Whales stranding in Australia, corals bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef, and deep-sea creatures washing up where they don’t belong—is the ocean trying to tell us something?
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00:00It is our first large mass stranding of these animals in around 50 years.
00:07The ocean seems to be screaming, but are we listening?
00:11What we saw over the summer months was very prolonged elevated temperatures
00:16across most of the Great Barrier Reef.
00:18Whales, giants of the deep, are throwing themselves onto shores,
00:22their pods turning into mass graves.
00:24In mid-February, 157 false killer whales washed up on a remote beach
00:29near Arthur River in Tasmania.
00:31The rescue mission, a failure.
00:33The survivors, euthanized.
00:35Scientists say they may have followed a disoriented leader,
00:38their echolocation scrambled by forces that they don't understand.
00:42But maybe it's not them, maybe it's us.
00:47A few thousand kilometers north, the Great Barrier Reef
00:49is suffering its worst bleaching event yet.
00:5273% of the reef is losing its color, its life.
00:56Coral, once a thriving, once vibrant, is now a skeleton of what it used to be.
01:01Warmer waters, fueled by human-driven climate change,
01:04are pushing the reef to the edge of extinction.
01:07And when the reef dies, it won't go alone.
01:10A quarter of all marine life depends on it.
01:13Closer to home, along India's coastlines,
01:15olive ridley turtles are washing up dead.
01:18Over 600 in Chennai alone.
01:20Here's fishing nets that don't let them escape.
01:22Plastic waste that poisons them.
01:24Industrial runoff that corrupts their nesting grounds.
01:27The ocean, once their sanctuary, is now a graveyard, it looks like.
01:31And then, an omen from the deep.
01:33Off the coast of Tender Reef, an anglerfish,
01:36an alien from 2,000 meters below, was filmed near the surface.
01:40A fish designed for total darkness, for the crushing depths,
01:44suddenly drifting in waters it was never meant to be in.
01:48Hours later, it was dead.
01:50But the anglerfish wasn't the only deep-sea creature to make a rare appearance.
01:54On a beach in California, an oarfish,
01:56often called the harbinger of earthquakes in folklore,
02:00was found washed ashore.
02:02These 30-foot-long fish are rarely seen alive.
02:06Some scientists suspect deep-sea disturbances,
02:08like seismic activity or shifting currents,
02:10are forcing them to the surface.
02:12Events like these serve as a reminder of how little we know
02:16about the deep ocean and how human activity may be affecting
02:20even its most isolated creatures.
02:22Each of these incidents might seem isolated,
02:24but together they paint a troubling picture.
02:27Rising ocean temperatures, overfishing, plastic pollution and habitat destruction
02:32are putting immense pressure on marine life worldwide.
02:35Species that have thrived for billions of years
02:38are now struggling to adapt to the rapid changes caused by human activity.
02:42Scientists warn that if we don't act now,
02:45the damage could become irreversible.
02:47The solutions to these problems do exist,
02:49but they require immediate global action,
02:51like enforcing stricter regulations on industrial fishing,
02:55reducing carbon emissions and investing in marine conservation efforts.
02:59The ocean covers 70% of our planet
03:02and plays a crucial role in maintaining life as we know it.
03:05But as we continue to exploit it, pollute it and push its ecosystems to the brink,
03:09the question remains, are we listening to its warnings?
03:13And more importantly perhaps,
03:15are we doing enough to protect it before it's too late?
03:18Let us know what you think in the comments.