What We Need to Learn from "Ocean" by David Attenborough

Author: Kate Minichiello

September 4, 2025

“The most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea,” David Attenborough expresses in his newest documentary, Ocean. Attenborough uses Ocean as his final warning to the world on avoiding a human rights crisis. The movie aims to raise awareness about the declining health of our seas and explains how human lives will be in great danger if we do not take action.

David Attenborough is a famous writer, naturalist, and broadcaster. Attenborough mostly worked with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) throughout his career. Many recognize him as the narrator of Blue Planet or Planet Earth (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). After nearly 7 decades of filming various types of nature, Attenborough has distilled his experience into a single life lesson. Before his lifetime of encounters with nature, he believed the ocean was “a vast wilderness to be tamed and mastered for the benefit of humanity” (Butfield et al.). But as he approaches the end of his journey, he claims the opposite to be true. In creating this film, Attenborough hopes we “all come to see the ocean not as a dark and distant place with little relevance to our life on land, but as the lifeblood of our home” (Butfield et al.).

If we fail to protect the health of our “lifeblood,” human lives will suffer around the globe. Saving our oceans is not solely for our sea animals but “for everyone on Earth — our climate, our food, our home” (Butfield et al.). Ocean health directly connects to the human right of access to clean air, water, and food. The ocean removes carbon dioxide from our air through phytoplankton. Phytoplankton sequester roughly one-third of our world's carbon dioxide emissions and produce about half the air we breathe — more than every tree in the world combined — thereby significantly slowing climate change and the human rights threats that accompany it.

Additionally, 3 billion people rely on our oceans for food. The diet of coastal communities worldwide is mainly dependent on seafood. The state of our oceans impacts their ability to supply clean drinking water, as well as provide rainfall for farming. In a report to the Human Rights Council, United Nations (UN) expert Astrid Puentes Riaño said, “the degradation of the ocean threatens humanity and exacerbates inequalities and disproportionately affects marginalised populations” (“Ocean Issues are Human Rights Issues”). Overall, without strong, balanced, lively oceans, our rights and the rights of future generations are in danger.

“The idea of bulldozing through a pristine rainforest causes outrage, yet we do the equivalent underwater thousands of times every day,” and hardly anyone is aware (Butfield et al.). Most people overlook the detrimental damage the industrial fishing industry causes because it occurs beneath the surface. A modern industrial tool, a bottom trawler, plows through the ocean floor, smashing whatever is in its way, often to catch only one species of fish. The remains consist of crushed coral, and up to three-quarters of the fish are being discarded. This is such a large-scale process that an “area almost the size of the Amazon Rainforest is trawled every year, and much of that seabed is plowed again and again” (Butfield et al.). Not only does this waste roughly 10 million tonnes of fish each year (Gruber), but it also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide due to the disruption of sediment. This wasteful practice is one of the leading contributors to overfishing and is subsidized by governments, with around $20 billion spent every year (Butfield et al.). No fish, from the smallest krill to the largest predator, is safe. Krill is the most critical food source in the Southern Ocean, yet trawlers have also reached them. Boats suck up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of krill and then process them to make supplements and pet food, stripping the ecosystem of its foundation. “Lines of baited hooks 50 miles long reel in 50 million sharks every year” (Butfield et al.), killing about two-thirds of our large predatory fish. Beyond the ocean, seabirds are struggling to find food, and their nests are failing at an increasingly higher rate each year, leading to the collapse of their colonies. Attenborough says the simple way to describe the change he has witnessed throughout his life is that “we once fished a few places near shore to feed our communities. Now we fish everywhere all the time.”

An area of seabed damaged by trawling. [Image credit: Howard Wood/COAST (Reed)]

“Modern colonialism at sea” is how Attenborough describes the imbalance between those who cause overfishing and those impacted by it. Coastal communities have relied on the ocean as a food source for millennia. In modern times, wealthy nations have taken advantage of the profit that fishing can bring in, leaving these dependent communities to starve. In Ocean, John Adams, a Liberian fisherman, expressed his sadness and frustration as he watched his nets transform from an abundance of lively fish to a few minnows and some plastic. These communities need the fish to survive and feed their family, yet countries with plenty of food come and strip them of their access. Adams expresses that “without the ocean, there is no community” (Butfield et al.). This is mainly due to the industrial fishing industry expanding into all corners of the world, comprising approximately 400,000 vessels operating day and night, repeatedly. “There are tales from 400 years ago of coastal waters so thick with fish, boats could barely move through them,” but no one alive today knows the true abundance that used to be beneath the surface (Butfield et al.).

