Programme Information

Feature

Oceans
Day and time to be confirmed BBC TWO
www.bbc.co.uk/oceans
Programme copy

The Black Hole of Andros may sound like an episode of Doctor Who, but this real-life underwater expedition has all ingredients to match any of the Time Lord's spectacular adventures.

For Paul Rose, former vice president of the Royal Geographical Society, British Antarctic Survey base commander and now presenter of BBC Two's Oceans, to describe his exploration of this alien world off the coast of the Bahamas as "the dive of a lifetime" is quite an accolade, considering he has more than 6,000 dives to his name.

Press Information's Tony Matthews talks to Paul and the rest of the team behind the series, which aims to build a global picture of our planet's most vital life-support system.

A breezy East Londoner, who began diving in 1969, Paul ventured into the black hole in search of evidence about how the oceans work. Located in a part of the Atlantic Ocean from which the Gulf Stream springs, the black hole offers an insight into a past world – a snapshot of what the oceans were like three-and-a-half billion years ago.

"There's a layer of bacterial matter 18m down," he explains, "it's incredibly oily and, as you enter, you lose all visibility. It's unusual to smell anything underwater but, because your skin absorbs it, you can smell it – like rotten eggs. It's also baking hot, about 35ºC, and you get quite disorientated."

Emerging from the dive, he found that his hair had turned a gold colour and the metal parts of his equipment were blackened from the highly corrosive matter.

In eight parts, Oceans covers a complex mix of maritime archaeology, biology, conservation, history and culture, with Paul and his team determined to "get amongst it" and tell the stories from a human perspective. "I've really wanted to present a series about great diving expeditions with great settings," he says. "I've always been inspired by slightly-old fashioned films, along the lines of the programmes that first inspired me to dive, like the great Jacques Cousteau expeditions and the adventure series Sea Hunt. I hope that Oceans will have a similar impact."

It may be old-fashioned in its sense of adventure, but Oceans employs the latest diving and high-definition broadcasting technology to capture some stunning footage. "We're backed by crews with a lot of experience with the BBC's Natural History Unit." says Paul. "The cameras were so good that, when you got back, you'd see things in playback you hadn't actually seen with your own eyes."

But Oceans isn't purely a natural history series, it employs an inter-disciplinary approach that, in particular, introduces human activity into the equation. In doing so, the four-strong presenting team aims to explain much about the way the seas are at present, and what they may become, through a historical and cultural perspective provided by Lucy Blue from the University of Southampton, who Paul describes as "not just any old passing marine archaeologist," but one of the foremost experts in her field.

"The Oceans aren't just about the natural history," Lucy says. "They are impacted on as much by human action as by animals. This series employs more joined-up thinking, looking more holistically at our seas and oceans."

Lucy explains that human impact on the oceans is far from a new phenomenon. Specialising mainly in the classical Roman period some 2,000 years ago and looking at maritime communities and what can be learnt from the past, she points out that the Romans had a massive impact on the Mediterranean. "They overfished in some cases, they deforested and caused siltation, they actually changed the landscape, both on the edge of the water and in the water, in ways we wouldn't necessarily imagine. It has happened before, but now we're doing it on a much larger scale."

The result of such interaction is examined by conservation expert Philippe Cousteau, grandson of Jacques, whose programme-making experience with Animal Planet and Oceans co-producers the Discovery Channel, along with his work as founder of the conservancy organisation Earth Echo made him an obvious choice, and by marine biologist Tooni Mahto, who Paul says is a brilliant diver with a fresh approach and passion for her subject.

Spending a year filming on the Atlantic, Indian and Southern Oceans, the Red Sea, the Sea of Cortez and the Mediterranean, the team explains clearly how the oceans work. "We wanted something not only exciting to watch but carrying a strong message," Philippe explains. "The oceans are not just this vast empty space, but are critical to our lives – they regulate our climate, provide oxygen and food to so many people, they serve vital functions for us to exist on this planet. But they are changing – and not for the better. We discussed at length how we might present that and cut through the distractions of everyday lives to get meaningful ideas to people."

The team ventured into some of the world's most challenging environments and evidence of the changes taking place is widespread. In Baja, for example, the Humboldt squid population has exploded as a result of environmental change. "You see changes like that all over the world," says Philippe. "We're also seeing shark populations in decline and, if you remove them, the entire system becomes unbalanced. As an apex predator, sharks keep their environment in check. But there are some exciting things happening, too – when we were diving with sharks in the Bahamas, we looked at research into devices to prevent them being caught in fishing nets."

