Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventure; Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures ; Americas Underwater Treasures (Hour 1)

Right. To. Dive into America's coastal waters and discover a fascinating world rich with life and history. A realm of fiber and diversity from the odd ember collusive to some of the largest creatures on earth. Joining from the show and the crew still team is the explore America's underwater treasure. And the national marine sanctuaries created to better understand and protect them. It's John Michel Cousteau ocean at the center. Ventures provided by for each of us there's a moment of discomfort.

We understand that all of life is elemental and as we marvel at an element underneath element. We soon realize that when you add to the equation. Everything changes. Suddenly. And all of humanity. And then when it's chemistry. Nothing is more fundamental. Nothing more elegant. With additional funding from the WM K. Bose Jr. Foundation. And S. Bowers and the Robert Noyce trust. The WM and Gretchen Campbell fund. The National Marine Sanctuary foundation. By the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you. More than half of America's borders are water. Stretching over 12000 miles

of coast. But a country doesn't hit the shore. Extends far into the ocean into the bay. Within these waters are found some of America's most important natural resources. Are places of incomparable beauty and irreplaceable artifacts of history hall underwater treasures that on the whole for the American people unknown unseen and sometimes at risk. In 1975 Congress created the first National Marine Sanctuary. And the system to manage and protect these are those which extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And includes some of the most remote islands in the world. These sanctuaries represent a microcosm of the entire ocean and reflect the best and the worst of human activity. There are areas that are really so rich

they remind us of what a healthy ocean is like. But other places have been devastated and are being restored. But do we really know what's there. And are we doing enough expedition who will take us through each of these. It's going to be hard work for my team and sometimes. That's right. But along the way we'll experience some of the greatest adventures. The ocean has to offer. I think it's time. That we explore and discover. America. I don't know what a treasure. John Michels Tina. A nine month odyssey over thirty thousand miles of highway 340 two dogs and enough air miles to fly around the world 20 times. Bigger the scale of this undertaking. John Michel would delegate certain expeditions to his son and daughter. Fabienne and silly. The third generation of Christo explores. The adventure begins at what

we all think a sanctuary should be in a remote part of the Florida Keys National Marine section. 90. The team is here for a rare experience. Fact is that 90 percent of all large fish in the world. Are Gone. Have been overfished. Here though they'll find the endangered goliath grouper. There's a story of hope. Each year groupers gather on shipwrecks and reefs in southern Florida to mate. And scientists come to look for the £800 Giants and to estimate their population size. Some may be as old as the.

Rivers are vulnerable to overfishing because they come together at predictable times and places in our territory using to but making them easy targets for Spears. They're so huge. Smaller fish use them as a separate happen. Warn people watch this. They've got understand that we're here and we're showing this as an exception to the rule. I mean you don't find dozens of groups have called I have group are everywhere. I mean it's just here and maybe another another few places but it's definitely a national treasure. And. We got so close to. An all around group. Yes. They told me I think you know. Any of. That now I'm.

Just quoting the Sermon on the ground with these fish were nearly exterminated in the Florida Keys until legislation was passed over 15 years ago. Donna Maria a fisherman turned conservationist used to fish these giants and recounts his experiences for joy Michel. From some of the wrecks who died in the golf. Trip we just well how long ago was that. Oh this was this was 83 here. These are all alive groupers here. There are lots of fish like bees on the rocks. Then take long after the wreck was discovered that it's pretty much gone. But it's just too many of us taken too many for too long. They've been protected in the United States since since 1990 the protection worked. And this population is recovering but it will take a long time for it to recover to some to some historical. Unfinished state.

