We watched the one and only Sir David Attenborough’s Oceans on Netflix recently. It was both sobering and awe-inspiring. 5 reflections:
1. Industrial fishing is devastating. There is a segment in the documentary where you just follow a trawler/dredger under the ocean. These vessels and their equipment don’t just harvest fish, they bulldoze entire ecosystems, tearing up sea beds and discarding huge amounts of life.
“Overfishing” feels too mild a term for the scale of destruction. It has made me think differently about seafood.
2. Phytoplankton absorb more carbon than all the world’s forests combined and generate about half the oxygen we breathe. Yet only ~2–3% of the ocean is effectively protected, far short of the 30% global goal by 2030. Protecting the ocean is about climate balance as much as biodiversity.
3. Oceans have magical powers of recovery and protection leads to spillover gains. While the section on industrial fishing definitely evokes feelings of despair, Sir David Attenborough goes onto show examples where protection of marine ecosystems has enabled marine life to rebound.
Sanctuaries in Hawaii, Scotland, and the Channel Islands demonstrate the “spillover effect” – when ecosystems recover inside marine reserves, life spills outward, strengthening surrounding waters too.
4. Inspiration can drive real change. Greece just announced two National Marine Parks covering ~27,500 km² (about the size of Belgium). Bottom trawling will be banned there, and Prime Minister Mitsotakis explicitly cited Oceans as inspiration. It’s a reminder that stories and images can catalyze policy.
5. The ocean’s fate is humanity’s fate. The health of our oceans shapes global weather systems, food security, and planetary stability. I appreciated that Sir David Attenborough didn’t sugarcoat the destruction – he shows it plainly, alongside beauty and hope. The message is clear: the next few years are critical. Bold action now can still bend the curve toward recovery.
Watching Oceans left me shuddering at the destruction but also hopeful about the possibility of renewal. Sir David Attenborough makes the main takeaway plain and simple – the ocean is not just something we protect, it is what protects us.
