteors 64 00:06:33,674 --> 00:06:35,754 coming from the solar system. 65 00:06:44,234 --> 00:06:47,754 This battlefield gave rise to an atmosphere, 66 00:06:48,314 --> 00:06:52,114 stormy, red with nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen. 67 00:06:53,114 --> 00:06:56,794 And water vapour, which came from the galaxy. 68 00:07:12,394 --> 00:07:15,114 The surface of the Earth was like an enormous bubble 69 00:07:15,194 --> 00:07:19,114 heated under pressure to over 700 degrees Celsius. 70 00:07:21,514 --> 00:07:25,514 Then the inferno cooled off and the vapours condensed, 71 00:07:25,634 --> 00:07:28,674 producing the greatest of the terrestrial floods that occurred. 72 00:07:29,154 --> 00:07:31,474 That was four billion years ago. 73 00:07:37,914 --> 00:07:41,354 The flood covered almost all of the Earth's crust. 74 00:07:41,434 --> 00:07:44,234 The water washed the primordial rock, 75 00:07:44,354 --> 00:07:47,594 eroding it away and becoming laden with salts. 76 00:07:49,434 --> 00:07:52,074 The Earth became a world of salty water. 77 00:07:56,434 --> 00:07:58,514 This water was called the ocean. 78 00:07:59,274 --> 00:08:01,954 An ocean planet was born. 79 00:08:26,434 --> 00:08:27,474 In the Ice Age, 80 00:08:27,594 --> 00:08:30,794 700 million years ago, the temperature fell. 81 00:08:32,874 --> 00:08:35,874 The planet remained white for 20 million years, 82 00:08:37,234 --> 00:08:39,954 then melted because of a powerful greenhouse effect 83 00:08:40,034 --> 00:08:42,634 created by the carbon of the volcanoes. 84 00:08:47,874 --> 00:08:51,234 Other glaciations followed, alternating with warming. 85 00:08:51,914 --> 00:08:52,914 From this period 86 00:08:53,074 --> 00:08:57,834 there remain vast icy regions at the north and south poles of the globe. 87 00:08:58,274 --> 00:09:02,514 These regions work as coolers in an immense climate system. 88 00:09:25,994 --> 00:09:27,434 Close to the Equator, 89 00:09:27,554 --> 00:09:31,154 the sun heats the ocean, which seems to boil. 90 00:09:31,754 --> 00:09:35,274 This contrast between the hot regions and the cold regions 91 00:09:35,314 --> 00:09:38,154 generates powerful air currents. 92 00:09:38,274 --> 00:09:41,954 These are the winds, essential to this story. 93 00:09:45,554 --> 00:09:48,914 The winds descend, cold and heavy, from the polar regions 94 00:09:48,994 --> 00:09:52,074 and collide with the hot, light air of the Equator. 95 00:09:52,394 --> 00:09:55,434 These winds, curved by the rotation of the Earth, 96 00:09:55,554 --> 00:09:57,474 form gigantic Whirlpools. 97 00:09:59,914 --> 00:10:04,194 On contact with the ocean, these winds push the water. 98 00:10:04,554 --> 00:10:06,794 They generate powerful marine currents 99 00:10:06,914 --> 00:10:10,994 capable of moving millions of cubic metres of water across the ocean. 100 00:10:21,954 --> 00:10:25,354 Everywhere, the ocean is furrowed by Whirlpools, 101 00:10:25,474 --> 00:10:27,554 some of which spin for years. 102 00:10:28,634 --> 00:10:32,274 This movement spreads heat from the surface of the blue planet. 103 00:10:43,914 --> 00:10:47,954 The hot water of the tropics rises up towards the poles. 104 00:10:48,074 --> 00:10:52,714 Then this water cools, becomes more dense, laden with salt, 105 00:10:52,754 --> 00:10:55,394 and falls down into the depths. 106 00:11:06,434 --> 00:11:10,474 The water of the depths travels further down towards the bottom of the ocean, 107 00:11:10,594 --> 00:11:12,754 pushed by its own weight. 108 00:11:12,874 --> 00:11:15,914 It carries with it the polar cold. 109 00:11:18,954 --> 00:11:21,834 Finally, it collides against the bottom 110 00:11:21,994 --> 00:11:25,834 and returns towards the waters of the surface, where it reheats. 111 00:11:27,914 --> 00:11:32,194 It takes 1,000 years for a drop of water to complete this ocean cycle. 112 00:11:34,314 --> 00:11:37,354 These currents have created a temperate climate on Earth. 113 00:11:38,314 --> 00:11:42,674 It is to them we owe the creation of a living planet. 114 00:11:52,514 --> 00:11:56,114 When the sun is strong and the currents mount to the surface, 115 00:11:56,114 --> 00:11:58,514 an astonishing phenomenon occurs, 116 00:11:58,874 --> 00:12:01,794 so gigantic that it is visible from space, 117 00:12:02,514 --> 00:12:05,554 a blooming, an explosion of life. 118 00:12:08,114 --> 00:12:11,234 This life which appears is called plankton, 119 00:12:11,914 --> 00:12:13,554 "floating life", 120 00:12:14,114 --> 00:12:17,954 because it cannot move itself and drifts in the water. 121 00:12:22,314 --> 00:12:25,554 This blooming gets its energy from the sun. 122 00:12:27,274 --> 00:12:30,994 It occurs between the surface and the first 100 metres depth, 123 00:12:31,114 --> 00:12:33,554 where the rays penetrate the ocean. 124 00:12:38,514 --> 00:12:41,234 Firstly, there are tiny algae 125 00:12:41,354 --> 00:12:46,194 which spread like an immense floating prairie between two expanses of water. 126 00:12:47,794 --> 00:12:50,074 Just the biomass thus produced every year 127 00:12:50,194 --> 00:12:52,714 represents half the vegetation of the planet. 128 00:12:57,514 --> 00:13:00,474 Some microalgae resemble distant galaxies. 129 00:13:00,594 --> 00:13:04,394 These are protists, very ancient organisms. 130 00:13:05,434 --> 00:13:07,274 Despite their complexity, 131 00:13:07,314 --> 00:13:12,274 most of them are nothing but a single cell surrounded by a silica or lime skeleton. 132 00:13:18,354 --> 00:13:19,354 At this level, 133 00:13:19,474 --> 00:13:23,194 the distinction between plant and animal is blurred. 134 00:13:23,954 --> 00:13:28,754 Some of these green cells even have limbs which push them upwards, 135 00:13:28,874 --> 00:13:31,674 augmenting their surface area exposed to the sun. 136 00:13:32,994 --> 00:13:38,594 All these microalgae consume carbon and produce, in return, oxygen. 137 00:13:43,754 --> 00:13:46,954 Half of the air we breathe comes from these microalgae. 138 00:13:48,154 --> 00:13:51,914 The ocean is the blue lung of the planet. 139 00:13:54,674 --> 00:13:58,514 This vegetable flowering triggers another explosion of life, 140 00:13:58,634 --> 00:14:03,954 that of billions of herbivorous animals which come to feed off the marine prairie. 141 00:14:11,994 --> 00:14:16,754 These animals measure hardly a few millimetres, often much less. 142 00:14:17,514 --> 00:14:23,274 They're classed as jellyfish, crustaceans, cells, shellfish, larvae, 143 00:14:23,954 --> 00:14:26,234 thousands of groups of species. 144 00:14:27,274 --> 00:14:31,594 Among the most important of them are the innumerable tiny shrimps, 145 00:14:31,634 --> 00:14:35,314 the krill, which graze on the algae night and day. 146 00:14:39,034 --> 00:14:40,394 And the copepods, 147 00:14:40,554 --> 00:14:46,154 a sort of tiny sea flea who swim by leaping, propelled by their limbs. 148 00:14:46,194 --> 00:14:49,714 The copepods are hunted by all the carnivores in the plankton, 149 00:14:49,754 --> 00:14:53,114 in particular these arrow-shaped predators, 150 00:14:53,234 --> 00:14:56,274 voracious and armed with silicon teeth. 151 00:15:02,674 --> 00:15:07,314 In this jungle, prey and predators mingle constantly 152 00:15:07,434 --> 00:15:11,474 and there is always a crustacean ready to consume the preceding predators. 153 00:15:15,314 --> 00:15:18,834 Each instant of life is an act of survival. 154 00:15:23,954 --> 00:15:25,714 The plankton is an open book 155 00:15:25,834 --> 00:15:29,114 in which we can read the history of the ocean. 