# tactiq.
io free youtube transcript
# Our Planet | High Seas | FULL EPISODE | Netflix
# https://www.youtube.com/watch/9FqwhW0B3tY
00:00:06.923 [radio static]
00:00:12.887 [beep]
00:00:13.805 [indistinct radio chatter]
00:00:20.645 [David Attenborough] Just 50 years ago,
00:00:23.440 we finally ventured to the Moon.
00:00:40.331 For the very first time,
00:00:42.917 we looked back at our own planet.
00:00:53.344 Since then, the human populationhas more than doubled.
00:01:04.147 This series will celebratethe natural wonders that remain
00:01:09.527 and reveal what we must preserve
00:01:12.655 to ensure people and nature thrive.
00:01:44.562 Dolphins...
00:01:47.190 panicking.
00:01:52.487 They're being huntedby false killer whales.
00:01:58.368 [birds cawing]
00:02:13.258 Dolphins are faster in short bursts.
00:02:25.562 But their hunters have stamina.
00:02:37.574 Just as the killer whales close in,
00:02:41.578 the dolphins make a sudden turnto evade their predators.
00:02:59.637 These extraordinary eventsare taking place far from land,
00:03:04.267 where few of us ever venture.
00:03:10.273 This is the oceanbeyond the boundary of any country...
00:03:15.111 largely ungoverned, wild, and lawless.
00:03:34.255 Nothing symbolizesour relationship with the high seas
00:03:38.468 better than the blue whale.
00:03:48.561 Weighing 200 tons and 30 meters long,
00:03:52.523 these are the largest animalsever to have existed.
00:03:57.528 Yet much of their livesis still a mystery to us.
00:04:07.580 Blue whales live far out to sea,
00:04:12.335 roaming every oceanfrom the tropics to the poles.
00:04:22.136 We have only recently discovered
00:04:24.555 a few special placeswhere they come close to shore.
00:04:35.775 The Gulf of California,
00:04:40.905 on Mexico's Pacific coast.
00:04:58.840 This is a sanctuary for blue whales.
00:05:15.023 [whale huffing]
00:05:17.817 Meet the world's biggest newborn...
00:05:24.699 a baby blue.
00:05:27.368 Just a month old,
00:05:29.620 she's already eight meters longand weighs six tons.
00:05:37.128 Her mother shelters herwith a protective fin.
00:05:45.511 They caress one another,cherishing their close bond.
00:05:53.519 These are the most intimate imagesever captured
00:05:57.106 of a blue whale mother and her calf.
00:06:19.087 This female will give birthonly once every two or three years,
00:06:24.008 so each baby blue is extremely precious.
00:06:32.975 The calf will grow three tons a month.
00:06:48.116 Once, there weremore than 300,000 blue whales,
00:06:53.871 but last century,they were hunted relentlessly,
00:06:57.792 and only a few thousand survived.
00:07:09.887 Blue whales are now protected,
00:07:13.057 and their numbers are slowly increasing.
00:07:20.440 Soon, this calf will leavethese sheltered waters
00:07:24.986 to roam the high seas.
00:07:37.623 We once thought that the high seaswere simply too vast for us to
damage,
00:07:46.966 but we now know that her ocean homeis under threat as never before.
00:08:02.773 Out here in the big blue,there remain a few pristine places
00:08:08.029 to remind ushow rich the oceans can still be.
00:08:23.878 Spinner dolphins.
00:08:28.424 In the Pacific, off the coast of Costa Rica, Central America,
00:08:32.511 they are starting to gatherin great numbers.
00:08:38.351 Spinners live in pods,
00:08:40.770 groups of individualslinked by complex social relationships.
00:08:47.985 [dolphins clicking]
00:08:56.077 The dolphins constantly touchand talk with one another,
00:08:59.789 using a language of clicks and whistles.
00:09:03.125 [dolphins clicking and chittering]
00:09:10.049 They are shadowed by yellowfin tuna.
00:09:16.264 The tuna rely on the dolphinsto find food.
00:09:21.978 Everyone is searching for the same prey...
00:09:27.441 lantern fish...
00:09:29.569 the most numerous fish on the planet.
00:09:38.703 No longer than your finger,
00:09:40.538 lantern fish spend most of their timehiding in the deep.
00:09:45.334 So, despite their astounding abundance,we don't fish for them.
