Episode 1503: Bermuda: Life at Ocean's Edge

Bermuda is not only the shipwreck capital of the world, but also home to one of the highest latitude reefs on the planet. Covering 280 square miles, Bermuda’s extensive reef platform is essential for its tourism and fishing industries. But, more crucially, these reefs that once terrified mariners of old, are now all that protects the islands from the high seas of the Atlantic.

Today, the islands, reefs, and shipwrecks are all subject to the accelerating impacts of a changing climate. But Bermuda is also in a unique position to meet these challenges. While reefs around the world are suffering under intense heat events, Bermuda's corals remain relatively healthy, and researchers are trying to find out why. These tougher corals and their unique location may offer clues to heightened resilience in the face of a changing climate.

Working at the edge of science – and living at the edge of the ocean – local Bermudians and international scientists race to protect these islands and reefs they call home.

Experts

Meet the experts featured in this episode.

Episode Photos

1 / 28

Perched atop an ancient underwater volcano, the islands of Bermuda sit roughly 700 miles off the U.S. East Coast in the Atlantic Ocean.

2 / 28

The tropical atoll is surrounded by a reef platform which breaks up the waves from the open ocean and protects Bermuda from storms and erosion.

3 / 28

Bermuda's reef platform is home to many shipwrecks that met unfortunate fates, but today these reefs may hold the key to coral climate resiliency.

Changing Seas

4 / 28

Our crew met up with Philippe Rouja, Ph.D., Bermuda's Custodian of Historic Shipwrecks, to explore several of the wrecks around the islands.

5 / 28

Two of those wrecks are the Emma Davis and the Norkoplin, both beached in 1919.

6 / 28

See if you can find Videographer David Diez filming along the bow.

Changing Seas

7 / 28

These wrecks provide a protected underwater habitat for many fish species and corals.

Changing Seas

8 / 28

Another wreck that provides refuge for marine life is the Sea Fern, which was re-sunk in the 1930s at Nonsuch Island to serve as a small breakwater.

Changing Seas

9 / 28

Native Bermudian and Naturalist, Chris Flook, took our crew out to Nonsuch and chatted with us about everything from the parrotfish that clean the reefs to the challenges the islands face with climate change.

Changing Seas

10 / 28

Videographer David Diez films an area where parrotfish have eaten away at the algae.

Changing Seas

11 / 28

Director of Photography Sean Hickey gets the underwater shot showing where the parrotfish have nibbled the limestone walls.

Changing Seas

12 / 28

Videographer David Diez swims along the hull of the Sea Fern to capture images of the many coral species thriving on the sunken wreck.

Changing Seas

13 / 28

Bermuda Native & Naturalist, Chris Flook, also took our crew out to Charles Island, where rising sea levels and growing storms have battered the center of the island. It appears that it won't take too many more severe storms before the island is split in two.

14 / 28

Another place where the impacts of climate change can be seen is the wreck of the Montana, a beloved local dive site.

15 / 28

The Montana was a paddlewheel steamer used during the American Civil War to run goods through the Union blockade to the U.S. South. It sunk in 1863 after running into the dangerous reefs.

Changing Seas

16 / 28

Our crew dove on the Montana with Philippe Rouja, Ph.D., Bermuda's Custodian of Historic Shipwrecks.

Changing Seas

17 / 28

The bow of the Montana, which used to be covered in a sheet of beautiful corals, was destroyed during Hurricane Humberto in 2019. Experts believe that deep wave swells from the storm rolled over the bow and caused it to burst open, resulting in a pile of rubble and broken coral.

Changing Seas

18 / 28

Philippe Rouja, Ph.D. checks on the current integrity of the bow and the corals that are still intact.

Changing Seas

19 / 28

Director of Photography Sean Hickey documents the current state of the Montana's corals.

20 / 28

The crystal clear waters of Bermuda make it possible to see the entire Montana shipwreck from the air. It sits nestled amongst the coral reefs that took it down.

21 / 28

These corals that surround Bermuda play an important role not only in the tourism and fishing industries, but they also protect the islands from the open ocean.

Changing Seas

22 / 28

At the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), a marine research lab run by Arizona State University, researchers are working to figure out what makes Bermuda corals so resilient.

Changing Seas

23 / 28

In the BIOS lab, coral researchers are running a multi-year experiment to better understand the Bermuda corals' resilience in the face of climate change and warming seas.

Changing Seas

24 / 28

Researchers subject these coral samples to thermal stresses, which simulate a heat wave event, and then test the corals the next year to see if they have a memory of this event, which would make them more resilient to heat stress.

Changing Seas

25 / 28

The scientists also want to test if this resilience is passed down through the corals from generation to generation.

Changing Seas

26 / 28

Aquaculturists at the Living Reefs Foundation are also exploring Bermuda coral resilience in their lab, where they grow corals.

Living Reefs Foundation

27 / 28

Corals are moved from the Living Reefs Foundation lab to their coral gardens. Corals grown in nurseries like this are then planted on damaged reefs to help restore them.

28 / 28

Experts from Bermuda and all over the world are working in tandem to keep Bermuda's corals healthy and protect the islands' cultural heritage in the face of accelerating climate change.

Special Thanks:

Blue Water Divers & Watersports

Robinson’s Marina, Somerset Bridge

Bermuda

441-234-1034

Makin' Waves Bermuda

Dockyard Location

16 Camber Road

Bermuda

441-234-5319

Hamilton Location

11 Church Street

Bermuda

441-292-4609

Planet

Image Credits

Changing Seas would like to thank the following individuals and institutions who kindly allowed their footage, images and other media to be used in this production: