{"id":232823,"date":"2025-07-02T19:54:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T19:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232823\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T19:54:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T19:54:15","slug":"video-of-seagrass-devastation-cut-from-attenborough-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/232823\/","title":{"rendered":"Video of seagrass devastation cut from Attenborough documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filmmakers cut footage of fishing boats destroying seagrass meadows from Sir David Attenborough\u2019s Ocean film because it was deemed too shocking.<\/p>\n

Previously unseen video was shown to a small number of people at the recent UN ocean summit in Nice<\/a>, revealing seagrass in the Turkish Mediterranean being affected by bottom trawling. <\/p>\n

The video shows huge plumes of sediment being thrown up as a weighted net smashes through the grass, a vital habitat for spawning fish. <\/p>\n

\"Ocean<\/p>\n

The world-first footage of commercial bottom trawling in Ocean has provoked conversations around conservation<\/p>\n

ALTITUDE FILMS<\/p>\n

The Turkish conservationist and filmmaker Zafer Kizilkaya, who worked with the Ocean team, said he wanted to include the scenes in the film but they decided it was too disturbing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat footage I showed, that was the one that we decided to take out of the documentary. You know, it was a bit too harsh for the public,\u201d Kizilkaya told The Times. \u201cI\u2019ve been going out with trawlers for so long. But seeing that damage \u2026 before your eyes is a totally different thing. This is killing an entire deep-sea ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attenborough\u2019s film is thought to have played a key role in the government\u2019s decision last month<\/a> to ban bottom trawling in around half the territory of marine protected areas (MPAs) in England. Celebrities including Stephen Fry and the White Lotus actor Theo James have called for a full ban on the destructive fishing practice in MPAs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ocean, which was released in cinemas and on Disney+ in June, includes underwater footage of bottom trawling in the Mediterranean and in UK waters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Bottom<\/p>\n

Bottom trawling involves dragged weighted nets along the seabed<\/p>\n

ALTITUDE FILMS<\/p>\n

However, the scene of seagrass being ploughed was cut. The footage was filmed in Turkish waters at an undisclosed location. The team did not know the seagrass was there until they retrieved the footage, as it was 27 metres underwater.<\/p>\n

Kizilkaya said the Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) would take a long time to recover because it grew slowly, at about 2cm a year. The damage to the habitat is bad news for fish, which use it as a nursery for their young, and for tackling climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cScientific papers have proven that it\u2019s the plant on the planet having the highest capacity of carbon storage, which is about eight kilograms per square meter, ten times higher than rainforests,\u201d Kizilkaya said. <\/p>\n

Sophie Benbow, marine director at conservation group Fauna & Flora, who saw the footage in Nice, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a lose-lose-lose for wildlife, the climate and for all of us who rely on a healthy ocean for our survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kizilkaya said the public could play a key role in stopping bottom trawling by asking fishmongers and restaurants about where they sourced their fish and seafood. \u201cIn a month, we can stop the whole bottom trawling industry. It\u2019s all about the end consumer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

The Prince of Wales and Attenborough recorded a discussion about the state of the world\u2019s seas for the Ocean premiere in June<\/p>\n

KENSINGTON PALACE VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The UK government is consulting on the ban on bottom trawling in 41 of the country\u2019s 377 MPAs, but is facing a fierce pushback from fishing trade bodies. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis ban will cause huge hardship to fishermen and their families and it will advance the cause of marine conservation no more than a far more targeted restriction would do,\u201d the National Federation of Fishermen\u2019s Organisations claimed in a blogpost. \u201cThis is an astonishing attack on fishermen and coastal communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seagrass species can be found in UK waters and several conservation efforts are under way to restore meadows<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filmmakers cut footage of fishing boats destroying seagrass meadows from Sir David Attenborough\u2019s Ocean film because it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-232823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114785397436542756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}