Cameraman captures of underwater paradise
vulnerable, coral. “Their hope is that by 2020, 20% of the world’s coral reefs will be protected,” said twice-married dad-of-one Doug, who now lives in Bristol.
“But when you go to some countries their resources can be limited and the reefs are remote, so they don’t know which to protect. So we’d dive on the reefs and I’d film what the scientists were finding.”
Over-fishing through under-reporting of catches is one issue.
But Doug could also see pretty pink coral, like Australia’s famous Great Barrier Reef, being bleached white by climactic changes resulting in warmer seas.
“Coral reefs only thrive in certain temperatures and if the water gets too warm it can turn them white.
“If that doesn’t last too long, they can recover.
“But if the temperatures stay high it can fatally weaken them and large areas of the Great Barrier Reef have suffered from sustained bleaching and are more brittle and prone to damage.
“And then the growing levels of carbon dioxide in the air also gets dissolved into the seawater, making it more acidic and causing further damage.
“You’re just turning the screw on the recovery of the coral, even if the water cools down to its normal rate.”
Doug, who has also been working recently in the Arctic on a major eight-part National Geographic series called Hostile Planet, will be sharing his concerns and talking about the rest of his remarkable work on a forthcoming theatre tour. It begins in Langholm on October 7 and has dates right across the country, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Inverness, before concluding in Shetland on November 4.
“Things were definitely a lot different now from when I started 35 years ago,” said Doug, who was back in Scotland yesterday for his brother Graeme’s 60th birthday.
“The world has changed a lot. I try to raise awareness wherever I can but I’m also doing lots of other things and I want to pass on what I’ve learned.
“I was asked to be the honorary president of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers and the idea was to address their AGM.
“But I love talking to youngsters and connecting people with the planet, so I said that what I really wanted to do was visit as many schools and tell them what is happening to the Earth.
“And I still haven’t hung up my camera. I hope to get some filming done later this year.”
See Doug’s website at dougallan.com