156 00:15:29,194 --> 00:15:33,074 During three billion years, life has evolved here, 157 00:15:33,114 --> 00:15:35,034 in this marine prairie. 158 00:15:40,274 --> 00:15:43,794 Some very ancient species, like the gelatinous animals, 159 00:15:43,914 --> 00:15:46,194 have only evolved in the ocean. 160 00:15:46,314 --> 00:15:49,554 In perfect harmony with the liquid environment, 161 00:15:49,674 --> 00:15:50,994 they have an elastic body, 162 00:15:51,114 --> 00:15:54,994 which allows them simultaneously to suck in food and to move. 163 00:15:56,434 --> 00:15:58,834 Sometimes, they hook on to one another, 164 00:15:58,874 --> 00:16:02,514 forming immense chains to facilitate moving in the current. 165 00:16:03,194 --> 00:16:04,754 It looks chaotic, 166 00:16:05,394 --> 00:16:09,874 but each living entity is organised down to the smallest detail. 167 00:16:13,514 --> 00:16:16,754 These explosions of life eventually disappear, 168 00:16:16,794 --> 00:16:21,434 devoured by a lack of resources or wiped out by an invisible enemy, 169 00:16:22,954 --> 00:16:24,914 an attack by a virus. 170 00:16:26,514 --> 00:16:27,954 Billions of viruses, 171 00:16:28,074 --> 00:16:32,594 whose biological role is to regulate each explosion of life. 172 00:16:33,914 --> 00:16:36,434 Nature doesn't tolerate excess. 173 00:16:50,154 --> 00:16:54,354 All the species of the ocean are dependent on this invisible plankton, 174 00:16:54,394 --> 00:16:56,634 like a long chain of life. 175 00:17:01,514 --> 00:17:03,034 At the end of the winter, 176 00:17:03,154 --> 00:17:06,514 the mackerel depart from hibernation in the depths of the ocean. 177 00:17:07,514 --> 00:17:11,274 They come up to the surface, seeking the marine prairie. 178 00:17:21,394 --> 00:17:22,954 The fish have no leader, 179 00:17:22,994 --> 00:17:26,394 and yet they manoeuvre in perfect formation. 180 00:17:26,874 --> 00:17:30,834 Each fish is continuously aware of the presences of its neighbours 181 00:17:30,954 --> 00:17:33,034 and respects their distance. 182 00:17:37,074 --> 00:17:41,234 This self-organisation is a fundamental law of the group. 183 00:17:41,274 --> 00:17:43,354 It enables them to hunt as a shoal 184 00:17:43,354 --> 00:17:47,314 and increases the chances of finding a rich feeding zone. 185 00:17:47,354 --> 00:17:49,114 The first who finds something 186 00:17:49,234 --> 00:17:52,154 can guide the others by a simple movement. 187 00:18:01,714 --> 00:18:04,594 The sailfish is the fastest fish in the ocean. 188 00:18:05,874 --> 00:18:07,954 It feeds on fish. 189 00:18:09,234 --> 00:18:14,194 Its dorsal fin gives it exceptional stability to achieve its predatory goals. 190 00:18:27,474 --> 00:18:33,914 A 100-kilo sailfish will consume in its lifetime 1,000 kilos of mackerel, 191 00:18:33,954 --> 00:18:38,554 who themselves have consumed 10,000 kilos of zooplankton, 192 00:18:38,594 --> 00:18:44,114 who themselves have grazed on 100,000 kilos of marine prairie. 193 00:18:46,674 --> 00:18:49,794 The food chain is a hierarchy, a pyramid structure. 194 00:19:45,114 --> 00:19:48,154 Some species choose to help one another. 195 00:19:49,394 --> 00:19:51,954 Manta rays only eat plankton. 196 00:19:53,754 --> 00:19:56,634 Their six-metre wingspan offers shelter. 197 00:19:56,714 --> 00:20:01,234 In return, the smaller fish remove the host's parasites. 198 00:20:12,514 --> 00:20:14,394 Others opt for the whale shark, 199 00:20:14,474 --> 00:20:17,394 the largest of the fish. 200 00:20:17,434 --> 00:20:21,594 This traveller crosses entire oceans in search of plankton. 201 00:20:22,194 --> 00:20:26,074 It carries with it smaller fish who live off its intake. 202 00:20:27,354 --> 00:20:30,834 Solidarity also has a role in this liquid immensity, 203 00:20:30,914 --> 00:20:36,154 4,000 metres deep, covering two-thirds of the planet. 204 00:21:08,594 --> 00:21:11,754 Sometimes, this journey is interrupted by land. 205 00:21:12,434 --> 00:21:15,354 Here at Raja Ampat in Indonesia, 206 00:21:15,394 --> 00:21:19,474 land appeared when the ocean retreated two billion years ago. 207 00:21:21,514 --> 00:21:25,914 These limestone hills were previously at the bottom of the ocean. 208 00:21:26,554 --> 00:21:28,954 Like at Shark Bay in Australia, 209 00:21:29,034 --> 00:21:32,074 they are made of billions of plankton skeletons, 210 00:21:32,154 --> 00:21:36,354 piled up in the geological era when the ocean covered the planet. 211 00:21:37,594 --> 00:21:39,834 With the receding of the waters, 212 00:21:39,874 --> 00:21:43,674 erosion sculpted the rock into an elaborate graveyard, 213 00:21:44,594 --> 00:21:47,354 a labyrinth of 1,500 islands of fossilised plankton. 214 00:22:25,154 --> 00:22:26,874 The Raja Ampat Archipelago 215 00:22:27,034 --> 00:22:30,554 is at the heart of a region rich in biodiversity. 216 00:22:31,914 --> 00:22:34,354 Fourteen hundred species of fish live here, 217 00:22:35,234 --> 00:22:38,394 and a quarter of all marine species. 218 00:22:51,994 --> 00:22:54,234 Coming into contact with these emerging lands, 219 00:22:54,314 --> 00:22:57,354 probably struggling against exhaustion and hunger, 220 00:22:57,434 --> 00:23:01,154 some plankton abandoned nomadic life and settled here. 221 00:23:02,114 --> 00:23:04,994 That was 500 million years ago. 222 00:23:05,114 --> 00:23:07,714 A revolution in the ocean. 223 00:23:09,074 --> 00:23:12,834 This family of plankton created the coral reefs. 224 00:23:13,594 --> 00:23:17,434 Coral is a creature we rarely actually see by day. 225 00:23:17,474 --> 00:23:18,754 What we see in the daytime 226 00:23:18,874 --> 00:23:22,714 is the calcareous skeleton which serves as its shelter, 227 00:23:26,234 --> 00:23:29,754 a skeleton that resembles a tree, branches or leaves. 228 00:23:31,194 --> 00:23:33,794 To survive in these waters scarce in nutrients, 229 00:23:33,914 --> 00:23:38,314 coral shelters an alga within it which feeds by day on sunlight. 230 00:23:38,394 --> 00:23:41,674 The algae have thus become the driving force of the construction, 231 00:23:42,234 --> 00:23:44,994 aiming to occupy the best place in the sun. 232 00:23:45,954 --> 00:23:49,194 Each coral struggles against its neighbours to gain more light 233 00:23:49,274 --> 00:23:52,314 at the speed of a few millimetres per year. 234 00:23:53,754 --> 00:23:55,194 This petrified forest 235 00:23:55,274 --> 00:23:59,514 is the most densely populated ecosystem on the ocean planet. 236 00:24:00,314 --> 00:24:02,114 A veritable oasis. 237 00:24:03,994 --> 00:24:06,594 You can hide here, and hunt here. 238 00:24:07,714 --> 00:24:10,114 Each has its own territory. 239 00:24:11,354 --> 00:24:13,954 Everything about life here is organised. 240 00:24:15,434 --> 00:24:19,994 Even the colours of the fish represent camouflage or seduction. 241 00:25:24,154 --> 00:25:28,474 Like a marvellous marine city, crowds pour in through the gates. 242 00:25:48,154 --> 00:25:51,514 They come from far away to get rid of their parasites 243 00:25:53,314 --> 00:25:57,594 because only the reef offers enough diversity to guarantee that kind of service. 244 00:26:16,714 --> 00:26:19,434 Millions of years of evolution have enabled each species 245 00:26:19,514 --> 00:26:23,234 to find a place and a role in this coral metropolis. 246 00:26:28,154 --> 00:26:30,594 The scorpion fish camouflages itself, 247 00:26:30,634 --> 00:26:33,914 while the spider crab lets itself be colonised by shellfish 248 00:26:33,954 --> 00:26:36,474 and becomes invisible when motionless. 249 00:26:40,794 --> 00:26:42,434 Or you can hide. 250 00:26:54,594 --> 00:26:58,914 As in every cosmopolitan city, life in the reef is not spontaneous. 