Visions: The Last Resort (2011)

Five years ago, Andrew and Marit Miners built an eco-diving resort and centre for marine conservation in Indonesia's Raja Ampat, one of the world's richest and most biodiverse marine sanctuaries. We completed a four week shoot at the eco-resort on the island of Batbitim, in the remote archipelago of Raja Ampat, just off the North Western coast of Irian Jaya, the Indonesian side of Papua New Guinea. The illegal and unethical hunting of shark fins was commonplace in the area before Andrew set up his resort and his now famous No Take Zone, which prohibits the removal of anything from the sea, including fish, shark fins, shells, turtles, and turtle eggs. Since then, shark populations have started to recover, but they're still far from safe. Shark fins remain a valuable commodity in the Asian marketplace. Andrew and Marit are campaigning for an extension of the No Take Zone to protect the 1,100 species of fish in the area. They do not yet have the influence to pull this off, but help might be at hand. Ten years after he first discovered the underwater phenomenon of Raja Ampat, world-renowned marine scientist Dr. Mark Erdmann from Conservation Internationalis returning to Batbitim island. Andrew and Marit need the continuing support of Conservation International because of its influence on local government bodies whose permission is needed to maintain and extend the No Take Zone. Will their efforts live up to the standards of these world-leading experts, and will they gain the support they need to carry on living out their vision?