Sir David Attenborough’s powerful new film makes clear: ‘If we save our seas, we save our world’.
Released to mark his 99th birthday, Sir David Attenborough’s latest film Ocean, takes us on a journey into the deep to reveal the hidden world beneath the waves. At times shocking, often moving, and ultimately inspiring and hopeful, it delivers a stark message: we are draining the life from our ocean, but if we act now, nature can recover.
Through eye-opening new underwater footage, Ocean shows us for the first time the impact that humans are having on our marine wildlife, through unsustainable and damaging fishing practices, like bottom-trawling.
For too long we've taken too much from the ocean and our wildlife simply can't compete. Where once vast areas were left untouched, now hundreds of thousands of industrial fishing vessels operate in every corner of the ocean, even in the remotest parts, like Antarctica.
We see the effects of this overfishing highlighted through the plight of seabirds, with Gannets starving to death and seabird colonies dwindling. As top predators, seabirds provide us with a window into what’s happening below the waves and their struggles tell us that the delicate food chain they rely on is failing, with fish becoming scarcer by the day.
Here in the UK, 62% of seabird species are in decline and more seabirds than ever before have been added to the Red List of species of the highest conservation concern. In Scotland, once a stronghold for seabirds, the situation is even more worrying, with 70% of species declining.
The picture looks bleak – but there is hope.
Please donate today to the RSPB’s Marine Recovery Programme, a bold and ambitious programme of work to put our seabirds and marine life on the road to recovery. Thank you.
As the film so vividly demonstrates, our ocean has an extraordinary ability to bounce back to life – if we let it. Often all it needs is to be left alone and given the time and space to recover.
By creating a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that are free from overfishing and other damaging practices, we can safeguard vital spawning grounds and areas for fish and other creatures, like lobsters, to mature.
Evidence shows that over time, these safe havens will become so full of marine life that it literally overflows into the surrounding waters, helping to bolster fish stocks outside the no-take zone – something that has been seen in many places across the globe, from the Isle of Arran in Scotland to the Channel Islands in the USA.
One of the most inspiring stories of recovery showcased in Ocean, comes from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument around Hawai’i – the world’s largest marine protected area. Thanks to the vision of local fishermen and community elders, harmful fishing practices are banned and marine life is flourishing. Once on the brink of extinction here, Laysan Albatrosses are now thriving, and the area supports the largest colony of these majestic birds on Earth, clearly demonstrating the far-reaching benefits of large-scale and cohesive marine protection.
In the UK, we have a network of protected marine sites, but as the film highlights, many damaging activities, including trawling, are still permitted in these so-called ‘protected’ areas, with no effective monitoring in place. With the added challenge of a rapidly changing climate, unified protection is urgently needed and that must start with fully transparent monitoring.
At the RSPB, we’re leading efforts to protect the ocean and ensure our seabirds have safe places to breed, feed and survive. A recent highlight was the closure of industrial sandeel fishing in the English North Sea and all Scottish waters in March 2024, following more than 30 years of science and policy work, as well as campaigning and awareness raising.
Through our work on the BBC’s Wild Isles series with Sir David Attenborough we were able to showcase the impact of climate change and overfishing on sandeels – small but mighty fish that provide a key food source for seabirds, commercial fish species, and whales and dolphins.
By highlighting the plight of starving seabirds on screen, we drew attention to the issue and encouraged thousands of RSPB supporters to back the closure of these damaging fisheries, helping to drive the change seabirds so desperately needed.
However, soon after being declared, the closures faced a major challenge from the European Commission, leading to a landmark legal case under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. We continued to voice our support for this lifeline for seabirds, and in May 2025 we were delighted to hear that the Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal upheld the closures, validating the science behind them and reinforcing the need to protect prey species for ecosystem recovery.
We now urge the UK Government to make the closure permanent and strongly support Scotland's commitment to do so.
To drive the recovery of marine life more widely, we’re also calling for:
With the right action, we can turn the tide for people, seabirds and other marine wildlife, and the ocean on which we all depend. In the words of Sir David Attenborough “if we save our seas, we save our world” – but we can only do that with your support.
Please donate today to the RSPB’s Marine Recovery Programme, a bold and ambitious programme of work to put our seabirds and marine life on the road to recovery. Thank you.
