Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

Oh, gee. Look at the sea.

Beauty, eh?

We all feel like saltwater

runs through our veins.

Our legends are that we were fished out of the ocean by

our warriors

that first came and found Niue.

And that's how we came to be.

The ocean is the life force that made us,

and made Niue.

We owe our existence to the ocean,

and that's why we fight to protect it.

Niue is so small.

It's 100 square miles.

Geographically, it's very unique.

It's one island, one big rock that sticks out of the ocean.

Pushed up out of the water by a volcano

that we've never seen.

And we call it The Rock of Polynesia.

A single uplifted coral atoll,

one of the largest in the world,

it's a fantastic, rugged little wild island

I like to think of it.

Being Niuean is being part of a whole thing.

It's being a part of land, part of the sea, part of the people.

It's the respect for the oceans, for

the things that sustain our lives, and it's the respect to

our forefathers, right?

Oh, that's a good size.

Those true values that they taught us.

We're so blessed that we live in Niue.

This is paradise.

It's really important for us to recognize it.

We have one island.

Here is all we got.

I am one of the endangered species of Niue

that was born, raised, and is still here.

I truly feel like I won the lottery, being born on this

little rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

What else? What are you gonna eat, Reign?

What are you hoping to find at the sea?

Oh, not many, too many pigs swimming in the

ocean today, buddy.

I'm a scientist by profession,

and I volunteer as the president of a local nonprofit called

Tofia Niue, which is focused on sustainability of our ocean.

We got a couple of matapihus Mom.

- Oh, did you? - And an.

From a survival perspective, our lives are

very much intertwined with the environment.

But the impacts of climate change are robbing

our children of their inherent right to traditional

knowledge and practice.

So in 2016, we invited

National Geographic Pristine Seas

to help us document what we have in the ocean to

enable us to protect it effectively for the future.

I mean, this one too..

When we were here in 2016,

Niue had been hammered pretty bad from a couple previous

storm events, so a lot of the coral was gone,

it was down to bare bedrock.

And this situation is not unique.

Climate change, unregulated fishing, and rapid development

are decimating crucial marine ecosystems around the world.

The health of the ocean is directly tied to the health of

people, society, and culture.

But we as humans are putting ourselves at risk.

Our seas generate half the oxygen we breathe and

contribute trillions of dollars to the global economy

each year.

And only 8% of the ocean is currently protected.

In 2008, Dr. Enric Sala at National Geographic started

Pristine Seas and proposed the solution,

Marine Protected Areas or MPAs,

places where human exploitation is banned.

In 15 years, we've conducted 43 expeditions and

helped create 27 MPAs around the world.

However, we can't do this alone.

We team up with local partners and governments to conduct

scientific research, and highlight the local knowledge

that drives the protection of vital places in the ocean.

Not many people get to dive under the ocean

and see further out.

So we went to every single village and showed the video

footage that was brought back by the Pristine Seas team.

The ability to showcase that underwater taoga,

the treasures of our country, was such a turning point.

And there was just an overwhelming support

from the oldest people in the community to the youngest,

that they wanted to keep this treasure for the

future generations of Niue.

That was really the underpinning of the 2016 decision

to make Moana Mahu a conservation area.

I have the greatest honor and privilege

to announce on behalf of the Niue government, Tofia Niue,

and the people of Niue,

our intentions to commit 40% of our exclusive economic zone

to be declared as a large-scale marine protected area.

Moana Mahu is 127,000 square kilometers.

It covers an area of really unique marine biodiversity

in the world.

These spaces of protection and just letting nature do its

thing are so critically important and rising in value.

Isn't that beautiful?

This is a good sign of health for the reef,

for the coral reef,

so we're gonna leave this one here.

I don't take these ones.

It's really pretty.

Oh, look at that one. That's nice.

Having Pristine Seas come back to do a follow-up mission

documents how things have gone, it's just such an

incredible part of being able to work with stakeholders from

across the world who wanna see that these special places

are there forever.

Super excited to be able to go back to Niue.

We're doing a full-blown repeat expedition with

a lot more capabilities now than we had before.

It's always the real exciting,

kind of nervous, kind of fun time

where we're getting everyone on the ship.

Game on.

Making sure we have all of our gear to

head out to sea for a month.

Woo!

