ONE LINE SYNOPSIS Deep within the Southern Ocean, the world’s biggest and most feared marine predators lead investigators to discover a mysterious and powerful source of life, hidden at the bottom of the sea.

ONE PARAGRAPH SYNOPSIS In the depths of Australia’s Southern Ocean a Great White Shark is savagely attacked by a far larger mystery predator. An electronic tracking device attached to its fin records a high-speed underwater chase before the shark and its tag are devoured. Two weeks later, after being carried in the belly of the unknown killer, the still functioning tag is excreted and washed ashore, withholding clues that could reveal the identity of the shark’s super predator. This is the story of a super predator’s underwater attack that leads investigators to a mysterious natural phenomenon that attracts the oceans most fearsome predators.

TWO PARAGRAPH SYNOPSIS In the hidden depths of Australia’s wild Southern Ocean a great white shark, three meters long and packed with nearly a tonne of muscle, is savagely attacked one hundred meters below the sea’s surface by a far larger and faster mystery predator…An electronic tracking device attached to the great white records a high-speed underwater chase nearly six hundred meters deep before the shark and its tag are savagely devoured…Two weeks later, after being carried in the belly of the unknown killer, the still functioning tag is excreted and washed ashore, withholding clues that could reveal the identity of the shark’s super predator. For nearly a decade the tags extraordinary data has mystified scientists…Until now. Dave Riggs, part of the team that tagged the victim shark and obsessed with identifying its killer, has discovered a natural phenomenon on the seafloor beneath the site of the attack that, for only a few short weeks each year, attracts the oceans most fearsome predators. This is the story of how a super predator’s epic underwater attack leads investigators to an aquatic battle zone, never documented before, where killer whales, giant squid and great white sharks each must compete to survive at the top of the worlds most dynamic food chain.

 

DETAILED SYNOPSIS In the hidden depths of Australia’s wild Southern Ocean a great white shark, three meters long and packed with nearly a tonne of muscle, is savagely attacked one hundred meters below the sea’s surface by a far larger and faster mystery predator… An electronic tracking device attached to the great white records a high-speed underwater chase nearly six hundred meters deep before the shark and its tag are savagely devoured… Two weeks later, after being carried in the belly of the unknown killer, the still functioning tag is excreted and washed ashore, withholding clues that could reveal the identity of the shark’s super predator. For nearly a decade the tags extraordinary data has mystified scientists… Until now. This is the story of a super predator’s epic underwater attack that leads investigators to a mysterious aquatic zone, never witnessed before, where killer whales, giant squid and great white sharks converge annually for only a few short weeks each year. Its here, in this extraordinarily powerful aquatic ecosystem – two and a half kilometers beneath the seas surface – that they discover one of the oceans secret sources of life. In 2003 wildlife cameraman David Riggs, on board a specialist shark research project in the notoriously dangerous waters of Bremer Bay in Western Australia, films a three-meter long, female great white shark as she’s fitted with an electronic tracking tag. Eighty-seven days later the shark is ferociously eaten alive and the frightening information withheld inside of its tag begins to dominate Rigg’s life. Riggs, born and raised along the dangerous shores of Australia’s South West, is no stranger to studying and filming the oversized marine predators that patrol the waters of the wild Southern Ocean. But the unprecedented evidence surrounding the killing of the great white shark made him question all that he knew about the natural predatory order of the deep… and for nearly a decade he’s been determined to find answers to his questions: What sea creature could hunt down and devour a three-meter long great white shark? What marine conditions could motivate such an extreme and aggressive attack? With minimal resources Rigg’s has been pursuing and filming his own investigation at the site of the attack – seventy kilometres offshore - for close to a decade. Crewing on board commercial shark boats, lobster boats and tuna vessels to reach the victim sharks death zone at every opportunity, he’s catalogued evidence of striking violence: observing giant, unexplained pools of blood in the water; immense adult great white sharks attacking boats unprovoked; and pods of killer whales hunting sperm whales at high speed. While on shore he’s filmed stark evidence of epic battles lost; documenting the mangled remains of sperm whales littered with circular tennis ball sized scars, still withholding the lifeless bodies of their calves. Stunning seafloor evidence retrieved by an oil and gas prospecting mission near to the site of the great white shark’s attack, reveals to Riggs what could be a unique trigger for extreme marine animal behaviour. In his obsessive search for the killer of the victim shark, Rigg’s assembles the worlds leading great white shark, killer whale and giant squid experts to take on a twenty day expedition to a ‘hot spot’ of apex predator activity in the treacherous waters of the Southern Ocean. Using underwater camera systems, submersible ROVs and seafaring intuition, the team attempt to peer directly into the eye of the marine world’s underwater storm. In their search for the oceans super predator they discover what could be Australia’s most productive oceanic environment and reveal the remarkable deep water secrets of one of the planets most important yet least studied ecosystem’s.

