1 00:00:00,758 --> 00:00:03,000 [boat hums] 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:06,517 --> 00:00:09,241 [water splashes] 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 5 00:00:11,034 --> 00:00:13,965 [diver breathes] 6 00:00:13,965 --> 00:00:16,448 [whale calls] 7 00:00:26,137 --> 00:00:29,379 [soft dramatic music] 8 00:00:35,137 --> 00:00:38,137 - [Charles] The right whale is an extraordinary creature. 9 00:00:38,137 --> 00:00:41,724 It's really one of the wonders of the living world. 10 00:00:41,724 --> 00:00:44,862 But if something in our management doesn't change, 11 00:00:44,862 --> 00:00:48,793 the direction of the population points to zero, 12 00:00:48,793 --> 00:00:50,482 and that's extinction. 13 00:00:51,931 --> 00:00:55,517 [slow tense music] [water sprays] 14 00:00:55,517 --> 00:00:57,413 - [Amy] The North Atlantic right whale was considered one 15 00:00:57,413 --> 00:00:59,965 of the most endangered species on the planet. 16 00:01:01,689 --> 00:01:03,896 - This'll be the first large whale 17 00:01:03,896 --> 00:01:07,172 in modern history that would go extinct. 18 00:01:07,172 --> 00:01:10,379 [dramatic music] 19 00:01:10,379 --> 00:01:12,724 [boat hums] 20 00:01:20,172 --> 00:01:24,172 - 85% percent of the right whale population now bears scars 21 00:01:24,172 --> 00:01:26,448 that indicate entanglement injury. 22 00:01:26,448 --> 00:01:29,172 This is a big problem, and it's an urgent problem. 23 00:01:31,793 --> 00:01:34,241 - It's a tragedy that we're losing the right whale. 24 00:01:34,241 --> 00:01:36,655 It's emblematic of large-scale changes 25 00:01:36,655 --> 00:01:38,931 that are happening on the planet. 26 00:01:38,931 --> 00:01:42,172 - Human beings can't exist without biodiversity, 27 00:01:42,172 --> 00:01:45,482 and this is maybe a harbinger of where we're going. 28 00:01:52,827 --> 00:01:54,379 - We need to put as much pressure as we can 29 00:01:54,379 --> 00:01:57,344 on the agency to step up and take action right now. 30 00:01:57,344 --> 00:01:59,517 - I don't think the urgency can be overstated. 31 00:01:59,517 --> 00:02:01,448 - Human action is killing these whales, 32 00:02:01,448 --> 00:02:03,758 and human action has the ability to save them. 33 00:02:07,551 --> 00:02:09,965 - Lobstermen are stewards of the sea, 34 00:02:09,965 --> 00:02:12,241 and they don't wanna untangle anything. 35 00:02:13,758 --> 00:02:16,068 - I sat here and listen to environmentalist 36 00:02:16,068 --> 00:02:17,413 after environmentalist tell me 37 00:02:17,413 --> 00:02:19,379 what a murderous individual I am. 38 00:02:19,379 --> 00:02:21,448 - My opinion about the whales is fuck 'em. 39 00:02:21,448 --> 00:02:24,310 What more can we do? Eventually, they're gonna die off. 40 00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:26,068 It's gonna happen no matter what. 41 00:02:26,068 --> 00:02:27,310 [crowd cheers and applauds] 42 00:02:27,310 --> 00:02:29,655 - As your governor, I will do everything I can 43 00:02:29,655 --> 00:02:31,482 to defend the lobster industry in the face 44 00:02:31,482 --> 00:02:33,241 of this absurd federal overreach. 45 00:02:34,655 --> 00:02:37,034 - The challenge is to find ways for the fishing industry 46 00:02:37,034 --> 00:02:40,827 and the right whales to coexist in the same waters. 47 00:02:40,827 --> 00:02:44,068 - NOAA is the fox guarding the chicken poop. 48 00:02:44,068 --> 00:02:46,931 You are gonna be fired for being a liar 49 00:02:46,931 --> 00:02:49,896 and a person who works to kill off the right whale. 50 00:02:49,896 --> 00:02:52,724 - One of the problems is that fisheries are one 51 00:02:52,724 --> 00:02:56,551 of the main factors that are endangering these species. 52 00:02:57,896 --> 00:03:00,758 You end up with one organization deeply conflicted 53 00:03:01,620 --> 00:03:03,206 with its mission. 54 00:03:03,206 --> 00:03:08,241 [slow dramatic music] [waves crash] 55 00:03:14,620 --> 00:03:17,620 [soft ethereal music] 56 00:03:17,620 --> 00:03:18,620 [gavel bangs] 57 00:03:18,620 --> 00:03:19,448 - Good morning, everyone. 58 00:03:19,448 --> 00:03:20,896 Welcome to this hearing 59 00:03:20,896 --> 00:03:23,000 of the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife. 60 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,551 We'll now examine the many threats facing one 61 00:03:25,551 --> 00:03:28,586 of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. 62 00:03:30,517 --> 00:03:32,965 - The stock is now declining rapidly 63 00:03:32,965 --> 00:03:34,827 with only about 400 left. 64 00:03:35,965 --> 00:03:37,655 - As fewer right whales in existence 65 00:03:37,655 --> 00:03:40,344 than members of Congress, and there are fewer 66 00:03:40,344 --> 00:03:43,517 than 100 breeding females in the population. 