The ship is amazing.

It's very well-equipped and super epic.

Morning.

We're working with our local partners,

Daren Monoa and JinNam, who will be our guides as we survey

the waters around Niue.

They're really good scientists,

great observers of nature, as well.

This local knowledge is so critical because,

at the end of the day, it's their resources that they need

to manage and they need to protect.

Bye, everybody!

- Bye! - See you in Niue.

This is for the benefit of the Niuean people,

for the persistence of their culture,

of their resources well into the future.

Any questions?

So we're here to complement, supplement, and

support those local efforts.

Having Pristine Seas come back now

is fantastic.

Hi.

Hello. Good day.

Afternoon.

The science and the data is extremely important.

Obviously, we need to be able to, to demonstrate that

locking up that area, protecting it, is having

a positive effect.

Two, one will be the scientific survey.

Brendon Pasisi is my brother, and he's

a marine biologist by training,

but he's also a fisherman by practice

so he's lived his whole life in the ocean.

We're still sending a team to the Beveridge Reef?

Yes.

Beveridge Reef is a sacred place.

It's a little oasis in the middle of nowhere, and that's

probably one of the reasons why it's still

as pristine as possible.

When I first started spearfishing and, and diving,

the water was clearer, the, the coral cover was much more

plentiful and vibrant.

There was a lot more fish life.

And then we're also gonna go in the submarine with...

- Yes. - That, right?

That's the beauty of Beveridge Reef.

It reminds me of what it was like here on the island

as a young lad.

So how long does it take to get there?

I think it does about eight to ten knots.

Hopefully, it's showing that the work that we're doing,

closing that area,

has really had a positive impact on the reef itself.

Thanks a lot, huh. See you later.

Thank you.

The Pristine Seas ship will be greeted with

what is called the Takalo.

The Takalo is a war chant or war cry.

It was motivation for our warriors.

The Takalo for Pristine Seas,

we're trying just to showcase

how our ancestors protected our land

back in the days, and I hope we'll achieve that.

We just wanna remind Pristine Seas that

this is Niue.

This is our land.

But they are welcome here to help us protect our resources.

It was intense.

But as it ends, the warriors kind of part and there's the

Premier to greet us.

And it becomes this really gentle and

welcoming thing.

Premier came.

Minister Mona came.

It was really a show of force of the entire community that

the Niueans are really passionate about conserving

this place and doing the right thing.

So I've been here a number of times

but for Molly, Whitney, and Ryan,

it's their first trip to Niue.

I'm excited.

Molly is a really great scientist and

to have her on the team is fantastic.

Are there spiders in here?

Don't worry. We got you.

Thanks.

Ryan is the expedition leader and he's

really the one who's making sure the work gets done in

a safe and effective manner as possible.

Whitney is a great scientist, a really good naturalist.

She's been our deep sea expert.

For me, it's a real thrill to work with people like that.

Wow.

- And here you go. - Look at that.

Woo-hoo. We made it.

- What? - It's sick, huh?

That is awesome.

The whole island has got amazing

tide pools everywhere.

It's crystal clear, really vibrant blue water.

Hey, guys.

Sea snake.

Niue has an endemic sea krait.

It has one of the most venomous toxins on earth.

They're pretty voracious predators.

They're perfectly adapted to hunting in the coral reef.

They're a very special animal.

They're found nowhere else on Earth.

We saw corals growing in just a few feet of water and the

diversity of corals is really vibrant and there's not many

places like that.

It's always been a challenge looking after

the resources around the immediate adjacent fringing

reef of the island.

Water is quite a fragile resource really because the

island rises out of the deep, eh, and it's surrounded by

very steep slopes and so

the actual habitat is quite limited.

Obviously, the impact of very large storms can be some of

the biggest threats to our environment.

It's five minutes to 6:00.

This is at, uh,.

As you can see, it's just, uh, completely...

Cyclone Heta was a Category 5 cyclone that

hit us in 2004.

There's the forest out there. It's completely gutted.

The waves scoured all of our infrastructure

off a whole side of the island.

The impacts were shocking.

You can see the whole coastline has just been stripped,

it's all like this.

We lost our only wharf, our only hospital.

We lost our only museum.

Gone forever.

95% of our artifacts were in that museum

and can never be replaced.

