Tubbataha Reefs Deep Dive Expedition | Gombessa Expeditions - Blancpain

Hello everyone. A dive is always too short. On the other hand, analyzing the results of a diving mission, It's always too long. And it took nine months between this incredible mission what we did in the Philippines and the possibility of telling us the story with actual numerical results. The small building over there, It is the keeper's house of Tubata. who remains on duty here to monitor and regulate the atoll. We are twelve hours away from Palawan by navigation, Who is the closest? It doesn't look like much there, but we are above a gem of Asia. It is a protected area. It is a marine park and the authorities of this park They wanted us to carry out an exploration there. That may seem a bit ambitious, Exploration at Tubata, a very deep site very well known, very well illustrated a pair of great photographers before us. But what is known is from zero to forty meters. Beyond that point, diving is not permitted. Of course, if we went there, It was precisely to dive deeper. so that we can go retrieve the data, information that did not exist before. Basic knowledge is still required. What is it? How did it work out? How has all this biodiversity come together? How do you know where to dive? We have only thirteen days ahead of us. You can't dive everywhere. You cannot traverse the entire area of the deep zones. The idea, paradoxically, was before descending to great depth, to go up into the sky with a drone gaze at the sky, the shapes of the atoll and realize that in certain places, The atoll is fractured. There is a part of the reef who broke off cleanly. These fractures inevitably have consequences underwater. It dove down from these surface fractures. To our great satisfaction, when we dive vertically above these fractured areas, We were approaching those enormous reef blocks who had slid down the slope. When we arrive at these large buildings, This creates particular, chaotic reliefs. When dealing with complex reliefs, Certainly, biodiversity is just as complex. and richer than elsewhere. In fact, nothing exists alone in nature. As soon as large organisms are found, They house other, smaller ones. The most beautiful of examples, That's what we found inside this giant soft coral. An enormous organism, and inside it, The shy crab. A crab that had dug a small cave inside the soft coral. When he came out, I was able to realize that he held between his pincers all his eggs. And then there are also all these little seashells. what are called porcelains and are incredibly diverse. We're still at 11 different species while they are still very small. They are shells that are often less than one centimeter. but who are remarkable because there is a diversity of forms, of colors, of drawings making them an exceptional group. That is to say, we are within the same animal group. And there are dozens and dozens of species. For me, having successfully completed this small collection, It is already a great satisfaction for the mission. That was a truly magnificent dive. There isn't a single square centimeter that is neither colonized nor colored. It overlaps. It pushes them one over the other. I think it's one of the most beautiful descents, if it's not the most beautiful fall of my entire career. Besides, it's exhausting. You can't settle down anywhere. You cannot put your knees on the ground. It's impossible. There are corals everywhere, sea fans everywhere. We went five and a half hours without touching the bottom. I think we're going to sleep well. We've just completed our first deep dive. to Tubatara. I was taking a photo of this wall. and all the invertebrates that were attached to it. And I heard Yannick above me who was calling me, who was beeping. He was shouting loudly like that, classic. At first, I thought to myself that he had found something interesting. We must go quickly. Then, I found that he kept insisting in a peculiar way. I thought to myself, no, this isn't how it usually is. It's more urgent. And there, I turned around. In fact, there was a huge tiger shark who was coming calmly toward me, Very gently. It's not as if I've never seen it before tiger shark, of course. But seeing him there, completely unexpectedly, At 95 meters depth, in the dim light. The purpose of this kind of mission is quite basic. Characterize specific habitats for biodiversity. Make species lists. But obviously, as soon as we reach great depth, beyond 100 meters when time is limited, All of this is getting complicated. And all of this thus becomes, in turn, a difficult data to obtain How to do it? The solution came from the idea one of the members of the Gombessa Expeditions Thomas Pavi, who developed a very particular scooter. A submarine scooter, It is an electric thruster. And this thruster, He equipped it with several systems. from the viewpoint. Cameras, cameras The interest of Steed, It is that it allows us to obtain this data. synchronously along the transects so virtual lines. And this allows us to acquire in a single dive the necessary data ecosystem descriptions at several depths. We will be able to, within ten minutes obtain the data for the fish, invertebrates and benthos It's beautiful. entire forests, Beautiful landscapes. Small forests 2 to 3 meters of water. A gorgon, It is a marine animal. of the same family as corals jellyfish the anemones They are species who are very important for the environment because actually, They are building the habitat, They create fracturing. So they are species who are central and indeed, It's quite fragile. because it is generally quite sensitive to necroses. Quality or temperature Water evolves. These sedentary organisms, these fixed animals of such great size when one knows their growth rate it is still relatively slow, That is the proof. of the good preservation of the place. That is the proof of stability these environmental conditions. For a very long time so that these animals be properly in place. The contrast, the price to pay for all this, It's that these animals are sedentary. in place undoubtedly Very little adaptability to potential major changes. One of the proofs of this, It's this cemetery of the Gorgon as we have seen. At a very particular site from the atoll, 100% of the gorgons between 60 and 90 meters had died. Absolute mortality. It was a flower-filled cemetery. As we have seen, since all these skeletons of the Gorgons were not sterile. They were colonized. by a small opportunistic anemone, a white anemone Who owns this cemetery? extraordinarily aesthetic. Explanations some experts on gorgons have given us, It's that it might be related not necessarily to the warming of the waters from the surface who would touch these depths, but perhaps due to other disturbances and waves of cold water who are climbing and who finish to kill these Gorgons. It is true that our mission has been filed on these fixed invertebrates, on all biodiversity. But one must not forget also the large fauna that revolves around it. It has been seen huge bands of crabs, whale sharks also regularly observed. And alongside that, There's the tile fish, even the tile fish. Two species have been observed different tile fish a turquoise-green trend, the other one completely with red lines. If we call them tiles fish, There's a link like that with the construction, Almost masonry. These fish, very small, 10–15 cm They manufacture true pyramids underwater who, on their own scale, are colossal. They are buildings. who almost do 1 meter in height, 1 or 2 meters in diameter. These pyramids of pebbles seem to serve them nests to attract females. Look at the beautiful pyramid what I built for you And come to my nest lay your eggs. You have seen a brief glimpse of this mission carried out 9 months ago in the Philippines. We had stayed for 13 days. That's not much. In 13 days, we were able to do 13 deep dives cumulant 208 hours passed underwater. The results, They are here, 108 different species of fish, Don't 10 news for Tubata. The anglerfish blue back the graceful angel fish the clownfish the large-eyed, long-winged one, the squirrel fish with golden lines, the soapfish, barbiche the blue-line ballista, the tile fish red back Randal's tile fish and finally, the goat's beard brotule But it is also to have clearly shown two biodiversity hotspots that well-known one of course We weren't needed. near the surface and then that other peak biodiversity between 60 and 90 meters of depth, dominated by the Gorgons while the surface It is dominated by corals. These gorgonians, more than 17 different genres belonging to at least at 35 different species, symbols of this paradoxical biodiversity both eroding at the same time from all sides today and who at the same time never stops surprising us and make us do discoveries. See you soon!