Stark yet hopeful: Tristan Osborne reviews 'Ocean: with David Attenborough'
Indonesia: the coral reefs of Raja Ampat | Image by: Olly Scholey
4 min read
Awe-inspiring and powerful, this documentary should serve as a wake-up call to the ecological crisis taking place in our oceans – and their critical importance to the wellbeing of all life on this planet
David Attenborough is a British icon. When he speaks, people listen. So, it comes as no surprise that he has turned his attention again to the crisis affecting 71 per cent of the surface of our planet: our oceans.
In some ways the name ‘Planet Earth’ is a misrepresentation of reality; we live on an ocean planet, and this compelling documentary serves to highlight the marvel and importance of this blue treasure in its breathtaking beauty and scale.
North Atlantic: A school of mobula rays | Image ©: Olly Scholey
The film itself is a warning of the damage we are doing to the wonders of our ocean ecosystem – a habitat still in many cases the subject of continued discovery, and in other cases profound and constant change. This awe-inspiring and powerful documentary is narrated with authority and concern – in a way only David Attenborough can – aided by a soundtrack written by Steven Price, whose music further serves to invest us emotionally in the film’s subject from its inception to its conclusion.
Ocean of course has a target, and that is not simply an audience that is fascinated by our natural world, and the unique organisms, food-webs and ecosystems contained within. This film is also a wake-up call to policy-makers and the public at large of the fragility of our oceans; and their critical importance to the wellbeing of all species, including terrestrial species like our own.
The message is clear: if we don’t change from consumers to custodians – and quickly – we are going to see a profound impact on the quality of our lives. Critical underwater habitats being out-of-sight should not mean out-of-mind. Several key challenges including the effects of overfishing and the resultant repercussions for biodiversity; the fragility of interconnected ecosystems, and the dangers of resource extraction and pollution, are all directly and indirectly exposed in this film.
It is a wonder of natural history documentary-making
The most powerful scene was the impact of bottom trawling which levelled the entire sea-floor ecosystem in its wake; a raw and brutal exposure to the realities of industrial-sized fishing trawlers that are routinely using technologies to extract fish, and at the cost of everything else.
The warming of our planet will have profound impacts on the regularity of events like the El Niño Southern Oscillation but also the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, the consequences of which could have profound impacts on global water, food and energy security. The viewer is left with a clear and profound conclusion that what happens beneath the ocean waves also impacts life above the water.
Red Sea, Egypt: A pod of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins swimming across the coral reefs
Image ©: Olly Scholey
The film neatly concludes with a call for us to take urgent action, but also with a message of hope – what Attenborough calls the “most remarkable discovery of all”: the ocean’s ability to recover “faster than we had ever imagined” (though more slowly in some cases).
In order to safeguard our natural world, decisions need to be made: the powers of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea must be modernised – and despite the historic number of nations who ratified the High Seas Treaty at the United Nations Ocean Conference earlier this month, more countries must follow suit.
The Labour government’s proposal last week to extend the ban on bottom trawling in UK waters is to be welcomed. Announcing the 12-week industry consultation, Environment Secretary Steve Reed said without such urgent action on bottom trawling “our oceans will be irreversibly destroyed – depriving us, and generations to come, of the sea life on which we all enjoy”. It would see the protected area of UK waters increase from 18,000km2 to 48,000km2.
The ocean comprises the majority of our planet’s surface; it is both a precious commodity and an ever changing one. This film is not only a wonder of natural history documentary-making, showcasing the best traditions of British ingenuity in its camerawork; it is also a call to arms for viewers, policy-makers and citizens, warning that if we do not change, our oceans will – and the consequences will be felt for generations to come.
Tristan Osborne is Labour MP for Chatham and Aylesford and member of the Ocean All-Party Parliamentary Group
Ocean: with David Attenborough
Directed by: Toby Nowlan, Keith Scholey & Colin Butfield
Broadcaster: Disney+