251 00:27:00,074 --> 00:27:03,874 There are codes, rules of social life to be respected 252 00:27:03,994 --> 00:27:07,434 if you don't want to end up in your neighbour's stomach. 253 00:27:12,034 --> 00:27:15,354 Concealment becomes an art for these octopi, 254 00:27:16,074 --> 00:27:18,594 capable of changing the colour and structure of their skin 255 00:27:18,634 --> 00:27:20,034 to deceive their attackers. 256 00:27:30,754 --> 00:27:33,634 Despite the risks of this collective existence, 257 00:27:33,674 --> 00:27:36,274 many species use the reef as a nursery. 258 00:27:42,314 --> 00:27:43,514 Of all the ocean, 259 00:27:43,554 --> 00:27:47,714 it is still the place that offers the best chance for raising a family. 260 00:27:49,634 --> 00:27:52,794 Cuttlefish protect their eggs by hiding them as deep as possible 261 00:27:52,874 --> 00:27:56,714 in the branches of the coral so that other fish cannot eat them. 262 00:27:56,834 --> 00:28:00,594 But for how long? Prey and predators are so close. 263 00:28:03,834 --> 00:28:08,274 The tentacles of the anemones are poisonous, even deadly. 264 00:28:08,354 --> 00:28:11,074 Only clown fish can live among them. 265 00:28:12,834 --> 00:28:14,074 They immunise themselves 266 00:28:14,114 --> 00:28:17,274 by rubbing against the tentacles from a very young age. 267 00:28:19,394 --> 00:28:20,714 This natural vaccination 268 00:28:20,794 --> 00:28:24,354 then enables them to use the anemone as a refuge. 269 00:28:32,794 --> 00:28:34,554 For those who do not know the reef, 270 00:28:35,594 --> 00:28:39,394 this marvellous city is in fact full of dangers. 271 00:28:41,034 --> 00:28:44,714 The xenid is not a flower, but a coral without a skeleton, 272 00:28:46,594 --> 00:28:50,114 an animal that traps the plankton in its tentacles. 273 00:28:56,034 --> 00:28:59,194 At night, the reef is even more dangerous. 274 00:28:59,794 --> 00:29:02,234 The living part of the coral, the polyp, 275 00:29:02,354 --> 00:29:05,634 is invisible by day, but appears at night. 276 00:29:07,394 --> 00:29:11,354 This gelatinous creature is a distant cousin of the jellyfish. 277 00:29:11,394 --> 00:29:13,794 It also hunts with its tentacles. 278 00:29:15,354 --> 00:29:16,714 Immobile in the reef, 279 00:29:16,834 --> 00:29:19,834 it relies on the marine currents to bring its prey. 280 00:29:33,914 --> 00:29:36,034 Too bad for those who float too close. 281 00:29:37,234 --> 00:29:40,074 Its tentacles immobilise everything that touches them 282 00:29:40,194 --> 00:29:42,794 by injecting a deadly poison. 283 00:29:43,874 --> 00:29:46,674 Sometimes, even a digestive sugar so powerful 284 00:29:46,754 --> 00:29:48,514 that it can digest living things. 285 00:29:58,594 --> 00:30:00,874 The reef is a dangerous predator. 286 00:30:01,634 --> 00:30:04,794 Once trapped, the victim cannot escape from these arms, 287 00:30:04,874 --> 00:30:08,834 which pull it slowly towards the mouth, where it will be digested. 288 00:30:21,834 --> 00:30:26,394 Once a year, at exactly the same time, at the spring full moon, 289 00:30:26,474 --> 00:30:28,674 an extraordinary event occurs. 290 00:30:29,834 --> 00:30:32,674 The reef enters its reproductive phase. 291 00:30:33,994 --> 00:30:37,834 By millions, they release male and female gametes. 292 00:30:38,634 --> 00:30:41,874 Fusing together, they give birth to larvae. 293 00:30:42,194 --> 00:30:44,674 The larvae of future coral reefs. 294 00:30:51,474 --> 00:30:54,554 This release of eggs happens only once a year. 295 00:30:54,634 --> 00:30:57,474 It lasts for only a few hours, 296 00:30:57,514 --> 00:31:02,674 and it depends on perfect synchronisation between all the corals of a given species. 297 00:31:08,234 --> 00:31:10,274 The larvae are dispersed by the current 298 00:31:10,354 --> 00:31:14,234 for several days and nights before landing further away. 299 00:31:17,354 --> 00:31:20,354 They leave to conquer a new territory. 300 00:31:25,474 --> 00:31:28,274 Those which survive fix on the new walls of the deep sea 301 00:31:28,314 --> 00:31:32,514 to perpetuate the immense coral city which gave birth to them. 302 00:31:35,394 --> 00:31:37,474 It's a constant expansion. 303 00:31:37,514 --> 00:31:39,154 For 500 million years, 304 00:31:39,234 --> 00:31:42,594 the coral have been growing, dying and growing. 305 00:31:43,714 --> 00:31:47,434 Their construction has built an empire visible from the skies, 306 00:31:47,554 --> 00:31:50,474 the biggest living construct of the planet. 307 00:31:57,474 --> 00:31:58,954 All the fauna of the ocean 308 00:31:59,074 --> 00:32:02,034 is linked to these oases of life. 309 00:32:14,794 --> 00:32:18,034 In Polynesia, the grouper make a long voyage 310 00:32:18,114 --> 00:32:20,874 to come and lay their eggs on the side of the reef. 311 00:32:21,794 --> 00:32:25,234 It's a huge meeting for this normally solitary community, 312 00:32:25,314 --> 00:32:28,714 who come to the lagoon seeking shelter for their reproduction. 313 00:32:30,994 --> 00:32:35,554 But this meeting is also attended by marauding grey sharks. 314 00:32:38,034 --> 00:32:39,754 In the course of their lives, 315 00:32:39,874 --> 00:32:44,594 groupers start off female, then change sex and become male 316 00:32:44,674 --> 00:32:46,754 once they are above a certain weight and age. 317 00:32:48,514 --> 00:32:51,714 They leap forward, mixing their sperm. 318 00:32:52,274 --> 00:32:56,114 The females, weakened by laying, make easy prey. 319 00:32:58,634 --> 00:32:59,874 The sharks attack. 320 00:33:02,514 --> 00:33:04,954 They will massacre many of the grouper, 321 00:33:04,994 --> 00:33:09,074 but this predation, paradoxically, is vital for the grouper as a species, 322 00:33:09,154 --> 00:33:13,674 who will otherwise reproduce too fast and become too numerous. 323 00:33:23,714 --> 00:33:27,154 Here again, nature does not tolerate excess, 324 00:33:27,794 --> 00:33:32,274 there's always one predator waiting just above another. 325 00:33:35,634 --> 00:33:38,434 Hammerhead sharks are fearsome hunters. 326 00:33:38,474 --> 00:33:43,434 Evolving 20 million years ago, these animals are super predators. 327 00:33:47,314 --> 00:33:50,594 Their hammer-shaped head acts like a fin and promotes agility. 328 00:33:51,634 --> 00:33:56,554 The position of the eyes, very far apart, gives them 3D vision. 329 00:33:57,954 --> 00:34:01,114 They hunt the fish and other sharks. 330 00:34:01,474 --> 00:34:06,274 It's as if the cycle of predation governed the evolution of species. 331 00:34:09,154 --> 00:34:11,234 And here's where we appear in the story. 332 00:34:12,594 --> 00:34:14,794 Here we are, people. 333 00:34:17,674 --> 00:34:20,074 The last link in the chain of life, 334 00:34:20,554 --> 00:34:23,234 we have no predator above us. 335 00:34:42,034 --> 00:34:43,474 We began here, 336 00:34:43,554 --> 00:34:46,634 on the other side of the mirror of the ocean. 337 00:34:46,754 --> 00:34:49,154 We occupy the land which emerged. 338 00:34:50,234 --> 00:34:53,034 Very long ago, to protect ourselves, 339 00:34:53,114 --> 00:34:57,914 we built villages like those that still exist at San Blas in Panama. 340 00:35:10,194 --> 00:35:12,394 We can't swim like the fish, 341 00:35:12,474 --> 00:35:15,874 so we conceived boats to cross the oceans. 342 00:35:35,994 --> 00:35:37,194 And then we built a world 343 00:35:37,274 --> 00:35:40,514 like nothing any other species had built before us. 344 00:35:41,554 --> 00:35:45,434 To build our towns, we constructed bridges between islands, 345 00:35:46,234 --> 00:35:48,834 we conquered the ocean via the land. 346 00:35:50,234 --> 00:35:52,514 We learned to dig through mountains, 347 00:35:52,634 --> 00:35:56,674 change the course of the waters and even create islands. 