67 00:03:43,517 --> 00:03:46,931 - In 2017 and '18, 20 right whales were found dead, 68 00:03:46,931 --> 00:03:49,862 representing nearly 5% of the population. 69 00:03:49,862 --> 00:03:52,862 Of the 12 whales that were examined carefully, 70 00:03:52,862 --> 00:03:54,931 all had died from human causes. 71 00:03:56,517 --> 00:03:59,620 - In order to maintain a sustainable right whale population, 72 00:03:59,620 --> 00:04:02,137 no more than one right whale per year 73 00:04:02,137 --> 00:04:04,724 can be killed by human causes. 74 00:04:06,068 --> 00:04:08,241 That number has been exceeded every single year 75 00:04:08,241 --> 00:04:09,724 for the last 20 years. 76 00:04:10,931 --> 00:04:12,137 The science shows that climate change 77 00:04:12,137 --> 00:04:14,793 may be shifting the food source northward, 78 00:04:14,793 --> 00:04:16,586 which means the whales will be moving further 79 00:04:16,586 --> 00:04:19,344 into areas with shipping lines and lobster traps. 80 00:04:20,758 --> 00:04:22,931 No wonder these whales are in such dire straits. 81 00:04:24,344 --> 00:04:27,689 If more is not done to save this iconic species, 82 00:04:27,689 --> 00:04:29,482 scientists predict it will go extinct 83 00:04:29,482 --> 00:04:31,206 in the next few decades. 84 00:04:31,206 --> 00:04:33,724 [waves crash] 85 00:04:36,413 --> 00:04:41,413 [slow tense music] [boat hums] 86 00:04:58,517 --> 00:05:00,172 - It's two miles at 010. 87 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,241 It's back to the east corner of yesterday. 88 00:05:05,689 --> 00:05:08,344 We're in Cape Cod Bay, and so we're headed over to a patch 89 00:05:08,344 --> 00:05:10,379 where we saw a lot of whales yesterday. 90 00:05:14,931 --> 00:05:18,620 What I do for a living is I worry about the relationship 91 00:05:18,620 --> 00:05:20,689 between the humans and marine mammals. 92 00:05:22,068 --> 00:05:24,517 We have to figure out why the animals are not recovering 93 00:05:24,517 --> 00:05:26,172 and what we can do about it to try 94 00:05:26,172 --> 00:05:29,517 and secure the longevity of the species. 95 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,724 - They're over here. 96 00:05:32,724 --> 00:05:34,172 - [Michael] We just don't give these guys a chance 97 00:05:34,172 --> 00:05:36,827 to live a full life. 98 00:05:36,827 --> 00:05:38,137 There's a whale right here. 99 00:05:39,206 --> 00:05:40,965 [water sprays] 100 00:05:40,965 --> 00:05:42,931 What we're hoping to learn from these animals today 101 00:05:42,931 --> 00:05:45,517 is who they are and how they are. 102 00:05:45,517 --> 00:05:49,034 The who is largely done by a photograph of the head. 103 00:05:49,034 --> 00:05:50,068 [camera clicks] 104 00:05:50,068 --> 00:05:51,586 - I was computing there. Okay. 105 00:05:52,896 --> 00:05:54,310 [water splashes] 106 00:05:54,310 --> 00:05:56,620 I'm here to collect images to assess evidence 107 00:05:56,620 --> 00:05:58,896 of entanglement scarring or vessel strikes 108 00:05:58,896 --> 00:06:00,482 and look at their health. 109 00:06:01,827 --> 00:06:03,448 - The right whales have been in the bay 110 00:06:03,448 --> 00:06:06,241 for a couple of months now, and they've been feeding deep, 111 00:06:06,241 --> 00:06:07,310 but they're beginning to come up 112 00:06:07,310 --> 00:06:08,827 to the surface to feed more. 113 00:06:12,551 --> 00:06:15,000 Well, that's it. That's all that's there. 114 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,344 Often you'll see a tail going down. 115 00:06:17,344 --> 00:06:19,758 Occasionally you'll see a back as they surface. 116 00:06:19,758 --> 00:06:22,448 It's a matter of getting into the head 117 00:06:22,448 --> 00:06:24,793 of the whale as to what it's gonna do next. 118 00:06:24,793 --> 00:06:29,793 [soft ethereal music] [water splashes] 119 00:06:31,034 --> 00:06:32,896 - We keep track of individual whales 120 00:06:32,896 --> 00:06:36,000 through these callosity patterns on top of their head. 121 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,241 Each whale has its own unique pattern, 122 00:06:38,241 --> 00:06:40,310 very different from each other. 123 00:06:40,310 --> 00:06:42,586 We also have whales that have been entangled 124 00:06:42,586 --> 00:06:44,931 that we know are carrying gear in here. 125 00:06:44,931 --> 00:06:46,758 This is pretty bad entanglement scars 126 00:06:46,758 --> 00:06:49,241 'cause deep raw tissue there. 127 00:06:49,241 --> 00:06:51,586 We wanna keep track of those individuals in particular, 128 00:06:51,586 --> 00:06:53,758 especially with the drone footage. 129 00:06:53,758 --> 00:06:57,413 - [Man] All right, go right, go right. Go right, go right. 