00:09:53.593 They are one of the few fishthat still thrives.
00:10:00.600 As they close in on their prey,the dolphin pod gets bigger and bigger.
00:10:11.193 This pod could be 10,000 strong.
00:10:25.791 For every one at the surface, 20 swim below.
00:10:47.355 [dolphins clicking]
00:10:55.529 Using echolocation, a type of sonar,
00:10:59.283 the dolphins detect lantern fishin the depths
00:11:02.870 and drive them to the surface.
00:11:20.721 They patrol the underside of the shoal
00:11:23.224 to stop their preyescaping back to the deep.
00:11:28.270 [clicking and chittering]
00:11:43.119 Once the dolphins have had their fill,
00:11:45.830 there's still plenty morefor other predators.
00:12:02.805 Mobula rays swoop in.
00:12:16.610 To maximize their catch,the rays attack in formation.
00:12:44.722 A wall of mouths scooping up their prey.
00:13:00.488 Because we don't fish for them,lantern fish and their predators
thrive.
00:13:12.416 All these hunters have barely made a dentin the great shoal.
00:13:20.841 Most life in the open oceanis concentrated in a thin surface layer,
00:13:26.597 where the power of the sunhas its greatest effect.
00:13:33.646 These sunlit shallowsare fertilized in a surprising way.
00:13:41.737 As the dolphins produce waste,they play a vital role,
00:13:45.866 recycling nutrients from the deepup to the surface.
00:13:49.787 [dolphins chittering]
00:13:54.542 This marine manure
00:13:56.669 helps to fuel the basisof all life in the open ocean.
00:14:11.851 Phytoplankton...
00:14:14.812 microscopic drifting plants.
00:14:19.149 They combine nutrients in seawaterwith energy from the sun
00:14:23.487 to create the very foundationof every food chain out here.
00:14:32.621 So all animals, from the smallest fishto the largest whale,
00:14:37.418 ultimately depend on these tiny plants for food.
00:14:44.967 And in turn, the phytoplanktonbenefits from the nutrients
00:14:49.722 produced by these animals.
00:14:56.645 Crucially, phytoplankton also producehalf the oxygen in the air we
breathe.
00:15:05.613 So, no matter where you live,
00:15:07.698 you can thankthese exquisite little plants
00:15:10.576 for every other breath you take.
00:15:18.709 In ideal conditions,they can bloom to such an extent
00:15:24.548 that great swathes of the oceanturn green.
00:15:45.235 Surprisingly, phytoplanktonalso play a vital role in cloud formation.
00:15:52.034 [thunder rumbling]
00:16:01.085 Moisture evaporating from the ocean
00:16:03.837 condenses aroundtiny particles created by the plankton.
00:16:13.389 These droplets combineto grow into colossal clouds.
00:16:24.858 They can rise 20 kilometersinto the atmosphere.
00:16:48.507 These oceanic cloudsreflect the sun's energy back into space,
00:16:54.555 helping to protect the Earthfrom rising temperatures.
00:17:06.316 Not only do the oceansproduce half the oxygen we breathe,
00:17:10.279 they also drive the weather and climate,
00:17:14.241 transporting life-giving fresh wateraround the world.
00:17:18.996 [thunder rumbling]
00:17:28.297 The high seasare the life-support system of our planet.
00:17:40.142 They have such powersimply because they're so vast.
00:17:47.900 The oceans cover two-thirds of the globe,and that's just the surface.
00:17:57.201 They're also immensely deep.
00:18:04.458 We can only journeyto this unexplored space
00:18:08.378 in special submarinesthat can withstand the crushing pressure.
00:18:19.807 The average depth of the oceansis nearly four kilometers,
00:18:25.312 and the deepest point more than ten.
00:18:31.985 The deep makes up 95 percentof all the space available for life.
00:18:45.541 This alien worldis home to weird and mysterious creatures.
00:18:56.343 Few are stranger than this one.
00:19:13.026 For years, we only knew they existedfrom the occasional one washed
ashore.
00:19:24.872 They have hardly ever been seen alive.
00:19:35.632 An oarfish.
00:19:39.887 Ten meters long.
00:19:53.233 Hanging vertically
00:19:54.568 and using rhythmic wavesalong their dorsal fin,
00:19:58.280 oarfish commute easilybetween the surface and the depths.