348 00:35:57,754 --> 00:36:02,074 We built an empire even bigger than the coral cities. 349 00:36:06,674 --> 00:36:10,474 Our walls, our enormous towns, can be seen from the sky. 350 00:36:10,554 --> 00:36:17,114 Through our intelligence, we, weak humanity, became really very strong. 351 00:36:19,274 --> 00:36:20,914 Rich or poor, 352 00:36:20,994 --> 00:36:25,114 half the people of our world live less than 100 kilometres from the water. 353 00:36:25,194 --> 00:36:28,594 Almost the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa 354 00:36:28,634 --> 00:36:30,954 is concentrated on the coastline. 355 00:36:40,954 --> 00:36:45,714 Just the city of Lagos in Nigeria has 17 million inhabitants. 356 00:36:45,794 --> 00:36:49,594 More than 100,000 people live in the shantytown on the shore. 357 00:36:49,714 --> 00:36:52,994 The population that migrated here has no place on land, 358 00:36:53,074 --> 00:36:54,954 so they turn to the sea. 359 00:36:56,714 --> 00:36:59,234 Our population is constantly growing. 360 00:36:59,314 --> 00:37:01,514 We are more than seven billion. 361 00:37:02,394 --> 00:37:04,274 Every second that goes by, 362 00:37:04,314 --> 00:37:07,674 there are two more people on the planet to be fed. 363 00:37:09,634 --> 00:37:11,354 And we are hungry, 364 00:37:13,274 --> 00:37:17,194 so, naturally, we turn to the ocean to feed us. 365 00:37:51,034 --> 00:37:55,074 Three billion human beings depend directly on marine resources. 366 00:37:55,154 --> 00:37:56,994 For almost a billion people, 367 00:37:57,114 --> 00:38:00,674 fish represent their only source of animal proteins. 368 00:38:01,434 --> 00:38:03,834 The ocean is key to our survival. 369 00:38:09,474 --> 00:38:13,634 Four million of our fishing boats set out each day to attack the ocean. 370 00:38:17,914 --> 00:38:19,994 The majority are just little boats like these, 371 00:38:20,074 --> 00:38:23,194 which unload each morning on the coasts of Senegal. 372 00:38:25,914 --> 00:38:30,114 Our fishing has been since the beginning a family craft, 373 00:38:30,194 --> 00:38:33,674 practised and transmitted from generation to generation. 374 00:38:37,434 --> 00:38:39,554 Although it's a dangerous profession, 375 00:38:39,634 --> 00:38:43,794 when people can't feed off the land, the poorest turn to the sea. 376 00:39:26,514 --> 00:39:28,034 Worldwide, 377 00:39:28,114 --> 00:39:30,994 including indirect employment and families, 378 00:39:31,474 --> 00:39:34,794 fishing sustains 500 million people. 379 00:39:35,554 --> 00:39:38,754 Here, I see the abundance of the ocean. 380 00:39:49,034 --> 00:39:51,234 The ocean brings us other food. 381 00:39:52,114 --> 00:39:54,354 Since the very beginning of our history, 382 00:39:54,434 --> 00:39:57,234 we have gathered wild seaweeds on the shore. 383 00:39:57,714 --> 00:40:00,794 They have existed for three and a half billion years. 384 00:40:05,954 --> 00:40:09,074 We learned to cultivate the sea as we came to farm the land. 385 00:40:14,434 --> 00:40:17,914 The seaweed needs only six weeks of growth before harvest. 386 00:40:18,474 --> 00:40:22,434 It requires only sunlight and the movement of the currents. 387 00:40:33,034 --> 00:40:35,674 Today in Bali in Indonesia, 388 00:40:35,754 --> 00:40:39,714 we cultivate seaweed and extract from it a nourishing gelatine. 389 00:40:41,114 --> 00:40:44,114 This farming today produces 15 million tons of seaweed, 390 00:40:44,194 --> 00:40:46,514 exported all over the world. 391 00:40:47,714 --> 00:40:51,354 Brown, green and red seaweed serve all purposes, 392 00:40:51,434 --> 00:40:55,194 medicine, cloth, fertiliser and food. 393 00:41:06,914 --> 00:41:08,914 We trace out small portions of sea 394 00:41:08,994 --> 00:41:12,194 and transform estuaries into private concessions. 395 00:41:12,274 --> 00:41:17,314 More than 500,000 hectares of the globe are dedicated to cultivation of seaweed, 396 00:41:17,394 --> 00:41:19,914 supporting a million sea farmers. 397 00:41:28,114 --> 00:41:31,114 In South Korea, in the Wando Archipelago, 398 00:41:31,194 --> 00:41:34,594 over 200 islands have converted to farming seaweeds. 399 00:41:39,514 --> 00:41:43,514 These magnificent expanses are immense nets spread out in the sun, 400 00:41:43,594 --> 00:41:45,994 which are used to dry the harvests. 401 00:41:54,554 --> 00:41:57,994 Of the 30,000 species of seaweed which grow in the sea, 402 00:41:58,074 --> 00:42:00,754 only around 50 are edible. 403 00:42:00,834 --> 00:42:02,794 Here, we grow kombu, 404 00:42:02,874 --> 00:42:06,354 large seaweeds which can grow to three metres in length. 405 00:42:12,514 --> 00:42:16,194 In Asia, this seaweed is a basic food source. 406 00:42:17,074 --> 00:42:22,114 These sugar-flavoured leaves contain proteins, mineral salts and vitamins. 407 00:42:38,714 --> 00:42:41,274 We have been fishing for 40,000 years, 408 00:42:41,754 --> 00:42:44,714 constantly improving our fisheries and our nets. 409 00:42:46,954 --> 00:42:48,994 Fishing became an industry. 410 00:42:49,754 --> 00:42:54,514 It's no longer a question of family, but of investment and technology. 411 00:43:00,234 --> 00:43:03,834 To increase our catch, our fishermen formed fleets. 412 00:43:04,594 --> 00:43:09,314 What changed everything is the invention of the deep sea trawl, 413 00:43:09,354 --> 00:43:14,474 a large net with a funnel-shaped opening like the mouth of the whale shark. 414 00:43:17,754 --> 00:43:21,994 Our nets are so large that some measure 40 kilometres. 415 00:43:22,074 --> 00:43:25,114 Or 25 miles. 416 00:43:33,154 --> 00:43:35,714 Then entire factories took to the sea. 417 00:43:39,474 --> 00:43:43,554 We use probes, radar, and focus all our ingenuity 418 00:43:43,634 --> 00:43:46,034 on hunting down marine life. 419 00:43:57,754 --> 00:44:02,714 Every year, we fish 90 million tons of wild fish globally. 420 00:44:03,794 --> 00:44:08,594 Half this amount is fished by only 1% of our fishing boats. 421 00:44:11,914 --> 00:44:15,474 Our trawlers, our seines, our nets are so huge 422 00:44:15,594 --> 00:44:18,154 that we no longer choose what we're taking. 423 00:44:18,234 --> 00:44:19,994 We take whatever comes 424 00:44:20,074 --> 00:44:23,834 and sort it later according to the market value of the fish. 425 00:44:26,074 --> 00:44:29,594 Alaska pollock, Atlantic herring, 426 00:44:29,674 --> 00:44:31,794 we just scoop it all up. 427 00:44:31,874 --> 00:44:37,154 There is no limit to our predation apart from the fish quotas fixed by scientists. 428 00:44:38,314 --> 00:44:40,834 But who can prevent us from exceeding them? 429 00:44:43,994 --> 00:44:47,274 Worldwide, 80% of commercial fish stocks 430 00:44:47,394 --> 00:44:51,074 have been declared fully exploited or overexploited. 431 00:44:53,034 --> 00:44:56,834 Our fishing has reached a ceiling. We are at a biological limit. 432 00:45:02,954 --> 00:45:05,474 How could we have gotten to this point? 433 00:45:06,874 --> 00:45:10,474 Our intensive fishing sacrifices millions of fish. 434 00:45:10,994 --> 00:45:14,474 These are the waste, the rejects of the catch, 435 00:45:14,594 --> 00:45:17,914 or just the fish that got crushed to death in our nets. 436 00:45:20,914 --> 00:45:23,154 Fish killed for nothing. 437 00:45:26,834 --> 00:45:29,594 As the stocks near the surface run out, 438 00:45:29,674 --> 00:45:34,194 we rake further and further, deeper and deeper. 