And there are a lot of things about this species that we don't know what we do know is that it has a complicated life cycle and they spend part of their life in the beginning of their life and the national marine environment I think just shallow water reefs and then they migrate. Up to a hundred miles to go to spawning aggregation sites. So there are clusters of them in these aggregations size but then there are a broader area of the rest of the air from a protective point of view even though this is protected. There's a growing interest in catch and release of goliath grouper you know just catching up three or four hundred pound fashion and bringing it up and then releasing it. But there's just no question that the physiological stress on an animal that size being brought up in particularly if it's brought up from the depth of the likelihood of survival is is pretty low. And again if you're going to protect any species you can't just protect

all of the life cycle you can't just protect spawning aggregations when there are other parts of the lifecycle that can present bottlenecks and what we found with a quiet group or maybe just that bottleneck to their production and mangrove loss has been. Pretty pretty great in this region. What. Brought you to explore your own backyard. Because that's not where the big old Prezi where after. House sit and wait they come up here for a period of their life and then they go out the way you used to catch them. Right now it's just a fun place and come back here in just about any kind of weather and swim around and started seeing all the little ones. But it's no secret everybody it was a small one you know here they seemed like the current shade. Credibly important place for juvenile fish to grow up. You dive under there. Yes last small stoppers and of course a juvenile the wife who was a

nursery or even in the most productive mangrove areas they're not producing as many fish in a year as a fishery took and in the 80s just the recreational component. What is your wish they said to be properly taken care of. What else can we do. I think what we're going to disappear. No take areas just leave the fish alone let them do their thing. You know haven't you been out like this one. Plus I'm just looking at 50 to break a bit of a break maybe. North of Los Angeles an experiment is taking place to see if banning fishing in protected areas. Will bring back big fish. At the channel I was National Marine Sanctuary. Warm Southern currents and cold nutrient rich. Northern climates. Next around five miles in the sanctuary closest to a mega

city. The few traffic jams here involve only sea life. You know. What. Else so curious. That's OK that was just a joke. This is a multisensory rich enough for both wildlife and people. What is called the North America to the left. It's also a national park and playground for those who come from the chapel of the place where even the water itself seems alright. These waters are both in hard times and it's led to some innovative experiments. I mean this is one of the more unique sanctuaries that has no take

zones. They're meant to operate together we hope that they're going to be linked by movement of larvae and movement of animals on the reef. It's a true network of reserves that all of these activities normally take place in the sanctuary on fishing and other extractive sort of uses. But in these no take areas right there complete closures you can vote for them but you can't take it. So while we have sites shoreline we want to make sure that we have plenty of monitoring sites inside the Marine Reserves and plenty of monitoring sites. We're really trying to understand what's going to happen due to these closures. This. Is the. Best piece of equipment in green ecology. The one square meter you're going to put it on the certain marks or on your your data sheet and then you're going to you're going to count the smaller organisms in here and what you're looking for some of the little tiny and everything. And then when you're

going to do it for 30 meters. And you do this once a year we start takes about six months to survey all the sites in one year. That's a lot of work. It's. One of the reasons that we don't just count the plants we count each individual good relationship between the number stipes and the number of plants. It's more important how large the plants are and is there an interaction between the urchins and the stipes urchins actually. Mostly they prefer to eat kelp that has dropped and fronds are all laying on the bottom. But in the absence of that.

And that in turn results in areas that are just covered by. The fluctuation from kelp forest urchins is accelerated when large fish and lobsters that eat or actions are overfished comparing the natural cycle of the champs recover the resilient forces the cause of the changing bass have a time. And shelter to thousands of species. It's a forest that reaches for the sunlight growing two feet a day and then face vulnerable to rising water temperatures. Over ends it is diminished and rebound. The fact of the California sea lion plentiful and playful after 50 years of protection from hunting. The kelp forest forms the architecture of a slush on. The boat.

The book. When one. Of my nice you got to get back. Oh yeah you're playing her fingers by the time. Also tugging on the back and I let her see you live like that. Well you guys right. Because there are several of them right back at you kind of looking over your head going great are they filming what's called a. Good time line like son.