130 00:06:57,413 --> 00:06:58,965 - Got a couple of drones on the boat. 131 00:06:58,965 --> 00:07:02,310 We use them for examining the body condition 132 00:07:02,310 --> 00:07:03,655 of these animals and the length. 133 00:07:03,655 --> 00:07:05,551 And if you do that year by year, 134 00:07:05,551 --> 00:07:07,344 you can get at the growth rates 135 00:07:07,344 --> 00:07:09,551 and also the changing and the condition of the animals 136 00:07:09,551 --> 00:07:12,896 with the various impacts that they're suffering from. 137 00:07:12,896 --> 00:07:14,965 [water splashes] 138 00:07:14,965 --> 00:07:18,551 When a whale gets entangled in rope, 139 00:07:18,551 --> 00:07:20,620 they can take six months to die. 140 00:07:20,620 --> 00:07:22,000 There is an industry there 141 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,172 that causes a fairly significant animal welfare problem. 142 00:07:25,172 --> 00:07:26,172 [drone whirs] 143 00:07:26,172 --> 00:07:27,689 - [Man] There. 144 00:07:27,689 --> 00:07:29,620 - Cape Cod Bay is one of the richest feeding grounds 145 00:07:29,620 --> 00:07:30,896 for this population. 146 00:07:32,034 --> 00:07:34,448 Once the plankton here has run its course, 147 00:07:34,448 --> 00:07:37,310 then they'll shift to other habitats further north. 148 00:07:39,034 --> 00:07:41,896 [water splashes] 149 00:07:43,586 --> 00:07:46,206 - [Michael] Despite all of the efforts that have gone on, 150 00:07:46,206 --> 00:07:48,379 entanglement has got worse. 151 00:07:48,379 --> 00:07:51,137 In the last 16 years, we've killed 70 right whales, 152 00:07:51,137 --> 00:07:54,724 and entanglement was the primary problem. 153 00:07:54,724 --> 00:07:56,758 [soft dramatic music] 154 00:07:56,758 --> 00:08:00,413 - If we don't stop the level of mortality, 155 00:08:00,413 --> 00:08:03,241 we could just be driving the nail into the coffin 156 00:08:03,241 --> 00:08:05,931 of this species, and it could happen fast. 157 00:08:10,034 --> 00:08:15,034 [boat rumbles] [slow tense music] 158 00:08:17,275 --> 00:08:19,000 - My name's Rob Martin. 159 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:20,862 I'm a commercial fishermen, 160 00:08:20,862 --> 00:08:23,000 and I've probably been fishing too long 161 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,103 since I was a kid fishing out of a skiff. 162 00:08:26,413 --> 00:08:29,068 My grandfather used to fish back in the 30s, 163 00:08:29,068 --> 00:08:32,931 and my great grandparents, they fished out of dories, 164 00:08:32,931 --> 00:08:35,931 and I always been infatuated by the sea, 165 00:08:35,931 --> 00:08:38,620 and that's what I always wanted to do was to go lobstering. 166 00:08:38,620 --> 00:08:40,310 When it's in your blood, it's in your blood. 167 00:08:47,551 --> 00:08:52,275 [birds caw] [water trickles] 168 00:08:52,275 --> 00:08:55,379 Five years ago, when we got one of the closures, 169 00:08:55,379 --> 00:08:58,206 it was a lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be. 170 00:08:59,551 --> 00:09:03,310 When I found out it did happen, I was very, very upset. 171 00:09:03,310 --> 00:09:06,206 [boat hums] 172 00:09:06,206 --> 00:09:09,034 I had three months not getting paid. 173 00:09:09,034 --> 00:09:11,586 It hit that first year. It hit hard. 174 00:09:11,586 --> 00:09:15,000 College tuition payments to make. I got mortgage payments. 175 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,379 It seemed to get tougher and tougher every year. 176 00:09:21,241 --> 00:09:22,793 I don't wanna see any more closures. 177 00:09:22,793 --> 00:09:23,896 I wanna see fishermen 178 00:09:23,896 --> 00:09:25,793 and scientists actually work together, 179 00:09:25,793 --> 00:09:27,034 and I'm very concerned 180 00:09:27,034 --> 00:09:29,103 'cause nobody knows what's gonna happen. 181 00:09:29,103 --> 00:09:30,448 It's anybody's guess. 182 00:09:33,896 --> 00:09:35,896 [sighs] 183 00:09:36,965 --> 00:09:37,827 Peace and quiet. 184 00:09:39,379 --> 00:09:42,206 I am preparing right now for the upcoming season 185 00:09:42,206 --> 00:09:44,000 to get as much stuff done as I can. 186 00:09:45,137 --> 00:09:46,758 Basically, if I'm not working on the boat, 187 00:09:46,758 --> 00:09:49,586 I've been working on gear on a nice day. 188 00:09:49,586 --> 00:09:52,689 Doing it, pushing 40 years now on my own doing it, 189 00:09:52,689 --> 00:09:54,724 so that's a long time. 190 00:09:54,724 --> 00:09:57,724 [soft gentle music] 191 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:00,517 And these are all my 800 traps. 192 00:10:00,517 --> 00:10:02,206 The reason why they're all here in the yard 193 00:10:02,206 --> 00:10:04,344 is because right now, I'm not allowed to fish 194 00:10:04,344 --> 00:10:07,655 for three months and just waiting for May 1st 195 00:10:07,655 --> 00:10:10,275 so I can start setting gear again. 