439 00:45:34,274 --> 00:45:37,994 Our trawlers now go down more than 3,000 metres. 440 00:45:43,234 --> 00:45:45,994 We blindly fish a fauna we hardly know. 441 00:45:46,554 --> 00:45:51,794 The fauna of the abyss, that lives in the dark, alone and hungry. 442 00:45:59,154 --> 00:46:03,074 In the abyss, the light gradually disappears. 443 00:46:03,154 --> 00:46:07,794 Life flourishes around this absence of light, and what a life. 444 00:46:11,994 --> 00:46:15,914 At around 100 metres deep, the ctenophores. 445 00:46:15,994 --> 00:46:18,434 These gelatinous creatures possess luminous organs 446 00:46:18,514 --> 00:46:20,674 to frighten off their enemies. 447 00:46:24,794 --> 00:46:30,434 Still deeper, 1,000 metres below the surface, in the ocean twilight, 448 00:46:30,514 --> 00:46:32,954 we find the siphonophores. 449 00:46:33,914 --> 00:46:36,714 These are the largest kind of plankton. 450 00:46:36,794 --> 00:46:39,914 Some measure up to 50 metres. 451 00:46:42,914 --> 00:46:47,034 Their organs are not spread out, but grouped together. 452 00:46:47,834 --> 00:46:50,154 On one side, they have their stomachs, 453 00:46:50,914 --> 00:46:54,994 on the other, the swim bladders they use to float. 454 00:46:55,074 --> 00:47:00,874 Between the two, they deploy a net to trap any food which falls from the surface. 455 00:47:05,954 --> 00:47:11,394 Descending into the abyss is like travelling back in a biological time machine. 456 00:47:24,594 --> 00:47:29,274 There are maybe 2,000 species of abyss-dwelling fish. 457 00:47:29,754 --> 00:47:31,514 A terrifying bestiary. 458 00:47:33,994 --> 00:47:38,194 Viperfish that can eat things larger than themselves. 459 00:47:44,154 --> 00:47:48,074 Gulper eels that gobble everything which passes. 460 00:47:49,914 --> 00:47:53,514 Survival is tough at 1,500 metres deep. 461 00:47:55,874 --> 00:47:59,794 At around 3,000 metres, there is no more light. 462 00:47:59,874 --> 00:48:04,954 It's the kingdom of the vampire squid, a prehistoric cousin of the squid. 463 00:48:07,994 --> 00:48:11,834 The vampire squid has blue blood laced with copper. 464 00:48:11,914 --> 00:48:17,594 Its enormous eyes detect slight variations in contrast above it, towards the surface. 465 00:48:18,354 --> 00:48:21,634 Its vision is entirely adapted to the shadows. 466 00:48:27,634 --> 00:48:31,514 The sedimentary plane, uniform and grey, 467 00:48:31,594 --> 00:48:34,834 seems to stretch out of sight and span lit by the camera. 468 00:48:34,954 --> 00:48:38,954 When we approach this spongy marsh, we see carnivorous sponges at work. 469 00:48:39,034 --> 00:48:41,154 When waste touches the bottom, 470 00:48:41,234 --> 00:48:44,674 crabs, eels and carnivorous sponges gorge on it. 471 00:48:44,754 --> 00:48:50,074 Invisible in the mud, billions of bacteria break down what remains of the living. 472 00:48:57,114 --> 00:48:59,954 Here, species live more slowly, 473 00:49:00,594 --> 00:49:03,794 sometimes to 150 years old, 474 00:49:06,074 --> 00:49:08,874 because of the extraordinary pressure at minus 4,000 metres, 475 00:49:08,954 --> 00:49:11,114 at the bottom of the sea. 476 00:49:12,154 --> 00:49:14,034 Oxygen is scarce. 477 00:49:19,994 --> 00:49:23,954 And yet, here we are. In this world we hardly know. 478 00:49:25,194 --> 00:49:28,754 Here we are because we're afraid of running out. 479 00:49:28,834 --> 00:49:32,034 We're looking to feed our addiction to oil. 480 00:49:34,034 --> 00:49:36,554 The ocean seems to be made of water. 481 00:49:36,634 --> 00:49:41,714 But in reality, it's an alliance between life, chemistry and geology. 482 00:49:42,834 --> 00:49:44,354 All the wastes, corpses, 483 00:49:44,434 --> 00:49:47,394 particles of seaweed which come down from the surface, 484 00:49:48,394 --> 00:49:54,154 each tiny cell of the ocean finishes its life here in "marine snow." 485 00:49:58,834 --> 00:50:00,434 For millions of years, 486 00:50:00,514 --> 00:50:05,314 dead plankton loaded with carbon has been building up at the bottom of the seas. 487 00:50:05,994 --> 00:50:11,514 It piles up in thick layers and gives rise to these rocks, which we call limestone, 488 00:50:11,954 --> 00:50:15,714 and which emerge in peaks at each lowering of the sea level. 489 00:50:18,114 --> 00:50:22,474 Sometimes, this heap of corpses doesn't transform into rock, 490 00:50:22,554 --> 00:50:29,194 but rather slowly melts down into an organic substance, viscous and black. 491 00:50:30,114 --> 00:50:31,794 Oil. 492 00:50:33,634 --> 00:50:38,154 It exists everywhere, almost, on the seabeds and on land, 493 00:50:38,234 --> 00:50:41,314 where the ocean once covered the planet. 494 00:50:48,554 --> 00:50:52,314 We began by pumping out the shallow deposits. 495 00:50:52,394 --> 00:50:55,034 But these reserves are already running out, 496 00:50:55,114 --> 00:50:59,714 and we seek further and further, deeper and deeper. 497 00:50:59,794 --> 00:51:04,154 We're now exploring deposits drilling up to 7,000 metres deep. 498 00:51:04,794 --> 00:51:07,074 The last reserves of oil tomorrow 499 00:51:07,154 --> 00:51:11,554 will be found in the most inaccessible zones of the sea. 500 00:51:27,634 --> 00:51:31,874 These flames are plankton burning, life burning. 501 00:51:40,274 --> 00:51:43,514 We have 20,000 oil rigs on the world's seas. 502 00:51:45,514 --> 00:51:50,794 Every year, we burn the equivalent of a million years of laying down of plankton. 503 00:51:51,634 --> 00:51:57,074 Our industrial revolution has cost the planet 100 million carbon years. 504 00:52:06,954 --> 00:52:11,634 We transport two billion tons of oil every year on board our supertankers, 505 00:52:11,714 --> 00:52:14,834 which are the biggest mobile constructions that exist. 506 00:52:15,194 --> 00:52:19,114 Oil is the main source of energy for our civilisation. 507 00:52:20,514 --> 00:52:23,714 This energy propels us beyond all limits. 508 00:52:25,874 --> 00:52:27,794 In their gigantic holds, 509 00:52:27,874 --> 00:52:33,114 these ships are carrying a part of the bio-geological history of the ocean. 510 00:52:36,474 --> 00:52:39,474 With this revolution, our lives have changed. 511 00:52:40,034 --> 00:52:42,314 That of the planet also. 512 00:52:44,394 --> 00:52:45,674 We need our ships so much 513 00:52:45,754 --> 00:52:49,834 that we have cut America in two to link the seas. 514 00:52:51,514 --> 00:52:53,674 We created the Panama Canal, 515 00:52:53,754 --> 00:52:57,514 a slash of 80 kilometres right through the jungle. 516 00:53:01,794 --> 00:53:05,834 Every year, 13,000 ships can go faster and further. 517 00:53:07,794 --> 00:53:11,554 A ship crosses the mountain every 45 minutes. 518 00:53:19,634 --> 00:53:21,674 To feed the locks of our canal, 519 00:53:21,754 --> 00:53:27,354 we created an enormous lake, Lake Gatun, which stocks rainwater. 520 00:53:27,994 --> 00:53:32,194 When the rains are scarce, the canal risks technical failure. 521 00:53:34,754 --> 00:53:41,034 Stocks of raw materials, gas, factory ships, transport of vehicles, cruise ships, 522 00:53:41,114 --> 00:53:43,634 an infinite diversity of vessels. 523 00:53:43,714 --> 00:53:48,194 We transport three quarters of our merchandise by the ocean routes. 524 00:53:49,914 --> 00:53:53,914 The admiral ship of all our boats is the container ship, 525 00:53:54,674 --> 00:53:58,354 ships carrying thousands of identical metal boxes. 526 00:54:21,874 --> 00:54:24,074 The riches of the world which power our factories 527 00:54:24,114 --> 00:54:27,874 produces new wealth, which gives us the means 528 00:54:27,954 --> 00:54:31,594 to transform our villages into immense cities. 