What: Ocean Wild: The Light Beneath the Seas featuring Brian Skerry
Where: Royal Theatre
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $39.50-$54.50 at rmts.bc.ca, by phone at 250-386-6121 or in person at the McPherson box office
Brian Skerry is a journalist first, and with that comes a responsibility to present facts and photos without prejudice.
Skerry, who has spent 40 years exploring the sea, can feel his grip on objectivity slowly loosening, however. 鈥淎 lot of my work these days has a strong conservation and environmental component,鈥� he said.
鈥淢ore and more, I try to find stories where I think I can make a difference. If I do it correctly, there will be a way to move the dial a little bit in favour of conservation.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have all the answers. But as a journalist, if I can present the facts as I have learned them to be, maybe people can make the right conclusions.鈥�
Skerry, 57, was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, a mill town 90 minutes from Cape Cod. Though he didn鈥檛 live near the ocean growing up, Skerry was a regular reader of National Geographic, the pages of which filled him with an insatiable appetite for the sea. Years of daydreaming led to something tangible for Skerry, who has been a wildlife photojournalist with the magazine since 1998, specializing in underwater photography.
From seals and whales to invertebrates and macro-creatures, little has escaped his camera lens during his nearly 1,000 career dives. But sharks, which have been the subject of his past four features for National Geographic, are always among the most interesting.
鈥淭he only time I鈥檓 in a cage is with the great whites,鈥� Skerry said of his underwater adventures with sharks, the subject of his latest book, Shark.
鈥淔or the mako sharks, oceanic whitetips and tiger sharks, I鈥檓 not in a cage. The vast majority have been fine. That鈥檚 a testament to these animals. Even though they are apex predators, they are not nearly as dangerous as they have been portrayed.鈥�
Skerry will speak Tuesday in Victoria during a photographic presentation at the Royal Theatre. Ocean Wild: The Light Beneath the Seas will feature Skerry鈥檚 photography and insight, with an undercurrent of activism.
He doesn鈥檛 want to be perceived as 鈥減reachy鈥� during his presentation, the first in a series of three at the Royal Theatre featuring National Geographic photographers. But he wants to be heard.
鈥淚t would be irresponsible of me to not tell people what I鈥檝e learned,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not a scientist, but I鈥檝e spent my life working with scientists. I鈥檝e had the luxury of being able to connect the dots. I鈥檝e been able to see the big chessboard. And I鈥檝e seen things going bad.鈥�
For starters, there are far fewer fish, Skerry said, and coral reefs that were once vibrant and alive are now dead. He reads scientific papers that say 90 per cent of the big fish in the ocean are gone because of overfishing. What鈥檚 more, sharks are being killed at a rate of 100 million per year, and the ocean is becoming acidic because of the carbon we are dumping into it.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 [do this] and expect the ocean to be healthy. It won鈥檛 be. Every other breath a human being takes comes from the ocean.
鈥淚f you live in a desert in Africa, half your oxygen comes from the ocean.鈥�
Skerry partnered with the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston to create the New England Ocean Odyssey in 2012, documenting a series of coastal and deep-sea dives he conducted for the foundation off New England. He has also lectured on ocean conservation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and spoke this year at the General Assembly of the United Nations. He considers his job a privilege, and does not take his responsibilities lightly.
鈥淲e are living at a pivotal moment in history right now. We understand the problems and we know the solutions. The choices we make right now 鈥� today and in the next few years 鈥� are going to determine the future of our planet for our children. If we don鈥檛 do the right thing, it鈥檚 going to be devastating.鈥