PROGRAMME TREATMENT THE SUPER PREDATOR STRIKES Christmas Eve, 2003, a three meter long female great white shark fitted with an electronic tracking tag, patrols beneath the giant rolling waves of the Southern Ocean, seventy kilometres off Australia’s remote south western coast. At 4am, in the inky black of the deep, the shark descends from its cruising depth of one hundred meters down to six hundred meters at high speed. Within seconds of this descent the sharks tag records a sudden and dramatic temperature shift from 8 degrees (the ambient deep-sea temperature at the time) to 26 degrees, a temperature that could only be achieved inside the body of another living animal. Two weeks later, after being carried in the belly of the unknown killer, the still functioning tag is excreted and washed ashore, withholding clues that could reveal the identity of the shark’s predator. For nearly a decade the tags extraordinary data has mystified scientists. This documentary sets out to investigate the identity of the marine creature that attacked and devoured the great white shark – the oceans super predator. Drawing on startling new geological evidence collected from the seafloor two and a half kilometres beneath the site of the attack, this documentary will describe how the tagged great white shark was predated in a unique oceanic ‘death zone’ where killer whales, giant squid, and great white sharks all converge in a unique ‘underwater coliseum’ in a column of water less than half a square kilometre in size rising from the seabed to the waters surface, where they feed and to fight it out for just a few weeks each year. Real time experiments in the oceanic ‘death-zone’ - specifically designed to investigate the attack behaviour of the oceans largest predators - will be conducted by expert scientists who have dedicated their lives to the study of killer whales, great white sharks and colossal squids. Together, with their findings and their expertise, the identity of the oceans super predator will be revealed. VICTIM: GREAT WHITE SHARK ‘The Search for the Oceans Super Predator’ begins with actual footage of the female great white shark victim in Bremer Bay, Western Australia, filmed by wildlife cameraman David Riggs three months before it was attacked and devoured. Rigg’s footage shows the three meter long shark glide close to his teams research boat and the moment it is tagged. Just minute’s later Riggs’ camera captures another great white shark, nearly four meters long, as it launches itself at the team’s boat. With its jaws locked onto the engine mount, the thrashing shark nearly capsizes their vessel and serves as an ominous warning of the menacing nature of the creatures of the Southern Ocean. Riggs leads the investigation and the documentary from the start. Born and raised along the remote coast of Australia’s South West, he has been exploring its waters throughout his life – as a diver, as a fisherman, as a scientific researcher and as a wildlife cameraman. The mystery surrounding the great white sharks sudden deep-water death has led him to question everything he knows and respects about the natural predatory order of the deep. Now, Riggs is using all of his hard earned skills to find answers beneath the unforgiving swells of the Southern Ocean. SHARK DEATH DATA Riggs’ search for the identity of the super predator starts with a detailed investigation of the raw data retrieved from the sharks tag. Its data charts an incredible four thousand kilometre plus journey undertaken by the shark before it was devoured, a journey consistent with the behaviour of healthy sub adult great white sharks that are nearing sexual maturity. This evidence testifies that the animal was healthy, effectively ruling out the theory that the shark was predated upon because it was weak and an easy target in the open ocean.

PROGRAMME TREATMENT (cont.) Riggs suggests that there are only three sea creatures known to be capable of perpetrating such an attack: a killer whale; another larger great white shark; or the master of deep water ambush – the giant squid. In the years following the mysterious attack Riggs recorded video evidence of each of these deep-water predators mentioned by Bruce in the ocean area very close to where the great white shark was devoured. Crewing on commercial fishing boats and deep sea research vessels he gathered a catalogue of surface predator action with video images of killer whales, sperm whales, dusky whaler sharks and great white sharks all converging around the site of the attack at the height of the southern hemisphere summer each year. THE DEATH ZONE TRIGGER With his inbuilt knowledge of the Southern Ocean’s fish-stock movements Riggs knows that there can be only one reason for the convergence of the oversized predators - a nutrient rich food source. Professional fishermen in the area have mostly targeted blue fin tuna, which are present in vast numbers at different times throughout the year feeding on what has been commonly believed to be smaller migrating fish. Unconvinced, Riggs investigates the stomach contents of blue fin tuna during the time of the predator’s peak activity in January and discovers they’re feeding on an unidentified type of crab spawn. Certain that this spawn holds the key to understanding why the oceans top predators are converging in the great white sharks ‘death zone’, Riggs sets out to identify crab species present on the seafloor 5000 feet below the surface – an otherworldly and desolate environment that scientists have studied less than the surface of the moon. Riggs, alongside a team of professional fishermen, use their highly skilled fishing techniques to hit their deep-sea target five thousand feet below to retrieve the seafloor crabs in an effort to reveal the mysteries of their spawning cycle. DEEP SEA BREAKTHROUGH By coincidence, a global oil and gas company moves in to explore the same seafloor area using some of the most advanced deep-water exploratory technology available. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars in their search for new petrochemical deposits along Australia’s south-west coast they map the geological structure of the seabed using ground penetrating 3D imaging systems. Convinced of the presence of a deep-ocean hydrocarbon vent due to the identification of crabs retrieved from the seafloor Riggs campaigns to gain access to their data. Despite the very real risk of having a hydrocarbon discovery shut down by federally enforced environmental protection measures, the oil and gas company release the data revealing a remarkable underwater landscape withholding an extraordinary geological phenomenon - a methane seep. Located just beyond the continental shelf, the methane seep is at the bottom of a crater, formed hundreds of millions of years ago by an ancient river mouth and its here that methane gas escapes from beneath the earth’s crust into the ocean. The intense chemical reaction caused by the seep generates a proliferation of deep-water life - with the ‘bowl’ like shape of the seafloor surrounding it providing the perfect environment for a concentration of crustaceans. In consultation with crustacean specialists Riggs investigates the retrieved crabs unique biology and discovers they reproduce via an annual spawning event at the height of the southern hemispheres summer when female crabs release billions of nutrient rich eggs into the desolate deep waters, triggering the beginning of an incredible underwater food chain. EXPEDITION INTO THE OCEANIC DEATH ZONE With clear evidence of an annual deep-water food source event, Riggs undertakes an expedition to the oceanic ‘death zone’ at the height of the vent crab-spawning season to investigate and document the predators ensuing feeding frenzy. By examining the mechanisms of the fierce food chain and understanding how each of the oversized killers interact, Riggs hopes to isolate the identity of the great white shark’s super predator.

