Episode 8 Deadly Mission Madagascar

This is Madagascar.

It's a vast island in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa.

And it's home to some of the most unique and rare creatures

on the planet.

Incredibly, 80% of the wildlife here

exists nowhere else on earth.

HOWLING CRY

But it's a paradise under threat.

So I've sent eight ordinary kids from the UK

to have the deadly adventure of their lives.

They'll face the toughest challenges...

I think we're all going to starve, to be honest.

..and discover for themselves how to save this lost world,

before it's too late.

Over the last two days,

the guys have had a superb time in their tropical paradise...

-Oh, wow!

-Oh, that's cool.

They've seen why tourists love the island of Isle Sainte Marie...

It's like a paradise beach.

THEY YELL

But it's not all perfect.

There's trouble in paradise.

For their next challenge, the gang are going to find out why

the precious coral reefs around the island are under threat.

And see how this affects the local people who live off the sea.

The best way for the guys to discover more about the life

under the ocean is to get down there themselves.

They head to the Cetamada Station to meet up with marine biologist Maria.

OK, so coral reefs are very, very important.

And we need to check what's the health of the corals, OK?

She's going to send them on an underwater mission to check out

the state of the coral reefs around Isle Sainte Marie.

It's going to be amazing. Wow.

I'm a bit nervous, because I've never properly done snorkelling

before, so it should be interesting.

With their gear sorted,

the guys head out towards the coral to begin their reef check challenge.

Coral reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean's floor,

and yet a quarter of all marine species are dependent upon them.

While they might just look like rocks, corals are actually made

by tiny animals, which build hard structures around them.

These shapes provide homes to stacks more wildlife.

They're some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet.

But some reefs are not as healthy as others.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

The gang are going to check out the health of this reef,

by carrying out a survey of what lives around it.

Following a transect line along the seabed, the gang dive down

and use ID cards to investigate the state of the wildlife up close,

including fish, invertebrates and, of course, the coral.

It's data from reef checks like this that are fed back

to conservation scientists worldwide,

alerting them to any changes in the reef.

The coral here, however, is not quite what the guys expected...

And Gwen has spotted something worrying.

Where's Eilidh? Eilidh, come over here.

As the strongest swimmer, Eilidh goes down to check it out.

The reef here seems dead in places,

there's bits of broken coral all around.

It was all sort of dull and there weren't as many fish,

they were all sort of hiding in the little sparse bits of coral

that there were, and that's, like, that's really, really sad.

This is just the tip of iceberg.

The world's reefs are being damaged at an alarming rate

and some reefs in Madagascar have lost almost 99%

of their coral cover.

The mood of the gang has taken a downward shift.

See that? You can see, like, all these little holes

where the little animals live and things.

And this destruction of the corals

has certainly given them lots to think about overnight.

The guys have seen that these reefs are vital habitats for fish

but that some of the corals are badly damaged.

The challenge now is to find out what impact this has

on the local people who live off the sea.

Are there enough fish here to support them?

And how hard is it for them to catch their dinner each day?

We've just met up with a local fisherman

and he's got some rill in his bucket and we're going to hopefully

try to catch some fish, so it should be really fun.

They split into two groups, each going out to catch fish

the local way, the boys with a hook and line and the girls with nets.

But that's not all. What the boys catch today will be dinner

for the whole gang this evening. If they don't catch, they don't eat.

Oh, come on!

And getting a bite is trickier than it seems.

Each of them have their own motivations

to complete the challenge.

Although I am a vegetarian I want to see what we're catching.

Like, what is out there.

And seeing what these guys are going to have for their dinner.

And I'm debating whether I'll eat it or not.

What happens if we don't catch anything, then?

We go hungry, so we've got to catch. It's our duty.

Eight people is a common family size in Madagascar,

so what they need to catch to feed the gang

is exactly what a family might live off out here each day.

Meanwhile, the girls are getting ready to catch fish for the locals,

using big nets, beginning with some unusual preparations.

We're just having these hats put on us.

I feel so stupid!

We're going to go fishing,

and they're tying a hat to my head in case it rains.

We are attractive!

We're gnomes!

I'm going to end up falling backwards.

The girls head out into the shallows with the women.

Their technique involves laying out the net then splashing the water

to scare the fish towards it.

They work as a team across the area

to make sure that they catch as many as possible.

Oh!

