Storytelling for Ocean Recovery
About the Collection
The ocean is our lifeline. We depend on it for food, energy, water, and a stable climate. Yet, less than 3% of the world’s ocean is fully protected from overfishing, pollution and other threats. Conserving the ocean is essential to ensuring a healthy, thriving future for us all.
This collection on Open Planet brings together thousands of cinematic clips to help power storytelling for the ocean. It features spectacular underwater shots of marine wildlife and habitats, and compelling footage from above the waves, including coastal communities and fishing industries on the frontline of change.
The collection also features exclusive, world-class footage by award-winning cinematographers at Open Planet Studios and Silverback Films, captured during the filming of Ocean with David Attenborough. The landmark feature film, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, reveals 100 years of ocean discovery and why there’s nowhere more important for all life on Earth than the ocean.
Why now?
The launch of this collection comes halfway through the UN’s Ocean Decade and follows the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, where world leaders reaffirmed their commitments to marine protection and sustainable ocean governance.
Now, in this critical decade, ocean advocates, content creators and changemakers globally can be a powerful voice for the ocean by sharing their stories – helping to raise awareness, call for change, and respond to the timely messages of Ocean with David Attenborough.
“In today’s media landscape, with so many different tools for sharing stories, it’s important that we give everyone the images and scientific evidence to tell their own stories, in their own way, in their own language. This has the potential to transform ocean storytelling.”
— Colin Butfield, Director of 'Ocean with David Attenborough'; Co-Founder and Director of Open Planet
Tell your ocean story
Whether you're a campaigner, content creator, student or educator, dive into our collection and start your story today.
Explore the collectionThe importance of a healthy ocean
Covering around 70% of the world’s surface, our ocean supports and sustains all life on Earth. It provides us with food, water and air to breathe; it regulates the world’s climate, and helps drive the global economy.
- 3 billion people worldwide rely on the ocean for food.
- Half the world’s oxygen is produced by the ocean.
- Ocean plankton remove almost a third of our carbon emissions.
From our coastal seas to the deep ocean, these vital waters rely on a diverse yet delicate balance of life to thrive. Despite centuries of ocean exploration, we are still uncovering many of its mysteries, with over 2,000 new marine species discovered every year.
Our ocean under threat
As our understanding of the ocean has deepened, so too has our capacity to exploit it. A combination of destructive human activities has led to the widespread degradation of these intricate, highly evolved marine ecosystems. Much of this damage remains out of sight.
This includes overfishing and unsustainable fishing practices, deep-sea mining, and pollution caused by plastics, chemicals and oil spills, as well as noise pollution from shipping.
- $20bn (USD) is spent every year supporting industrial fishing on a global scale.
- 400,000 industrial fishing vessels hunt worldwide.
- Over three quarters of a trawler’s catch may be thrown away.
Climate change is also a major driver of ocean degradation. Coral bleaching, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification are just a few climate impacts affecting the health and stability of our waters.
Coastal development for tourism and housing has also caused the destruction of many precious habitats, such as mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs.
“This could be the moment of change. Nearly every country on Earth has agreed, on paper, to achieve this bare minimum and protect a third of the ocean. Together, we now face the challenge of making it happen.”
— Sir David Attenborough in ‘Ocean with David Attenborough’
Benefits of marine protection
When protected, the ocean has the remarkable ability to bounce back to life. Across the world, firsthand stories of ocean recovery reveal the benefits of a revived ocean for people, nature and fisheries, and provide hope for the future health of the ocean.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are regions dedicated to conserving marine ecosystems, habitats and species, where human activity is restricted. While levels of protection vary across MPAs, these areas play an important role in ocean recovery – helping to restore biodiversity, build climate resilience, and allow fish stocks to recover, often spilling into areas beyond the MPA.
Creating and improving MPAs is vital if we are to meet the global target of effectively protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.
“Wherever we have given the ocean time and space, it has recovered faster and on a greater scale than we dared to imagine possible. And it has the power to go even further.”
— Sir David Attenborough in ‘Ocean with David Attenborough’
Create stories for change
In this landmark decade for action, storytelling can play a vital role in raising awareness and inspiring action for the ocean. Start your ocean story today.
Discover the collection