Enlisting the services of expert scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying the marine worlds fiercest attackers, Riggs takes to the Southern Ocean on board a sea going mother ship to determine how each predator operates in the ‘death zone’ area and to document their hunting strategies. The trials experienced by the expedition team and the experiments will be featured throughout the documentary in immersive detail. The experts include: Michelle Blewitt, a marine ecologist who’ll lead the study of killer whales; Rachel Robbins, The Fox Shark Research Foundation leading great white shark scientist who’ll focus on the mysterious apex predator; and Mark Norman, from Melbourne Museum who’ll investigate the hunting behaviour of the enigmatic giant squid. Using state of the art animal tracking devices and an array of camera systems above and below the water each expert will reveal their subject’s world in visceral detail. THE SUPER PREDATOR Riggs and the team will set out to observe and film expected predator interactions (killer whales predating sperm whales; sperm whales predating swarms of squid; great white sharks attacking other sharks) and they will use all of their facilities and combined experience to document the unexpected. In addition each expert will explore theories specific to their subjects and in particular will seek to uncover whether the predators ‘death zone’ convergence coincides with their mating and birthing activities. Any evidence of the predators giving birth will almost certainly result in heightened levels of aggression; designed to protect vulnerable offspring from opportunistic attacks from other species or indeed from cannibalism. Drawing on each expert’s observations and the expeditions combined scientific findings; Riggs and the team will reveal the identity of the great white sharks super predator.

PROGRAMME MAKER BIOGRAPHIES David Riggs I was raised on a 12000 acre farm that backed onto a remote beach 100 kilometres from the South West Australian town of Esperance. Abalone divers occasionally worked the offshore reefs behind our property and when I was 11 years old a diver invited me onboard his boat for the day. Just as the sun was dipping below the horizon he offered me the chance to have my first compressed air dive. I wasn’t expecting to actually get in the water so I hadn’t brought any diving gear. Wearing an adult’s dive mask and clad in just a pair of underpants, my first “real” dive was to be a cold one. My fascination with the underwater world began back in 1980. I will never forget the peaceful sensation I had as I barefoot kicked alone toward the seafloor some 60 feet below. I felt completely awed by this alien yet peaceful underwater world. I met my kindred spirit and now wife Jennene about 10 years later. Together we have pursued our mutual passion for discovering and documenting the natural world, particularly the creatures that live in our oceans. In 1998 a crew from National Geographic TV were filming for a documentary on tiger sharks in Western Australia. They needed a couple of support divers, we volunteered and were offered an opportunity to experience the realm of true filmmaking. By the end of our eighteen month internship we had been initiated into the world of high end documentary production. Now capable of operating various sorts of camera systems, we were sent to some amazing locations, the highlights being filming crocodiles fighting bull sharks in northern Australia and leopard seals hunting penguins in western Antarctica. But what steered me on my life’s mission was much closer to home. A spur of the moment decision to visit and film a sperm whale stranding initiated a change in my perception of the natural world. The experience caused me to question everything I had learnt and understood about nature and our place as human beings within it … it led to the making of Super Predator.

