Ireland's Oceans

Life in the Shallows (1x3)

Air date: Jul 06, 2014

The shallow seas around Ireland are some of the most fertile on Earth. Storms churn up nutrients from the sea floor which combine with sunlight to create a fertile and abundant ecosystem. Filmed during the late winter of 2013, when the largest ocean storms on our planet hit the West coast of Ireland, we witness massive ocean swells crashing into our coast and look at their impact underwater. The programme shows the abundance of life from microscopic plankton to the myriad of small colourful creatures and their inter-dependence. We encountering thousands of breeding jellyfish off the Kerry coast in a scene never before filmed in Irish waters. Dr. Cillian Roden outlines the potential impact of nitrate run-off from land to sea and we see how invasive seaweeds are threatening areas of our coastal waters.