Mediterranean life under siege

Directors: Frederic Fougea

It is a small semi-enclosed sea. We think we already know it, but it contains an astonishing amount of biodiversity.
How better to tell the great story of life in the Mediterranean than through the cycle of life?
 
It all starts at birth. A loggerhead turtle crosses the Mediterranean from France to Greece to lay its eggs on the beach where it was born. Bluefin tuna make an epic journey from the Atlantic Ocean to spawn in their birthplace, in the Mediterranean. These journeys are fraught with perils, from fishing nets to plastic pollution. Others, like the seahorse, stay at home, in an inland sea, the Thau lagoon. But they have an amazing peculiarity: it is the males that give birth to their young.
 
How can one thrive in the Mediterranean? This small sea, densely populated by humans for centuries. Some species, such as jellyfish, are taking advantage of the current conditions where the sea is warming and acidifying. The grapevine has partnered with humans. Thanks to their hard work, it has established itself all around the Mediterranean, even on the steepest slopes, as in the Cinque Terre, in Italy. But sometimes the only option is to flee. When a great sea eagle loses its mate in Greece, it is condemned to exile to have any chance of reproducing. His fellow eagles have almost all disappeared.

Each sequence is part of this great journey, at times showing the complexity and refinement of the strategies of these living beings, and at others, revealing their extreme fragility, especially in the face of the omnipresence of humans.