Oceans of Science

This short documentary illustrates the work of the Department of Fisheries in combatting the problems caused by a rockslide in British Columbia’s Babine River during the annual salmon run.

In this spectacular feature-length documentary, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and an NFB crew sail up the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes on board the specially equipped vessel, the Calypso. They explore the countryside from their helicopter and plumb the depths of the waters in their diving saucer. They encounter shipwrecks, the Manicouagan power dam, Niagara Falls, the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway and an underwater chase with caribou.

This short documentary looks at the deep gorge of the Fraser River, shadowed by the mountain ranges of British Columbia. It is a highway for the mysterious migration of the Pacific salmon. The river shallows appear red with the flailing fish as they push up-river to spawn and die. A natural wonder puzzling to the scientist, the fish migration of spring and summer provides renewed activity for fishermen and cannery workers.

A 1974 documentary film about the state of the Canadian fisheries industry. The film shows the depletion of some species of fish and some of the conservation and management techniques that were employed at the time.

This short, downward-gazing documentary presents the soil in a new light. Man's inevitable and invaluable associate, the soil is a veritable thriving community in miniature, populated by living things of the animal, plant and insect worlds. Using highly magnified sequences, the film shows how this complex universe maintains a harmonious balance.

This short documentary examines the special characteristics of the northwest coastal rain forest. Its highly acidic soil results in a specialized plant community and an abundance of amphibians and reptiles. As the camera reveals, it is a place of exquisite beauty, and one that has an important place in the ecology.

This short documentary shows how a city's water supply is purified at a filtration plant. The complex system of the underground mains that supply all parts of the city with water is also illustrated, as is the safeguarding of water supplies on trains, ships and aircrafts.

River (Planet Earth) is a student's audio-visual presentation of a river system and the importance of water to humans, to his professor who hates to be bored. Both serious and humorous, the film shows how water sustains life, feeds industry, provides power and irrigates the land. It shows how water is inverted, dammed, used and expelled. It talks of pollution. The film demonstrates how water affects the economy, sociology and ecology of a country.

The Mackenzie and Amazon valleys are 10 000 km apart and are ecologically distinct. Yet, in a subtle sense they are collaborating elements within the biosphere, the Earth's thin layer of living matter. In this film are seen two of the world's myriad river ecosystems and how they are linked within the biosphere.

This feature documentary by Sylvie Van Brabant introduces us to Mikael Rioux, a young Québécois activist who founded Échofête, Quebec’s first environmental festival. Spurred by his passionate concern for the world his son will inherit, Rioux goes on a global quest to meet 7 visionaries with concrete solutions to ecological problems. Together, they offer a survival guide for our planet and a journey back to hope.

Forty miles northwest of Vancouver Island lies Triangle Island, an ecological reserve and home of close to one million birds. Bristol Foster, head of the British Columbia Ecological Reserves Program, guides us across the island through colonies of birds and sea lions. He stresses the need of preserving the ecological balance for the survival of future generations.