When you've got climate change making what would've been a

Category 2 cyclone, a Category 4 cyclone,

your ability to recover is a huge challenge.

When Niue gets hit by a big cyclone,

we go from 100% coral coverage down to 2%,

because that's how strong the waves are.

After Cyclone Heta, people just couldn't fish and there

was nothing on land to eat because everything had just

been blown away.

So when we get hit or an important species dies,

then we need to harvest from Beveridge Reef to replant

that species in Niue.

We had a really great ceremony and

an awesome afternoon.

But we have to turn it around quickly to get to Beveridge

because the forecast is not promising for transit.

We're going on a trip.

See you later.

We're about to leave Niue and head up to Beveridge Reef.

It's 125 nautical miles southeast of Niue.

It's out in the middle of nowhere.

You're blown away when you see it.

Hey, we have to go.

Got to go. Got to go.

We have to go now. Let's go.

Nam, because you're late,

you gotta swim out.

Hopefully we can prove through the science

that there has been that biodiversity uplift.

There's been a positive change there as a result of

putting it under protection.

This is the Beveridge forecast.

We're starting to look at 17, 18 knots throughout the day

by midnight on the 14th it's blowing over 20.

It's not gonna be flat.

Right. And we're bucking in, too.

Because it's outta the east so it's gonna be...

Ryan Jenkinson] It's gonna be a little run out there.

It's critically important that conservation

doesn't come at a burden to the communities because

we are ocean people.

So, so much of our culture and,

and tradition is tied to the ocean.

Everyone's excited for Marine Day.

That's pretty much a big day for the village.

My dad, not long ago, caught a trophy fish and

everyone's trying to catch a trophy fish.

So, the fish are biting early mornings now.

So, they're trying to get into the water before the fish.

Bye, daddy. We love you.

- Okay, okay. - Okay.

Each village, they have their own fishing holes,

little fishing spot.

Bluefin, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, mahi-mahi.

Did you catch any fish?

WE got it off the wharf, it's a trevally.

It's a Polu Kulukulu it's a Niuean name.

It's a cod.

There has been a significant change in the

cultural appreciation that we have of the environment

but also our culture.

There's a big revival to make sure that our

kids speak Niuean, practice the cultures,

learn the traditions and everything, which is wonderful.

Wow.

Our ancestors were able to create an

incredible life here.

People fished.

They respected the tides, the winds, the stars.

So, all of that is a part of our DNA.

The ocean is beautiful.

You can't just lock it up like a museum.

People live there.

So we have to provide the sustainable livelihoods

that reinforce ocean protection for the long term.

You know, if there's somewhere that

God lives, this is where He is.

To the right, to the right.

To the right.

We've just arrived at the reef and we feel the water calmed

down as we entered into the lee and now we're here in the

wheelhouse helping the captain here steer us in

through the passage.

It's an, it's an honor to be here,

so I can't wait until I can see the reef, so it's, it's there in

the distance.

Good to see my old friend again.

It's blowing 30-plus knots now,

but we are pretty still inside here.

That's fantastic little refuge.

Ah, we finally made it to Beveridge Reef.

It was not an easy journey.

Um, was not smooth sailing,

but all of our science capabilities at Pristine Seas

are gonna be out, deployed,

and working, if the weather holds for us.

Our primary concern is working with the communities that

we're visiting, and making sure they're getting what they

want out of it.

In terms of key milestones for the project.

After our expedition in 2016,

they declared 40% of their exclusive economic zone

off-limits to fishing around

Beveridge Reef and adjacent areas.

But even remote places, there are thousands and thousands of

distant water fishing boats out there, and sharks are a

major target.

The first thing we do is gonna be to go

look at the shipwreck.

We're gonna see what we find.

Last year, we had an incident where a

Taiwanese longline vessel ran straight into the reef.

Late May to early June, we received a call

from Taiwanese Fisheries Office,

regarding one of their vessels on our reef here.

When they actually arrived at the reef,

the vessel was on fire, suspiciously.

When it first happened, it was really sort of gut-wrenching,

to think that we've done so much to protect this for Niue.

So we've, uh, just arrived close to the location where

the Taiwanese, uh, fishing vessel went up.

Um, so we are out here trying to do a little bit of a

reconnaissance, to see what the impact has been

to the reef.

