David Attenborough urges action, says the ocean can recover faster than we thought

However, what's most noteworthy about the new feature-length film is not how good it looks – much of it due to the skill of Bafta and Emmy-winning cinematographer Doug Anderson – but the unlikely message it carries: in an age of climate disaster and unrelenting denuding of the natural world’s resources, there is good news about the sea. And it comes from one source we can all trust: Sir David Attenborough.

"The ocean can recover faster than we had ever thought possible, it can bounce back to life," the great television naturalist, turning 99 on 8th May, reveals, explaining that protecting areas of ocean from fishing and industrial activity can have a huge material effect on the health of the seas. Do that, says Attenborough, and the Earth’s oceans could "thrive beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen".

It’s a bold claim but true, according to Ocean co-director Keith Scholey, acclaimed natural history film-maker and long-time collaborator with Attenborough. "We know it is, because you can go to marine protected areas and they look like they’re on steroids," he says of the abundant zones the camera crews captured. "And that life spills over into unprotected areas, so it's win-win – fisheries [yields] go through the roof," and, as plankton traps carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, “there's an impact on carbon absorption".

Scholey imagines a time when Britain’s coastlines are teeming with fish, just as they did 200 years ago. "Think of when Poldark was set, people just used to wade into the sea with baskets to catch sardines. We had the most productive ocean around us. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could get that back? It can be done, I believe it."

That would be good news for Cornwall, but just imagine, the documentary asks, the benefits if we were to conserve much more than that? That is one of the ambitions of the UN Ocean Conference, which meets in Nice on 9 June to ratify a series of global goals for the oceans. These include a commitment to "protect and restore ecosystems". Ocean is being released now specifically to encourage diplomats over the line.

"Very few people know that one of the most important meetings that humanity is going to have in this century is happening in June," says Scholey. "That’s why we wanted to make a film, to help people understand why marine protection is a no-brainer. We hope that the public’s awareness will lead to political change." Did Attenborough happily agree to become an activist, fronting a documentary purposefully aimed at nudging the UN into protecting the oceans? "He said, 'Let’s do it.' He is very into the idea that all people have a stake in the ocean."

Attenborough's enthusiasm is obvious in the pieces he delivers to camera, in his study or walking along the shoreline at West Wittering in Sussex, enthused by the hope of progress after living through nearly a century of devastating setbacks for the natural world. "There’s always a huge element of performance that comes out of David that you just don’t see coming," says Scholey, whose work with Attenborough includes Our Planet, A Life on Our Planet and The Private Life of Plants.

"Watch him in the commentary box and he’s very animated as he thinks about how to give emphasis to everything he’s saying. As a writer and then a performer of his written word, David is amazing. I’d say his performances in this film are some of the best that I’ve ever seen. When we were filming, you’d say, 'Right, OK, camera, roll,' and suddenly, boom, you have this hugely energetic man. His passion and the way he makes every word count, he’s extraordinary."

Scholey first worked with Attenborough in the 1980s. "I was in my 20s, and he was in his 50s, but he was so full of energy. Now I feel that I’ve aged beyond this guy, with his boundless enthusiasm. I cannot keep up with him. There’s still so much passion."

Isn’t this optimism at odds with present political reality? The Trump administration has closed down several of the oceanographic institutes, which must cast a shadow over their work? "It has, but there are other nations who I think are going to rise to the forefront. China and the EU can have a huge impact on what’s going to happen. We hope that the film can bring about international change."

As we see in Ocean, industrial fishing is now reaching ever further into previously unexploited zones. One scene in the Antarctic shows whales hemmed in by huge krill fishing ships, taking the very foodstuff the whales depend upon. We also see sharks and turtles caught in fishing gear and the seabed dredged to oblivion.

The film also finds room to hear the people of traditional fishing communities, as Attenborough tells viewers "ships sent by a few wealthy nations are starving coastal communities of the food source they have relied on for millennia. This is modern colonialism at sea".

Meanwhile, Scholey must prepare for a trip to the Mediterranean. He will be in Nice in June, attempting to persuade the UN to make the right decision. "There’s so much going on in the world right now, the moment could easily just get ignored," he says. "That would be a terrible thing. It’s our job, David’s and the film team, to make sure that doesn’t happen."

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Ocean with David Attenborough will be released in cinemas on 8th May 2025.

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