00:20:09.208 Below 200 meters, there's not enough lightfor plants to grow,
00:20:14.087 so deep-sea animals depend onfood sinking down from the surface...
00:20:20.177 marine snow.
00:20:25.265 A crown jellyfishdrifts with tentacles outstretched
00:20:30.062 to ensnare pray.
00:20:35.234 They live in every ocean,to depths of seven kilometers.
00:20:44.660 The deep is so vast that these could bethe most abundant of all
jellyfish.
00:20:55.837 We used to thinkthe deep supported little life,
00:20:59.758 but scientists now believe
00:21:01.426 there are ten times more animalsliving here than previously thought.
00:21:08.100 So, there must be manyyet to be discovered.
00:21:27.119 This deep-water crustacean, Cystisoma,is as clear as glass.
00:21:37.546 It hides in plain sight.
00:21:43.802 In this twilight zone,
00:21:45.762 invisibility can be the differencebetween finding a meal and being
one.
00:21:56.189 Its huge eyes strain to see in the gloom.
00:22:09.911 No light penetratesbelow a thousand meters.
00:22:18.295 In this darkness,animals create their own light...
00:22:24.051 bioluminescence.
00:22:29.890 A glowing lure entices victimsinto this dragonfish's terrifying teeth.
00:22:42.277 On most expeditions down here,we are surprised by something new.
00:22:54.873 A deep-sea anglerfish.
00:23:00.670 Her extraordinary array of sensors
00:23:03.548 will detect even the faintest movementby prey tempted to her lure.
00:23:15.060 Here, in the deep midwater,predators play a patient game.
00:23:38.125 Eventually, we reach the bottom,
00:23:42.379 nearly a thousand meters down.
00:23:49.719 The deep-sea plainscover more than half the Earth's surface,
00:23:56.101 and yet we know moreabout the surface of the Moon.
00:24:06.736 Chimaera,an ancient relative of the shark,
00:24:10.532 up to two meters long.
00:24:19.249 Few species of this sizecan make a living on the barren seafloor.
00:24:29.968 Moving slowly to conserve energy,
00:24:32.804 they use special electrical sensorsaround their mouths
00:24:36.600 to search for scarce preyburied in the sediment.
00:24:49.779 Rocky outcrops rising from the seafloorcan be oases in this desert.
00:24:59.289 This ragged-tooth sharkhas come here for good reason.
00:25:06.129 Five hundred meters downoff the coast of Florida,
00:25:09.466 a rare hot spot of life.
00:25:19.184 Lophelia, deep-sea coral reefs.
00:25:39.454 We used to think that corals
00:25:41.248 were only foundin the warm, sunny shallows.
00:25:47.003 But, astonishingly, deep-sea reefscover a greater area of the seafloor
00:25:52.634 than their shallow-water relatives.
00:26:03.019 These underwater forests
00:26:05.772 provide shelter and foodfor a rich community of marine life.
00:26:15.657 They're also vital nurseriesfor many deep-sea creatures.
00:26:29.921 The corals are made upof many anemone-like individuals,
00:26:34.009 polyps that live in coloniesconnected by a hard skeleton.
00:26:47.147 The polypshave stinging cells in their tentacles
00:26:50.775 to snare passing prey,their only source of food.
00:27:00.327 But they don't alwaysget to keep their catch.
00:27:06.708 A bristle worm has set up homewithin the coral.
00:27:17.010 It checks the polypsfor a freshly caught morsel...
00:27:22.557 and steals it from the coral.
00:27:27.854 But this theftis actually a protection racket.
00:27:37.864 Urchins attack and eat the corals.
00:27:44.120 Time for payback.
00:27:47.791 The urchin may have protective spines,but the worm has a shocking
weapon,
00:27:54.172 and goes on the attack.
00:28:18.238 The urchin has been seen off,
00:28:22.200 and the worm has saved its home.
00:28:27.163 Like most deep-sea animals,
00:28:31.126 these corals grow extremely slowly.
00:28:36.464 Some reefs may be 40,000 years old.
00:28:41.010 Despite being so far beneath the surface,these corals are still within
our reach.
00:28:53.022 Deep-sea fishing netsdragged across the seafloor
00:28:56.735 reduce the fragile reefs to rubble.
00:29:01.698 Half of all deep-sea coralshave already been destroyed.
