Sustainably farmed, award winning shellfish from the sparkling water of the River Exe, Devon

Think Deep Press Release

Launch of a new educational resource bringing the undersea world into the classroom

A unique collaboration to create a superb educational resource! Press Call 10.30 a.m. Wednesday October 14th Telfer Building, Exmouth Community College, Gipsy lane, Exmouth. EX8 3AF. An opportunity to interview the participants and view the film.



East Devon District Council will launch its latest educational resource for schools on Wednesday 14th October with a premier screening of the film “Think Deep”. The screening for special guests, including Michael Caines, and project collaborators preempts the film’s free distribution to all secondary schools in the South West region.

“Think Deep” is a collaborative project with Exmouth Community College and Natural England produced by local media production company Pangaea TV, and looks to bring undersea world of the South West into the classroom. Principals of consumption and sustainability, to be taught in the Key Stage 3 geography, science and citizenship curricula are illustrated in the by local business case studies.



The film is presented by three Exmouth Community College students and stars local celebrity chef Michael Caines, who sets the students a challenge to find out more about where the fish they eat comes from. During this challenge the students visit Beer crab fisherman Kim Aplin, Exmouth mussel farmer Myles Blood Smyth and local fishmonger Dave Kerley.

Double Michelin awarded chef Michael Caines explains his motivation for appearing in the film: “The South West has some of the best seafood in Europe, and I am keen to support projects which encourage young people to take a more active interest in local food and sustainability.”

The film opens with a mini-documentary of the Devon undersea world, which has been described as East Devon's little “Blue Planet”. From watching this documentary the students are inspired to find out more about the fish they eat, and meet up with Michael Caines as they search the local food scene. Through the discovery of local fishing practices, the three main principals of sustainability are touched upon and the film provides real life examples of how fishing businesses are currently exhibiting best practice.

Commenting on the project, East Devon District Council chair Graham Liverton said, "East Devon has a fishing heritage to be proud of. This film will bring this heritage into classrooms throughout the region. We all realise the need to provide food, including seafood, sustainably and it is fantastic to be able to showcase local examples of how this is currently being achieved to students throughout the South West."

“The film teaches students the principals of sustainability through the case study of local fishing industry. Economic, environmental and social sustainability are the three tenets of sustainable development and these principals are encapsulated in many businesses in the local fishing sector.”

The project received a huge amount of support from Exmouth Community College, providing students to appear in the film as well as locations for shooting various scenes from Think Deep. College Principal, Tony Alexander was glad to help deliver the project. “The College was keen to support this initiative. Working with the District Council on the very successful Food 4 Thought project was shown to be of huge benefit to the students and following this documentary with a look at the seafood industry seemed an obvious continuation of this. The Council is a College partner and project such as this give our students invaluable experience of work in a professional and very exciting sphere.”

The film benefitted from use of stunning underwater footage made available by Natural England, filmed by Blue Planet cameraman Doug Anderson. “Using underwater photography, filmed in high-definition, of animals living just off our local beaches made all the difference to the final film. It added the gloss to the documentary to make it stand out as a lavish professional film, which a discerning teenage audience have come to expect from media production,” explained James Chubb,  East Devon District Council Education Ranger.