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Fish Out of Water: A Story of Hope, Humour, and a Very Determined Fish
GUEST POST:
ASHER FLATT, WILDLIFE FILMMAKER AND PHOTOGRAPHER
I have a confession to make. I’m an optimist.
In a world of environmental doom and gloom, I believe that optimism and hopeful storytelling are our greatest tools in the fight against despair and apathy. Because if we can’t make people fall in love with the natural world, if we can’t make them laugh, cry, and root for it, then we’ve already lost.
Which brings me to the story of the Mangarahara Cichlid. And a wanted poster.
My previous film Stuck on a Rock told the larger-than-life tale of how a humble stick insect was rediscovered and saved from extinction through plot twists so numerous they’d tie you in knots. I was proud of what we achieved on a shoestring budget, but I knew I could do better. I hungered for a new project. Something with the same beating heart of hope against the odds, but bigger in scope and ambition.
Then I stumbled across Brian Zimmerman.
Brian is Director of Conservation and Science at Bristol Zoological Society and one of the world’s leading freshwater fish conservationists. When the Mangarahara Cichlid’s only river in Madagascar dried up in 2012 and the species was declared extinct in the wild, Brian found himself caring for the last known individuals at London Zoo. Three of them. All male.
So he did what any sensible conservationist would do. He printed a Wild West “Wanted” poster and asked the internet to find his fish a date.
I know. It sounds like fiction.
But this is exactly the kind of story I live for, absurd on the surface, profound underneath. Brian’s poster worked. A tip-off led him deep into northeast Madagascar, to the remote village of Marotandrano, where a small wild population had survived against every odd.
The fish was back from the dead. But the story doesn’t end there. The Mangarahara Cichlid remains critically endangered. The river it depends on runs drier every year. The community of Marotandrano, who have fished and drunk from that river for generations, are watching their ecosystem quietly disappear. This is Madagascar’s freshwater crisis in miniature: a country being robbed of its natural wealth through environmental degradation, and the people and species paying the price.
This is what Fish Out of Water is really about.
Yes, it’s the story of one extraordinary fish and a wonderfully stubborn conservationist. But it’s also the story of a community fighting for their river, and a crisis that doesn’t get nearly enough attention. Freshwater biodiversity is collapsing globally and yet it remains one of the least publicly recognised environmental emergencies of our time.
I want to change that. Not through despair, but through storytelling that makes people genuinely care. Funny, moving, and hopeful, because there is always hope and humour wherever you choose to look for it.
Brian and I have already completed our first interview together, and the full scope of his saga in all its charming detail, confirmed everything I suspected. This is a film that needs to be made.
Now we need to get to Madagascar.
We have a Kickstarter campaign running until 9th July to fund the expedition, recreating Brian’s journey through the back of beyond and filming the next chapter of the story as the fish is relocated to a safer stretch of river. We will also be capturing the voices of the Marotandrano community who hold the key to long-term freshwater conservation in this part of Madagascar. I
f you believe this story deserves to be told, and I think SHOAL’s community understands better than most why it does, please consider backing us or sharing the campaign as widely as you can.
The river is still running. Just.
Back Fish Out of Water on Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/239689244/fish-out-of-water-1
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