00:29:07.328 It will take centuriesfor these communities to recover.
00:29:23.011 Beyond the boundary of any one country,
00:29:26.306 the high seasare wild and barely protected.
00:29:33.897 Wildest of all, the Southern Ocean,
00:29:38.985 home of the albatross.
00:29:49.162 Albatross live solitary livesfar out to sea.
00:29:59.339 They can travelhundreds of kilometers a day,
00:30:02.175 often for weeks at a time,searching for food.
00:30:10.058 A dead sea lion is a rare opportunity.
00:30:24.155 Giant petrels are the first to arrive.
00:30:29.577 They use their powerful beaksto rip the carcass open.
00:30:35.625 Known as sea vultures,
00:30:37.168 they are the top scavengerin Antarctic waters.
00:30:45.552 [cawing]
00:30:54.102 Black-browed albatrosshave an extraordinary sense of smell
00:30:58.273 and can follow a scentfrom 20 kilometers away.
00:31:06.614 The black-browedmust grab mouthfuls when they can.
00:31:14.998 They are bulliedby the more aggressive giant petrels.
00:31:37.186 Wilson's petrels are too small to compete
00:31:39.981 and pick off scrapsfrom the edge of the frenzy.
00:31:48.615 These delicate little petrelsare the most numerous of all seabirds
00:31:53.703 because they're found in every ocean.
00:31:58.625 [cawing and squawking]
00:32:03.463 It's only whenthese normally solitary birds
00:32:06.049 gather like this
00:32:07.425 that we can appreciate the wealth of lifesupported by the high seas.
00:32:25.860 A wandering albatross is last to arrive.
00:32:37.580 It dwarfs the other birdsand uses its great size
00:32:42.543 and three-meter wingspan to dominate.
00:32:56.265 Even the giant petrels back off.
00:33:11.864 The wanderer finally gets its share.
00:33:26.629 In recent years,albatross and other seabirds
00:33:30.091 have been in decline.
00:33:33.636 Their need to travel great distancesexposes them
00:33:37.056 to the dangers of a poorly regulatedand overexploited ocean.
00:33:43.604 It's a problemfor all hunters of the high seas.
00:33:50.945 These giants cross entire oceansin their search for food.
00:33:58.828 They can grow over three meters longand weigh half a ton.
00:34:10.547 Bluefin tuna.
00:34:14.677 They're streamlined to perfectionand built for speed.
00:34:23.895 They hunt in great packs, hundreds strong.
00:34:50.755 The target: a school of anchovies.
00:35:08.189 They gently corral the anchoviesinto a tight ball at the surface,
00:35:16.489 careful not to cause panic.
00:35:22.161 And then they attack.
00:35:40.054 This is a highly coordinated hunt.
00:35:42.598 The tuna take turns,
00:35:44.350 striking from the same directionto keep the anchovies on the run.
00:35:56.612 After a mouthful, each bluefin peels offto take its place at the rear.
00:36:02.660 Wave after wave continues the assault.
00:36:21.637 With their power and devastating pace,
00:36:24.015 bluefin tuna are one of the ocean'smost impressive hunters.
00:36:39.780 They are alsothe most prized fish in the sea.
00:36:46.120 So valuablethat a single bluefin can sell in Japan
00:36:50.625 for over a million dollars.
00:36:55.379 So, perhaps it's inevitable
00:36:57.632 that they have been fishedalmost to extinction.
00:37:05.848 Bluefin tunaare not the only ones in peril.
00:37:13.689 Decades of unsustainable fishing
00:37:16.108 have left many fish stocksin serious decline.
00:37:22.865 A third have collapsed altogether.
00:37:29.121 Plastic pollutionis a grave issue for our oceans,
00:37:33.125 but industrial overfishingis far more dangerous.
00:37:39.757 If we continue to harvest the seasin this way,
00:37:43.427 it's not just fisheriesthat will collapse.
00:37:48.683 The whole ocean system could follow.
00:37:58.484 One hundred million sharksare killed every year,
00:38:04.031 just to make shark fin soup.
00:38:16.419 Ninety percent of all large ocean huntershave disappeared.
00:38:25.845 Without them at the top of the food chain,the whole community of
marine life
00:38:31.642 is decliningand changing beyond recognition.
00:38:56.667 Squid are increasingly replacing fish.
