Finally, at dawn on the day before were due to head back to shore, the eagle eyed crew spotted some action. Mid-way through our breakfast of rice and beans the shout went up. Plates were dropped and masks thrown on.
The event was huge. A massive pod of dolphins pursued the lanternfish to the surface. Yellow-fin tuna had been closely following the dolphins and they attacked the bait at high speed making the water froth and foam. Then came the mobula rays.
These three or thoughts of metre wingspan
rays flew in to the bait scooping huge mouthfuls of fish. As a cameraman in these situations I didn’t have time for fear
personal safety. Photo Credit BBC/Steve Benjamin
an infinite ocean desert. Our dive team consisted of assistant producer Rachel Butler, myself, cameraman Alfredo Barroso and Rich Stevenson who had brought with him a polecam which could be attached to the boat to film alongside animals at high speed.
Coordinating with the aerial team we scoured the ocean and spent day after day finding, losing, re-finding and following megapods of dolphins. All this in the hope that they would lead us to the huge aggregations of lanternfish at the surface that we had heard of. The cruelty of open ocean filming is the boredom. It takes a certain kind of patience and mental strength to stay rational, calm, ready and positive when you see nothing for weeks on end. Day after tedious day on a scorching, small boat with no sight of land meant that time seemed to pass at a crawl with nothing to break the monotony and tedium. We had to remain on standby at all times in case the bait ball materialised. Any filming opportunity might only last a few minutes, so every second lost getting ready would count.
Shrouded by the mass of fish, Alfredo and I were hard pushed to avoid being hit as the swooping rays focused solely on feeding. However, my main fear was not getting the shots that we needed for the story. In a way, as a cameraman, I am often completely detached form the events I film, surrounded by chaos and carnage but observing everything dispassionately through my lens and monitor. Finally, as the bait thinned out, the sailfish came from below, picking off the injured survivors with insouciant ease. After a matter of 15-20 minutes the whole event was over. All that was left was a shimmering, silvery confetti of fish scales, gently descending into the abyss. After 42 days on the water, using three vessels, over two expeditions on both sides of the vast Pacific ocean we had finally captured on film an event of unparalleled drama - the boiling sea.
Specialising in open ocean and coral reef natural history film-making, Roger was one of the principal cameramen on the BBC’s recent Blue Planet II series. He logged over
600hrs underwater
while filming ten different stories for four episodes. Roger is also patron of the Manta Trust.
www.mantatrust.org
www.roger-munns.com Instagram: RogerBorneo @MantaTrust
surreymagazineonline.co.uk 59
Photo Credit BBC/Lisa Labinjoh/Joe Platko
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