Climate change, Philippe says, is here to stay – the question now is to what degree it happens. "We are facing powerful, scary things," he concedes, "but Oceans wants to show an appreciation of how wonderful and incredible this world is, and hopefully inspire people to realise what we've got to lose."

Tooni stresses, however, that there are no easy solutions: "Science is a very slow process, you don't get instant answers. Oceans will show how much research work is being committed at the moment, but so much science and archaeology comes from years in a lab, trying to figure out one tiny aspect of marine ecology or archaeology.

"In Tasmania, for example, we met someone who is working on kelp forest ecosystems. It has taken him five years to find out what the problem was and we arrived at the point where he was attempting to resolve it. I'd like to think we can communicate a vast amount of the research that's going on around the globe that never really gets into an arena such as BBC Two television."

Having first learned to dive in a swimming pool at the age of 17, just to experience the sensation of breathing under water, Tooni completed a diving course while travelling in Thailand and became so obsessed by the activity that she dropped plans to become an ancient historian. Marine biology looked "much more fun".

It was a decision that eventually led to "the absolute privilege" of being able to swim with sperm whales in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. "It was the most moving experience," she says. "When you're in the water with 15m-long creatures, you feel utterly insignificant, but I made eye contact with a sperm whale and I thought I'm never going to top this moment."

The encounter came about after a sperm whale scientist spotted a group on the surface. "There was an awful lot of social interaction going on – the whales were rolling over each other – and she suggested we approach them to see how they responded. We kept an incredibly respectful distance because the last thing you want to do is get caught in the middle of eight whales."

That said, Tooni says she has never felt endangered while under water. "I've dived with numerous sharks – not great whites, but sharks that have been known to attack humans – and I've never felt threatened. It's about the level of respect you have. I'm conscious that I'm an interloper into a realm where I shouldn't be."

Oceans promises many such experiences, from Philippe swimming with whale sharks off Tanzania, to an encounter with the much smaller-scale weedy sea dragon, a relative of the seahorse with long, leaf-like edges that help it blend into the Tasmanian kelp. "When you look closely, it has every colour of the rainbow," he says. "Its fluorescent colours are amazing."

One of the most amazing scenes came late into Paul's final dive. Having made crucial adjustments to his air cylinders to give himself a little more time in the deep of the Mediterranean, he tied a six-pound chunk of tuna to his weight belt, hoping to attract a six-gill shark – it's a rare occurrence to see one up close as it lives 2,000m down.

"I was almost out of time when I saw these two green eyes," he explains, still breathless with the excitement. "Here we were with a creature that has been in existence for 200 million years... absolutely fantastic."

For a species to have lived for so long is awe-inspiring, so does Paul feel disheartened by the pace of man's impact upon the oceans? "Not at all," he says. "The reason I'm not depressed is that more and more people are becoming aware of ocean conservation. These days, there's a lot more will to protect our environment."

Oceans, he says, plays a big part in promoting an understanding of the oceans – from their crucial role as part of our life-support system to man's past relationship with them. Paul is relishing the challenge: "It's been an incredible journey. We've uncovered stories hidden in the depths of our oceans, including amazing secrets waiting to be discovered which will help us better understand our planet."

The Oceans website features diaries, photo galleries and video clips from the dives undertaken for the series, along with presenter profiles, at www.bbc.co.uk/oceans.

Ocean Facts

• The oceans contain more than 99 per cent of living space on Earth

 

• It is estimated that up to 10 million species live in the deep sea alone

 

• There are 10,000 times more living organisms in the oceans than there are stars in the Universe (source: National Oceanography Centre)

 

• There are 100,000 organisms in the ocean for every grain of sand on all the beaches and deserts on Earth (source: National Oceanography Centre)

 

• Nearly half of the world's oxygen is generated by phytoplankton (source: National Oceanography Centre)

 

• If mined, all the gold suspended in the world's seawater would give each person on Earth about £10

 

• Ninety per cent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans (source: Nasa; SeaWifs)

 

• The highest tides in the world are at the Bay of Fundy on the Atlantic coast of North America, where the difference between high and low tide is the equivalent of a three-storey building

 

• The Earth's longest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a chain of mountains four times longer than the Andes, Rockies and Himalayas combined

 

• A person standing on the deepest sea bed in the world would have to withstand pressure of more than eight tons per square inch, the equivalent of 50 jumbo jets

 

• If the total salt content of the oceans were dried, it would cover all of the Earth's continents to a depth of 5ft

 

• The weight of all the plankton in the oceans is greater than that of all the fish, dolphins and whales combined (source: National Oceanography Centre)

 

• If size is taken into consideration, the copepod (a common type of plankton) is the fastest animal on the planet. If it were the size of a cheetah, it would be able to run at 2,000 miles per hour