We were able to spot where the propeller

was, the anchor was as well, and it's, um...

it's not the best sight to, to be honest.

Well, we came across, uh,

quite a big bundle of wire tracers and

these are primarily to catch sharks for the fins.

Sharks are illegal to catch.

So we brought some of those back with us.

Good to, to see that and document it,

see what, what's left behind.

I didn't see anything leaking or...

I think they, um, just those engine parts there.

Yeah.

At the moment, it looks like, yeah,

most of the worst case of oils and fuels and stuff like that,

burnt off when it was, uh, on fire.

And now the coral, the algae, and stuff is all starting to

grow back and we've been able to document that.

Ultimately, the information will help us explain why we

need to put certain measures in place to make sure that we

keep the reef in as pristine condition as possible,

so that it, it continues to have that resilience

long into the future.

It is maintaining what we like to think of as our bank,

our investment for the future.

We wanna be better informed about where

we've come, to make sure that into the future,

we build some resilience,

for that, we need really solid data.

We use these myriad array of tools to

try to paint as comprehensive of an understanding of the

ecosystem as we can.

Since 2016, with my colleague, Jess Cramp, from Sharks Pacific,

we've been looking at shark populations,

and sharks in general globally are in terrible shape.

So we really wanted to see what was out there.

Places like Beveridge give us windows into the past of what

marine ecosystems are like in the absence of

human intervention.

And what we have found is they're dominated by

top predators,

sharks, jacks, groupers.

It's called the inverted biomass pyramid, where you

have more predators than prey.

Top predators, they're consuming everything at

the lower food levels.

Everything's turning over much faster, and as a result,

the system becomes more resilient.

So, the fact that our footage shows the potential for more

sharks in Beveridge Reef now than there were in 2016

is an incredibly hopeful sign.

This is what it's supposed to be like.

We need to protect the whole ecosystem

for it to function properly.

Everything from the largest animals in the ocean to the

smallest animals we can't even see.

I'm collecting water at the surface

and hopefully, we will get a variety of different

organisms' DNA from shedding of cells or

from poop or stuff in the water column.

Anytime you wanna think about conserving environment,

one of the best metrics to use is biodiversity,

which is trying to figure out how many organisms are

in the environment.

We have fish divers counting fish.

We have a benthic ecologist counting the algae.

We have a coral person counting the coral.

But 90% of the organisms that live on a coral reef

are things you can't see.

So this crazy technique that's fairly cutting edge

is environmental DNA.

I am taking water and I'm filtering it for DNA.

So the way you identify the DNA is like going into a library.

So think of a book as an individual organism

with a DNA code.

We searched the library to match the organisms with

the books, so to speak.

That's how we can figure out what was in the area.

It's pretty fascinating and magical.

Our climate and our environment are changing rapidly.

Through the E-DNA process, we can actually compare

diversity levels across the globe,

assess multiple organisms,

and it adds a bigger picture of this

changing environment over time.

There could be a canary in the coal mine with some of these

organisms that we just don't know about.

We've been here at Beveridge for over

a week, and we've surveyed everything,

from the shallowest waters to the deepest depths of the ocean,

and found incredibly vibrant ecosystem.

Seems like the scourge of industrial fishing in so many

other places around the world

hasn't impacted Beveridge Reef,

because we just see so many sharks here,

healthy reefs, big groupers.

It shows that Niue has really done an amazing job

of protecting this real gem of a place.

Beveridge Reef is very special.

It's something that belongs to us for many generations

to come if we look after it well.

This whole journey is still sinking in.

Wow.

It's just unreal.

Woo!

This gives you hope and it gives you

a snapshot what nature could be like.

There's a fairly large storm front

heading our way, and it's kind of a mad scramble to get

all of the boats back onto the ship,

so we can head back to Niue

to continue working there.

A little bit of a fire drill getting ready for this storm

that's approaching now.

So we're gonna pull anchor, slide out of the lagoon, and

get to Niue before this storm really hits this area.

Tomorrow is our best weather window of the whole time that

we're here, so I really hope it comes through,

because of that, we have a lot of stuff planned

including the sub, hopefully.

We have this amazing tool,

three-person submersible that goes down to 400 meters.

It's a big acrylic sphere

so you can see almost 360 degrees around.

