Chasing Coral: Impact of Climate Change on Coral Reefs

Introduction

In this paper, I will be reviewing Chasing Coral for my introduction to oceanography class taught by Professor Christopher Evans. The documentary follows numerous marine science professionals in their interdisciplinary journey of documenting different species of coral. Chasing Coral was released in the United States on July 15th, 2017 and is of 93 minutes running time. It was directed by Jeff Orlowski, produced by Jeff Orlowski and Larissa Rhodes, and distributed by Netflix. I watched the film on my laptop computer in my dorm room at the Hawai’i Loa campus of Hawai’i Pacific University.

Summary of Chasing Coral

The film begins with a monologue from Richard Vevers, an underwater photographer, instrumental member of the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, and CEO of The Ocean Agency. Vevers explores his fascination with the ocean and how many others have yet to realize the true intricacy of it. Various reports and interviews are played to explain the mission of the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, how it will be fulfilled, and why the documentation and protection of coral reefs are so necessary. Vevers reflects on his past career in advertising and how it felt futile to spend his life figuring out ways to market goods to people. He discusses how he has been diving since the young age of 16 and how his interest was piqued when his favorite marine animal, the weedy seadragon, was becoming sparse in his routine diving areas. This forced him to contemplate “What else in the ocean landscape could this be happening to?” Vevers explains how since it is so easy to not consider the ocean due to its vast and mysterious qualities, it is also easy to forget about preserving its health. He uses this to segue into the next question he and his team needed to answer, “how can we communicate these issues?” The XL Catlin Seaway Survey was a good tool to get people to interact and explore the ocean, but it was (initially) not as good at getting people to realize the gravity of the underlying issue regarding the health of the oceans. This forced the team to get back to work. In the next scene, viewers meet Dr. Phil Dustan, a marine biologist, who shows Vevers old photographs of Floridian coral reefs circa 1970s and how deteriorated they have become since then.

Vevers states that according to Dr. Dustan, “We have lost 80-90% of corals in Florida.” Viewers are then allowed an inside look at the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology. From there, Dr. Ruth Gates, a coral reef biologist, explains that corals are animals and since polyps are part of the animal, they can be viewed as animals as well. She then discusses how complex the internal aspects of corals truly are. “Simplicity on the outside doesn’t mean simplicity on the inside.” Even as a coral reef biologist she admits that she thinks “[corals] have us all fooled” She also goes into detail on how corals get their food via microalgae inside polyp tissues. The millions upon millions of microalgae photosynthesize within the polyp tissue which the coral can then use to power itself. She also states that corals grow in size by simply growing beyond its skeleton over and over. During the day is when the plants do their work and its not until nighttime when the animal parts release their tentacles and catch food via the stinging cells that are attached to the tentacles. There is much diversity to be found between and even within species of corals. Their physical attributes can vary widely in color, size, and shape. The group then heads to American Samoa to examine “Airport Reef” and hopes to capture the humongous differences in its appearance since they were last there. Upon their arrival, it was very obvious to tell that the reef was experiencing bleaching. The bleaching happened very rapidly since the previous December.

The scientists realize it had not been a disease that caused the bleaching, but it had been the raising of the water temperature. Initially, scientists didn’t want to use alarming language such as “climate change”. Vevers uses a really good analogy about the human body to explain this. Imagine if your body temperature had risen 2 degrees. The viewers begin to understand because people are often in agony when experiencing fevers. If your body temperature were to keep the high temperature for an extended period, you would likely die. Dr. Gates describes how higher water temperatures incite changes within the corals that cause it to bleach. The aforementioned microalgae within the tissues’ ability to photosynthesize become weakened which leaves the animal part of the coral without a large part of its food source. The coral doesn’t necessarily change color, the white color humans see is coral skeleton. Due to the coral no longer allowing anything to grow on it, grow itself, or reproduce, bleached corals are anticipated to die. Going further, a sign that a coral is already dead is if it appears that it has become coated with microalgae and has a “fuzzy” appearance to it. The team continues to struggle with how to relay images and information about bleaching due to the lack of public awareness. The director and one of the producers, Jeff Orlowski, comes into the plot here by explaining how he got involved in the project. The team brings on underwater camera technicians and combine their knowledge to create a self-cleaning, underwater, time-lapse camera.

Since the team was the first to create a tool like this, there were a lot of mishaps and hurdles they had to jump over. They had to consider the corrosive properties of salt water, storms, installation, water pressure and depth, how to control the camera to keep it in focus, and much more. Not only would the camera further coral reef research, but they created a camera that no one else had created before. Viewers are introduced to Dr. Mark Eakin who works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He demonstrates that there is no question about whether or not the ocean temperatures are rising by explaining how humans have changed the overall average temperature. He informs the viewers that “The first widespread bleaching event occurred in the early 1980’s” and that around the late 1990s was when humans experienced “the first global-scale mass-bleaching”. We broke that threshold again in less than 20 years. He worries that with the current trend, our third global-scale mass-bleaching could be coming even sooner. Coral reefs provide everything from nutrition, protection from extreme weather events, and even medicine for humans. When one of the technicians retrieves the camera in the Bahamas to review the footage, he is disheartened as a majority of it is out of focus and unviable. The footage from the other camera in Hawai’i is also out of focus and essentially worthless. However, the team fixed the issue with the camera and didn’t give up. The team then heads to Australia to place the improved cameras as they notice that Australia is experiencing rising temperatures and bleaching as well. It is at this point where the team specifically points to climate change being the cause of all of this.

