Blue In Focus is about to leave for the Pacific to begin an expedition into this vast expanse of the western half of the Pacific Ocean.
The focus of this next documentary will be sharks and other large pelagic species such as manta rays and tuna.
The Melanesian peoples that inhabit some of the western Pacific islands have a long ancient ritual relationship with sharks and are even known to call sharks but such ritual beliefs have long been diluted or have disappeared since the arrival of Christian missionaries who first arrived in this part of the world over a hundred years ago.
Another topic of interest will be the vast numbers of Asian trawlers that scourer the Pacific in search of valuable marine products such as tuna .
Large fishing trawlers from Thailand – China – Japan – Indonesia and the Philippines not to mention other fleets from S.America and Russia also operate across the pacific. Trawlers within the Pacific are largely un-policed and un-regulated and some trawler fleets from regions such as Thailand are known to be active in using slave labour who originate from countries such as Myanmar – Indonesia and the Philippines.
The journey to the Pacific will also seek to learn more about the threats that our oceans are faced with.From the shores of E.Africa Blue In Focus aims to highlight the need to conserve our oceans fragile biodiversity. We will also focus on regional communities that are actively engaged with sustainable marine management.
In the next week Blue In Focus will be on location filming marine subjects across the western half of the Pacific and diving to film this regions magical underwater world – join us on this journey of discovery.
