Shared Planet

[Birds cawing] Bray Poor: Western Alaska, one of the few truly wild places left on Earth.

Its waters are at the heart of its wildness.

One of the animals that lives here is the harbor seal.

Seals usually live in the ocean, but this population has adapted to live entirely in these rivers and lakes.

One reason they're able to survive here is the large run of salmon that returns to this freshwater each year, which is also true for the biggest predator here.

Alaskan brown bears.

Some of these giants weigh over half a ton.

But when fish numbers are low... hunting is hard... [Bears growling] ...and competition is fierce.

If they don't eat enough, they won't gain the weight they need to survive the coming winter.

[Bear growls] And to make matters worse, the bears have even more serious competition.

Thousands of commercial fishermen.

[Distant conversations] Is there a way to provide enough salmon for all these people, and the bears and seals up river?

[Birds cawing] Over 70% of the planet is covered by water, it is the largest habitat on Earth, but its wildlife is being devastated at an alarming rate.

Now, some of us are learning new ways to share the water world and it's improving the lives... [Laughter] [Kids screaming] ...of both the people and wildlife that call it home.

[Insects chirping] [Horn blowing] Bristol Bay is home to the largest salmon fishing fleet in Alaska.

Maeva: The salmon define the culture here, and define our lives in a lot of ways.

Poor: Maeva Raynaud captains one of the 2,000 fishing boats that come here every year for the annual salmon run.

Maeva: It's definitely my happy place.

This is what I live for.

Can you pick up the pace just a little bit?

Poor: Maeva is the third generation of her family to fish here.

Maeva: It's in our blood, you know, this is what we do.

Poor: Like the bears, Maeva's life relies on catching enough salmon each year.

But all along the North Pacific coast, wild salmon are in trouble.

[Birds cawing] One of the biggest problems is overfishing.

Fewer fish are making it up river to spawn, so many salmon populations are on the verge of disappearing.

Is it possible to run a commercial salmon fishery that provides for both humans and wildlife, while also making sure enough fish make it upstream to their spawning grounds?

Here in this part of Bristol Bay, it rests on the shoulders of one man.

Tim Sands, the area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Tim: I have to make the decisions to try and get everybody their fair share, to find the right balance for harvest and protection.

We got to try and satisfy both goals.

[Birds cawing] Poor: If Tim makes a wrong decision, the salmon could be wiped out.

Tim: We can look at lots of salmon runs around the world that used to exist that don't anymore.

Poor: Tim needs to know exactly how many fish are entering the river.

Tim: All right, so we got our tower on the Igushik River by Amanka Lake.

Its owner... It is a huge team effort.

Woman: Girl.

Tim: None of this can happen without all the people in the field collecting the data.

Man: 526.

[Engine roaring] Poor: But Tim also wants to get an overview for himself.

Tim: You see this school from 3,000 feet and think how many fish are really there.

Man on radio: Well, we got a bunch of fish down there.

Tim: Yeah?

Man on radio: Tim likes to keep his finger on the pulse.

Poor: Now, what does all this data mean?

He's got to make sure enough salmon get upstream to sustain their population, while also allowing the fleet to catch their share in the ocean.

He has a big call to make.

Tim: I'm the decider.

I'm the one that has to say we're fishing or we're not fishing.

Poor: A town full of fishermen is waiting.

There's a lot at stake.

Bristol Bay has the largest salmon fishery in the world, worth $2 billion annually.

[Birds cawing] But no one knows how many fish they're going to be allowed to catch each year.

[Distant voices] Maeva: It's not for the faint of heart.

It's a gamble, for sure.

Poor: Their future is in Tim's hands.

Man on radio: This is the Alaska Department of Fish and Game dialing in.

Commercial fishing with drift gillnets will open in the Nushagak District.

Poor: It's go time.

The whole fleet gets into position.

Man: All right, let it go!

Poor: Time is short.

Some of these openings will only last a few hours.

Maeva: This is what I live for.

It's the best feeling in the world.

Good houstle, good job.

Bring it on, bring the fish on through the rail, I got it.

[Laughter] Poor: Already, it's looking like this season is going to be a good one for Maeva and her crew.

[Chuckles] Maeva: There's nothing that brings me more joy than doing this.

Poor: Over the coming weeks, Tim will try to strike the perfect balance between enough salmon getting upstream and enough remaining for the fleet in the ocean.

The first wildlife to get their chance at the salmon are the seals.

But salmon are keeping their distance.

He's got to try a new approach.

An ambush.

The seals will make a feast of this salmon life.

But will there be enough for the bears?

[Insects chirping] [Bear growls] It seems these bears are going to be fat and healthy heading into the den this coming winter.