Raina gets the first one for the girls.

It's got nice colours. I don't want to eat it.

How many have you got, Gwen?

-Oh, it's looking at me.

-I've got one.

And it's not long before Gwen gets a second.

Whoa, we got a fish!

We got a fish! I could feel it wriggling.

But, there's something pretty noticeable about the fish

they've been catching.

Most of the fish that we've caught are really small, aren't they?

Yeah, apart from one.

I think they're quite small.

The girls have only been catching small fish

from the sheltered shallows.

These fish are not for the gang, but for the local women.

What they eat tonight is just down to the boys.

Oh, my flip-flop! Flip-flop down!

But they're not having much luck on the jetty, so they're heading out

in a canoe to see what fish they can find on the edge of the reef.

Come on, little fishies!

This could be a long day.

Is this good fishing here, for you?

-No.

-No? Oh.

I think we're all going to starve, to be honest.

Hope not.

-Oh, I think I've got a fish.

-Come on, Charlie!

ALL: Aw!

Oh, spinney!

Nature doesn't, like, you can't bribe nature.

You can't tell nature what to do, so I think that for like,

people to live this kind of lifestyle is really, really hard.

I think we all appreciate the fact that if we don't catch fish,

we don't eat, basically. And that must... it's quite hard

to sort of like get your head around, not eating.

But that's something the locals have to think about.

One of the reasons the boys are struggling

is because the women's technique closer to shore

removes the young fish from the shallows.

This means that the small fish won't get any bigger.

Oh, what a catch!

Yes!

-Urgh, what is that?

-Coral.

-Whoooh!

-Oh, he got a rock!

I caught a rock, do do do!

It's a bit of coral.

And coral like this is the root of the problem.

As they walk further out to sea, Raina and Gwen are worried

about damaging the reefs here.

I thought it was just like sand and rock underneath us,

but there's loads of broken bits, like bits of broken coral, the stone.

I feel like by stepping on all these corals,

we're sort of ruining, like, loads of other things as well.

Jamie Rose gets stuck in with the fishing,

but the other girls are less keen.

They've abandoned me!

I feel like I'm stepping on loads of things.

Yeah, me too, every step I take I hear "eurgk"!

I don't like it.

But Jamie's loving it, she's out there, like, look where she is!

Despite feeling a little daft out here,

back home Jamie Rose puts a lot of energy into looking good...

I'm a real girly girl.

I'm a bit of a princess, yeah.

..so people easily underestimate her.

Check! One, two.

I have some skills and they include Army cadets,

climbing trees, and running.

And also I do kick-boxing.

Jamie Rose is clearly not a girl to be messed with!

I've got good stamina.

I'd just like to be independent some time.

Out here in Madagascar, Jamie Rose is showing beyond doubt

that she's a true grafter.

Her commitment to helping the women is obvious.

Ah, salt water in cut, salt water in cut!

SHE SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE

But the other girls are still in a dilemma

about fishing on the coral reef.

I didn't quite realise what I was doing.

Yeah, and the first time it was, like, all exciting,

you know, we've caught fish.

And the second time it got less and less.

And now it's just you've realised that like...

Don't know what to do really, because we can either save the fish

or the people go hungry.

Yeah.

It's just like a really awkward situation.

While the girls are divided about whether to carry on

fishing on the coral...

Boom town!

..the boys are finally catching some supper.

Whoa, that's a cool fish!

Do not put it next to the water, it will jump out.

I don't know what to do with it. Shall I...? Whoa!

-Second fish!

-He's got a big 'un! Whoa!

-Goodness, that is huge.

-That is cool.

Yes, Yoran! Nice one, dude.

-Third fish!

-Yes, Yoran.

I think I probably will, you know, maybe eat them.

Because I've, like, seen them get caught and stuff.

So I know they've been...

You know they're out here and then you've caught them. Nice.

Yes! A very small fish, but it's a fish all the same.

Everything's caught something apart from me,

and I'm meant to be the fisherman.

I've got something. I've got something.

Whoa, this is a strong thing!

Whoa! Isn't that a stone fish?

Ah!

Don't touch it, don't touch it!

Easy, easy, dangerous!

This is a stone fish, and it's deadly.

If you stand on it, the venom is intensely painful and can even kill.

Stone fish are one of the most venomous fish in the world.

