In our film, Attenborough brings audiences the untold story of how they can help save the world’s Ocean and global climate. The cinematic documentary features never-before-seen footage of bottom trawling and its devastating effects on the ocean. Bottom trawling is completely blind – only by revealing this footage to the world and exposing what’s happening beneath the surface can people begin to understand the impact on marine life.

Bottom-trawling and dredging have remained hidden from view for hundreds of years – until now. Ocean with David Attenborough puts a necessary spotlight on the human actions leading to the Ocean’s collapse and the effects of destructive fishing techniques. The visceral, heart-wrenching footage featured in the clip is the first time the process of bottom trawling has been filmed in such high quality and the immense scale of trawling’s destruction revealed. Iron chains bulldoze across the seabed, leaving trails of devastation in their wake that are visible from space.

Attenborough reveals that trawlers, often on the hunt for a single species, discard almost everything else. He remarks, “it’s hard to imagine a more wasteful way to catch fish.”

This destructive fishing method occurs daily across the globe; an area almost the size of the Amazon rainforest is trawled every year, with the same places being trawled repeatedly, without the chance to recover. As Attenborough says in the clip, “very few places are safe from this.”

As our film shows, ocean protection is a win for us all, especially with over 3 billion people worldwide depending on fish as a food source. Conservation and fisheries have the same goal: more abundance of fish. Stronger ocean protection can help boost fish stocks, support fishing communities, restore biodiversity and combat climate change.

As Attenborough declares, “If we save the sea, we save our world.”

Our team filmed Ocean with David Attenborough across the globe, including the Azores (Portugal), California, Indonesia, the U.K., Liberia, Antarctica, the Mediterranean and Hawaii. Filming took place over two years, with bottom trawling filmed in early 2024 in partnership with scientific studies investigating its impact. The trawling footage was handed over to the scientific community to support global research efforts and will be open-sourced on Open Planet, enabling free access for educators, NGOs and campaigners to tell their stories and inspire change for the ocean.

Silverback Films Filmmakers Toby Nowlan, Keith Scholey and Open Planet Studios’ Colin Butfield said of the project, “Collaborating with David Attenborough to deliver this powerful message is a dream come true for us as filmmakers and storytellers. We hope that sharing this unprecedented look at bottom trawling will bring greater awareness to the reality of what’s happening beneath the waves and inspire audiences to protect the world around us.”