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The film chronicles a massive annual feeding frenzy; billions of sardines travel up the KwaZulu-Natal shoreline, known to locals as the Wild Coast. For the people living along the African shore, this migration has provided a food source for countless generations while farther out at sea ocean predators come from great distances to feast. Bottlenose dolphins create superpods, thousands strong, to track down the huge shoals using sonar. Sharks sense blood in the water and join the hunt. Seals and common dolphins chase the fish from cooler currents up the coast into the warmer tropical waters. Diving birds, Cape Gannets, join the battle with aerial attacks from the sky. All of these animals are drawn to the scene, enmeshed in one of the most incredible mass feeding melees in the natural world. Eat - or get eaten.
Unfortunately such a richness of life is now rare in our seas. For centuries the ocean was considered a vast limitless resource. As fishing practices grew more industrialized and efficient throughout the 20th century, entire fish stocks around North America, Europe, and Asia began to collapse. The fish, hauled onto boats by the ton, were an integral part of a complex marine ecosystem, a link in a great food chain on which many predators depend. Eventually, entire fish species were decimated and the ocean predator populations went into a steep decline. Now a new threat, global climate change, threatens to further damage the fragile ocean ecology.
While Wild Ocean explores the causes and effects of man's impact, it an inspirational film looking toward a bright future, taking audiences to a rare unspoiled marine wilderness to glimpse what the oceans of the world once looked like. The film champions the creation of marine reserves necessary to bring our oceans back to life. South Africa leads the way.
Click here to visit the film website.
Click here to download the Educators Guide.
Click here for a review of the fim.
Running Time: 45 mins.
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