Coral Sea Dreaming - Awaken is a sequel to the documentary of the same name, released in 1992, produced with partner Lucy Trippett. It is the product of eight years' filming from more than 1000 dives by the pair when they returned to the Great Barrier Reef, Papua New Guinea's reefs and Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia to film.

The world premiere of the documentary will be screened at Redlands Performing Arts Centre as part of a worldwide climate change awareness campaign to reduce carbon emissions, and the resultant ocean acidification.

"I didn't think it was possible to be scared any more after some of the damage I'd seen when filming the first Coral Sea Dreaming, but when we returned to do Awaken, I saw damage done to hard coral so that it couldn't produce limestone any more, so it hasn't got the capacity to re-form and recover," Dave said.

"Turtles, shrimp, krill - all those lifeforms that rely on limestone or calcium for their shells or exo-skeletons will be affected. There's no genetic history of survival for something like this."

Coral is made of limestone, or calcium carbonate, a basic compound that is degraded by acids. As increasing amounts of carbon are released into the atmosphere, more is absorbed by the ocean, reducing its pH and making it more acidic, thus disintegrating the coral.

RPAC is set to be decked out with 'virtual marine d?cor' to prepare the audience for entering a world of ancient turtles, feeding sharks, pygmy seahorses, savage sea slugs, a manta ray ballet and courting octopi, as well as mating, feeding, night-time predation, cannibalism and chemical warfare, all set to a soundtrack written by Adelaide composer Tanya Rose.