One of the ways they back up the claim of bleaching being a fairly recent phenomenon is by examining coral cores and comparing them. During the team’s time in New Caledonia, they notice that the corals are turning fluorescent colors which is later to be their natural defense against the high temperatures. Though aesthetically beautiful, the appearance of the neon colors mortified the team as it meant conditions were becoming extreme. As we are nearing the end of the film, the various scientists discuss how epically devastating it would/will be to our entire planet if/when the bleached corals continue to bleach and eventually die. The documentary wraps itself up at the end with the final presentation of the team’s findings at a conference at the Hawai’i Convention Center, here on the island of O’ahu. The main underwater camera technician, Zack Ragos, who was one of the key players of the film, takes a different approach when comparing his presentation versus other scientists. The time-lapse footage shows an immense amount of coral decomposition, especially when you take into account the short period of time the team was able to capture it. One of the final notes compares losing 29% of coral on the GBR that we did in 2016 to losing all of the trees from an area as large as Washington D.C. to Maine. The director encourages people to document bleaching and coral degradation in hopes of bringing awareness to it and it’s reach. People from all over the world who contributed videos were included at the end of the film. The team then show one of the most beautiful reefs from the GBR that wasn’t affected by the last bleaching. The inclusion of this clip and a clip of Ragos teaching children instilled viewers with a sense of hope and a sense of self-efficacy. Vevers also comes in at the end to reinforce this idea of hope. It is possible to fix this issue, humans just have to take action.

Critique of Chasing Coral Documentary

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. Climate change documentaries rarely focus on the ocean, and if they do, they tend to focus on the charismatic species. That’s not to say that mass extinction of marine life isn’t important, I simply mean that this film more so focuses on the most important species and how the environment itself is killing them. The movie exceeded my expectations with the ending. I didn’t know exactly when or how the team was planning to present their findings. During Zack Ragos’ presentation, I literally started crying. It isn’t typical of science films to emotionally engage viewers the way Chasing Coral has. The team encompassed everything necessary to make flow beautifully with a comprehensive explanation. After taking conservation biology last semester, I’ve already changed my lifestyle in many ways that take strain off of the environment. I eat out a lot less, I purchase plastic-free products where I can, and I look into the brands I support. This film further solidified my want to find better products or even go without products I never needed in the first place.

However, I do feel more inclined to commit to activities that specifically support coral reefs positively. Chasing Coral relates to the oceanography class in many ways. Specific parallels including discussing coral reefs, their importance in every aspect, and what is harming them. We also discussed climate change and how it is causing ocean temperatures to rise. The film primarily focused on their journey but included a lot of tidbits of crucial information necessary to understand why what they were doing is important. They didn’t elaborate on what citizens could do to stop climate change but simply stated that action is necessary and possible. Personally, there were a few scenes that could have been taken out to make the film shorter while still getting the same message across. For example, any of the million scenes where the director uses Zack Ragos’ emotion to tug at viewers’ heartstrings. Yes, it worked. Yes, it was the main reason I enjoyed the film. Yes, his enthusiasm brings a wholesome property to the film. However, it became a little too obvious that they were using pathos to get something out of us at times. The title Chasing Coral accurately described the film because it was the team’s mission. They were on a tight schedule with trying to follow high water temperatures before it was too late to show any transformation.

Conclusion

The film is below my level of understanding, but that’s not a bad thing. I think that someone as young as a 9th grader could comprehend it if they paid attention, which is a good thing considering that these are the people who will be leading our country quite soon. Strong points of the video were most of the emotional scenes and a good chunk of the more scientific explanation based scenes. Weaker points of the video were when it became too apparent with the emotional stuff. I could have done without a lot of the beautiful graphic scenes of corals but I know that that was necessary to keep people who may not be as familiar enticed. The film was released in 2017 so to my knowledge it coincides pretty well with current happenings. I think a new one will be necessary to follow the third global-scale coral bleaching event. To improve the film, I would have the scientists and team elaborate more on what people can do to help increase the number of healthy corals and all that’s involved in that area. I would definitely recommend this film to both others in class and people in general. This was a truly great film and I wish I had known about it when it came out. I think that if people give movies like this one a chance that it will be easier to help the planet or at least believe that we are rapidly degrading it. Chasing Coral is a fantastic film and highlights many environmental issues that people aren’t conscious of and I can’t wait to share this film when I am home with my family over winter break.

Works Cited

1. Orlowski, J. (Director). (2017). Chasing Coral [Documentary]. United States: Netflix.