529 00:54:32,034 --> 00:54:35,634 Here in Panama City, there was only jungle. 530 00:54:35,754 --> 00:54:38,834 Today, money is flowing in tides. 531 00:54:42,954 --> 00:54:47,554 Rotterdam, Durban, San Francisco, Singapore, 532 00:54:48,394 --> 00:54:51,314 our ships weave a web between the continents. 533 00:54:52,194 --> 00:54:56,554 The ocean brings together our towns into a single world. 534 00:55:01,914 --> 00:55:04,594 All the sea routes converge on Asia. 535 00:55:04,714 --> 00:55:08,714 Of the top 50 ports in the world, 11 are in China. 536 00:55:08,794 --> 00:55:11,514 And the most important is Shanghai. 537 00:55:14,674 --> 00:55:18,354 It's located at one end of a 34-kilometre bridge, 538 00:55:18,394 --> 00:55:22,954 on an island in the open sea which was razed to build a freshwater port. 539 00:55:23,514 --> 00:55:25,914 It's the biggest port in the world. 540 00:55:27,354 --> 00:55:29,434 On the kilometres of quayside, 541 00:55:29,514 --> 00:55:33,834 giant cranes unload every year 30 million containers, 542 00:55:33,914 --> 00:55:37,234 which will be exchanged, re-routed, stocked. 543 00:55:41,074 --> 00:55:44,794 Who knows where our boxes are going and what they contain? 544 00:55:44,914 --> 00:55:46,874 Container transport is like a game, 545 00:55:46,954 --> 00:55:50,954 of empty boxes to be filled, and full boxes to be emptied. 546 00:55:53,674 --> 00:55:57,194 We have 600 million containers circulating on the ocean. 547 00:55:57,914 --> 00:56:01,434 They are the key link in the world we have created. 548 00:56:04,314 --> 00:56:07,634 The ocean made globalisation possible. 549 00:56:19,514 --> 00:56:20,634 The demand is so great 550 00:56:20,714 --> 00:56:25,194 that our fleet of container ships has tripled in under 10 years. 551 00:56:25,994 --> 00:56:28,554 Three thousand cargo ships are currently under construction 552 00:56:28,634 --> 00:56:34,714 in the shipyards of Korea, China and Japan, which provide 90% of the world's production. 553 00:56:46,874 --> 00:56:48,874 Everything here is oversized. 554 00:56:48,954 --> 00:56:52,074 Gigantic yards employing more than 10,000 workers 555 00:56:52,154 --> 00:56:54,794 cut and extend the existing ships. 556 00:56:59,514 --> 00:57:02,834 We assemble ships over 400 metres long, 557 00:57:02,874 --> 00:57:05,754 the area of four football fields. 558 00:57:18,834 --> 00:57:20,794 This relentless growth of the ship industry 559 00:57:20,914 --> 00:57:24,274 is only responding to another industrial need. 560 00:57:25,394 --> 00:57:28,154 The world's factories have moved here. 561 00:57:30,874 --> 00:57:35,354 The ocean has enabled the globalisation of our industries. 562 00:57:41,434 --> 00:57:45,554 A single ship can bring an entire forest to our factories, 563 00:57:45,594 --> 00:57:50,674 which transform it into paper, planks, furniture, manufactured products. 564 00:57:54,554 --> 00:57:57,754 China is the world's top importer of logs. 565 00:57:58,394 --> 00:58:02,034 Thanks to the oceans, no forest is safe. 566 00:58:15,354 --> 00:58:20,794 Over 500 million tons of raw materials arrive in Shanghai every year by sea. 567 00:58:22,034 --> 00:58:26,234 Supplies of crude steel, coal, wood, copper, 568 00:58:26,314 --> 00:58:29,114 all the scarce minerals that we take from the planet. 569 00:58:34,034 --> 00:58:37,474 Right around the port zone, our factories melt steel, 570 00:58:37,514 --> 00:58:39,354 to produce a new chemistry for other factories 571 00:58:39,474 --> 00:58:42,514 which construct, assemble and wrap products 572 00:58:42,554 --> 00:58:45,034 destined to be exported all over the world. 573 00:58:47,034 --> 00:58:51,754 The life of seven billion people is connected to this part of the world. 574 00:59:04,954 --> 00:59:07,634 What can these fishermen catch here, 575 00:59:07,674 --> 00:59:12,794 in the waste from the factories and at the heart of this dehumanised world? 576 00:59:25,754 --> 00:59:29,074 Our tentacular towns sprout like mushrooms. 577 00:59:29,114 --> 00:59:31,874 Shanghai is a symbol of our headlong rush. 578 00:59:33,714 --> 00:59:37,474 Twenty-three million people are living in the Shanghai megalopolis. 579 00:59:37,554 --> 00:59:41,074 Over 6,000 buildings have sprung from the earth. 580 00:59:41,154 --> 00:59:44,234 Twenty thousand new building sites are in progress, 581 00:59:44,634 --> 00:59:48,474 a frenzy of construction climbing towards the sky. 582 00:59:51,394 --> 00:59:56,474 Every country in the world dreams of having the growth rate of Shanghai and China. 583 01:00:02,154 --> 01:00:04,754 Our cities are spreading beyond the land, 584 01:00:04,794 --> 01:00:08,714 but owe their fortune to being at the gates of the ocean. 585 01:00:08,794 --> 01:00:11,994 Planet ocean has become our planet. 586 01:00:13,794 --> 01:00:15,874 But if we were wrong? 587 01:00:21,114 --> 01:00:24,994 The ocean that we came from seems so far from us today. 588 01:00:28,474 --> 01:00:31,034 In barely 200 years, 589 01:00:31,034 --> 01:00:36,154 we have violently disrupted four billion years of the natural history of the world. 590 01:00:37,594 --> 01:00:40,434 We no longer see the beauty of life, 591 01:00:40,474 --> 01:00:45,954 but only what it can do for our species, what it enables us to produce. 592 01:00:47,674 --> 01:00:51,834 Everything that lives around us suffers from our existence. 593 01:00:52,634 --> 01:00:56,114 We leave footprints everywhere we go. 594 01:01:03,274 --> 01:01:06,994 They say these sperm whales are dreaming, head downward. 595 01:01:09,954 --> 01:01:12,394 Maybe it's us that's dreaming, 596 01:01:12,954 --> 01:01:16,034 thinking that we can carry on in this frenzy of growth 597 01:01:16,114 --> 01:01:18,674 without any consequences. 598 01:01:46,594 --> 01:01:48,634 One hundred thousand of our ships crisscross 599 01:01:48,674 --> 01:01:50,754 the seas of our planet unceasingly. 600 01:01:52,194 --> 01:01:57,274 The more our needs grow, the more numerous our machines become. 601 01:01:57,314 --> 01:01:59,074 No matter what we do, 602 01:01:59,154 --> 01:02:03,554 our industrial civilisation is destroying the natural world around it. 603 01:02:04,314 --> 01:02:08,794 The risk of pollution has become a threat to everything that comes near us. 604 01:02:08,874 --> 01:02:12,994 Our gigantic motors burn tons of petrol and oil by the hour. 605 01:02:13,434 --> 01:02:18,194 We spit out polluting materials in all directions into the air and the ocean. 606 01:02:46,594 --> 01:02:49,914 In the polar regions, the permanent ice cap is melting 607 01:02:50,034 --> 01:02:52,194 as a result of global warming. 608 01:02:53,674 --> 01:02:56,474 There are no factories here, no machines, 609 01:02:56,514 --> 01:03:00,634 and yet this heating up is caused by our own carbon emissions. 610 01:03:05,194 --> 01:03:09,114 Fossil energy, the oil we need for our civilisation, 611 01:03:09,154 --> 01:03:12,154 is causing the ocean to overheat. 612 01:03:12,714 --> 01:03:17,154 But the melting of the Arctic has another, more serious consequence. 613 01:03:17,154 --> 01:03:20,834 In the North, the melting of the permanent Arctic ice caps 614 01:03:20,874 --> 01:03:23,234 is revealing open ocean. 615 01:03:24,034 --> 01:03:28,994 The waters absorb the solar heat that the ice used to reflect back. 616 01:03:29,034 --> 01:03:31,714 This phenomenon is amplified. 617 01:03:31,754 --> 01:03:35,434 The ocean itself is accelerating the warming. 618 01:03:47,754 --> 01:03:50,474 In Greenland, as in the Antarctic, 619 01:03:50,594 --> 01:03:54,634 the glaciers which cover the protruding land are made of fresh water. 