Leighton De Barros Leighton has over 24 years experience in the television industry, specialising in documentary filmmaking, as a producer, director, writer and cinematographer. He has been nominated for 4 Emmy Awards for Cinematography and has won 10 other cinematography awards. Leighton has worked on many films broadcast by Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and National Geographic, and has international clients including ‘Survivor’ for CBS America and the BBC Natural History Unit. In 2004 Leighton produced his first wildlife/adventure program titled ‘Shark Bay’ (1x27) in association with the ABC NHU. He has gone on to produce, ‘Whale Patrol’ (1x52) wildlife film for ABC TV & NGTVI, which he also directed and photographed and ‘On a Wing and a Prayer’ (1 x 52) a wildlife documentary about the life cycle of the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo for ABC TV, which he was producer, director/writer and director of photography. Leighton is currently producing ‘Hello Birdy’ (6 x 27) for ABC TV and ‘The Search for the Ocean’s Super Predator’ (1 x 57) for ABC TV, Al Rayyan TV & Smithsonian Channel of which he is also director of photography on both.

Michael Lynch Michael Lynch has developed, produced and directed more than thirty landmark documentary films for BBC1, BBC 2, Channel 4, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, ABC Australia and the History Channel. Since beginning his documentary career in Sydney, Australia, he’s forged an international reputation for gaining unique access to epic human stories and creating cinematic images in extreme conditions. As a freelance director and producer based out of the UK he collaborated with a number of London’s top television production companies directing the hard-hitting observational series “Bailiffs” for prime time BBC 1; the major factual series “Beyond Boundaries” that explored the limits of physical disability for BBC 2 and the Arabian adventure travel series “The Frankincense Trail” also for BBC 2. His films “Mummy Autopsy” and “Egypt’s Lost Tomb” were both international hits for the Discovery Channel, while his feature length documentaries for the channels $65 million, landmark “Atlas” strand resulted in “Atlas Egypt Revealed” being nominated for an Emmy Award. In 2009 he developed, produced and directed a slate of documentary films for the State of Qatar exploring the nations history and heritage, with his feature documentary “Sons of the Sea” breaking all of the nations box office records for a non-fiction film, while. In 2010 he established Ultramarine Films in London and Doha where he continues to spearhead the company’s ambition to produce captivating landmark wildlife, history, and adventure documentaries for international broadcast and distribution. In 2013 his feature documentary “Young Sons of the Desert” was a finalist in the Al Jazeera International Documentary Festival.

KEY TALENT BIOGRAPHIES DR MARK D. NORMAN Head of Sciences, Museum Victoria Dr Norman is Head of Sciences at Museum Victoria where he leads the large and active natural sciences research team of curators, collection managers, postdoctoral fellows, postgraduate students, research associates and volunteers. For his own research he studies octopuses, squids, cuttlefishes and nautiluses (the cephalopods). He undertook his PhD on the systematics and biogeography of the octopuses of the Great Barrier Reef. This was followed by Harkness and ARC QEII Fellowships on the Australian octopus fauna and octopus taxonomy in general. Since then his main research focus has been defining the Australian and Indo-West Pacific cephalopods, primarily the octopuses and has resulted in discovery of more than 100 new species of octopus. Specific research interests include biodiversity, evolutionary origins and relationships, reproductive and defense behaviours, deep-sea faunas, and adaptations to key habitats and niches. He has undertaken field research throughout Australia, Asia, Antarctica, Europe, United States and throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He has also undertaken research into other invertebrates and Victorian fishes, and has published field guides on cephalopods and marine invertebrates, children’s books on natural history and has participated in numerous natural history documentaries. His current research activities include completion of a world revision of octopuses for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN), collaborations on phylogeny and higher-level classification of the octopods, regional revisions of the octopod fauna of Australia, China, Taiwan, India and New Caledonia, studies of cephalopod behaviour and reproductive biology, and the evolution and use of defensive toxins in cephalopods. Quote: "This is an amazing system", Dr Norman stated. "To attract so many top level predators to this one small area of open ocean is exceptional. It is clear that there is something very special going on at depth in this canyon."

DR RACHEL ROBBINS (Scientist, Fox Shark Research Foundation, PhD University of Technology Sydney, 2006).

Dr. Robbins has been undertaking research on great white sharks in South Australia for 13 years and has been involved in a number of projects including population dynamics, behavioural studies, photographic identification, Shark Shield electric repellent research, and satellite tracking. She has been lead investigator on projects examining sexual and size segregation of white sharks, the effects of berleying on the behaviour of white sharks and has been involved in various projects involving tagging and migratory patterns of white sharks in Australian waters. She has experience in both the acoustic and satellite tagging and tracking of white sharks and has extensive field-based experience with white sharks.