Next line. To both ancient and modern Mariners. Dolphins racing to the ship. Always means good fortune. For size the Channel Island sanctuary is visited by more kinds of dolphins whales seals and sea lions. Than anywhere and. These are our closest relatives and we see. You with true grace. They rush to greet us. I just can't believe it's here now my. Life. Other animals are not as easy to find. But are important to follow. Anytime you draw a line on a map with the intention of protecting something you clearly are interested in whether or not the animals are interested in protecting or conserving or moving

back and forth across the boundary. Unfortunately for mobile animals like fish we have very little information about how these animals move the type of tanks we're using acoustic tags or painters as we call them look like this. Here's this is a this is one sized acoustic pinger in a fish and here's another one for the smaller fish. This is an example of an acoustic receiver for listening. Which sits on the sea floor where we deploy it and it sits in constant listening. Each yellow circle that you see here enlarge and then several smaller circles around it represents one of these receivers. So that's a receiver is at the center of the circles with a diameter of about a thousand meters or one kilometer. To date Since 2000 we've tagged over 200 fish that one giant sea bass made the trip from the western end of Catalina to and it happened 24 hours across very deep water which is pretty remarkable stuff. And that's one of the exciting things about tagging fish is that every time you put a tag on a fish you learn something you know that's on it.

A couple seconds. OK here we go. Each one of these lines represents a fish. Triangles represent two terminal male sheep would that have moved from the shallow water at adjacent receivers for their release to deep water into the beginning of 2007. We should probably see the end of most of the tags for calico she said yes. The date which she had both male and female We've seen no movement outside the reserve. However many of the fish that were tied outside have moved into the that we're getting now you know over here. Have you seen a difference between the no take songs and the areas where the sanctuary allows fishing and. I'm taking these animals. System here. No tanks have only been in place for about three years. Responses of the organisms might take a little bit longer than that but I can tell you what we expect to see. Expect fish to be larger and find relatives outside. We expect there to be a higher abundance

and those sorts of changes. It is also expected that this abundance will spill over into the Channel Islands fishing here. So is the picture been pretty consistent over the years or have fucked your way to life. Yes squid fishery is the number one fishery in state of California. They they have these lifeboats that are that are just lit up with lights. They come up they're actually mating under the lights at night. Abundances bless the markets with California's 31 million dollar fish bonanza since 1863 in a fishery regulated only in the last few years. This was abundance this phenomena and one recent season the cash was 70000 metric tons. The next year it fell close to zero. It wasn't overfishing. But on the new rising water temperatures

plummeted their numbers or forced the squid in the deeper water. Between natural fluctuations and a historic free for all. How have the squid survived. It's all about their lifestyle. Squid lived for only one breeding season. The females lay 20 to 30 long capsules containing two to three hundred acres each. And then they died. Fishery catches them on their spawning. Hopefully after their exit away to guarantee the next season's catch. Some fishermen understand the delicate balance and have regulated the caps themselves. Just the way it was done from the start by hand. Or not take it into large quantities. They haven't yet really original reproducing here. So this is pretty cool. We just take to thunder. We go home. For now the rich Channel Islands ecosystem seems able to sustain this weird fishery. But since it all takes place at night off shore practically no one is watching.

But what about something that looms above the horizon. Something enormous. Perhaps nowhere else in the country is an oil platform more part of a thriving ecosystem than in the flower garden banks National Marine Sanctuary. This is home to the northernmost coral reef in the continental United States. Like all coral reefs This is the living landscape in a critical habitat for the greatest diversity in all the sea. We have a long term monitoring program at the flower banks to monitor the health of the coral reef and we have shown that the coral reef. Here is the extremely healthy it's thriving and this is by the fact that there is a man operating a natural gas platform. Within a mile or so of the coral reef top of it and the spot on that to see just how this balance is maintained.

You know Michelle is savvy and have come to this natural gas platform where ever such as zero sewage and water discharge. Are voluntarily practiced. I am always very intrigued. About the relationship that exists between industry and the ocean. You look out of the water here you see all these fish you see this beautiful clear water we don't want to change that. And certainly we can do to help. Time was when we still needed the generators. This teacher pools 100 miles every day. There's no reason why we didn't do this lightly. I mean to say that just zero this is a small. There is some risk involved with such types of activities can occur in close proximity to the sense of natural features. If they are operated correctly. The oil platform has been there since 1981 and because it's been there such a long