196 00:10:10,275 --> 00:10:12,344 The bulk of my gear's already ready here. 197 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,172 Checking there's no holes in the heads, 198 00:10:16,172 --> 00:10:18,827 the trap tag in, gonna the next one. 199 00:10:19,827 --> 00:10:21,448 This is all whale-safe rope. 200 00:10:21,448 --> 00:10:23,482 The bulk of my vertical lines, if I can get it, 201 00:10:23,482 --> 00:10:27,724 is orange because in the water, the eyeball of a whale, 202 00:10:27,724 --> 00:10:30,000 even though they see in black and white, 203 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,620 they can pick up red and orange the best. 204 00:10:32,620 --> 00:10:36,068 That probably breaks at probably 4,000 pounds. 205 00:10:36,068 --> 00:10:37,482 There's a lot of rope here. 206 00:10:38,689 --> 00:10:40,000 Whatever needs to touch up with paint, 207 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:41,482 I'll paint a bunch of buoys. 208 00:10:41,482 --> 00:10:43,551 I'll replaced those are any of the rope on those 209 00:10:43,551 --> 00:10:46,827 and go order some bait for a week 210 00:10:46,827 --> 00:10:48,931 and a half from now and start setting gear. 211 00:10:50,758 --> 00:10:52,034 This is Lori Caron, 212 00:10:52,034 --> 00:10:54,034 my better half who is a lot better than me. 213 00:10:56,172 --> 00:10:58,896 - It was somewhat shocking to us 214 00:10:58,896 --> 00:11:02,000 when the final rule came out and the magnitude that, 215 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,000 the fact that it encompassed 3,000 square nautical miles. 216 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,827 Five years later, we're being told that it's not enough. 217 00:11:12,241 --> 00:11:14,310 - [Reporter] Happening now, Atlantic right whales are 218 00:11:14,310 --> 00:11:17,896 at the center of a protest along the New England coastline. 219 00:11:17,896 --> 00:11:19,275 - Of course these lobstermen know 220 00:11:19,275 --> 00:11:21,689 that they're up against an endangered species, 221 00:11:21,689 --> 00:11:24,206 but they think what isn't fair is the restriction 222 00:11:24,206 --> 00:11:26,724 that federal lawmakers are putting on them. 223 00:11:26,724 --> 00:11:29,827 - [Lori] In reality, the closure that took place put a cork 224 00:11:29,827 --> 00:11:31,379 in three harbors. 225 00:11:31,379 --> 00:11:32,931 - Thank you all for being here today 226 00:11:32,931 --> 00:11:35,655 to show your support for the local commercial lobstermen, 227 00:11:35,655 --> 00:11:38,793 their families, crew, and shore-side businesses 228 00:11:38,793 --> 00:11:40,310 who cannot go to work today. 229 00:11:41,827 --> 00:11:45,034 The mass-restricted area has devastating economic impacts 230 00:11:45,034 --> 00:11:46,482 on the fleet. 231 00:11:46,482 --> 00:11:49,896 We are here in Plymouth, America's hometown, 232 00:11:49,896 --> 00:11:53,068 where this country was built on commercial fishing, 233 00:11:53,068 --> 00:11:57,000 and this historic way of life is being threatened everyday. 234 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Conservation groups continually sue the federal government 235 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,620 to add more and more restrictive regulations 236 00:12:02,620 --> 00:12:04,655 on the commercial lobster industry as a whole. 237 00:12:04,655 --> 00:12:06,413 Enough is enough. 238 00:12:07,448 --> 00:12:09,689 Where will the financial help come from 239 00:12:09,689 --> 00:12:11,241 to help these families? 240 00:12:11,241 --> 00:12:12,586 Thank you for being here today. 241 00:12:12,586 --> 00:12:14,655 [tense brooding music] [crowd applauds] 242 00:12:14,655 --> 00:12:16,793 - The guys all around here are waiting to set gear. 243 00:12:16,793 --> 00:12:18,689 The boats are loaded and waiting to go. 244 00:12:18,689 --> 00:12:21,586 My message to the government is work with us. 245 00:12:21,586 --> 00:12:22,931 We've done the right thing. 246 00:12:22,931 --> 00:12:23,896 [muffled chatter] 247 00:12:23,896 --> 00:12:25,103 - [Lori] Rob's income is the one 248 00:12:25,103 --> 00:12:27,103 that's always paid the mortgage and then some. 249 00:12:27,103 --> 00:12:32,103 So for us to lose up to 1/3 of his earning income potential, 250 00:12:33,827 --> 00:12:35,827 it was quite devastating for us. 251 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,413 - What's the point of fishing anymore 252 00:12:38,413 --> 00:12:39,758 if you can't even go fishing to make a paycheck? 253 00:12:39,758 --> 00:12:41,275 It's gonna be a hobby soon. 254 00:12:41,275 --> 00:12:44,103 It's just next to impossible wanna do it anymore. 