INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By David Mercer, news reporter Sky News has descended hundreds of feet below the Indian Ocean to broadcast the world's first live TV
news bulletin from under the sea.The launch of Deep Ocean Live saw presenter Anna Botting and Nekton mission pilot Randy Holt explore
underwater life in a mini-submarine fitted with cameras to draw attention to the plight of the world's oceans.The broadcast offered a rare
glimpse at Aldabra, one of the Earth's most heavily protected coral atolls, 600 miles southwest of the Seychelles.Image:Sky's Anna
Botting and pilot Randy Holt descended hundreds of feet below the ocean surfaceIt is the first of three days of exploration which will see
small submarines descend into the little explored "twilight zone" at a depth of 300m (984ft).At 135 metres (442ft) below the ocean's
surface, Botting read news about Theresa May's latest bid to get support for her Brexit deal and New Zealand's plans to tighten gun laws
following the mosque mass shootings which claimed 50 lives.Deep Ocean Live: First news bulletinDuring the 90-minute long underwater
broadcast, a curious potato grouper fish approached the Sky News sub before a shark roaming the ocean was spotted live on air.Sky's
science correspondent Thomas Moore said the shark sighting was a "sign of a healthy reef".More from Deep Ocean Live"There are an awful lot
down there," he said.Shark interrupts live broadcast"They are a big consumers of smaller fish on the reef
Why are there so many Because we're in the middle of a strictly enforced marine protected area."What we're seeing here is evidence that it
works."Aldabra is known as the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean" because it has so many endemic species but it is under threat from plastic
pollution and climate change.It is on the edge of the Indian Ocean gyre, a rotating mass of water that draws in huge amounts of plastic
rubbish from as far away as southeast Asia
Several tonnes of debris have washed up on the island.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently warned that even if global
action to limit greenhouse gases succeeds in keeping the rise in the Earth's temperature to 2C, 99% of shallow reefs will die.The
government of the Seychelles, which has collaborated with Sky on Deep Ocean Live along with ocean research institute Nekton, recently set
aside an area of its territorial waters as a marine conservation zone, with Aldabra within the protected area.Image:The mini-submarines will
reach a depth of 300m (984ft)Sky News will be exploring even further below the ocean surface tomorrow when Mark Austin will present from the
sub at 8am.The highlights from today's Deep Ocean Live coverage will be broadcast on Sky News at 8pm tonight.Sky's Ocean Rescue campaign
encourages people to reduce their single-use plastics
You can find out more about the campaign and how to get involved at www.skyoceanrescue.com.