Is it done?

It's an amazing engagement opportunity

because people get to go down in the submarine, who would

normally not get to go underwater, to those depths.

So Brendon Pasisi is the first Niuean submariner.

We're going to Ridge and it was his father's

favorite fishing spot.

It was really meaningful.

Okay copy that. Okay it's good for you?

Yeah.

Really exciting.

Just can't wait to get under there now that I'm locked in.

To actually go down and see what the deep dropcam see,

that's just mind-blowing opportunity.

Here we go.

We're off.

Okay, topsy, we can see the slope, we can see the slope,

whenever you're ready for a set,

we will be ready here.

Oh, got a whole lotta fish coming.

It's like winning the lotto to be able to get down here.

Being a fourth-generation fisherman all my life,

not knowing what's down on the bottom, you know,

wondering why you catch fish in some places and not in others.

Oh, look at here.

Oh, dogtooth tuna!

Look at that. Two.

It was really special to be down

there with Brendon.

I'm learning from him and getting his perspective.

He's fished here his whole life, but to see it from

below, it shines a new light on it for him, but gives me

a different set of optics than I would've had otherwise.

Just tell by the way they undulate,

their movement.

They're able to go down in the submarine

to places no one's ever seen.

They're the first ones down there.

The whole thing, like a lot of our expeditions,

is really powerful.

The submarine dive was definitely a

highlight of the expedition and my life, to be honest.

First ever.

I'm so excited.

It's 180 meters and so far, it's super amazing.

Wow.

There's a school of barracuda just in front of us.

Just an incredible opportunity to also

take all of the Niuean people with us down to see some of

the most incredible taoga that are under our guardianship.

- Well, how was it? - It was amazing.

And from a cultural and traditional perspective,

my father's fished these waters for years.

And so to see that...

to see the places that he sustained our lives

traditionally is amazing.

We are on the windward side

of Niue Island.

Cyclone Heta just totally wiped this place clean.

All the coral was scoured down to the bare bedrock.

It would be really interesting to see how the corals

have come back.

The conditions are perfect for this place.

You can just see forever.

There's a lot of baby corals and pretty good diversity of

corals as well, so it looks like the reef's starting to

come back a little bit.

We're down there counting fish, measuring corals,

and then you hear this eerie sound.

It's on the other side now down there, right there.

Yup. You can see it.

Having the amazing opportunity to just

encounter a mother and calf humpback whale and another

male humpback whale in the water,

that I think will remain with me for a very long time.

Niue is an amazing place for

humpback whales.

They migrate all the way from Antarctica over

5,000 kilometers to give birth and mate in Niue.

You see males singing, looking for mating opportunities.

You see mothers and calves.

Whoo!

Nature is amazing.

Oh, my goodness.

Tonight is super exciting.

The final event with the National Geographic expedition.

Niue is one of the best examples of how

marine conservation does not necessarily mean you don't

have access to fishing and resources for your community.

They really are the global leader in marine conservation

and long-term planning.

And we feel really lucky to be part of that.

And I'm very proud to say, "I am Niuean."

And they all say, "Oh, you're the people who had the

40% EEZ committed to conservation?"

I'm like, "Yup, that's us."

Niue is an incredible place on Earth and

we are so humbled as her inhabitants, but we owe it

to the future generations to make sure that

this great country, its resources, and assets

in the ocean are here for generations to come.

I am in New York City. I'm here for Climate Week.

The UN General Assembly is meeting.

We have to be here if we want our voices heard.

This is the culmination of eight years of work in

establishing, uh, Moana Mahu

and doing all the scientific assessment and

consultation with communities.

We are here to launch the Niue Ocean Wide Trust

that will raise the necessary funds to help set up something

that will last forever hopefully.

We want people to understand that we are making this

commitment as a small country,

so other countries need to make some

serious commitments to scaling up investment in protection.

If we look after what we have now,

there'll be so much more for the future, a healthy reef,

a lot of fish, and a thriving environment

where everything is just full of life.

We need to maintain sustainability,

hopefully build climate resilience as well because

we know that's coming.

It has to work. We can't fail.

What we're doing here, it's not only

for Niueans, here.

But we're showing to the rest of the world that it can be done.

Yes, we are small, but we're showing the way.

Captioned by Cotter Media Group.