620 01:03:54,714 --> 01:03:59,074 Their melting sends streams of fresh water into the salty sea. 621 01:04:01,634 --> 01:04:04,034 The great circulation of marine currents 622 01:04:04,074 --> 01:04:06,874 that flow around the globe and regulate the climate 623 01:04:06,874 --> 01:04:09,154 is gradually blocking up. 624 01:04:12,394 --> 01:04:14,714 What will be the consequences? 625 01:04:16,794 --> 01:04:20,034 In human memory, no such change has ever been experienced. 626 01:04:20,154 --> 01:04:21,674 So we can't know. 627 01:04:30,714 --> 01:04:35,394 Over 20,000 kilometres away, very far from the polar regions, 628 01:04:35,514 --> 01:04:38,314 climate change is already having an effect. 629 01:04:38,434 --> 01:04:40,674 It's invisible from the surface. 630 01:04:40,714 --> 01:04:44,994 To see it, you have to dive to a reef in the tropics, 631 01:04:45,114 --> 01:04:47,994 like on the edge of the Blue Hole in Belize, 632 01:04:48,034 --> 01:04:50,874 the second largest coral reef in the world. 633 01:05:03,194 --> 01:05:06,474 Corals are highly sensitive to changes in temperature. 634 01:05:06,954 --> 01:05:11,554 A difference of less than one degree for a few weeks is enough to kill them. 635 01:05:12,354 --> 01:05:15,754 Only a reef of white skeletons remains. 636 01:05:21,154 --> 01:05:24,034 These white areas are spreading. 637 01:05:24,154 --> 01:05:26,714 Scientists are very worried. 638 01:05:26,754 --> 01:05:31,114 A quarter of corals on our planet have died in the last 50 years. 639 01:05:31,714 --> 01:05:37,474 The immediate problem is not their death, but rather the impact of their disappearance. 640 01:05:39,794 --> 01:05:44,554 Dying, they leave nothing behind. The marine oasis becomes a desert. 641 01:05:49,474 --> 01:05:54,274 Further out to sea, the immensity of the ocean hides other facts. 642 01:05:54,794 --> 01:05:59,714 After the coral, it's the state of health of the plankton which becomes critical. 643 01:06:00,514 --> 01:06:03,234 Scientific missions are multiplying on this ocean 644 01:06:03,354 --> 01:06:05,994 that we are just beginning to discover. 645 01:06:10,914 --> 01:06:14,914 They're trying to understand what is going to change in marine life. 646 01:06:15,034 --> 01:06:17,194 The life that feeds us. 647 01:06:18,154 --> 01:06:21,994 It seems that the plankton, the base of all the food chains, 648 01:06:22,034 --> 01:06:25,794 is moving toward the polar region where the waters are still temperate. 649 01:06:27,074 --> 01:06:31,434 In 50 years, it has moved 1,200 kilometres further northwards. 650 01:06:34,754 --> 01:06:39,594 This redistribution of plankton is already having an effect on marine life. 651 01:06:41,154 --> 01:06:43,914 Every year, cownose rays migrate 652 01:06:44,034 --> 01:06:47,754 between Brazil and the temperate zones in search of food. 653 01:06:48,274 --> 01:06:52,994 Every year, the journey takes them a little higher, a little further north. 654 01:06:59,194 --> 01:07:02,154 Global warming is disrupting the ecology of the ocean. 655 01:07:02,914 --> 01:07:07,514 With this change, our fishing territories are also changing. 656 01:07:15,314 --> 01:07:18,794 But I know that we can't stop ourselves from fishing. 657 01:07:20,074 --> 01:07:23,554 In Chile, where a quarter of the world's tonnage is fished, 658 01:07:24,194 --> 01:07:28,074 the sea supports thousands of traditional fishermen and their families. 659 01:07:28,674 --> 01:07:31,594 Many are heavily in debt to pay for their boats. 660 01:07:35,114 --> 01:07:37,834 Commercial species are becoming scarce, 661 01:07:37,874 --> 01:07:40,594 so they are turning to what remains. 662 01:07:43,394 --> 01:07:47,834 We didn't eat Chilean sardine and Peruvian anchovy in the past. 663 01:07:49,154 --> 01:07:53,474 But now we fish over 10 million tons of them per year. 664 01:07:53,514 --> 01:07:56,714 Extraordinary pressure on a single species, 665 01:07:56,794 --> 01:08:00,034 the only one remaining in these waters. 666 01:08:10,314 --> 01:08:12,314 Right along the coast of Chile, 667 01:08:12,394 --> 01:08:15,554 a powerful current rises up from the bottom of the ocean. 668 01:08:16,034 --> 01:08:20,194 It's still rich in plankton, and the sardines are abundant. 669 01:08:20,514 --> 01:08:22,834 This is an upwelling current. 670 01:08:22,954 --> 01:08:25,674 It churns the water, bringing nutrients. 671 01:08:32,714 --> 01:08:38,274 Seals and birds come to hunt the small fish, which gather around these rising waters. 672 01:08:43,754 --> 01:08:46,274 The Chileans fish with a seine, 673 01:08:46,314 --> 01:08:50,314 a very long net that closes over 40 tons of catch. 674 01:08:51,354 --> 01:08:56,394 Five hundred thousand fish in each net that a machine sucks up into the hold. 675 01:09:12,754 --> 01:09:16,274 Though sardines only live a few years, they reproduce rapidly. 676 01:09:17,674 --> 01:09:21,314 These blue fish are the last still holding out in this world. 677 01:09:28,274 --> 01:09:32,034 We don't eat these fish. We catch them to make fish meal. 678 01:09:32,354 --> 01:09:35,554 Fish meal which feeds farmed fish. 679 01:09:38,634 --> 01:09:42,634 In total, 25 million tons of sea fish are raised every year, 680 01:09:42,754 --> 01:09:46,154 most of the production coming from Norway and Chile. 681 01:09:47,274 --> 01:09:50,154 We only raise species with high market value, 682 01:09:50,274 --> 01:09:52,754 sea bream, salmon and bass. 683 01:09:53,794 --> 01:09:58,794 Four kilos of wild sardines are needed to produce one kilo of farmed fish. 684 01:10:02,594 --> 01:10:06,154 Our fish farming is an industry based on a wild resource. 685 01:10:07,594 --> 01:10:11,474 And when there are no more sardines, what will we do? 686 01:10:21,354 --> 01:10:25,674 As our resources run out, we go further and further. 687 01:10:25,714 --> 01:10:28,074 The high seas are a free zone. 688 01:10:29,114 --> 01:10:33,914 Two-thirds of the ocean belongs to everyone, and so to no one, 689 01:10:33,994 --> 01:10:36,554 and so belongs to the first to use it. 690 01:10:38,514 --> 01:10:40,554 Off the coast of West Africa, 691 01:10:40,594 --> 01:10:45,354 rogue ship-owners send poor fishermen to pillage the last zones rich in fish. 692 01:10:46,154 --> 01:10:49,834 On their ramshackle boats, these men are abandoned, 693 01:10:49,874 --> 01:10:53,554 with rations arriving once a month, if they're lucky. 694 01:10:56,394 --> 01:11:00,234 Men in boats that seem to have no value for anyone. 695 01:11:06,634 --> 01:11:08,074 In Mauritania, 696 01:11:08,114 --> 01:11:12,554 the port of Nouadhibou has become a graveyard of pirate fishing ships. 697 01:11:12,634 --> 01:11:17,554 Hundreds of boats seized off this coast, abandoned wrecks, 698 01:11:17,634 --> 01:11:20,434 probably already replaced by other ships. 699 01:11:30,954 --> 01:11:33,874 The pirate boats gather in the least watched zones, 700 01:11:33,994 --> 01:11:35,914 like the African sector. 701 01:11:37,274 --> 01:11:38,314 Out at sea, 702 01:11:38,474 --> 01:11:42,114 the illegal ships transfer their cargo onto authorised ships 703 01:11:42,674 --> 01:11:46,794 to be able to sell their catch legally on the international markets. 704 01:11:49,994 --> 01:11:54,514 Some estimates rank this illegal fishing at 26 million tons of catch, 705 01:11:55,274 --> 01:11:57,714 a quarter of the global total. 706 01:12:00,114 --> 01:12:02,354 Profit rules the seas. 707 01:12:18,394 --> 01:12:23,154 In the sea, 90% of the biomass of the predators has disappeared. 