MICHELLE BLEWITT (BSC HONS) PHD) Marine Mammal Research (MMR) & Australian Orca Database (AOD) Marine Profile Background: Dr Michelle Blewitt’s principal area of research interest is marine mammal biology, bioacoustics and the effects of human disturbance on cetaceans. She has over 20 years’ experience and over 25,000 hours of field research, monitoring and education. Many projects she has been involved in have investigated possible impacts of human disturbance, including recreational boats, seismic activities and marine drilling. She has extensive field based experience, including over 3,000 hours of onshore and offshore boating, visual and acoustic recording and monitoring and photo-identification on many species of marine mammals in temperate and tropical locations in Australia, Hawaii, Bahamas and particularly working with resident killer whales around the San Juan Islands, in the Pacific North West. She is a qualified diver and marine mammal observer and trainer and has also worked on a number of environmental monitoring surveys. The Search for the Oceans Super Predator Experience: Given her extensive background in monitoring cetaceans, Dr Blewitt approached the alleged concentration of killer whales in a defined area off the southern coast of Australia was approached with uncertainty. In preparation of the field expedition, considerable literature research was undertaken which failed to support the possibility of killer whales in this defined location, even though there had been opportunistic sightings of these whales in the vicinity over the last few years. As a result of the research, Dr Blewitt remained very skeptical, particularly with the possibility of sighting killer whales in such a small, precise geographic area. The opportunity to be involved in a unique, breakthrough scientific endorsement of the possible concentration of killer whales in Australian waters was a personal, remarkable event for Dr Blewitt, and one not to be missed. The excitement of the observation at the precise geographic location proved to be an enormous and almost overwhelming experience, one that will never be forgotten.

SCOTT SHEEHAN Marine Profile Background: Scott Sheehan has spent 12 years volunteering, researching and studying marine mammal in the field as a Research Assistant and as a Marine Mammal Observer, during aerial and vessel surveys. He has extensive experience in visual observation and detection, identifying cetaceans at sea and from the air, collecting photo-identification images that are contributed to the Australian humpback, southern right and killer whale database on the east and west coast of Australia. When at home, Scott continues to collect data on the behaviour, distribution and identification of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Jervis Bay, NSW. The Search for the Oceans Super Predator Experience: Whales and dolphins are amazing marine mammals to observe in the wild – they are graceful and inquisitive, that connects us to the ocean and the environment that surround us. Knowing that it took seven years for my first sighting of killer whales, I was in disbelief that I was being taken to a location in Australian water, that was assured that sightings of killer whales was highly likely!

MARTIN HOVLAND AMBIO TECH TEAM, STAVANGER, NORWAY - 21.06.13

My take on, – The “Bremer Canyon Occurrence”: The “Bremer Canyon Occurrence” (BCO) is a unique recurring congregation of killer whales associated with several other features and conditions, such as oil slicks on the sea surface, flocks of feeding birds, including the common Albatross, and suspected oil-related features on the seafloor located over 600 m below the sea surface. Since my childhood, I have been a curious person, and during my early career as a seafloor surveyor for the Norwegian oil industry, I found that the seafloor was totally different from the land surface. I was responsible for locating pipeline routes and platform sites on the seafloor, and really had a very good reason to find out how the seafloor worked, and what processes were active there. My curiosity drove me into the sport of challenging the unknown ‘anomalies’ on the seafloor. For example, there must be a reason for the thousands of pockmark craters that speckled the North Sea floor. Likewise, - there must be a reason for why corals form large reef structures in the high north at water depths over 1000 feet (300 m), even north of the Polar circle. With our expensive oil-related survey equipment, I went for these anomalies and explained my seniors that it was important to find out due to the safety of oil platforms and pipelines. Thus, I got the opportunity to collaborate with universities and publish my theories and ideas for a wide academic population. Many of the explanations are associated with gases and liquids that seep upwards through the deep sediments, penetrating the seafloor and leaking into the overlying water column. I found that the gases and light oils in the underground, forming in the deep ‘source rocks’ of oil generation, resemble the rain in the atmosphere. However, whereas rain falls down to the ground and forms puddles of water, marshes and rivers on the terrestrial (land) surface, the gases migrating through the sediments rise, by buoyancy forces upwards towards the seafloor. I call the gases rising upwards for the “groundwater of the seafloor”, because the gases form pockets in porous sediments, immediately below the seafloor, perhaps up to 100 m below the surface (I also call the seafloor “the Second Surface” of Earth, as it is hidden by water). However, slowly and also abruptly, the gases find their way through the sediments and end up in the seawater column. The craters called ‘pockmarks’ form during this expulsion process. One of my hypotheses, the “hydraulic theory for deep-water corals” suggests that the main reason why corals manage, - not only to survive, but also proliferate in the deep, cold, and dark waters of the high north and high south, is that they rely on nutrients and micro-organisms supplied by proximal vents in the seafloor. Although the hypothesis has never been proved, it is still valid, as over time, more and more indications (observations) pile up supporting it. Another hypothesis, which I have actually been working on for more than 30 years, I now call “the Tree in the Ocean” hypothesis. It suggests that the nutrients seeping through the seafloor disperse from a column of water into the above water column, spreading out with tidal currents and end up near the surface, where even killer whales can feed on the associated marine life feeding on the nutrients and organisms living from them. Therefore, it suggests that minerals previously considered as pollutants, such as methane and light oils originating from natural vents in the seafloor, actually represent food for bacteria, which again form the primary producers of deep water and is eaten by secondary and tertiary producers or trophic levels of the food chain. This ‘reverse food chain’, originally feeding from fossilized energy actually turns things up-side down and needs to be studied with totally different means than the normal food chains we know operate in the ocean, i.e., that based on photosynthesis and the precipitation of dead organisms (plankton) through the water column accumulating on the seafloor from above. An embryonic version of this hypothesis was published in New Scientist as early as 1984, but has been treated as a mere curiosity since then. However, last year, I published a lengthy version accompanied by a comprehensive conceptual drawing of how even birds on the sea surface may benefit from the ‘Tree in the Ocean’. Some-times, republishing and explaining theories in different ways, may lead to surprising contacts with other scientists. This story was picked up by Dave Riggs, in SW Australia, and sparked his imagination. WOW – here was perhaps the answer to one of his main questions – why did killer whales recurrently congregate over the Bremer Canyon about 60 km from shore off SW Australia? These encounters were truly amazing and this area needs to be protected. Further research is needed to gain a better understanding and to raise awareness of these