time that there's been a community developed. That provide habitat for a variety of invertebrates and fish species. The oil rig phenomenon is the same as with shipwreck. Suddenly a new surface is available to the encrusting sea life always competing for space. In the explosion of life creates in a waste. Thought as reassuring as this die is this is nothing compared to what awaits the team after the sun sets. What I understand we're going at a very opportune time. How we do it. We're not quite sure. But many coral species release their eggs and sperm and exact time every year. One of the most

spectacular events in nature. It turns out the bar got banks this happens to be between seven and 10 nights after the full moon in August. You know. Let's get a look at. The flower gardens reef may originally been formed from corals that drifted from Mexico hundreds of miles away. 15000 years ago. The process is the same everywhere. Once a year different species broadcast their gametes into the currents to be fertilized and carried away to start another column. It begins slowly. Then it explodes and upside down snowstorm. Moving far away. The reefs hidden origin of life. The back.

Wound. Thanks. Lou it's. Like. This is the future for coral reefs you know as we all know coral reefs in general worldwide are in trouble. What we need is that next generation of coral reefs to be produced. Why these simple coral animals around the world simultaneously since the full moon and release the future of their species to drift in the currents. But nearby parts of the Florida time continuation of life. Join Dr. Margaret Miller morning.

Work at that site because it's. Really the largest and healthiest elkhorn coral stand that remains in upper Florida Keys. We learned a couple of years ago that all of that or all this is even though there is what may be a couple hundred colonies there. They're all a single genetic individual because it's isolated from other populations. You know at least a half a kilometer to a kilometer it's probably unlikely that in nature it's able to reproduce on its own sexually. Because it's just too far away from any other genetically distinct individuals. And so. If we can get spawn from two different colonies that are next to each other we have a pretty good chance of being able to get that way. Dr. Miller allows baby corals to the developing tiles in their laboratory and then she transplants them to help increase the number of colonies in the sanctuary. He calls one of the ones that's most impacted by disease and threat that we don't understand very well in terms of

what's causing it. We know that that these disease impacts seem to be much worse than they used to be. We don't understand what possible management actions we might take to be able to mitigate. And then there's been biological changes we had a massive die off of these long spined sea urchins in 1983 and we realized very quickly that they were important part of the reef ecosystem that kept the algae grazed down around the corals especially and with the sea urchins gone the algae has been winning the war. But just bring in the urchins back isn't going to solve all of our problems. Coral bleaching has been a huge issue. A lot of the serious decline we had in coral cover in the Florida Keys happened in 1997 and 98 both years. We had a very large water temperatures got too hot that they could go back to the global warming thing. It's something that everybody can address in their own lives. Everything that people are doing has an impact on the environment.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary contains the third longest Barrier Reef in the world. Adjacent to his one hundred twenty six mile island chain. As a tourist destination it receives millions of people anywhere. And 90 percent of branching corals here are dead or diseased. So careful management is critical. If people can't come to see clear water coral reefs and lots of fish. The Keizer are in trouble as far as their economic future and right now are going to be a lot of hard to make sure that sewer systems wastewater systems are optimists and that's going to provide clean water for a home heating system. Seventy miles from Key West is one of the oceans away says where commercial fishing is banned. Is the Dry Tortugas National Park. Called Drive by mariners for its lack of drinking water. And Psycho for Jefferson. That once protected the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. This place really is a treasure and has more beautiful

causing coral for us than than any place I know in the sanctuaries. I treasure that and additionally protected by complete no take status is the true ocean even approach to this ecological Reserve. It's hard to reach people about the importance of the oceans because they can't see it unless you're a diver and you go to visit some areas you really don't have a chance to see a friend and close and that's what causes people to protect ecosystems as they know it they love it and that and that's what we need to do is let people know about what's under the surface of the oceans. And then what's affecting it as well.