255 00:12:44,103 --> 00:12:46,000 [truck rumbles] 256 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,034 - This is economically devastating, yes, 257 00:12:48,034 --> 00:12:50,103 because it's not just affecting their businesses. 258 00:12:50,103 --> 00:12:53,172 It affects everyone that depends upon the lobster industry. 259 00:12:53,172 --> 00:12:56,551 We have bait dealers here today. We have fuel suppliers. 260 00:12:56,551 --> 00:12:58,724 Shore-side marine businesses depend on it. 261 00:12:58,724 --> 00:13:01,758 Local restaurants depend upon the lobster industries. 262 00:13:01,758 --> 00:13:03,689 - This makes no sense 'cause 263 00:13:03,689 --> 00:13:06,310 is this the only place where there's whales? 264 00:13:06,310 --> 00:13:07,724 I don't think so. 265 00:13:07,724 --> 00:13:10,000 I'm on the brink of going out of business. 266 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Just stinks being the fallout of a global issue. 267 00:13:14,965 --> 00:13:16,758 - There is a lot of focus on the right whales 268 00:13:16,758 --> 00:13:18,344 due to the fact that they're endangered, 269 00:13:18,344 --> 00:13:21,482 but there's also gonna be an endangered lobster fisherman. 270 00:13:21,482 --> 00:13:24,344 We don't want that to happen. We wanna try and coexist. 271 00:13:25,448 --> 00:13:27,379 - Here are some letters that we've written 272 00:13:27,379 --> 00:13:30,137 from the Social Lobster Fishermen's Association. 273 00:13:31,586 --> 00:13:35,379 I would suggest we've had 75 to 100 meetings at this point. 274 00:13:35,379 --> 00:13:38,379 Articles on gear modification. 275 00:13:38,379 --> 00:13:42,344 This is the lawsuit filed by the environmentalists. 276 00:13:42,344 --> 00:13:44,931 There was another lawsuit in 2011, 277 00:13:44,931 --> 00:13:48,206 another separate lawsuit in 2018 278 00:13:48,206 --> 00:13:50,517 in the Massachusetts Federal Court, 279 00:13:50,517 --> 00:13:54,068 Division of Marine Fishery responses. 280 00:13:54,068 --> 00:13:55,965 These would be some advisories 281 00:13:55,965 --> 00:13:58,793 from NOAA conservation groups, 282 00:13:58,793 --> 00:14:00,586 letters that have been written. 283 00:14:00,586 --> 00:14:03,172 It just goes on and on and on. 284 00:14:03,172 --> 00:14:05,379 As I started looking into it 285 00:14:05,379 --> 00:14:06,896 and attending meetings with Rob, 286 00:14:06,896 --> 00:14:08,724 there was a bit of an injustice, 287 00:14:08,724 --> 00:14:10,655 and it's been really, really important to us 288 00:14:10,655 --> 00:14:13,310 that we educate ourselves through this process. 289 00:14:13,310 --> 00:14:15,448 So as you can see, 290 00:14:15,448 --> 00:14:18,793 we've killed a lot of trees, [laughs] unfortunately. 291 00:14:18,793 --> 00:14:21,896 [slow tense music] [boat rumbles] 292 00:14:21,896 --> 00:14:24,000 We didn't battle the regulations. 293 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,793 We stepped forward graciously to see 294 00:14:25,793 --> 00:14:29,931 how we could exist within them, and we continue with that. 295 00:14:29,931 --> 00:14:33,655 I do believe that the whales deserve protection, 296 00:14:33,655 --> 00:14:37,000 but fishermen remain on the sidelines closed. 297 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,137 There are casualties, and those need to be considered. 298 00:14:46,965 --> 00:14:49,724 - We wanna welcome you to this TRT meeting. 299 00:14:49,724 --> 00:14:52,517 We know that we are at a juncture. 300 00:14:52,517 --> 00:14:53,931 We need to make changes. 301 00:14:55,034 --> 00:14:58,517 We want whales and fisheries to coexist. 302 00:14:58,517 --> 00:15:01,310 You are the group of people, the experts, 303 00:15:01,310 --> 00:15:04,172 who know the whales, know the fisheries, 304 00:15:04,172 --> 00:15:06,586 and can come up with a consensus approach 305 00:15:06,586 --> 00:15:10,517 to solving these very intractable challenges. 306 00:15:10,517 --> 00:15:12,931 - We're at the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, 307 00:15:12,931 --> 00:15:16,344 which is the national marine fishery service approach 308 00:15:16,344 --> 00:15:20,137 to reducing the consequences of human activities 309 00:15:20,137 --> 00:15:21,482 on right whales. 310 00:15:21,482 --> 00:15:24,413 - It's fishermen, conservationists, researchers, 311 00:15:24,413 --> 00:15:27,275 state and federal managers all getting together 312 00:15:27,275 --> 00:15:30,137 to try to hammer out the solutions to this problem. 313 00:15:30,137 --> 00:15:31,448 - Those of you who have been at this 314 00:15:31,448 --> 00:15:33,965 for decades know what we're asking you to do. 315 00:15:33,965 --> 00:15:36,793 We have to achieve 60 to 80% reduction 316 00:15:36,793 --> 00:15:40,000 in serious injuries and mortalities to right whales. 