[Birds cawing] But the real measure of Tim's success lies further upstream.

Even with a big ocean fishery, more and more salmon are reaching their spawning grounds each year.

Tim: Our average run up until a few years ago was 6 million, 8 million fish.

And now our average run is 20 million fish.

Poor: Through careful management, Tim has tripled the number of returning salmon.

Bristol Bay is showing us it's possible to provide for the growing needs of people alongside the needs of wildlife in our modern world.

In central Brazil, the locals are trying to find a balance with one of nature's most deadly predators.

The jaguar, the biggest wildcat in South America.

[Birds chirping] These powerful predators are surprisingly adept at swimming.

[Birds chirping] It's an important skill where they live: the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland.

There are 10 million caimans here, too.

More than any other place on Earth.

[Birds chirping] But here, the jaguar is the one at the top of the food chain.

[Birds cawing] Caimans are challenging and dangerous to hunt.

So, some jaguars prefer easier prey.

Eliseo: Woah!

[Horse snorting] Poor: Eliseo Evangelista da Silva manages one of the 3,500 cattle ranches spread across the Pantanal.

[Horse neighing] And today he's made a troubling discovery.

[Horse gasping] Last night, a jaguar attacked one of his horses.

[Speaking in Portuguese] [Horse neighing] Poor: During the night, three of his horses got out of their enclosure.

[Horses snorting] And the jaguar was nearby.

Waiting for his chance.

Fortunately, the wounds are not too deep this time.

[Horse snorts] It's challenging living around a deadly predator.

Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: Decades of conflict with humans have been devastating to the jaguars.

Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: Even though they're now protected, many ranchers still kill jaguars that venture onto their lands.

Until ranchers find a way to coexist with jaguars, the future for this beautiful animal is in jeopardy.

[Blowing horn] Eliseo runs several hundred head of cattle on the Pantanal.

Eliseo: Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Poor: Most ranches leave their cattle out on the wetlands all summer, making them vulnerable to jaguars.

Eliseo's ranch is owned by Panthera, a conservation organization dedicated to protecting jaguars.

And they are trying a different approach.

At the end of each day, the cattle are put inside a large corral to try to keep them safe.

Because jaguars prefer to hunt at night.

[Cows mooing] While it seems these fences couldn't stop a jaguar... [Electric discharge] ...they have a hidden power.

They're electrified.

[Electric discharge] [Birds chirping] Eliseo: Hop, hop!

Poor: Most ranchers in the Pantanal don't go to this much work, moving their cows every day and maintaining electric fences.

It's easier to just shoot any jaguar that shows up.

[Cows mooing] Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: Jaguars are highly territorial, and killing one can sometimes bring more jaguars into an area, making the predation problem worse.

[Cows mooing] And Eliseo believes that adapting to the jaguar has actually increased his herd's production.

Because he spends more time managing his herd, he can spot problems before they happen.

Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: This extra attention to his cows is why Eliseo's ranch produces more calves each year than almost any other on the Pantanal.

[Cows mooing] Learning to live with the jaguar has made Eliseo a better rancher.

But when he first started working here, he didn't know much about jaguars.

[Engine roaring] Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] Spending time around these animals has changed him.

Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] [Cameras click] [Engine roaring] Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: The Pantanal is now the best place in the world to watch and photograph wild jaguars, because their numbers are increasing.

As more ranchers realize they can be valuable allies, fewer jaguars are being shot.

[Cameras click] Each year, ecotourism brings in more than 6 million dollars to the local economy.

Eliseo: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: Protecting big predators can have surprisingly positive effects for both people and the ecosystem.

[Birds chirping] In Indonesia, locals are hoping that protecting specific areas of the ocean will bring big benefits to their whole region.

[Birds chirping] The waters of the Raja Ampat Archipelago hold the greatest marine biodiversity in the world.

These enormous reef manta rays can grow to over 16 feet in width.

After a busy day of feeding, they enjoy the ocean equivalent of a day spa.

A crew of hungry cleaner fish eat parasites, bacteria, and dead skin off the mantas.

Locals keep a close eye on the manta population in this area.

Ronald Mambrasar has lived in Raja Ampat his whole life and now works for Konservasi Indonesia.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: This magnificent coral wonderland is full of life.

But when Ronald was growing up, things were very different.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: Bomb blasts would send out shockwaves underwater.

Allowing fishermen to kill huge numbers of fish.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] [Explosion] Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] The explosions were shattering the reefs.

[Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: And it was disturbing to see the impact it was having on fishing.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: So the locals, with the help of the government and conservation groups, set aside areas where no fishing was allowed.