Trying to educate people that live and in the Midwest and other areas that have influence where they put fertilizers and such on their yards even though they live very very far away they have an influence on what is happening out here and they can do their part to help us protect it as well. But what your dad always is that. People protect. Birds. Corals are not the only animals in the sanctuary that need attention. Green turtles in Florida and elsewhere are afflicted with fleshy tumors growing in their eyes and body. This is that I've been around since the late eighteen hundreds. We really don't know a lot about it other than it is caused by a herpes virus. It's the actual only globally infectious disease no one. There. And it's found primarily in the green sea turtle but it has been documented in all species except for the

leatherback. One of the sad things about this disease is the disease itself doesn't actually kill and it's a quality of the research that you may get so big you go blind chicken. And then sadly she starts to die. They also get these tumors course on their body and it can be on the flippers. And they get large the size of a grapefruit. And they get some of those if you like you can imagine what those are the dynamics of the letter sounds we can swim so it costs them. And I started to. Think in that that the virus itself doesn't kill him or say it's effects of the virus types of. Tumors on. At the turtle hospital in Marathon Florida. Dr. Doug major uses a laser to remove tumors from the eye of a green turtle. There will then be released freed from its burden but not cured of this ocean white disease. Well continuing efforts to battle the tumor epidemic draw attention to the green sea turtle.

The most common turtle in Florida is the loggerhead listed as a threatened species since the late 70s. The entire southeastern coast as well as the Gulf of Mexico is their domain. And a key study has been ongoing at the coast of Georgia for. The grace reef National Marine Sanctuary draws turtles to this habitat 17 miles off shore. 60 feet below the surface. We call it a cross rail. Because you see a lot of temperate organisms called water species that live here right next door to their warmer water. Their colder water corals and they don't build the reefs. They live on top of. The ledges that we have are comprised of a rock an attic in Cal City a limestone. You find that this rock structure is laying over the top of a strata that is not as hard. So it eventually gets undercut. And you'll find ledges that go back about 15 or 20 feet.

You'll see these areas they look like turtle garages. There are areas that are carved out into the Rock. And rest there. One thing we don't fully understand is how they utilize the resources of Greece. But we do know that we see a lot of turtles out there prior to the breeding season and during the breeding season when they go back out to rest and forage. Snaking through the marsh channels south of Savannah at high tide. Fabienne and the Wausau. Where the corona research project has studied loggerhead turtles 30. Loggerheads will nest in Wausau species at night all summer long. Also is now a national wildlife refuge in the most unspoiled Georges Perrier. You know if you look at last data base which is about 30 31 years old we see an

increase in the number of pretty much stability indiscernible so that means you know we've got at this part of the conservation and we know how to make baby turtles and keep the population of. Islands like this are really good because you have a chance. The same for all the ever never again which we have. Information we get from returns over studies where we can identify individuals that are even more invaluable because we've gotten past the part where we know what an average loggerhead does we need to know when an individual loggerhead now get the totals we relocate there now we have to sometimes in lower ground. This rack where that green vegetation starts is really where they want to go. Green vegetation is in places that don't get washed very often. Not knowing when or if any turtles will nest each night. Brings a little peace of

mind on a tight expedition schedule. Bobby and can only hope for a bit of luck. To do the night surveys. Researchers use only red light. The shortest wavelength in the color spectrum but not distort the truth. A typical night out here is generally patrolling from dusk till dawn or runs at night up and down the intercept any turtles. After a long insect infested night less than an hour before dawn. Fortune smiles on the. Nesting female is spotted still laying her eggs. The intensity of her mission permits the researchers close access without disturbing the process or loggerheads or name for a strong skull

surrounded by muscle. Then another protective layer of bones so they can easily crush thick shelled snails crabs and welts. Growing up to four feet long and up to 400 pounds the females drag their cumbersome bodies out of the beaches where they too were hatched. Completing an ancient cycle and loggerhead start to breed to 25 years or older and will lay a hundred eggs in a couple of nests every two or three years. The eggs will hatch in about two months. Also at night for safety and the babies must fend for themselves. Thank you. Thank. You. Just the full extent of her mothering.

And the sea then reclaimed. The boat. Outside the sanctuary loggerheads face the threat of gnats in the long lines of commercial fishing. The use of turtle exclusion devices or Teds by the shrimping industry has not only helped protect the turtles but diminish the bycatch waste as well. We're not out here in the park I mean if there was a way we could. Tackle. I mean there's no advantage for us to get. Tons of. I just smashed the front. We have a small net here that we bought every. 20 minutes. And it gives the story. From here. If. These are what we call a.

