Wild Ocean

A Spectacular Underwater Adventure Where Africa Meets the Sea

Wild Ocean is an action-packed, inspirational documentary exploring the interplay between man and our endangered ocean ecosystem. The film highlights one of nature’s greatest migration spectacles, plunging you into an underwater feeding frenzy, an epic struggle for survival where whales, sharks, dolphins, seals, gannets and billions of fish collide with the most voracious sea predator, mankind. Filmed off the Wild Coast of South Africa and set to the rhythm of the local people, Wild Ocean reveals the economic and cultural impact of the ocean while celebrating the communal efforts to protect our invaluable marine resources.

The film chronicles a massive annual feeding frenzy; billions of sardines travel up the KwaZulu-Natal shoreline, known to locals as the Wild Coast. For the people living along the African shore, this migration has provided a food source for countless generations while farther out at sea ocean predators come from great distances to feast. Bottlenose dolphins create superpods, thousands strong, to track down the huge shoals using sonar. Sharks sense blood in the water and join the hunt. Seals and common dolphins chase the fish from cooler currents up the coast into the warmer tropical waters. Diving birds, Cape Gannets, join the battle with aerial attacks from the sky. All of these animals are drawn to the scene, enmeshed in one of the most incredible mass feeding melees in the natural world. Eat—or get eaten.

Unfortunately such a richness of life is now rare in our seas. For centuries the ocean was considered a vast limitless resource. As fishing practices grew more industrialized and efficient throughout the 20th century, entire fish stocks around North America, Europe, and Asia began to collapse. The fish, hauled onto boats by the ton, were an integral part of a complex marine ecosystem, a link in a great food chain on which many predators depend. Eventually, entire fish species were decimated and the ocean predator populations went into a steep decline. Now a new threat, global climate change, threatens to further damage the fragile ocean ecology. While Wild Ocean explores the causes and effects of man’s impact, it is an inspirational film looking toward a bright future, taking audiences to a rare unspoiled marine wilderness to glimpse what the oceans of the world once looked like. The film champions the creation of marine reserves necessary to bring our oceans back to life. South Africa leads the way.

Wild Ocean is a timely and uplifting film that celebrates the life in our oceans, the animals that now depend on us to survive. It is a film about the people that come together to protect our world. Hope is alive on the Wild Coast, where Africa meets the sea.

To schedule a special showing of Wild Ocean for school groups or other groups, please call Visitor Services at 402-461-4629 or 1-800-508-4629.

To learn more about the film, visit http://www.wildoceanfilm.com. Educational material and teacher's guide are available.

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or call 1-800-508-4629

Schedule is subject to change.

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