317 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,172 - The situation for right whales continues to worsen, 318 00:15:42,172 --> 00:15:44,551 so now's the time to act. 319 00:15:44,551 --> 00:15:46,103 - The discussions that I've had with a lot 320 00:15:46,103 --> 00:15:50,586 of people around this table, there are very divergent views. 321 00:15:50,586 --> 00:15:51,724 - Well, fundamentally, 322 00:15:51,724 --> 00:15:55,655 we have a nearly billion-dollar industry 323 00:15:55,655 --> 00:15:58,068 and a urgent need to protect these whales 324 00:15:58,068 --> 00:16:00,827 from entanglement in fisheries so that the fishermen 325 00:16:00,827 --> 00:16:02,344 can maintain their livelihoods 326 00:16:02,344 --> 00:16:04,689 and that we can preserve from dangerous species. 327 00:16:04,689 --> 00:16:07,344 - You'll note that in nine of the last 10 years, 328 00:16:07,344 --> 00:16:09,862 at least one right whale died due to entanglement. 329 00:16:09,862 --> 00:16:12,827 It actually increased from 21% between 1970 330 00:16:12,827 --> 00:16:17,000 and 2002 to 51% in the last 16 years. 331 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,137 So now more than 75% of the anthropogenic deaths 332 00:16:20,137 --> 00:16:21,689 are due to entanglement. 333 00:16:21,689 --> 00:16:24,034 But it does just underline again 334 00:16:24,034 --> 00:16:26,551 that the entanglement problem is the most pressing issue 335 00:16:26,551 --> 00:16:27,931 for right whales right now. 336 00:16:29,034 --> 00:16:30,793 - Entanglements in fixed gear fisheries, 337 00:16:30,793 --> 00:16:33,482 including things like lobster trap pots, 338 00:16:33,482 --> 00:16:36,344 basically, it's the line that connects the buoy 339 00:16:36,344 --> 00:16:38,517 at the surface of the ocean to the trap at the bottom 340 00:16:38,517 --> 00:16:41,206 that's collecting the lobster, is an entanglement hazard. 341 00:16:41,206 --> 00:16:42,448 And we know that right whales 342 00:16:42,448 --> 00:16:44,482 in particular are highly susceptible. 343 00:16:44,482 --> 00:16:45,724 - [Sarah] These animals clearly 344 00:16:45,724 --> 00:16:47,793 are suffering quite a bit before they die. 345 00:16:47,793 --> 00:16:49,758 Imagine panicking, being stuck underwater, 346 00:16:49,758 --> 00:16:52,275 and not being able to get to the surface. 347 00:16:52,275 --> 00:16:54,275 [whale moans] 348 00:16:54,275 --> 00:16:56,896 - We're looking at between 50 and 100 right whales 349 00:16:56,896 --> 00:16:58,586 getting entangled every year. 350 00:16:58,586 --> 00:17:02,344 The idea that you can just push that under the rug 351 00:17:02,344 --> 00:17:05,068 is not gonna end well for the lobster fisheries 352 00:17:05,068 --> 00:17:07,241 that wants to continue that denial. 353 00:17:07,241 --> 00:17:09,103 The data doesn't support it. 354 00:17:09,103 --> 00:17:10,310 - Yes, so you're- - I'm struggling 355 00:17:10,310 --> 00:17:11,793 with the conversation that we're having. 356 00:17:11,793 --> 00:17:13,793 We're being very specific about how that happens 357 00:17:13,793 --> 00:17:16,206 in a timeframe that I can understand 358 00:17:16,206 --> 00:17:18,172 with the decision that we're supposed to make. 359 00:17:18,172 --> 00:17:21,379 - Yep, so you think that the smaller spacial closures 360 00:17:21,379 --> 00:17:25,310 are really not probably gonna be as effective. 361 00:17:25,310 --> 00:17:28,827 Right whales' movements are really hard to predict. 362 00:17:28,827 --> 00:17:30,827 - Serious injury and mortalities that are reported 363 00:17:30,827 --> 00:17:33,793 in the stock assessment report are just what's observed, 364 00:17:33,793 --> 00:17:36,551 and we know that there are many that are unobserved. 365 00:17:36,551 --> 00:17:38,586 - It is simple arithmetic. 366 00:17:38,586 --> 00:17:41,896 The number of calves being born is too low, 367 00:17:41,896 --> 00:17:46,137 and the number of deaths is too high, 368 00:17:46,137 --> 00:17:48,862 and the data are unequivocal. 369 00:17:48,862 --> 00:17:51,655 The North Atlantic right whale is going down. 370 00:17:52,517 --> 00:17:55,241 The arrow points to zero. 371 00:17:55,241 --> 00:17:57,931 - If we are moving forward with regulations 372 00:17:57,931 --> 00:18:02,620 that are gonna require fishermen to make more sacrifices, 373 00:18:02,620 --> 00:18:05,206 I would urge you not to put them in a situation 374 00:18:05,206 --> 00:18:08,241 where the solution you come up with is too modest 375 00:18:09,103 --> 00:18:10,344 because, at the end of the day, 376 00:18:10,344 --> 00:18:12,103 we'll be back at this table again. 377 00:18:12,103 --> 00:18:15,379 - [Sarah] We don't have the time to have these battles. 378 00:18:15,379 --> 00:18:18,586 These whales will go extinct if we don't make these changes. 