I am REALLY looking forward to "Blue Planet"...

[Weezle]

I LOVE Discovery channels. There is a new program coming on this Sunday called Blue Planet, it looks so incredible.

Discovery has done some bone-headed things like that "Extreme" show with that guy Mannie. You know the show, where they free dive and harass fish and aligators and such. :upset:

They have, however done some great shows, like the technical and cave diving specials. It looks like this one will be another of the better ones. "Blue Planet" is going to take a look at a variety of species and areas of the ocean.

I recently got a cable network that has something like eight or nine discovery channels. The only bad thing is that it encourages me to be even more of a couch potato


Later!

 

[Fishkiller]

" an area so vast that even the largest of creatures can hide"

 

[brizzolatti]

If it's the same Blue Planet that has been on here in the UK you're in for a treat. The photography is simply stunning. It's also out on video/DVD here now.

Enjoy

 

[Weezle]

I am really looking forward to it.

I saw a show last night on the USS Grasp - one of the US's recovery ships - they talked some about trimix diving.

 

[neilstewart]

Just to echo Brizzolatti's post.

Blue Planet is the best natural history series I think the BBC have ever made, and they really know how to make them. 5 years and $7.5m well spent. It is truely spectacular. I attended a lecture by one of the series prducers, Martha Holmes, and she took us through some background to capturing this amazing footage. All natural history fans owe a big thanks to Martha and her team for their efforts.

Enjoy.

Neil

 

[peter]

Blue Planet was on here aboot 3 mths ago.
All I can say is your gonna love it.

 

[Butch103]

Looks like a great program....I hope we can get it on the dish......

In the same vein, I watched a program last night on the Discovery Channel (I think) regarding the wsharks in Paulau...and I was disgusted (I understand it happens in many places) with the shark "finning" going on ......what a waste....this should be punshable by casteration.............(sorry to those offended)

It is unbelievable that this goes on...as stated in the program... if this was being done to dolphins we would all be up in arms over it...........

 

[NAUTICAL NOBLE]

I can not wait to see it, will tape it !

 

[Weezle]

Along Butch's line of thought,

I was recently reading about the tuna fishing in the galapagos. The government of Ecuador has been allowing tuna fishermen to long line fish in the galapagos areas.

Sharks and endangered sea birds are taking the bait and dying by the thousands. With the slow growth and reproductive rates of sharks, it is only a matter of time before they become rare all over the world.

With eco-travel becoming more popular every year it only makes sense for these fishermen who only make something like 20 cents a pound for shark meat to turn to tourism. It won't be a fast or easy process, but it must slowly happen.

I forgot where, but in one area where whale shark fishing is legal, something like 6000 of them were killed for there fins during a six week season.

If one whale shark was seen in the same area for say three weeks, and 40 people (2 boat trips) per day paid 40 dollars per dive to dive with it, the shark that would have make 200 dollars dead would make over 30 thousand alive.

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I feel pretty strongly about it.

I grew up in New Hampshire at SeaBrook, where I only had to walk 20 feet out of my front door during high tide to be standing in water. Behind our house was a tidal creek where an innumerable (sp?) number of fish, invertibrates, and birds lived. I used to go out fishing almost every day, and free dive for lobster (some of which were over two feet long and I didn't want to mess with) , I would go out on the flats during the day when the tide was out and gather mussels, and clams which my grandmother would steam or make into a stew. I don't have a problem with this kind of fishing, for the most part, as we fed ourselves with the catch. But, it is becoming apparent that our natural resources aren't going to hold up to the onslaught. It is time for a more managed look at our waters and fishing limits that work. Currently they limit the catch to the biggest members of the species, but these are the animals that have the strongest genes that allowed them to reach this size. They also lay an expodential amount of eggs to their size. A fish that weighs two pounds might lay 20,000 eggs, but a fish that weighs four pounds might lay 200,000, for example.

Gotta start thinking about where it is all going.

 

[SpyderTek]

Well after much anticipation and about a million commercials building the hype for this show on Discovery Channel it finaly aired last night.

I watched this channel nearly exclusively all day. It looked as if the entire day's line up was going to be dedicated to the sea / oceans. God smiling on us divers for a change?

The line up ran:

3:00 PM 10 Deadliest Sharks
5:00 PM Ocean Mysteries
6:00 PM Ocean Mysteries
7:00 PM Ocean Mysteries
8:00 PM Mega-Tsunamis
9:00 PM Blue Planet: Seas of Life
10:00 PM Blue Planet: Seas of Life

Well, here is my verdict...Yes, some of the cinematography was pretty stunning in the Blue Planet:seas of life show I really have to say that they wasted their 5 years and all that money. I belive quite frankly that every show that was on prior to it that day was more informative, usefull, and a better mix of beautiful film footage to interesting information.

Don't get me wrong, I still plan to watch every episode of Blue Planet but it definately was NOT what I expected. I expected a modern Cousteau and instead got a Modern Mutual of Omahaw. Only thing missing from "...now happy little woodchuck, poking it's nose up from its prarrie burrow, spots the feersome water buffalo..." production was the annoying flute musical overly they used to do.

Critiquingly,

SpyderTek