Larger fish. They all come out this escape opening. How much of you. Know. Maybe 30. Pounds. Me not every drug is this color. But most of them ought to play like this. Turtle explosion and Vikash devices are limiting the staggering wastes linked to the shrimping industry. But they're expensive at a time when unregulated shrimp from Asia and out competed the American market. Back in the. 80s. The ladies. Would get.

Six dollars. Not too many people were going to. Put them on. The new technology can improve on reducing unintended catch like turtles. Once the fishing net is lost. It becomes part of an anonymous and deadly graveyard known as ghost fishing. On the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Washington State. Is a little known fact of life under water. Any time you go out with something in a marine environment there's a chance you're going to lose it. Fishermen don't want to lose. It's a very detrimental economic impact to them to lose one of these nets they're quite expensive to replace and you lose harvest time one when the next gone before you can replace it. So the fishermen are our main source of reports. They call nutrient rich waters off the coast have supported fishing for centuries especially for four Indian tribes.

In the car. We've lived with the sea for hundreds of years in that we have coastal tribes with Treaty Rights. And what that means is those rights existed before the designation of the sanctuary and the tribes are very clear that they were supportive of a sanctuary being designated if it didn't infringe on the rights. So that is very much inherent in our regulations and our policies and our programs is that we will work with tribes or is with this area which also comprises the sanctuary. We can't move and go where the fish will have a limited area. So it's up to us to protect the risk. The Olympic host sanctuary and the macaw have developed a program to remove lost fishing gear that is killing marine life. We came together we said is this a common objective for both of us. Yes.

How do we structure it how do we train tribal divers so that they can participate in the removeable projects and so essentially building their capacity to do this type of work themselves. Modern Nasser are made almost entirely of synthetic materials now a trillion base plastics and things like that below the surface they can last for years if not decades. And if you do exactly what they were designed to do which is catch fish the marine environment is very good at recycling as dead material poses quickly. What we're seeing is probably only the damage that this net has done for the last several days or weeks and it's been here we know it's been here probably two years. Think about things underwater is that the general public really gets under water and they don't see this type of material. I always say if these nets were stretched out along the freeway which you know in their neighborhoods and had animals in tandem like we see in the water that there'd be a huge public outcry about this and there'd be millions of dollars spent cleaning it up just like we do for our highways but because it's under water nobody sees it. It's out of sight out of mind and we're just now collecting the

information they can get that that story out to the public and get some interest in solving this problem. Also out of sight are the unique treasures of these waters. His best chance of avoiding loss ness is if the reclusive and shock. Phil's team is anxious to divert the giant Pacific octopus and wolf eels to icons of these rich Olympic waters. Wolf eels are actually fish that mate for life and are beautifully designed to

eat sea here. You're. The giant Pacific octopus. It's the largest in the world and can weigh a 400 pounds. Smart masters of camouflage. They're called the ocean's soft intelligence. When it comes to the predatory sunflower sistar even tiny scallops are smart enough to.

Hurt. We're very lucky with the Olympic cost. We recognize it for what it is what it can be and we said. We're going to hand it down to future generations. And the shape that it's in now. As you can see it's it's a spectacular place. Far off the Olympic coast. Another species passes him. There is a sanctuary dedicated to protecting this one species in one place during one critical season. The Hawaiian Islands humpback whale National Marine Sanctuary. This Hawaiian sanctuary protects the only breeding population of humpback whales in U.S. waters. Here at the world's most isolated archipelago. John Michelle and the team are granted rare access to approach the whole facts only by federal

permit. Humpback whales are endangered. Two thirds of the North Pacific population comes to Hawaiian waters. The whales presence tracks a curious public both on shore and the Whale watching vessel. Here. They compete and make. Newborn calves gain strength for the trip to Alaska. Where they see. Here today play. Right. Come back there's a whole singing whales. Well some of the whale sing

male humpback whale saying but the whales do a lot more than just saying they're extremely aggressive whales at times. Certainly they're beautiful animals. What's the population of the population in this area is approximately 5000 animals throughout the course of the winter season worldwide. We certainly know a lot less than we do about the whales here. We would guess it to be 20 to 25000 back whales declared endangered nearly 40 years ago. There was hope that their numbers would rapidly increase. But it has been slow for each breath the whales take the most rise to the surface with the encounter the conditions that we impose on this vast sea. But at least here in the sanctuary they found a truce with us. And here we can share the dream of a future for the where. With.

