[Andrew Chang] This is a place human eyes don't often see
but humanity's impact here undeniable.
It is often hidden out of sight but not to everyone.
Shane Gross spends much of his time in a place where it's easy to feel unwelcome.
But he thinks of it as home and one he shares.
[Shane] I try to tell long-form stories about the ocean.
Sometimes it's a single frame.
Sometimes it's 10 or 15 pictures that try to tell a narrative story.
We shouldn't have to defend why a certain species or animal deserves the right to exist on the planet.
And by telling their story by getting them out there
maybe some more people will care.
[Andrew] Humility, it is Shane's guide.
But he's driven by an urge to protect.
So consider what happens when someone so accustomed to photographing life
comes to photograph death.
[Shane] You know i've spent a lot of time in the water with live turtles
and so it was depressing.
There's a green turtle tangled in fishing line.
To see the the life in the eyes of a turtle
and then to see one where it's gone.
I mean its eyes had actually been eaten out by scavengers.
That dead look it was haunting.
To know that that animal was killed for no real reason it was just --
it was a complete waste.
It would have suffered in its final moments.
Turtles need to come up to the surface to breathe air
and so it would have been entangled in the line
and tried to make it up to the surface to breathe and it couldn't.
And the turtle drowned which must have been a horrible way to go as well.
So it was emotional.
Does it make you angry?
Of course.
I'm angry all the time.
I'm angry when I look at a shoreline and I see plastic bottles and plastic bags
and anger in its raw form doesn't accomplish much.
I try to use it as a as a motivation to try to inspire change.
[Andrew] It's a photo that still haunts Shane.
A powerful image of humanity's impact on our oceans
and one that's caught the world's attention.
It won an international photography award
but Shane knows convincing people to take conservation seriously
isn't going to happen by accident.
It takes meticulous planning.
When Shane prepares for a shoot he's like a watchmaker.
Every piece carefully cleaned checked and rechecked.
No detail too small.
Today Shane's packing for a shoot at a secret location on a nearby island
and he's taking me with him.
All right, so Shane we're on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas
but where specifically are we?
Well, we're in South Eleuthera.
That's about as specific as I'd like to get.
Why is that?
Well if a spot gets too well known
it can scare the wildlife.
It could even bring poachers in to try to kill, take the animals out.
So we want to be very careful about giving away specific locations
where wildlife is abundant.
So how many people know about the spot that we're about to head to.
Maybe a few researchers, a few local fishermen
that's about it.
And it's just that way.
Yeah, straight up the beach here.
We got a little bit of a trek as you can see.
It's a little bit choppy so yeah it'll be a fun splashy trek.
[Andrew] For this trip, Shane packs light.
The shot he wants clear his day in his head.
It's a secluded spot where baby lemon sharks gather away from predators
and importantly from people.
The first time I came here photographically was a disaster.
The sharks, I thought they would just come right into the camera and be aggressive.
Like people think sharks are and they would not come in anywhere close enough to the camera.
[Andrew] Today we hope to have better luck.
There's one right there.
Oh yeah, swimming away pretty quick.
When the the sharks first see us they're pretty shy
so that's why we're seeing them come in within maybe a couple meters
and then they're going off to think or do whatever they do
and then hopefully they come back.
How long could you spend if you're waiting for the perfect shot?
Oh, I have spent days.
Two of my favourite pictures that I've ever taken were right here.
One is it was sunset and I tilted my camera facing straight up to the surface.
A big storm came over
and the setting sun lit up the clouds beautifully right behind a lemon shark
that swam directly over top of my camera.
At the time I didn't have a remote trigger so I used my toe
just to actually snap the picture.
No kidding.
But I got it and yeah I just love it.
It's the moments you live for.
What are some of the other places like this around the area?
Well we're pretty lucky that we have some really beautiful places
and one place that I've spent a lot of time because it's just stunning
it's called the sapphire blue hole and it's some of the clearest water you can imagine
and some really unique wildlife lives in there.
But now that's changed.
[Andrew] So this is sapphire blue hole.
[Shane] This is sapphire blue hole.
[Andrew] There is a whole ecosystem of of life in there.
[Shane] Yeah so there there's a couple of key species that live in here
that can't live in other ecosystems where there would be large predators.
So this is a closed ecosystem which makes it quite unique
and really important for those two species
the red cave shrimp and the Bahamas cave fish
which is also known as the Lucifuga.
And how how delicate is it to keep that balance?
I mean where are they getting their food from?
Well I think a lot of what they depend on is organic matter that falls into the blue hole from
from the surrounding trees.
There's insects and the leaves themselves.
I've seen the shrimp literally eating the leaves and praying mantises and other insects that fall in.
And so this place today looks different than from the last time you were here.
Yeah so just very recently within the last couple of weeks
somebody had come and cut the trees around the perimeter down
and put up this fence.
And this fence wasn't here before?
No, no little as two weeks ago this this fence wasn't here.
And when you talk about trees --
Like that's what I'm seeing there.
Yeah, I'm stepping on one right now.
There's tree stumps going 360 degrees around the blue hole.
I don't know how much thought if any was given into what impact that's going to have
on the animals and the increase in tourist traffic could bring in unwanted chemicals like sunscreens
insect repellents, those kinds of things
which may have also have a negative effect on it.
[Andrew] The reason Shane brought me here wasn't just to show me how the area has changed
but also to show me a photograph he took not all that long ago
that he can never take again.
And the picture I was looking for was one that showed that relationship
between the fish and its environment.
So the fish in the foreground
and in the background was showing the opening of the blue hole
with those trees overhanging the blue hole.
But it's it's extremely fragile.
You can see how small it is.
Any small change could be catastrophic for the animals that live in it.
There are a lot of still untouched places in the Bahamas
compared to some other places in the world
but there are definitely places that have been in my opinion destroyed.
The reason why people go to these places in the first place
is for their natural beauty
and to me when you start to mess with that it kind of defeats its own purpose.
[Andrew] Shane's biggest fear that we are recklessly, irrevocably erasing fish
like the Lucifuga from existence.
It's only survived all these years because its caves are undisturbed.
It's incredibly rare.
When I do hear about people making plans to turn a beautiful natural area into a marina
I get angry.
And you know we shouldn't have to defend a species' right to survive on our planet.
They should have that right inherently.
I never understood that.
[Andrew] It's lonely work but with each photograph he takes
Shane is driven to make a difference.
I just hope that it it connects with people on an emotional level.
We are constantly inundated with statistics and facts
and it doesn't seem to lead to any kind of change
but an emotional connection can lead to change.
[Andrew] Shane's recent prize, proof that people care.
But the mission, that never ends.