They have a line of 13 long spikes down their back,

which can inject a toxic liquid when pressed.

That will kill me! This will kill me.

Oh, I didn't want that! I don't want this!

They may be venomous, but they're still good to eat.

Don't touch that!

And stone fish number two!

Pass it down very carefully to Oak.

Oak seems to be having the most luck today, though.

-I got it.

-Nice.

Doing pretty good, catching all the fish.

Clearly, Oak thinks some chill-out time's called for.

Catching a few sun rays, get a little suntan.

Get as much as possible.

Whale! Oh my, God!

Oh, my word! Whoa!

That's a mother and calf whale. Wow.

Oh, my...

That did not just happen!

Dude!

-It's underneath us.

-Did you see that, Yoran?!

It went underneath us.

I thought I was dreaming when I saw that come up.

I looked at it and it...

It didn't compute.

Yeah, it didn't. It's a whale, man! Oh!

They've just encountered a humpback whale and its calf,

one of the most majestic whales on the planet,

so close they could have thrown a flip-flop at it.

That experience was utterly mind-blowing. It was just weird.

It was just, like, sat there and boom, a whale.

Two whales, mother and a calf.

I reckon that's what took my bait last time.

Closer to land, Raina and Gwen decide to move off the coral

and swim back to shore...

..leaving Jamie Rose out on the reef working with the women.

I've been doing this all morning.

The others haven't, because they abandoned me, and it's lunch now,

so I hope they have some nice lunch now because I helped catch some fish.

They don't know what they're doing.

I don't think that anyone has ever explained to the women,

like, what they should and shouldn't be doing.

Having been in Madagascar for a month now, this is a problem,

which has struck them again and again,

how the people and animals can both survive here together.

You lazy people!

-We're not lazy.

-Yeah, you are.

How are we lazy?

How are we lazy?

You didn't do it.

Yeah, but we have reasons, it wasn't just because we were tired.

We just looked down at the reefs and what we were like stepping on

and then we just felt awful.

When we were stepping on them, it was like,

say like lemurs live in trees, it was like step...

-like chopping those trees down.

-Destroying a habitat, I know.

I know it's bad, but they need to eat.

I don't know if they even know the reef is alive.

They're probably brought up like there's nothing wrong with it.

I'm not saying that like, that I agree with stepping on the coral,

it's just that I wanted to help them because, you know,

they have no food.

You're thinking about the realistic side of it,

like the people also need...

And I've learnt so much, staying in that water.

I've learnt so much about the women and how they live

and how they have to depend on those fish.

It seems, it's a difficult situation.

Everything today has been quite difficult and it's contradicting.

I don't... My mind is saying something different to my heart.

Before Raina and Gwen head back to meet the boys,

Maria has some hard-hitting words about the reality of life here.

We have a choice, they don't.

They don't have a choice today for eating.

They don't have a fridge, they don't have a supermarket

to buy the fish, so their only choice is to walk down here

in the lagoon and take the fish that they can find.

You think that you don't affect the coral reefs

with the things that you do in back home?

You know, the coral reefs, they can die or the corals can die

just by the sunscreen that you use.

-Really?

-Do you know that?

How many times a week do you take your car, in back home?

Do you...?

Quite a few.

-Every day?

-Yeah.

Every day you take the car and every day you produce,

you are participating in the global warming.

And warming is also one of the causes of losing the reefs.

So I want you to think about that as well.

Yeah.

I feel quite embarrassed because we actually,

even though we didn't agree with doing fishing out there,

we still actually contribute to the global warming at home, even here

where there's like nowhere near where we live.

You can help it, but you can't actually fix it on your own.

Yep. Everyone's got to contribute to helping it.

As Maria explains,

these women aren't the only ones damaging the reefs here.

Coral reefs are under threat from many angles.

A major problem is coral bleaching.

If sea temperatures increase, or the seawater gets polluted,

the living coral dies, leaving the plain white skeletons below.

This can happen through global warming.

And this doesn't just affect the coral itself

but also the fish that live off them too,

which means that there's also fewer fish around,

as the boys are finding out.

So we've got ten in total, which is OK-ish.

-I don't think it's really enough, with eight of us.

-No.

They head back to tell the girls the bad news

of how little there is to eat tonight.

We only caught ten.

That's all we've got for dinner. You either eat that, or you don't eat.

You had to kill them.