Hopefully, the ocean could begin to recover.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: Thankfully, Ronald had some help from an ancient island tradition.

[Drums and flutes playing] It's a ceremony known as Sasi that signifies a specific area of the ocean will be closed to all fishing until a future time.

[Speaking indistinctly] The new marine protected areas that Ronald was promoting just made the scale of this closure a lot bigger.

Now, there are 5 million acres of protected ocean in Raja Ampat.

They needed to establish regulations for all the outsiders wanting to use these areas.

Some of the local fishermen got jobs as rangers.

They keep track of all vessels and tourists inside the protected areas.

Men: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: Everyone has to have a permit to be there.

Man: [Speaks in Indonesian] Poor: Their presence has really helped to reduce illegal fishing.

And marine life in the protected areas responded dramatically.

Within 6 years, the number of fish had more than doubled.

The ocean has an incredible ability to recover if it's given time to heal.

And while ray and shark populations have been declining around the world, in Raja Ampat, they've been increasing.

Now, this is one of the healthiest reef manta populations in the world.

From these marine protected areas, the abundance of fish spreads out across the islands, bringing benefits for the local people.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: Fish are central to life in Raja Ampat.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Kids: [Speaking in Indonesian] Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] [Food sizzling] Woman: [Speaking Indonesian] Ronald: [Speaking Indonesian] Poor: The changes have also transformed Ronald's community.

Raja Ampat has become one of the world's top diving destinations.

The growing reef manta population is a big draw for divers.

Increased tourism is creating more jobs.

[Engine roaring] [Electric saw buzzing] [Chopping] [Rustling] Woman: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: Mangrove plantings are helping to bolster shorelines while coral restoration programs help replenish areas that were once destroyed.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] [Birds chirping] Poor: Even the children are taking part.

All: [Speaking in Indonesian] [Cheering] Poor: Ronald's village is thriving.

[Kids screaming] The children of Raja Ampat are learning how the ocean can provide for everyone, if they take care of these special areas.

Ronald: [Speaking in Indonesian] Poor: In Raja Ampat, the water world is rich with life.

But in the dry mountains of southern Idaho, in the western United States, water is life.

[Birds crying] This is cattle country, and cowboy country.

[Cows mooing] Jay: Here, here, here.

Poor: For Jay Wilde, it's the only life he's ever known.

Jay: Two more!

[Jay speaking off-screen] We got a calf in there!

[Jay speaking off-screen] That's enough, that's our turn.

[Horse snorting] Poor: Today, he runs the family cattle ranch with his son Casey.

[Horse snorting] This part of the country sits on a high, dry plateau.

[Cows mooing] Drought has always been a fact of life here.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: And for the past 20 years or more, the ranch's land has been losing water.

And it isn't just their land.

The entire western half of North America is running out of water.

The last two decades have been the driest and hottest of the past 1,200 years.

In 2023, America's two largest reservoirs reached record lows.

[Insects chirping] This widespread mega drought threatens Jay's entire operation.

[Horse snorting] [Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: Jay's land was in serious trouble.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: If Jay's land ever ran out of water completely, it would be the end of his family's ranch.

[Insects chirping] One morning, Jay suddenly realized the answer to his water problems might be something that was missing from his creeks.

[Insects chirping] [Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: Beavers are one of the West's most iconic and controversial animals.

They are incredible landscape engineers.

They build dams on creeks to create ponds, so the entryways to their lodges are underwater, safe from predators.

[Birds cawing] And these flooded areas totally transform the landscape.

[Birds cawing] But many ranchers see beavers as a nuisance.

They don't want their trees cut down and their land flooded.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: Jay knew he needed to figure out how to get beavers back onto his ranch.

[Dog barking] He was going to need some help.

[Jay speaking off-screen] I like your idea about trying to get the beavers back in and if it's worth a shot.

I'm game for anything.

I've stuck with this idea that we need beavers because when I was growing up here as a kid, when this used to be a perennial stream, there was always two and 3 beaver complexes in this watershed.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: Joe and his team had started doing this sort of work in other creeks that had lost their beavers.

Listen, if we can get the beaver moving down just above the culvert and then get this built up a little bit more, I think it'd be primed for them.

Yeah.

[Men speaking at once] Poor: The first step was to turn the creek into an inviting home for beavers.

By building artificial dams.

But once that work is done, how do you get a beaver?

[People speaking at once] Poor: Nate Norman is the lead biologist with the beaver relocation program at Utah State University.

Most ranchers still consider beavers a pest.

Nate: So we trap nuisance beavers and we release them back into the environment to give them a second chance.

Poor: Nate's team has just rescued a pair of beavers from a nearby ranch.

