The Great Bear Sea: Reflecting on the Past—Planning for the Future 60 minute film with Spanish subtitles
Amid Growing Demands on British Columbia’s Coastal Waters, People are Coming Together to Shape the Future of the Great Bear Sea.
The Great Bear Sea is a wild expanse of ocean where whales, wolves, bears and humans thrive in rich coastal ecosystems. The Great Bear Sea is also a place where worlds collide – a place full of historic conflicts, emerging struggles over ocean resources, and now globally leading solutions. 17 First Nations and the Province of British Columbia have crafted marine plans for the Great Bear Sea to protect marine ecosystems and build sustainable coastal economies. Meet people and communities along the coast of British Columbia who are working to implement the marine plans — to sustain their marine environment, livelihoods and cultures. Check out the elementary, secondary and post-secondary curriculum resources that accompany the film.
Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship – 60-minute film with Spanish subtitles
Ocean Frontiers takes us on an inspiring voyage to seaports and watersheds across the country—from the busy shipping lanes of Boston Harbor to a small fishing community in the Pacific Northwest; from America’s coral reefs in the Florida Keys to the nation’s premier seafood nursery in the Mississippi Delta. Here we meet an intermingling of unlikely allies, of industrial shippers and whale biologists, pig farmers and wetland ecologists, sport fishers and reef snorkelers and many more, all of them embarking on a new course of cooperation, to sustain the sea and our ocean economies.
Click on the image to watch the film. If you’d like a DVD or link to download Ocean Frontiers III or any films in the series, or if you are interested in hosting a screening for your community, family or friends, please complete this simple form and we’ll mail the film(s) to you, free of charge.
Ocean Frontiers III: Leaders in Ocean Stewardship & the New Blue Economy is a truly unique and hopeful ocean film that explores the intersection of national security, marine commerce and conservation. Savor rare underwater footage of stunning marine life along the coast from Virginia to Maine and hear from a range of people who are leading the way to a sustainable and thriving ocean. See the Ocean Frontiers III page for more information. Find a screening near you or host your own event!
Ocean Frontiers III explores the intersection of national security, maritime commerce, fishing, and recreation, plus expanding industries such as offshore wind energy and aquaculture, coupled with scientific discovery. Hear from a range of people, from Maine to Virginia, how ocean planning helps us keep national security strong, the economy growing, and conserve vital ocean habitat.
Welcome to the new, blue economy of the 21st century. An unprecedented collaboration of federal and state agencies and Native American tribes have developed regional ocean plans. Based on new ocean data and extensive stakeholder input, the intent of the plans is to keep national security strong, the economy growing, and protect vital ocean habitat.
Quotes from the Video
CHRIS P. SCRABA, DEPUTY CHIEF, WATERWAYS MANAGEMENT, HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES COAST GUARD
“We protect people on the sea, we protect the nation from threats given by the sea and we protect the sea itself from an environmental stewardship perspective. You can see right away that the prosperity of our nation is inextricably connected to maritime commerce and the safe flow of this commerce into these ports. Ocean planning fits very well with the Coast Guards approach; it’s critical for the Coast Guard and other agencies work together in a collaborative manner to ensure the maritime transportation system is safe, secure, efficient and resilient to continue to bring this large volume of cargo into our ports”
JOHN KENNEDY, DIRECTOR, MID-ATLANTIC GATEWAY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
“Ports will have to accommodate larger vessels, or they will be left behind. The whole point of this Regional Planning Body is for every entity at the table to work together to maintain a healthy ocean ecosystem, sustainable ocean uses, because we found that going off the work being done in a vacuum just isn’t going to get it done for these pressing challenges of the 21st century.”
JOSE F. H. ATANGAN, U.S. FLEET FORCES COMMAND, OCEAN/RANGER PLANNING SECTION HEAD
“About 30 miles east of [Port of Virginia] is a juncture of three very important aspects that contribute to ocean planning. There are commercial, national security and conservation interests. In addition, you also have the largest naval installation in the world. We have approximately 75 ships that are home ported here in Norfolk, Va. We have hundreds of military aircraft stationed here in Norfolk, Naval Air Station Oceana and nearby Langley Air Force Base, so this is the primary training ground for the Atlantic Fleet. All this is in the same area where we have wind energy being pursued, hydrokinetic energy and expansion of the shipping lanes associated with the Panama Canal expansion. Just outside the Chesapeake Bay is the North Atlantic Right Whale migratory area as well as canyons that are the home of deep water corals that were only just discovered. The Navy has a critical role in national defense, to protect the ocean highways and the global economy. What the ocean plans enable you to do is it provides an avenue, a mechanism, a process by which stakeholders (commercial, national security, fishermen and conservation) have the same information going into the decision-making process through the use of the regional data portals. Data is the key for understanding the decisions being made regarding the ocean.”