He contacted me and I explained how there may be a feature on the seafloor providing lots of nutrients to the above water column. He sparked and came back with an offer for me to join him in some further research and surveys over the location. He also provided some important geologic information acquired by the oil industry who is interested in this area as it may hold some hydrocarbon accumulations sub-surface. I was thrilled by travelling to Australia and to perhaps participate in demonstrating how one of my hypotheses may work. It is always very difficult to find convincing type settings for underwater conditions, such as seeps. Normally it takes many years of study and tedious accumulation of knowledge about the location, before the hypothesis can be approved also by others as a convincing idea. This, I think, is what we have started at the Bremer Canyon location. (See also my related unpublished article on this). I thought if we were lucky, we might get a sighting from the distance or a glimpse of a fleeting cetacean, but to my amazement and surprise I was in awe of what was in front of my eyes! “Wow, we could be witnessing an Australian first!”

The raw power of the killer whales, the graceful moments as they glide through the water. The sound of their blows, tail slaps and breaches! And to get to listen and record their vocalisations from the hydrophone, while they are next to us was extremely lucky! These encounters were truly amazing and this area needs to be protected. Further research is needed to gain a better understanding and to raise awareness of these marine mammals and the unique environment they live in.

MAKING OF NOTES – DAVID RIGGS

I guess two words sum up what it took to successfully get this film over the line; persistence and luck. The challenges involved in producing a natural history documentary are daunting at the best of times. When I suggested making a film sixty kilometres offshore in the wilds of the Southern Ocean the odds of failure increased exponentially. The first challenge was to find a vessel that was up to the job. We needed to load a 3000 kilogram deep-water camera system onto the deck so any old workboat just wouldn’t be capable of dealing with the weight, particularly if the weather got ugly. The next challenge was to have the camera system built and lift it onto the boat without it crashing through the deck. The system was delivered just the day before we departed and with a lot of pushing and shoving (and the assistance of a 25 tonne crane) we finally got it loaded. The next challenge was getting out to the site, then, more importantly, actually finding the killer whales. The plan was to travel to the site overnight and arrive just as dawn was beginning to break. As luck would have it, the weather started to turn nasty just as we shoved off. The next twelve hours was uncomfortable to say the least. We pounded into a heavy sea that was being whipped up by a fresh south westerly storm front. As the sun began to push through the clouds at 5.00am on day one we were able to see what we would be up against. The ocean was a mess and towering waves were all around us, the chances of seeing any animals in these conditions was almost impossible. To say I was feeling nervous at this stage would be a massive understatement. Two hours out from the site we slowed the boat to a more comfortable speed and all onboard began scouring the surface for signs of life. Nothing. Not even a bird. I remember thinking this could be the year that the killer whales don’t show, what a disaster. I began having visions of a slow motion train wreck. As the minutes ticked away and still no signs of anything but whitewater I began to think of other occupations I could take up once this expedition was over. Surely I could get employment as a window cleaner or mowing lawns. I had a horrible feeling that my career as a documentary producer was about to come to a sticky end. We were approaching the site and my negative thoughts were getting the better of me, half a mile to go and still nothing. There was a definite mood of skepticism starting to come over the boat. I could feel a change that wasn’t entirely comforting. What had I gotten myself into. Then it happened .. an almighty breech a hundred metres in front of the boat. Then another … killer whales …. Everywhere!

