Deep beneath the ocean’s surface...
...lie vast areas of seabed that have...
...never before been explored by humankind
This is camera control...
...can we drop our speed to one knot please
Now state-of-the-art technology is giving these scientists...
...an unprecedented opportunity...
Take it down to the bottom
...to conduct research that is vital to protecting the ocean
I just want to get a little bit closer
And to uncovering the true nature of damage being done to it
That sea really is incredible isn’t it
This is the RV Investigator...
...the ship used by the Australian government and marine scientists...
...to research the deep ocean
Off the coast of Tasmania...
...a team of scientists is on a remarkable mission...
...to investigate marine life thousands of metres below the surface
We’re in a harsh salt-water environment, we’re going very deep...
...so very robust pressure housings to keep the salt water out...
...sea water and electronics don’t mix very well
To do this they are using advanced cameras...
...attached to a submersible platform
Bridge this is camera control...
...can we drop our speed to 1 knot please...
...and we’ll take it down to the bottom
Okey-dokey
The system is carefully dropped 1,000 metres down below the surface
It’s Karl’s job to make sure he stops the platform...
Yep, there’s the bottom
...just two metres before it reaches the seabed
If we get too close to the bottom then we’ll...
...bounce off the bottom as we’re flying along
Then the challenging task begins...
...navigating the craggy and uneven terrain of seamounts
Seamounts are mostly remnant volcanoes...
...extinct volcanoes that are millions of years old
Though found throughout the ocean...
...from the poles to the equator...
...over 99% of them are unexplored
Oh is that a...
– It’s an octopus
Cool
Scientists have discovered that seamounts support...
...astonishingly diverse and unique ecosystems...
...and provide food and spawning grounds...
...to a wide variety of fish and sea mammals
We see a lot of animals, particularly fish...
...we sometimes see larger fish...
...and I guess most typically they would be sharks...
...that may move from seamount to seamount
Today the team is surveying an area of the ocean floor...
...that has never been explored before
So we’re beyond a thousand now
In these dark depths...
...over 1,000 metres below the surface...
...the team is astonished to discover thriving coral communities
There’s a general perception that...
...the majority of areas between seamounts...
...were unsuitable for corals
But one of the surprising things has been...
...just how many of them supported the same kind of...
...luxuriant coral reefs
But the team is also visiting parts of the seabed...
...that have experienced human contact before...
...to survey areas that have been damaged by bottom trawling
This method of fishing...
...provides the biggest annual catch globally...
...but uses vast nets...
...that can literally scrape marine life off the ocean floor
During bottom trawling the net makes contact with the seabed...
...and in places where there are vulnerable animals...
...such as corals, they can be removed
Damage to seamounts here was first logged by scientists in the 1990s
But a marine protected area now keeps many of them safe from the nets
Those that are protected...
...have now had no physical impacts from fishing...
...for a 20-year period
And that enables us to...
...estimate any sort of changes...
...including indications of possible recovery
The first signs are encouraging
There seem to be a very large number of urchins
Marine life is returning...
...anemones are beginning to grow back on the damaged areas
But it’s what the team can’t see that’s more worrying
There is little evidence that damaged coral itself...
...the heartbeat of ecosystems down here...
...is reforming
That’s a good enough look to conclude there’s nothing on it
Amazing
There are no signs that the stony-coral matrix is returning
Coral itself is still likely to...
...take many years if not decades to form the...
...first kind of layer of replacement coral
The data gathered here will form part of a growing body of evidence...
...helping scientists evaluate whether damaged areas...
...will ever properly recover
The results from this trip are vital for the ocean’s would-be protectors...
...as part of the wider battle...
...to preserve marine habitats across the ocean floor
And make the case for more controlled and sustainable fishing
We need to keep damage to seamounts from fishing to a minimum
The way of doing that is to understand more about impacts...
...and use that information to try and contain...
...the activities of fishing
It’s very exciting to be part of a survey like this