Eat. Mark Long while you're holding. This Thing.

Right underneath me. Yeah. Just like. Your god like. Let's do it again. The guys are all competing. For. Our attention. Yeah they fight or that position closest to the female. So chasing grunting bubbling was one of the major threats to the whales right here in the sanctuary. But to me. Threats human threats for a large whale seem to be ship strikes. Collisions with boats and entanglement and unfortunately it may be their personality there's a little bit of their downfall of humpbacks they like to play with things they I've seen them play with logs and and buckets and. Pieces of kelp and apparently if there's debris in these in these patches of wheat or seaweed out there they may get entanglement. In these waters the whales are extremely well protected as they leave these

waters and they leave American waters you know then it's up to the country whose whose borders the whales are around and they do tend to be a border. Species so they live near shore. But yeah in Russia there is no protection whatsoever same off the coast of Japan. So to me it appears that when it comes to marine mammals we doing a lot better than we have dong the fish population which is in a particularly the last fisheries and compete to climb. Yeah absolutely. There was a worldwide moratorium on the taking of large whales in 1066. So since that time one would presume that many of the populations have at least begun to recover from the decimation of whaling during the early 20th century. For the fish populations nothing like that has been in place or been very very few regulations certainly world wide. Very few regulations so the fish populations are continuing to plummet while the whale populations at this point are probably recovering and.

The health of the humpback whale population is at least an indicator of what the health of the ocean is. So the fact that you know these whales are numbering. Around 10 percent of what they were before whaling days indicates that there are major imbalances in the marine ecosystems of the world. So there is a joining. Me. Between. The work that you're doing well-being of these whales and the quality of Fox. Absolutely because while we may not depend upon whales for food the whales depend upon the same fish that that we feed on the entire marine ecosystem is interlinked. So the study of one endangered species whether it be a whale a fish or a shark or an invertebrate is very important because everything that we learn about each piece of the ecosystem improves our ability to manage the entire ecosystem. At a sustainable level. And the ability of these will to recover. It's in some

ways reflective on the ability of the ocean to recover. If. The right policies are in place. Stay tuned for more from John Michel Cousteau ocean adventures. But first. Ten thousand. Fifteen twenty twenty one thousand six hundred twenty eight twenty. Or at least for a look at what the five hundred thousand expected. Twenty six that this would be worth about a half a million dollars half a million. I know it's just a blanket right on the back of a chair. Well sir you have a national treasure and national treasure. Congratulations. I can't believe it. John Michel Cousteau America's

underwater treasures. He's available on video cassette or DVD with additional features to Mordor called PBS home video at 1 800 play. PBS. Play fun games and download gorgeous screen savers. Try our educational activities. Meet other unusual underwater creatures. Go on your own ocean adventure at PBS dot org. On the next John Michel Cousteau ocean adventure. The exploration of America's underwater treasures continues. As the Cousteau team reveals more of the National Marine Sanctuary from the largest to the most remote inaccessible. But are the sanctuaries making a difference. And what secrets do these waters hold about our past and future. Production funding for John Michel Cousteau ocean adventures is provided by

for each of their discoveries. We understand that all of life is elemental. And as we marvel at our bonding with Ellen we. Realize that when you add human to the equation. Everything changes. Suddenly. History. And human nature. And all of humanity in the next chemistry. The human. Nothing is more fundamental. Nothing more elegant. With additional funding from the William Hague HBOS Jr. Foundation. Dan S. Bowers and the Robert Noyce trust. The William and Gretchen Kimball fund. The National Marine Sanctuary foundation by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you. We are.