Industrial fishing boats catch fish unsustainably — draining coastal natives' food source. [Image Credit: The Washington Post (Fears)]

All things considered, Attenborough inspires hope in viewers. He warns that we are almost out of time and our waters are in feeble health, but our oceans are resilient and have shown significant recovery when given the space to do so. When no-take zones have been implemented over areas that have been extremely overfished in the past, they have bounced back further than ever expected. These protected zones are also beneficial to fishermen due to the spillover effect. For example, lobsters lay their eggs in a safe zone, which then float into surrounding waters, providing fishermen with a sustainable source. Against popular belief, “protecting the ocean does not mean anti-fishing; the goals of healthy fisheries and conservation are the same. More fish, more abundance, more health of the ocean” (Butfield et al.). When blue whales dropped to just 1% of their previous population and whaling was banned, their population made a swift recovery. Humpback whales in the South Atlantic Ocean tripled in just 10 years (Butfield et al.). The Mediterranean is the most overfished sea in the world, with a third of its fish population already lost. However, when a small reserve was created off the coast of France, life was restored. It is clear that there is power in protection, and if we let nature take its course, we can steer clear of climate and food security disasters worldwide. Attenborough proposes, “If protecting a small portion of the sea from fishing has such a large effect, imagine the potential power of doing this across much larger areas.”

We are currently halfway through the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) (“Vision & Mission”). As part of this initiative, the UN has vowed to protect one-third of the ocean by 2030, an amount scientists have claimed would save our oceans from collapse. Only roughly 3% of our oceans are currently protected, leaving a significant amount to defend in a limited amount of time. To preserve our coastal communities, our climate, and our planet’s future, governments must act now by outlining the marine protected areas they have pledged. There is still hope for recovery, but the window is closing rapidly.

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Glossary

• Abundance: A very large quantity of something.

• Bottom Trawling: A fishing method that involves dragging heavy nets across the ocean floor, which disturbs sediment and destroys habitats.

• Carbon Dioxide: A colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in the air (about 0.03%) and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis.

• Coastal Communities: Human populations living near the ocean, typically dependent on marine resources for food, income, and cultural practices.

• Coral: A hard, stony substance secreted by certain marine invertebrate animals as an external skeleton, typically forming large reefs in warm seas.

• Detrimental: Tending to cause harm.

• Distilled: Having been shortened so that only the essential meaning or most important aspects remain.

• Feeble: Lacking physical strength, especially as a result of age or illness.

• Industrial Fishing: Large-scale fishing operations that use advanced technology and equipment to harvest massive volumes of fish, often contributing to overfishing.

• Krill: Small shrimplike crustaceans that are a keystone species in Antarctic ecosystems, serving as the primary food source for whales, seals, and penguins.

• Lifeblood: The indispensable factor or influence that gives something its strength and vitality.

• Marine Protected Area (MPA): A clearly defined geographic space, recognized and managed through legal means, to achieve long-term conservation of nature.

• Minnows: A small, freshwater fish that typically forms large groups.

• Modern: Relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.

• Colonialism: The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

• No-take Zone: An area set aside by a government where no extractive activity is allowed. Extractive activity is any action that extracts, or removes, any resource.

• Overfishing: Fishing at a rate that exceeds the ability of fish populations to naturally replenish, leading to population decline and ecosystem imbalance.

• Phytoplankton: Plankton consisting of microscopic plants.

• Pristine: In its original condition; unspoiled.

• Reserve: A place set aside for special use.

• Resilient: Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

• Sediment: Matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid.

• Spillover Effect: The movement of adult fish or larvae from protected areas into surrounding non-protected areas, enhancing fisheries outside of reserves.

• Subsidized: Having part of the cost of production paid in order to keep the selling price low.

• Sustainability: Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, especially regarding natural resources.

• Swift: Happening quickly or promptly.

• United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030): A global initiative led by the United Nations to support efforts to reverse ocean decline and sustainably manage marine resources.

• Vowed: Solemnly promise to do a specified thing.

• Whaling Ban: Legal prohibitions enacted by many countries and international bodies to halt commercial whaling due to population declines.

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Sources

1. Butfield, Colin, et al., directors. Ocean with David Attenborough. National Geographic, 2025, https://www.hulu.com/movie/1d8f1a4a-72dc-4532-a0e0-d35daa00d3a7. Accessed 2025. 

2. Gruber, Karl. “US $560 Billion of Wasted Fish over the Past Half Century.” Particle, scitech.org.au, 12 June 2018, https://particle.scitech.org.au/health/food/us560-billion-of-wasted-fish-over-the-past-

3. half-century/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2025.

4. Fears, Darryl. “Indigenous Peoples of the World’s Coastlines Are Losing Their Fisheries - and Their Way of Life,” The Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/02/coastal-native-people-who-need-fish-the-most-are-losing-them/.

5. “Ocean Issues Are Human Rights Issues, Says UN Expert.” Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2025, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/ocean-issues-are-human-rights-issues-says-un-

6. expert. Accessed 12 Aug. 2025.

7. Reed, Betsy. “Bottom Trawling Releases as Much Carbon as Air Travel, Landmark Study Finds.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Mar. 2021, www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/17/trawling-for-fish-releases-as-much-carbon-as-air-travel-report-finds-climate-crisis.

8. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "David Attenborough". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Attenborough. Accessed 12 August 2025.

9. “Vision & Mission.” Ocean Decade, United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), https://oceandecade.org/vision-mission/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2025.