708 01:12:26,394 --> 01:12:30,074 One of the last of them, the Atlantic bluefin tuna, 709 01:12:30,154 --> 01:12:32,234 is on the verge of extinction. 710 01:12:32,274 --> 01:12:36,394 Nevertheless, it is fished legally in the Mediterranean, 711 01:12:36,474 --> 01:12:41,394 one of the last refuges of this species, which comes here to reproduce. 712 01:12:45,394 --> 01:12:50,234 The tuna are captured in a very large net which shuts like a pen. 713 01:12:50,674 --> 01:12:54,154 The catch is towed back alive, then fattened up in a farm 714 01:12:54,194 --> 01:12:57,714 before slaughter, then sold on international markets. 715 01:12:59,914 --> 01:13:02,514 These fish are a luxury resource. 716 01:13:03,914 --> 01:13:07,114 A top quality tuna can weigh 300 kilos 717 01:13:07,154 --> 01:13:10,874 and be sold for over 500,000 euros. 718 01:13:19,674 --> 01:13:21,834 Corruption and lies are everywhere. 719 01:13:22,994 --> 01:13:28,074 The tuna fishing fleets benefit from millions of euros of European subsidies. 720 01:13:28,114 --> 01:13:30,474 We respect no quotas, 721 01:13:30,514 --> 01:13:34,794 we don't take any precautions at all for the preservation of the species. 722 01:13:34,874 --> 01:13:39,354 At this rate, the tuna will be extinct within a few years. 723 01:13:44,234 --> 01:13:45,714 We deplete this common good 724 01:13:45,874 --> 01:13:50,234 because it belongs to no one and it brings in a lot of money. 725 01:13:50,794 --> 01:13:53,834 And tomorrow, what will we have left? 726 01:14:00,914 --> 01:14:04,914 Today, there are 400 marine areas which have been declared dead, 727 01:14:05,034 --> 01:14:09,514 empty of resources, or even incapable of sustaining life. 728 01:14:10,874 --> 01:14:13,434 Other species are proliferating. 729 01:14:13,514 --> 01:14:17,994 Jellyfish have existed on Earth for almost a billion years. 730 01:14:18,154 --> 01:14:21,674 They have survived all known types of extinction. 731 01:14:22,154 --> 01:14:24,634 Red tuna were one of their predators. 732 01:14:25,234 --> 01:14:30,034 The disappearance of the tuna destabilises a millennial balance. 733 01:14:32,394 --> 01:14:38,074 All over the ocean, scientists and fishermen are noticing more and more jellyfish. 734 01:14:38,634 --> 01:14:41,514 The ocean is becoming a mass of gelatine, 735 01:14:41,554 --> 01:14:45,034 and this imbalance is a trap waiting for us. 736 01:14:56,114 --> 01:15:00,234 Far from the land, far from where I live, 737 01:15:00,274 --> 01:15:03,794 the ocean is hiding from us another fact. 738 01:15:04,634 --> 01:15:07,594 The currents are dispersing our chemistry, 739 01:15:07,674 --> 01:15:12,274 the pollutants of our industrial creation across the whole globe. 740 01:15:12,794 --> 01:15:17,434 More than 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre on average 741 01:15:17,514 --> 01:15:19,994 across all seas. 742 01:15:27,314 --> 01:15:31,034 What is killing these birds comes from my home, 743 01:15:31,114 --> 01:15:34,674 even though I live thousands of kilometres from here. 744 01:15:38,634 --> 01:15:43,274 We tip six billion kilos of plastic waste per year into the sea. 745 01:15:43,674 --> 01:15:47,794 Plastic, which doesn't decompose, but which micro-fragments. 746 01:15:51,474 --> 01:15:55,074 What these birds are eating, the fish will eat, 747 01:15:55,154 --> 01:15:57,834 and in turn I will eat 748 01:15:57,914 --> 01:16:02,394 as we delve into the ocean for our fishing, for our fisheries. 749 01:16:03,514 --> 01:16:08,714 Polluting the ocean to this point means poisoning ourselves. 750 01:16:40,874 --> 01:16:45,154 The ocean is so vast that we came to believe it had infinite resources. 751 01:16:46,154 --> 01:16:48,074 We were wrong. 752 01:16:48,154 --> 01:16:52,794 The ocean planet in reality has only a limited capacity for renewal, 753 01:16:53,594 --> 01:16:55,834 which we have to learn to manage. 754 01:16:57,354 --> 01:16:59,674 That's why, since the dawn of time, 755 01:16:59,834 --> 01:17:03,274 everything that lives on Earth respects rhythms and limits. 756 01:17:04,754 --> 01:17:07,994 That's the origin of the famous law of natural equilibrium. 757 01:17:11,954 --> 01:17:15,634 For myself, I want to stay on the Earth. 758 01:17:16,394 --> 01:17:20,754 I want to have a place tomorrow on our living planet. 759 01:18:58,314 --> 01:19:01,274 For a long time, I watched these fish. 760 01:19:03,634 --> 01:19:05,874 I think I am a little like them. 761 01:19:06,474 --> 01:19:09,674 I evolve through consensus, in a group. 762 01:19:10,514 --> 01:19:13,274 Even if I understand what's happening to us, 763 01:19:13,554 --> 01:19:17,434 I can't just choose to radically change the way things are going. 764 01:19:18,714 --> 01:19:23,194 But maybe our shared awareness will trigger a chain reaction 765 01:19:23,274 --> 01:19:25,274 and save our species. 766 01:19:26,314 --> 01:19:29,954 I want to believe that we can react in time. 767 01:19:44,234 --> 01:19:46,194 Twenty years ago, in Rio, 768 01:19:46,274 --> 01:19:50,754 people came together for a major conference on the future of the Earth. 769 01:19:50,834 --> 01:19:52,874 That was in 1992. 770 01:19:53,754 --> 01:19:54,754 In that year, 771 01:19:54,874 --> 01:19:58,274 our political elites voted for 2,500 recommendations 772 01:19:58,354 --> 01:20:00,314 for protecting the planet. 773 01:20:02,234 --> 01:20:05,954 I believed that was the symbolic beginning of a new era. 774 01:20:06,754 --> 01:20:09,954 But it was only the beginning of a long road. 775 01:20:10,514 --> 01:20:13,154 Since then, what has happened? 776 01:20:13,234 --> 01:20:17,354 There have been other conferences, other Earth summits, 777 01:20:17,434 --> 01:20:20,234 with very little result. 778 01:20:20,634 --> 01:20:23,274 The risk of unpopular decision, 779 01:20:23,354 --> 01:20:28,754 competition, corruption, passivity, have prevented any action. 780 01:20:29,514 --> 01:20:32,074 But we, humanity, 781 01:20:32,154 --> 01:20:35,754 have made an enormous leap forward in the last 20 years. 782 01:20:36,874 --> 01:20:39,154 Our awareness has evolved. 783 01:20:39,994 --> 01:20:42,994 We are worried about the issue of the environment. 784 01:20:43,834 --> 01:20:45,954 But that's not yet enough. 785 01:20:46,034 --> 01:20:48,634 Time is catching up with us. 786 01:20:48,714 --> 01:20:52,394 At this rate, we are headed for catastrophe. 787 01:20:52,714 --> 01:20:55,314 What's striking is that we don't see what's happening. 788 01:21:09,674 --> 01:21:12,554 Even at the heart of this city facing the ocean, 789 01:21:13,194 --> 01:21:16,394 the disgusting pollution means we cannot go into the sea. 790 01:21:18,314 --> 01:21:22,634 We had to build a pool to swim in the most beautiful bay in the world, 791 01:21:22,714 --> 01:21:25,754 the bay which has become dangerous to our health. 792 01:21:45,114 --> 01:21:48,394 In Rio, like everywhere in the world, 793 01:21:48,474 --> 01:21:52,354 we built a colossus, a symbol of eternity, 794 01:21:53,074 --> 01:21:55,394 as if to protect ourselves. 795 01:21:57,234 --> 01:22:01,514 He contemplates the ocean, but what can he do for us? 796 01:22:01,594 --> 01:22:04,594 No religion, no belief will save us. 797 01:22:06,114 --> 01:22:09,634 It's not a time for believing in the promises of heaven. 798 01:22:10,514 --> 01:22:15,034 Only our intelligence enables us to foresee and prepare our future. 799 01:22:16,594 --> 01:22:18,714 We can still change direction. 800 01:22:20,074 --> 01:22:25,114 There's still time to imagine a humanist and responsible stewardship of the planet. 801 01:22:26,074 --> 01:22:29,194 To remain on our ocean planet.