SAVING THE OCEAN Episodes
Shark Reef
PBS release April, 2011
In Belize's Glover's Reef Marine Reserve, Carl catches and tags sharks with researcher Demian Chapman and Reserve staff. Sharks are thriving in the Reserve, in contrast to large parts of the world where the fin trade kills millions of sharks every year.
Carl Safina travels to Glover's Reef Marine Reserve in Belize. The Reserve, which covers an entire Caribbean coral atoll, allows some fishing but bans longlines and nets - the methods most lethal to sharks. A team of researchers has found that sharks are thriving at Glover's Reef. Carl joins the team as it catches, tags and releases sharks in the Reserve, he dives to check out shark detection instruments installed around the atoll, and then heads to the Belize City fish market, where the resident fin trader shows him bags of dried shark fins ready for sale. The huge global trade in shark fins - to make shark fin soup - is driving many shark species to extinction, but Carl finds hope in the idea of marine reserves, and in changing consumer tastes in China.
The Sacred Island
PBS release April, 2011
Carl interviews Sheik Mohammed Suleiman, Imam of the central mosque on the Zanzibar island of Pemba. By spreading the word about Islam's traditional conservation ethic, Pemba's Imams played a key role in the protection of the island's fisheries.
The island of Pemba, part of the Zanzibar island chain off the East African coast, is the backdrop to a remarkable story of local fishing villages winning control over their vital fishing grounds. Once threatened by resort development, Pemba's pristine reefs and lagoons - World Heritage candidates - are now managed by, and for, the fishermen. As Carl finds out how it all happened, he fishes with the locals in traditional dhows and dugout canoes, and meets the influential Imams whose sermons told how the Koran requires good stewardship of the world and its resources. Pemba's fishing families are all Moslem, and Carl believes this could be a key to ocean conservation in large parts of the world, where the fishing people also follow Islam.
The Great Whale Comeback
This episode will feature the near-extinction and remarkable increase of great whales in much of the world. In the North Atlantic the Gray Whale was hunted to extinction and the Right Whale's hold on existence remains tenuous - but Humpbacks, Finbacks, Minkes and others have increased impressively. In the Pacific the Blue Whale is also on an impressive recovery streak, Sperm Whales are common in some places, and Gray Whales allow tourists to pet them.
Have Your Shrimp and Eat Them
What's a shrimp lover to do? Shrimp farming destroys wetlands and mangroves and creates pollution. A catch of one pound of wild shrimp typically includes about ten pounds of unwanted sealife - the notorious "bycatch" that's thrown overboard dead. But there are new ways to go: innovative sustainable farming methods, and traders and retailers with a conscience. A revolution may soon take hold.
Fish and Rocket Science, or What Went Right?
Catching cod one fish at a time using hook-and-line.
The news on fisheries management can seem relentlessly bad: fish populations spiraling down, or failing to recover even when we thought we'd put the right measures in place. Meanwhile fishing communities literally all over the world are seeing their livelihoods shattered. But plenty of management is in fact succeeding remarkably well, from the rock lobster catches of Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the hook-and-line cod fishermen of Cape Cod. These successes are fishing's best-kept secret.
The Gladiators: Swordfish and White Marlin
Once both depleted, Atlantic Swordfish are recovering but White Marlin are still in trouble. These fabulous and charismatic fish offer a surprising, counterintuitive lesson about how to protect threatened species. And after Carl harpoons a 150-pound monster with his Canadian commercial fishing friends, you'll know the sustainable way to catch swordfish, and what to look for when you buy.
Dolphins: The Real Price of a Tuna Sandwich
We thought the buyer's dilemma over canned tuna was solved after tuna companies and the U.S. Congress went "dolphin-safe" nearly 20 years ago. But today dolphin populations aren't recovering, and the tuna sandwich is still implicated; so ethical and informed consumers still face the same dilemma they always have. There are, however, emerging solutions for finding more sustainably caught canned tuna.
Return of the Ocean Dinosaur
Carl Safina with a leatherback turtle digging her nest on a Caribbean beach.
Imagine a headline saying: "Dinosaurs Returning to a Beach Near You." Well, it's happening. Earth's last warm-blooded monster reptile, the skin-covered, 1000-pound, Leatherback Turtle, is the closest thing we have to a last-living dinosaur - and in many places it's staging a spectacular comeback.