After a day at sea, hunger's building.

So the gang head down to the beach to see exactly how far

the boys' catch will go.

Oh, wow!

They've got eight mouths to feed on their ten fish.

-Oh, dear.

-Oh, God.

Start with the parrot fish.

I don't even know where to do on that.

Oh, wow.

-So we'll just...

-SINGING

Are they coming to steal our fish?!

Defend the fish!

WOMEN SING AND BEAT DRUMS

They're coming in, like, in line formation.

They're going to take us all down!

Oh, look, they're my mates!

Having spent the day with these women,

Jamie's keen to get involved with their traditional dancing.

Dancing over, the girls return to help cook their dinner.

Like pull them out, properly pull them out.

Like it's just maybe they enjoy it.

As a keen fisher herself,

Gwen shows the others how to gut their tiddlers.

You're doing really well, Yoran.

Bearing in mind you're a vegetarian.

Gwen...

There's one there.

I can't believe it.

This is how Okechukwu guts a fish!

Yes!

Because the fish are so small, preparing them has taken

almost an hour and it's given Jamie Rose time to think.

Gwen! Gwen! Gwen, we should try and feed those women.

They need the food better than us, I think that we should feed them.

-Who?

-Good idea.

-Those women.

Guys! I think that we should feed those women.

-I think we should feed them.

-They are more hungry than us.

I think we should feed them.

We haven't really got enough even for ourselves.

We don't need it, but if we started with ten fish,

it's a bit of a joke going over there and saying,

"Oh, yeah, we're going to give you ten fish."

-What you're reading into it...

-There's more than ten of them.

But it's ten fish that they didn't have before.

-Exactly.

-Just think about it that way.

If we had caught like, I don't know, 20 fish, and we were going to

like, give them all, then that would be fair enough.

They just won't listen, they won't give the fish

because they say it's taking the mick and they just don't want to,

because they said that they caught it, so they want to eat it.

D'you want to...?

As we know, Jamie Rose is not one to give up.

Guys, do you think... Guys, just think about it, though.

They have six children each.

There's four of them, six children each.

We don't need to eat?

You ate earlier.

Jamie came up with quite a good idea, to share the fish out

with the women that they went trawling with.

And I think it is a good idea, but I don't know if it would be...

taking the mick in a way.

Right, actually, let's have a vote.

-Gwen, do you think we should give it to them?

-Yeah.

Do you think we should, Charlie?

Do you think we should give it to them?

-Do you think we should, Yoran?

-If you guys want to, let's do it.

If we give it to them, they're going to take it clean off the bones,

they're going to suck those bones, chew them. They will. they will.

Yeah.

So I think that we have decided to give it to them,

whether or not you like it, Yoran.

Can you pull my sleeves up, if you don't have fish guts?

There's no hard feelings between the gang,

but they are going to go hungry, so the crew have a surprise for them.

Excuse me.

-Hooray!

-Rice!

Yeah, now we have enough food to feed them all.

So look, the other side.

Fish is and rice is staple diet out here.

The guys dish out the dinner to the women

in plates made from banana leaves.

It's a good job we've got the rice, though, because that fish,

that'd have been embarrassing having to give that to them.

But now we've got a little routine going, serving up the rice,

and putting some fish on and then giving it to them.

So hopefully they'll enjoy it.

These four boys were the ones that caught your fish.

We're sorry we didn't catch more fish.

SHE TRANSLATES

It's not a problem!

As a thanks for their fish, the locals kick off the drumming again.

As usual, Okechukwu is the first to get stuck in with the dancing.

You always have to do it! Every time!

Vegetarian Yoran gets the chance to sample the fish

that he's caught, with some gentle persuasion from Gwen.

-Eat the meat!

-Go on, Yoran!

Do it!

It's very bony.

Boom, he's done it. Ooosh!

It's been a long and emotional day for them all.

But they've made great connections with these women.

Their challenge here has shown them exactly how hard it is

for local people to make a living from the sea.

They've seen that these women are trapped in a cycle

of needing to feed their families,

but in doing so, they strip the young fish from the oceans

and damage the coral reefs, so that means there's fewer fish

available to them.

But there's a bigger picture.

And we at home are not innocent either.

We're part of the problems facing the corals.

So what about the future of the reefs here?

Next time, the gang will investigate solutions which can both

protect the coral reefs and help the local people.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd