great images! I was glued to the screen.

Wow. This video is easily one of my favorite nature clips of undersea life. The beauty of the surrounding area, all of its color, is something to cherish.

This video was out of this world.I love it and so did me childern.

I was fascinated by this film. And as some of the previous posters said, glued to the TV set; even though in my case it was the laptop screen. I was overjoyed to see the amazing creatures living in Cocos, and my heart almost jumped out of my chest as the team were about to do their night dives.

But the glue came off at the very end when Howard chose to paint the Taiwanese fishing fleets as the villains. I do not stand to defend over-fishing. If that’s what they are doing, shame on them, but do we know that for sure?

From what I see, at least they are employing locals and giving the local people a chance to make a living from what nature has given them. I will trade some fishing fleets in the area with turning this enchanting place into a resort town any day. Which I have no doubt would happen if people cannot make some money off fishing.

And I am truly sorry to say this, especially to the filmmakers, but some of us just aren’t lucky enough to afford 40 cases of hi-end filming equipment and make a living off that. Some people actually need to make a meal off mother nature.

In any case, it is overly simplistic to think the major depletion of global fish stock is caused by any single country. If one paid any attention watching this film, one would know that 90% of the global fish stock is already gone. Yes, that’s 90% of the entire planet, not any single place or region. People like “EA” (the 7th poster) would be surprised to know that this destruction only took us human beings less than 100 years.

And what is the deal of calling them gangsters? Because they are less charmingly dressed?

People like “EA” would also be surprised to know that European long range fleets annually haul out tens of thousands of tons of fish off the coast of Africa. To give an example, some of these vessels can catch and process 7,000 tonnes of catch in a single voyage. One ship 7,000 tonnes of fish, you do the math. These practices are truly destructive and have pretty much killed off the local fishing industry; taking the livelihoods right out of the hands of locals.

Here comes the real kicker. These fleets can only make the long trips economically feasible because of heavy government subsidies, which means Westerners like you and I are not entirely innocent.

I do not doubt the filmmakers’ love for marine life, and what must be most painful for them to see the once abundant life dimming. But I hold what’s aired on PBS to a much higher standard than to do some (in my own humble opinion) haphazard finger-pointing out of the strange needs to “find a bad guy” in this very very complicated global problem.

If one is interested in watching more films on this subject, I would recommend another feature that was aired on PBS, called “Strange Days on Planet Earth.”

I know I have said some mean things, but I still really enjoyed Shark Mountain. Thank you to the filmmakers for giving us the privilege of seeing through their eyes, the wonder of our planet.

SY, in their comment above, seems to apologize for human apathy by stating that “it is overly simplistic to think the major depletion of global fish stock is caused by any single country”. However, I think the film is indeed accurate and SY is missing the point. Having personally spent a good deal of time in Taiwan, and being married to a Taiwanese ex-patriot, I know for a fact that the Taiwanese choose to celebrate their weddings by throwing banquets in which large amounts of shark fin soup are consumed. When I’ve confronted Taiwanese people about this issue, I have always been told that it is just a tradition and nothing can be done about it. Well, some traditions obviously need to change. It is true that the Taiwanese do not hold a monopoly on traditions that are out of sync with the balance of nature, but that does not make their continued disregard for the consequence of their actions any less reprehensible, just as an affluent American gorging themselves with beef and unnecessary energy consumption should not be tolerated as the simple perpetuation of the status quo. Simply defending the problem with the argument that people need to make a living assumes that humans are so unresourceful that they are incapable of adaptation when circumstances require it. If this is true, then we are certainly doomed to cause our own invevitable self-inflicted extinction.

Wow, astonishingly beautiful. Definitely on my “to do” dive list.

the starfish was the fave!!! but it all was a beatiful sight to see.

it was not beautiful it was awesome

You mean to tell me that u can hunt sharks??? This is awesome!!!! I will be planning a trip today!!

Fantastic vedio i hope the sharks can survive the greedy fishermen if not we all may be in trouble because the shark may be deep in the sea but his work is tied to all of us.

i love this video soooooooooooo much
its the best ive ever seen

kool

very beautiful

I ♥ OCEAN