379 00:18:18,586 --> 00:18:22,000 - We are motivated to act by our conscience, by the law, 380 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,275 so that the fishermen can maintain their livelihoods 381 00:18:24,275 --> 00:18:26,620 and that we can preserve endangered species. 382 00:18:26,620 --> 00:18:29,448 [muffled chatter] 383 00:18:30,827 --> 00:18:34,551 ♪ It is advertised in Boston, New York, and Buffalo ♪ 384 00:18:34,551 --> 00:18:39,000 ♪ Haul away your running gear and blow, ye winds, blow ♪ 385 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,551 ♪ They'll send you to New Bedford, a famous whaling port ♪ 386 00:18:43,551 --> 00:18:47,379 ♪ Haul away your running gear and blow, ye winds, blow ♪ 387 00:18:47,379 --> 00:18:48,965 [waves crash] [soft dramatic music] 388 00:18:48,965 --> 00:18:51,827 - My family made a considerable amount 389 00:18:51,827 --> 00:18:56,827 of money hunting whales for hundreds of years in all oceans. 390 00:18:58,896 --> 00:19:01,137 The legacy of whaling is something 391 00:19:01,137 --> 00:19:04,655 that the entire city deals with. 392 00:19:04,655 --> 00:19:08,379 - The business of whaling had a great cultural influence 393 00:19:08,379 --> 00:19:11,000 on the ports that it touched, especially, 394 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:12,379 of course, New Bedford. 395 00:19:13,862 --> 00:19:16,172 - New Bedford was one of the most important whaling ports 396 00:19:16,172 --> 00:19:17,103 in the world. 397 00:19:17,103 --> 00:19:18,344 It was the wealthiest city 398 00:19:18,344 --> 00:19:21,034 per capita twice in its existence. 399 00:19:21,034 --> 00:19:24,586 - As Herman Melville said, "All the brave houses 400 00:19:24,586 --> 00:19:27,000 and flowery gardens were each harpooned 401 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,965 and dragged up hither from the bottom of the sea." 402 00:19:29,965 --> 00:19:32,517 The killing of whales is part of our history. 403 00:19:33,655 --> 00:19:36,068 - It looks like a hard, tough business. 404 00:19:36,068 --> 00:19:38,034 - Well, everything aboard a whaler is hard. 405 00:19:38,034 --> 00:19:40,586 - [Christina] You go out to sea, you'd see a whale. 406 00:19:40,586 --> 00:19:42,965 You'd drop the whale boats into the water. 407 00:19:42,965 --> 00:19:45,689 The men would go off and catch the wave. 408 00:19:45,689 --> 00:19:46,931 [dramatic music] 409 00:19:46,931 --> 00:19:48,344 - [Man On Program] They haul up onto the whale 410 00:19:48,344 --> 00:19:49,551 so that they mate can lance it, 411 00:19:49,551 --> 00:19:51,931 and they have this Nantucket sleigh ride. 412 00:19:52,862 --> 00:19:54,551 It's like having a bib of a tail. 413 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,413 You either let go and get out of the way or kill it. 414 00:19:59,413 --> 00:20:00,862 [muffled chatter] 415 00:20:00,862 --> 00:20:02,137 - We are so lucky tonight - Hello, everybody. 416 00:20:02,137 --> 00:20:03,448 - to have Christina come out - Oh, thanks. 417 00:20:03,448 --> 00:20:05,931 - with us, and she's our curator. 418 00:20:05,931 --> 00:20:07,655 She's gonna give us a little tour. 419 00:20:07,655 --> 00:20:11,000 - And if you guys wanna bring any white wine is fine. 420 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,379 We can go behind the scenes with those, 421 00:20:13,379 --> 00:20:15,068 and just don't tell Jordan, 422 00:20:15,068 --> 00:20:16,896 [laughs] our collections director. 423 00:20:16,896 --> 00:20:18,793 See if we can head down to storage. 424 00:20:18,793 --> 00:20:20,827 - [Woman] Oh God, we are really behind the scenes. 425 00:20:20,827 --> 00:20:23,965 - [Man] Oh, I've never been here. 426 00:20:23,965 --> 00:20:25,068 - I just wanna show you some 427 00:20:25,068 --> 00:20:26,931 of the whaling instruments back here. 428 00:20:26,931 --> 00:20:29,241 All of these were bent by the animal. 429 00:20:29,241 --> 00:20:30,793 - Amazing. - What? 430 00:20:30,793 --> 00:20:32,551 - You'd shoot this into the whale, and there's a pivot. 431 00:20:32,551 --> 00:20:35,068 So it's tragic and horrible to look at, 432 00:20:35,068 --> 00:20:37,931 but it also shows how powerful these fights were. 433 00:20:39,517 --> 00:20:42,310 And these ones here are exploding harpoons. 434 00:20:42,310 --> 00:20:44,068 These would be shot out of those guns 435 00:20:44,068 --> 00:20:45,793 and explode in the animal. 436 00:20:45,793 --> 00:20:48,000 So you imagine shooting this off your shoulder. 437 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:49,275 - [Woman In Pink Top] Oh, wow. 438 00:20:49,275 --> 00:20:50,103 That would give you a big bruise. 