A social battle between poverty, power and knowledge.
The importance to fight for eco-balance.
HOW WORLDS STRONGEST APEX PREDATOR STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
A landmark agreement to protect shark species threatened with extinction was signed by Mister Johnson Toribiong the president of Palau in 2009.
This marks Palau as the first nation in the world to grand full protection status to shark populations.
On direct request by the President, The Micronesian Shark Foundation was granted full access to conduct research to analyze the effect of human influence on the shark population in Palauan territory.
In June 2012 the Micronesian Shark Foundation embarked on A scientific expedition it is the first of its kind to the Southern Boundaries to Palauan territory, this expedition is only possible because of the Bohemian Foundation donations.
Palau is an independent nation since 1994, the Republic of Palau was formerly a United Nations Trust Territory administered by the U.S. following WWII. Known today for its pristine environment and astounding biodiversity, Palau is considered to be among the world's top dive destinations.
Our most southern destination is named Hellen's reef it is a largely submerged coral reef and contains a small island in its northern section. Helen is a sandy, atoll island and therefore is flat and rises only a few feet above sea level.
As our excitement grows a rude awakening, it does not take long for the team to realize the devastating destruction of illegal fishing and long lining.
They were 4 Scientist, went out on a 2 week voyage, trying to deployment satellite tags and acoustic tags on sharks on the far (most) Southern corner of Palawan waters at Helens reef, and they failed miserably!
They explored reefs in the pacific ocean and they could not find one adult shark of any species on any of these reefs, and these are pristine reefs, they are the places we hold up, these are places we say its all OK.
With half of the world's oceanic sharks at risk of extinction, 100 million sharks are killed each year around the world.
230 times they went out diving and manta towing covering an area of 400 Hectare(4 sq KM,1.5 sq mill) and they when fishing, and on all 3 counts they did not see any adult sharks, the data was consistent over all 3 sampling techniques.
Analyzing this data next to one of the rare healthy fish populated reefs confirms again the need to protect the broad scale of biodiversity, starting with the shark as the Apex predator.
- Executive Producer: The Bohemian Foundation
- Committed to the preservation of our Oceans.
- Directed by Hendrik Wuyts
- The Bohemian Foundation Representative, and expedition team member: Byron F. "Trip" Wynn III
- Director of Photography/Script: Hendrik Wuyts
- Sound Post-Production: Lamèdia BV Bonaire, Michiel van Bokhorst
- Narrator: Sean Paton
- Text editing: Penny Davison
New Version 2016 RT 25.00