PROGRAMME BACKGROUND INFORMATION – DAVID RIGGS

There are about 30 deep water canyons running up to the continental shelf off southern West Australia yet it seems few have the volume of life I have seen at the Bremer Canyon. Over the years oil and gas exploration has left no doubt that the Bremer canyon has a huge sub-sea hydrocarbon deposit and that there is fuel leaking out from the seafloor: http://www.ga.gov.au/ausgeonews/ausgeonews200503/southwest.jsp http://www.seapex.org/farmout_files/1044_bremerfarmoutflyerapr_12.pdf

Most people think that leaking fuel is poisonous to life. On land, this is is generally true although under extreme pressure and low water temperature, as is the case in the deep ocean, gasses such as methane that are leaking from the seafloor behave differently. Low water temperature and increased pressure in the deep ocean causes the leaking methane gas to “fuse” with the surrounding water creating an ice like reef known as methane hydrate, an important future energy source that is being examined by Japanese scientists. http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/energy/2013/03/pictures/130328-methane-hydrates-for-energy

These massive ice reefs are now eaten by bacteria and their waste product is nitrogen, the basis of a standard biological food chain. MARUM University in Germany have studied these deep sea ice reefs and have produced a video that explains how this system works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahmjHLyF9GM

Millions of creatures are now able to live on these reefs and many such as crabs, mussels and shrimps seasonally spawn, much the same as the red crabs of Christmas Island do every year although, unlike Christmas Island, the trigger for this deep ocean spawning event is unknown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFfUr9e5Gos In order for the crab and mussel spawn to be of any use to creatures closer to the surface, it must have a way of getting to them. At the Bremer Canyon, it is via a powerful upwelling of water that enters the canyon and drives all of the spawn vertically to the surface: http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/publications/south-west/pubs/sw-high-productivity.pdf

Once the spawn has reached the surface the feeding frenzy begins. Killer whales, sharks, tuna and many other animals move into the area to feed. Over the years I have seen, photographed and taken video of dozens of killer whales and sharks, many of the killer whales are returning to this location each summer. Where they have come from and where they go when they leave is something I am hoping to find out over the next few seasons. http://www.bremercanyon.com

Another important finding by the oil and gas explorers was what is known as a salt dome (salt diapiri). Salt domes are usually associated with deep water fuel deposits and, according to res done by Professor Martin Hovland of Norway, likely provide an additional source of food for the animals and plants that I have seen in the area. http://martinhovland.weebly.com/biography.html to get its food from the air, it doesn’t need the water to give it anything.

It seems that so having so many animals in such a small area for such a short time has an effect on the quality of the water they are swimming in. The animals effectively strip all of the oxygen and nutrients from the water and this provides the perfect breeding ground for a dangerous bacteria known as Trichodesmium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichodesmium

This ancient bacteria is able to get its food from the air, it doesn’t need the water to give it anything.In these now “dead” waters of the Bremer canyon, Trichodesmium flourish and the bloom they create can even be seen from space. http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Australia4.2013063.terra.250m

Once these huge algal blooms begin to appear, it seems that the Bremer canyon feeding event is nearing its end. I have been out to the Canyon in autumn and winter and not seen anything like the activity I see during summer. This is where my research is at the moment and with any luck, next season I will be able to add some more pieces to the puzzle.

ACCURATE PROGRAMME BACKGROUND INFORMATION How conditions on the seafloor may help feed the Orcas Dr Martin Hovland, Feb. 2013 At our specific location, we know that the seafloor is very rugged and that there are oil and gas deposits nearby. We also know that there is a large salt dome-structure, a diapir, adjacent to the location. From my 30 year-long research on seafloor conditions all over the world, I know that nutrient-rich fluids can also leak out of the seafloor and form reefs and coral mounds, even in deep water in the far north. Using seismic images from the deep sea, sent to me by researchers in both Australia and Ireland, we published in 1994, the occurrence of specific seep-related carbonate mounds off NW Australia and off Ireland. Those off Ireland have subsequently become the subject of academic research, but those off Australia, still lack detailed research and detailed investigation. Also at this specific location we have still not had the luxury of detailed seafloor mapping and visual inspection. The reason is that it has, up till now, been regarded as a remote and un-interesting portion of seafloor. In my view, abundant marine life observed in the water column may have two main causes: 1) There is up-welling of nutrient-rich bottom water to the surface, caused by specific bottom currents and by the bottom topography 2) There are nutrients continually added to the water column from sources below the seafloor. These nutrients may be in the form of liquids, brines, leaking up from salt domes or from petroliferous rocks (source-rocks) underneath the seafloor. We have to remember that this location sits right at the point where the Antarctic and Australian continents rifted apart more than 100 million years ago. Such ancient rifting zones may even today have weakness zones in them, which have some sort of activity going on. These zones may consist of deep, vertical cracks and faults reaching right down to the bottom of the crust, where temperatures increase dramatically. Inside such deep, high-pressured cracks of high temperature, we know that there are hydrothermal processes that are active. These may include the violent overturning of oceanic water into the previous rifting zones, deep inside the curst. During the actual rifting phase, we know that seawater was drawn down to the hot, high pressured zones and that it was no longer able to boil, as the pressure was too high. During the rifting phase molten magma at temperatures as high as 1300 degrees C, was located below the seafloor sediments. We know that the same process of rifting and heating of seawater at depth is currently occurring in the Red Sea. As seawater is drawn down into the seafloor and approaches the hot magma chamber, located only 2 km below ground, the water becomes superheated. However, because the pressure is higher than 300 bar, we know that the water can no longer boil and form pure vapor. Instead, it forms a new phase of water, which is something between a vapor and a liquid. “Supercritical water” has a density of only 0.3 (a third of liquid water), and at a temperature of over 400 degrees C, it is a very aggressive substance. From the sciences of physics, chemistry, and molecular modeling, we know that this special phase of water cannot dissolve salt – therefore the salts contained in the heated seawater precipitate out and accumulate underground and are pushed upwards towards surface.