JOHN MCMURRAY, OWNER/OPERATOR, ONE MORE CAST
“Once you become educated on what ocean planning means and what regional planning bodies are doing, you understand that it’s a way to protect the areas that you fish, to protect the ecosystem, protect sustainability, a way of continuing the tradition that is fishing. We are getting to a boiling point where all these different ocean uses are coming to a head and we will have real access issues. We’re the canaries in the coal mine: we’re the first people to see a decline and the first to see a recovery. This is a public resource we are talking about, and all stakeholders, all interests, need to have input into that process. We need to be heard, we need to engage, and ocean planning is providing us that opportunity.”
MICHAEL LUISI, MID-ATLANTIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL PLANNING BODY MEMBER
“Climate change is a major issue. We’re seeing changes in water temperature in this region that are greater than any other place in the world. As the conditions change, we will see fish species, aquatic resources we manage, moving as well; it’s really a critical element to making sure that our commercial and recreational fisheries are maintained while there are these shifts in the populations for which we manage and all these other human uses of the ocean develop. Where fishermen benefit, as decisions are made in the future, it is the intention of the plan to provide for early stakeholder input, to provide all of the necessary information from the fishing community, so that as other agencies and other decision-makers are thinking about and considering managing different parts of the ocean they will have these critical data layers that show where the habitats are, which are vital to fish production, so that we can do our jobs as fisheries managers.”
RICHARD GETCHELL, AROOSTOOK BAND OF MICMAC INDIANS, TRIBAL CO-LEAD, NORTHEAST REGIONAL PLANNING BODY
“The goals that we’ve accomplished through the tribal aspect are right in line with what the state and federal government wants to do as well. What makes it successful to date is that the people who come to the table have the utmost respect for each other, and that’s the bottom line.”
Check out these short clips and excerpts from Ocean Frontiers III! You’ll find everything from the film’s trailer to clips on healthy ocean ecosystems, fishing, recreation, offshore sand mining and national security. To browse through the list of clips, click on the list icon in the upper left corner of the video screen.
The Great Bear Sea is a wild expanse of ocean where whales, wolves, bears and humans thrive in rich coastal ecosystems. The Great Bear Sea is also a place where worlds collide – a place full of historic conflicts, emerging struggles over ocean resources, and globally leading solutions.
Now 18 First Nations and the Province of British Columbia have crafted marine plans for the Great Bear Sea to protect marine ecosystems and build sustainable coastal economies. Meet people and communities along the coast of British Columbia who are working to put the marine plans into action. Find out more on the Great Bear Sea page.
The Great Bear Sea is a wild expanse of ocean where whales, wolves, bears and humans thrive in rich coastal ecosystems. The Great Bear Sea is also a place where worlds collide – a place full of historic conflicts, emerging struggles over ocean resources, and globally leading solutions.
Now 18 First Nations and the Province of British Columbia have crafted marine plans for the Great Bear Sea to protect marine ecosystems and build sustainable coastal economies.
Meet people and communities along the coast of British Columbia who are working to put the marine plans into action. The film premiered in Haida Gwaii, B.C. and screened along the BC coast in June. More events are in the works, check the schedule for dates, which are listed as events are confirmed.
Ocean Frontiers II: A New England Story for Sustaining the Sea was released in October 2013 and is now available for purchase and hosting a screening.
Off the shores of New England, in a region steeped in old maritime tradition, comes a modern wave of big ships, energy industries, and a changing climate, now testing the limits of an already crowded sea. But in a pioneering trial of far-sighted planning—pushed by blueprints for offshore wind energy—old residents and new are coming together to keep their ocean and livelihoods alive.
Sign up to show the new Ocean Frontiers film in your community, at work, in the classroom, at science centers and aquariums, conferences, etc. We’ll provide a free DVD and screening toolkit that contains all you need to get your screening underway. Or contact us if you have any questions.