Nate: Getting to release beavers is the icing on the cake.

Poor: For these beavers, it could be a chance to build a new home, where they are wanted.

Nate: I always feel great that we've given these beavers a second chance.

Hopefully, they're going to do great things.

Amazingly, the beavers didn't waste any time getting to work.

Felling trees and building their own dams.

[Jay speaking off-screen] [Birds chirping] Poor: A transformation began.

Ponds formed and spread out through the surrounding forest, making the land wet and fertile.

[Cows mooing] [Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: The dams hold back the rush of spring snowmelt, releasing it slowly.

The creek now runs up to 3 months longer in summer.

Keeping the vegetation green and healthy for the cattle.

[Cows mooing] [Birds chirping] Over the years, the number of beavers on the ranch has grown.

[Insects chirping] Expanding their influence on the ranch's water supply.

And Jay couldn't be happier.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: And the beaver ponds have rejuvenated the water ecosystem on the ranch.

[Birds chirping] Species that had disappeared are returning.

Even moose, which hadn't been seen on the ranch in years.

[Duck cooing] [Bird warbling] [Engine roaring] Jay has been so impressed by how beavers help the ranch that he's spreading the word.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: Ranchers across the west of Canada and the U.S.

are interested in learning how beaver dams can help them deal with their own water problems.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: Beavers have the power to make our agricultural lands more resilient.

[Jay speaking off-screen] Poor: If we let wild species live the way they naturally want to, they have an incredible potential to help us in return.

In the Amazon, the locals are working to restore a remarkable animal that is crucial to their livelihoods.

[Birds chirping] The Amazon is the largest river in the world, and a fish paradise.

There are more than 3,000 species that live here.

[Insects chirping] It's a flooded forest, where fish can feed on trees.

It's also home to one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, the pirarucu.

They can grow to over 10 feet in length and weigh up to 500 pounds.

They also have a remarkable unfish-like ability.

Pirarucu breathe air from the surface.

It helps them live in water with low oxygen levels.

But it also makes it easier to find and hunt them.

[Engine roaring] For decades, anyone could catch pirarucus.

They were heavily overfished.

Commercial fishermen up and down the river took as much as they could, wherever they could.

[Speaking at once] And by the late 1980s, the pirarucu was extinct in many areas of the Amazon.

It was very hard on many of the river villages, like Calafate.

People rely on the pirarucu as a key source of food.

One big fish could provide a meal for 300 people.

Woman: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: Edivan Ferreira, the village leader, remembers the hard times.

Edivan: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: The future for both the local people and the pirarucu was bleak.

[Engine roaring] The government needed to find a way to control the illegal fishing on the river.

[Engine roaring] [Bird cawing] They realized that the best way was to get the local communities involved.

They set aside key lakes along the river, where no fishing would be allowed.

[Hammering] And then, around these protected lakes, fishing rights were given solely to the local villages, which motivated them to keep outsiders away.

Edivan: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: Edivan was the leader who had to enforce the new plan.

Edivan: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: The locals would have to adhere to strict quotas to prevent overfishing.

But to set quotas, you need to know how many fish are actually there.

Not easy when the water is so murky you can't see them.

But these fishermen have a plan.

They count them by sound.

[Fish burps] Men: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: At dawn, when the fish are sedentary, they locate each one by its surface breath.

[Burps] Poor: So, if the fishermen work their way slowly and steadily across the lake, they can accurately count the lake's population.

[Speaking in Portuguese] Now that Edivan's community had their quota, fishing could begin.

To catch these giants, the nets are heavy, so everyone must work together.

When this new plan began, Edivan wasn't sure it was going to work.

Man: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: The new program has been a huge success.

Edivan: [Speaking in Portuguese] [Laughter] All: [Singing in Portuguese] Poor: So far, the new fishing approach generates millions of dollars a year for the villages involved.

[Applause] [Kids shouting] Edivan: [Speaking in Portuguese] Poor: The success is helping it spread throughout the Amazon.

From just a few villages at the start, there are now hundreds of communities involved.

Banning fishing on certain lakes gave the pirarucu time and space to recover.

Their numbers have increased more than 600% in the managed areas, to over 300,000 today.

And as the fish population rebounds, they are spreading out across the whole region.

Having this top predator back is improving the river ecosystem's health and biodiversity.

[Birds chirping] [Birds crying] Making life better for everyone.

Nature has an incredible power to heal itself, if given the chance.

By protecting the water habitat, and the wildlife that lives there, people are showing just how important a healthy water world is to our lives, and our future.

[Laughter] A shared planet is a better home for all of us.

[Cheering]