Furthermore, we know that supercritical water dissolves all types of organic matter, including oil and bitumen. I think that the adjacent salt dome has something to do with the fertilization of the water column. From research performed on salt domes in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and in the North Sea, we know that salt domes act as chimneys, or conduits, for fluids of very deep origin. I think it is possible that liquids and nutrients are leaking out of the salt dome and feeding into the prolific, unique hotspot discovered by Dave some years ago. A sketch of this concept is shown in the attached figure, from Hovland et al., 2012.

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The Tree in the Ocean concept Applied on SW Australia By Martin Hovland, April, 2013 A new concept, named “The Tree in the Ocean”, is being developed, based on Hovland et al’s paper: “Methane and minor oil macro-seep systems – Their complexity and environmental significance” (Marine Geology, 2012). The Tree in the Ocean concept explains how nutrients emerging from the seafloor may drive (fuel) a cold-seep ecosystem, reaching from the seafloor to the sea surface. This concept has recently been used to explain the recurrent sitings of killer whales, white sharks, schools of fish, squid, and birds at a distinct location about 60 km off SW Australia. On the seafloor at this location (between 600 and 1000 m water depth) there is a large salt dome associated with a suspected mud volcano (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The Tree in the Ocean concept was inspired by the figure at the left. Next photo is of a surfacing killer whale and an albatross above the salt diapir and mud volcano location 60 km off SW Australia (third image from left). The right image (Feb., 2013) is from the feature film being made of this phenomena, for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company). 3

3

From this undersea mud volcano there is suspected to be an estimated daily seepage of 30 m methane and 1 m of light oil through the sediments, to the water column. The 2 seepage is suspected to be evenly distributed across the mud volcano area, which is estimated to measure 60m by 50m (i.e., 3000 m ). There are probably also gas hydrates associated with this seafloor seep site. A gas hydrate is a substance which resembles snow and ice, even though it is made out of water and small molecules, normally consisting of methane, ethane, and propane. They form inside submarine mud volcano and migrate to the seafloor surface. When they melt (dissociate) in contact with seawater, they ‘fertilize’ the surrounding seawater and seafloor sediments with methane, ethane, and propane, in addition to fresh (none-saline) water. These ‘nitrients’ spark off a local food-chain on the seafloor and the near-seafloor water mass, consisting of many types of bacteria and other micro-organisms. This microcosm represents the first trophic level of a new type of ecosystem, which reaches right to the surface of the ocean, as witnessed off SW Australia (Fig. 1). In Feb. this year, a film and photo documentary team used boats and a light aircraft to film the spectacular scenes over the SW Australian location (Fig. 1). One of the large killer whales was even observed to haul a large (>5m long) octopus behind him, feeding it to its young calf. This killer whale had probably dived to 600 m, killed the octopus and taken it up to surface. It is known that octopus may feed on crustaceans, including crabs and bivalves.

This ecosystem resembles a tree, as it is vertically structured, and spreads nutrients and energy from the seafloor up to the sea surface and beyond. 2

The seeping gas and light oil at this location has been suspected to produce up to 1g biomass per m daily. Based on the observations and assumptions provided above, the total estimated annual production of biomass from this seep-based ecosystem off SW Australia, may be calculated to be: 2

2

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1 g per m per day = 1 gm- x 3000 m = totally 3000 g per day = 3 kg per day from the mud volcano. Over one year the total yeld is 3 kg x 365 = 1095 kg of organic matter, i.e., 3 tonnes per year of biomass…. This is quite a significant amount of biomass, which feeds into the general (conventional) marine ecosystem of the area. The combined effect of the two systems is unknown. It is also unknown how many such ‘trees’ exist around Australia, and not least – in total in the whole ocean. Judging from what we know about seeps around the globe, there are probably a total of many hundred thousands similar sites. This new knowledge is suspected to become a ‘game-changer’ (a new paradigm shift) in how we understand the prolific marine life existing on our planet.

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