IW015 - South Pacific
Happy face spiders, shrieking eels, the incredible origins of the bungee jump: the wonders of the largest body of water on the planet - including its 20,000+ islands - are laid out in the BBC documentary series South Pacific.
Just click the link below to hear what we thought of all this excitement.
Photo by Mahmoud Fawzy. Licensed through Unsplash.
Island Watch Picnic Picks
for South Pacific
Our South Pacific picnic is different by necessity from other Island Watch Picnics.
We’re closing in on the basics: sustainably sourced fish.
In a Vice interview, seafood Chef Michael Cimarusti puts it plainly: “I want people to know that they have the power to make changes. If you make one decision when buying fish, and make it again, and again, and again—that really creates change. Ask questions to find out where your fish is coming from and how it was harvested.
If enough people start saying they don't want bluefin tuna during their omakase and enough bluefin starts to rot in the chef's case, he's not going to order it anymore. Nobody is going to die of starvation because you give up bluefin tuna. These are all first-world problems, truly. But they resonate on a much larger level than that, the extinction of a species is not just a first-world problem, it is a worldwide problem.”
So if you love eating fish, how do you find something sustainable?
First off, says Cimarusti, “You shouldn't ever be looking for bargains in fish or shellfish, you really shouldn't….You should think as fish as being no different than expensive prime beef. We have sardines, too, but sardines are like the Grateful Dead or black licorice—you either love it or hate it.”
A couple of paths to ensuring fish stocks continue for our kids and their kids:
Find sustainable fish to eat. Cimarusti partners with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, well-known for its recommendations on what to eat and what to avoid. Their query function takes just a moment to pop in the name of what you want to eat, and check out the options.
Just stop eating fish. For sure, stop eating endangered species. Some folks choose to go further, as author Megan Mayhew Bergman discusses in her Guardian article, Pale and gelatinous: I tried vegan seafood so you don't have to.
“I understand that it’s hard to give up what we love, what we feel entitled to, what we’ve always eaten, what provides much-needed money to fishing communities. Truthfully, I don’t think we’ll ever make meaningful progress until we look at all the points of suffering in the entire system: the aquatic species, the ecosystems, and the laborers and communities that rely on them for income.
“In order to lessen your impact on our struggling ocean, you don’t even have to eat processed vegan seafood. You can forgo seafood and contribute to organizations that help restore ocean health….You can substitute chickpeas for tuna in tuna salad.”
Benedict Cumberbatch by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Island Cast
South Pacific features Benedict Cumberbatch as narrator (we met him earlier last season in Small Island), a few million animals, and a few trillion insects. Plus a few volcanoes and cyclones thrown in for good measure.
But the real star of the show is the endless blue water...
Photo by Brian Yurasits. Licensed through Unsplash.
Plastic
“Plastic,” says comedian John Oliver of Last Week Tonight, “is very much the Jane Lynch of materials. It’s incredibly versatile, appears in almost everything, and isn’t going anywhere for the next 400 years.” (Click here to watch John’s deep dive into plastics and what we can do to get ahold of the plastic problem.)
If plastic were a super-villain ... well, it is, actually. Among its evil acts:
It kills sea turtles. That plastic bag you use could wind up luring a turtle to think it’s a jellyfish. And that’s all that’s needed to kill that turtle.
Sea otters are adorable. But really, do sea otters need a plastic prop to capture your heart? They don’t, and neither do any of the other species plastic in the ocean puts at risk: at least 700.
Mangroves, the amazing trees that prevent shore erosion, are being killed by plastics. (Pretty ironic, considering that on sea-level islands like Kiribati, which we visited last season, mangroves are being planted as away to mitigate the effects of climate change.)
Lab Manager News reports on Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) researcher Celine van Bijsterveldt. "Mangroves form a perfect plastic trap," says van Bijsterveldt. For the mangrove tree, this trap can become quite lethal. The most common mangrove tree on Java's coast, the grey mangrove, has upward-growing roots to get oxygen flowing during high tide. "You can look at these roots as snorkels," says van Bijsterveldt. "When plastic waste accumulates in these forests, the snorkels are blocked." In areas completely covered by plastic, trees suffocate.
On the forest floor of mangroves along the north coast, it is hard to find a square meter without plastic. "On average, we found 27 plastic items per square meter."Plastic hurts landlubbers too. We humans are now eating the equivalent of one credit card’s worth of plastic every a)day b)month c)year. Click here for the answer.
If you still need convincing that plastic needs to get voted off the island for good, then check out this article with plastic facts to shake you up. For example,
“ By 2050, environmental scientists estimate that there will be more plastic than fish (by weight) in the world’s oceans. This could seriously impact the world’s food supply. Also, not to mention, there are many health risks associated with having so much plastic in our food chain.”
The links above will all take you to actions you can begin to do your part to turn the tide on this plastic nightmare.
Photo by BeKonstructive Marketing. Licensed through Unsplash.
Ratings
Here’s how we rate the shows we watch. To help you head for the island show that's exactly right for you, we answer two questions:
Does this show make me feel like I’m actually on the island? That's our specialized Island Rating. No other show gives you that!
Do we recommend this show? Our Star Rating lets you know if we loved a show or not, regardless of the island.
***
Island Rating
Dave: 4.5 out of 5, mostly Splashing in the Surf.
We sailed all over this huge ocean, and we visited a huge number of islands. . And we saw lots of flora, fauna and cultures of those places.
Gemma: 5 out of 5, Splashing in the Surf
This was the first show we reviewed that flipped my view: instead of looking at the island shore, we looked at the ocean first, and then noticed the tiny amount of land within it. I appreciated that difference of perspective.
Star Rating:
Dave: 3 out of 5
The show didn’t quite do it for me. But it’s still an educational production, and compelling enough.
Gemma: 3.5 out of 5
A visually thrilling show that moved me to think more deeply about the care and attention needed, even by an entity as vast as an ocean.
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge. Licensed through Unsplash.
Find The Island
This one is windswept, rugged, full of salt and baby harp seals. Listen to the show for all the clues, and of course, the answer!
Bonus: here is an extra clue.
Photo by Dave Hoefler. Licensed through Unsplash.
Our Next Island
It’s almost time to put the Good Ship Island Watch into drydock for the season ... but before we do, we are splashing out with our special season ender, the Archipelago episode! It’s a ton of fun, don’t miss it!
Photo by Guilherme Stecanella. Licensed through Unsplash.
Messages In A Bottle
The best way to get in touch with us is by email.
Send your questions and comments to us at:
islandwatchpodcast@gmail.com