00:39:07.720 We have severely depletedboth their predators and competitors,
00:39:13.642 so squid are taking over,
00:39:19.231 an indicationof a serious imbalance in the oceans.
00:39:29.700 Squid breed quicklyand have lots of fast-growing young,
00:39:35.164 so they can rapidly exploit the gapsleft by the fish that we have
harvested.
00:39:42.213 They lay their eggs in caseson the seafloor.
00:39:44.757 The young develop even fasterin these warm, shallow waters.
00:39:52.556 With such drastic changesin the marine menu,
00:39:55.810 predators are having to adapt.
00:40:02.733 Sea lions prefer to eatmore energy-rich prey,
00:40:06.404 like anchovies and sardines,
00:40:09.281 but with these in short supply,
00:40:11.450 they're forced to rely moreon a diet of squid.
00:40:19.583 We, too, will be forced to changethe seafood we eat
00:40:23.254 if we continue to fish as we do.
00:40:29.802 But if we harvest the oceansin a sustainable way,
00:40:34.390 they can be marvelously productive
00:40:37.685 and will provide uswith an abundance of food.
00:40:46.819 There are already signsthat the ocean has the power
00:40:49.655 to recover astonishingly quickly.
00:41:01.959 Humpback whales.
00:41:11.218 They live in every ocean,
00:41:13.345 traveling the high seas,from their polar feeding grounds
00:41:16.932 to the tropics, where they breed.
00:41:19.727 [whale song]
00:41:22.897 Yet whales have not always enjoyedsuch freedom.
00:41:29.695 Once, there weremore than a hundred thousand humpbacks
00:41:33.157 in the oceans,
00:41:35.117 but last century,they were hunted to near extinction.
00:41:44.793 Just a few thousandsurvived the onslaught.
00:41:56.847 A huge public outcry
00:41:59.183 finally led to a ban on commercial whaling in 1986.
00:42:07.733 Since then, the number of humpback whaleshas been steadily increasing.
00:42:18.619 They're returningto their ancestral feeding grounds,
00:42:21.580 like these off the coast of South Africa.
00:42:26.043 [whale song]
00:42:33.467 They are gathering to take advantageof a seasonal abundance of krill,
00:42:38.138 tiny shrimp-like crustaceans.
00:42:52.778 The whales take ingreat mouthfuls of water,
00:42:56.240 trapping the krillon sieves of hairy bristles
00:42:59.326 that line their jaws.
00:43:22.516 Each whale can eat over a ton a day.
00:43:56.759 With food so plentiful,fur seals come to claim their share.
00:44:03.098 [whale song]
00:44:24.828 These extraordinary sceneswere unimaginable just a few years ago.
00:44:45.891 They form super-groups, hundreds strong.
00:45:11.709 This is the greatest gathering of whalesseen for a century.
00:45:37.192 Whales recycle nutrientsthat enrich surface waters,
00:45:42.114 which fuel the growth of phytoplankton,
00:45:45.617 and they, in turn, feed krillin a perfect self-sustaining cycle.
00:45:53.542 We now know that a healthy communityof great hunters,
00:45:57.129 whales, dolphins, tuna, and sharks,
00:46:01.091 is essentialfor a fully-functioning ocean.
00:46:07.431 And a functioning oceanis vital to the health of our planet
00:46:12.519 and humanity.
00:46:18.275 In a remarkable recovery,
00:46:20.611 humpback whales have almost returnedto their original numbers.
00:46:27.493 But during that time,
00:46:29.578 we have done more harm to the oceansthan ever before in human history.
00:46:44.301 Only with global cooperation
00:46:47.429 will our oceansrecover and thrive once again.
00:46:55.145 We saved the whalesby international agreement.
00:47:01.026 Now, it is time to save our oceans.
00:47:17.960 Please visit ourplanet.comto discover what we need to do now
00:47:22.881 to protect the high seas.
00:47:27.344 ♪ I can hear the whole worldSinging together ♪
00:47:35.894 ♪ I can hear the whole worldSay it's now or never ♪
00:47:44.611 ♪ 'Cause it's not too lateIf we change our ways ♪
00:47:48.991 ♪ And connect the dots to our problems ♪
00:47:52.870 ♪ I can hear the whole worldSay we're in this together ♪
00:47:59.001 ♪ We're in this together ♪
00:48:01.378 [vocalizing]
