In a special half hour show, CNN’s Call to Earth meets award-winning conservation photographers and marine biologists Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier who are on a mission to protect the ocean, using the power of visual media.
Mittermeier speaks about the importance of photography to conservation projects, “My photographs are just a way of lowering the price of entry into the most important conversation that we can be having. And that is the future of life on planet Earth.”
As Call to Earth guest editors, Nicklen and Mittermeier have chosen to highlight stories that reflect their passion and commitment to the use of visual storytelling to support and promote ocean conservation.
The programme joins them in Loreto Bay National Park in the Gulf of California, Mexico. The region has more species of whales than anywhere on the planet and is one of the richest marine habitats in the world. It is also one of the most commercially fished — and with less than 5% of its waters protected Nicklen and Mittermeier are leading the fight for expanded protection. “This is the engine of planet Earth. If you opened the hood, it would be all saltwater, and we know nothing about how to run it,” Mittermeier says.
Through their newly formed non-profit, SeaLegacy, Nicklen and Mittermeier aim to bring hope to the oceans by merging storytelling with science. They aim to help local conservationists capitalise on the abundance of whales in the Gulf of California as a prime reason to expand Mexico’s Marine Protected Areas.
Mario Gomez is leading the charge for a biosphere reserve in the area. He explains, “The fishing industry is fishing for today. So if they really want to fish for tomorrow, they need saving accounts like Marine Protected Areas. That is the only legal instrument. Otherwise, they’re going to deplete the oceans.”
Former tennis pro Michael Fishbach co-founded the Great Whale Conservancy (GWC) in 2010, dedicated to ensuring the recovery of great whales. He has been leading eco-tour research trips to the Sea of Cortez to study blue whales for twenty years and his daughter Delphi Waters has been joining him since she was 6 months old. She and her father co-founded, Whale Guardians, GWC’s global program to prevent unintentional vessel strikes on great whales. Fishbach and Waters believe that if we can restore the great whale population to their historical numbers both the planet and humanity will reap the benefits. According to the International Monetary Fund, each great whale sequesters 33 tons of CO2 on average. When the die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean, taking that carbon out of the atmosphere for centuries.
Nicklen and Mittermeier are able to support the GWC through their use of photography and aerial video using drones. Nicklen expands on how they help conservation efforts, “We can be value added, we can share our visual assets with them, which help tell their story and then with that, they’re sharing their knowledge and their scientific knowledge and their experience with us. Obviously when you collaborate, you grow together. And ultimately, it all helps the blue whales and it helps create this biosphere reserve.”
Fishbach discusses the impact this photography can have, “It’s important to get photo IDs because what that does is it turns a large whale into an individual, that can be identified again by someone else. We can also track, you know, any injuries or any new information and really get to know these whales as individuals instead of just as a species.”
The images become part of a larger online database, which can be accessed and used to map migratory patterns. Whale Guardians can then work directly with the maritime industry to provide re-routing options for their fleets. “This means that every one of those vessels has the opportunity when deemed safe to avoid this whale habitat, where otherwise they would have no idea that they’re going through critical whale habitat. And we have seen an amazingly heart-warming response from the industry, says Waters.
With the recent addition of SeaLegacy1 — a catamaran outfitted to be a floating production house, allowing Nicklen and Mittermeier to chase conservation stories like never before — they are now firmly on the front lines of ocean conservation. This new hub of content creation is already taking their photographic expeditions and global campaigns to the next level.
Mittermeier sums up the organisation’s future, “The people who quietly and almost invisibly have dedicated their lives to doing the work in the front lines. To me, those are the real heroes, and there are thousands around our planet. So as the Legacy1 continues its journey around globe, we intend to find those heroes and shine the spotlight on their work.”