439 00:20:50,103 --> 00:20:51,482 - It would break mine. 440 00:20:51,482 --> 00:20:52,793 - Yeah, these are whale oils. - Oh, whale oils? 441 00:20:52,793 --> 00:20:55,000 - Some of them are incredibly smelly. 442 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,034 If I open it, it'll really- - No, don't open it. 443 00:20:57,034 --> 00:20:58,206 [group laughs] 444 00:20:58,206 --> 00:21:00,206 - Smelly area. - Wow, look at these. 445 00:21:00,206 --> 00:21:01,758 - [Woman] What is this? These are weapons. 446 00:21:01,758 --> 00:21:03,862 - [Man] That's amazing. 447 00:21:03,862 --> 00:21:05,931 - The North Atlantic white whales had good blubber. 448 00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:08,482 They had good baleen, and they floated, 449 00:21:08,482 --> 00:21:11,310 and they live within a very close proximity 450 00:21:11,310 --> 00:21:13,344 to other kinds of human activities. 451 00:21:13,344 --> 00:21:15,793 So the legend is that the North Atlantic right whales 452 00:21:15,793 --> 00:21:17,172 were called right whales because they 453 00:21:17,172 --> 00:21:18,689 were the right whales to kill. 454 00:21:19,689 --> 00:21:21,103 [sweeping instrumental music] 455 00:21:21,103 --> 00:21:22,448 - [Man On Program] No matter what size they were, 456 00:21:22,448 --> 00:21:23,689 you took 'em as fast as you could 457 00:21:23,689 --> 00:21:25,068 because you didn't know whether you 458 00:21:25,068 --> 00:21:27,517 would go a week, two weeks, or sometimes a month 459 00:21:27,517 --> 00:21:28,655 without seeing a whale. 460 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,103 - We decimated whale populations in the creation 461 00:21:34,103 --> 00:21:39,034 of the first energy business in the United States. 462 00:21:39,034 --> 00:21:44,068 It was outlawed with the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 463 00:21:44,862 --> 00:21:46,103 [muffled chatter] 464 00:21:46,103 --> 00:21:48,793 - She was hit by a ship, and she was pregnant. 465 00:21:48,793 --> 00:21:52,137 So we lost two possible reproductive females 466 00:21:52,137 --> 00:21:53,724 in that one ship strike. 467 00:21:53,724 --> 00:21:56,000 We're still whaling, just with different intention. 468 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,448 So we're still killing them but not on purpose. 469 00:21:58,448 --> 00:22:03,344 [slow dramatic music] [tool hacks into blubber] 470 00:22:14,413 --> 00:22:17,724 [ship whines and hums] 471 00:22:23,965 --> 00:22:26,655 Some of the biology and ecology of whales 472 00:22:26,655 --> 00:22:29,310 that made them vulnerable to Yankee whale men 473 00:22:29,310 --> 00:22:32,689 are the same kinds of behaviors and biology 474 00:22:32,689 --> 00:22:36,344 that make them susceptible to modern human activity impacts 475 00:22:36,344 --> 00:22:39,068 like ship strikes, entanglements, and noise pollution. 476 00:22:40,965 --> 00:22:43,448 - New Bedford is still a sea port. 477 00:22:43,448 --> 00:22:47,000 For the last 20 years, it's been the number one fishing port 478 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,758 in the country by a mile. 479 00:22:53,413 --> 00:22:55,862 - If nothing happens, in 20 years, 480 00:22:55,862 --> 00:22:58,379 there will be no more reproducing females. 481 00:22:58,379 --> 00:23:00,517 That's the projection. It's pretty gruesome. 482 00:23:02,103 --> 00:23:07,103 - If we let this species go extinct on our watch, 483 00:23:09,241 --> 00:23:10,862 we all have to live with that. 484 00:23:14,103 --> 00:23:19,103 ♪ She's a right whale living in the wrong time ♪ 485 00:23:20,482 --> 00:23:24,241 ♪ One of the last survivors in a long line ♪ 486 00:23:25,689 --> 00:23:28,413 - This is a festival to fire up these young people 487 00:23:28,413 --> 00:23:30,931 to help save this animal. 488 00:23:30,931 --> 00:23:33,931 ♪ Between shipping lanes and fishing nets ♪ 489 00:23:33,931 --> 00:23:36,310 ♪ Can they beat the odds 490 00:23:36,310 --> 00:23:39,413 - The work of the students and other visual artists 491 00:23:39,413 --> 00:23:41,310 really helps connect the public 492 00:23:41,310 --> 00:23:44,724 to why this issue is so important like nothing else. 493 00:23:44,724 --> 00:23:46,034 [muffled singing] 494 00:23:46,034 --> 00:23:47,758 ♪ Come on, Calvin 495 00:23:47,758 --> 00:23:51,000 ♪ You can make it through, make it through ♪ 496 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:56,034 ♪ Come on Calvin, we're counting on you ♪ 497 00:23:57,517 --> 00:24:00,379 - [Unison] She's counting on us, and she's counting on you! 498 00:24:00,379 --> 00:24:02,344 [audience cheers and applauds] 499 00:24:02,344 --> 00:24:05,310 - It is so great to be at the New England Aquarium today 500 00:24:05,310 --> 00:24:08,206 to celebrate these amazing animals. 501 00:24:08,206 --> 00:24:09,724 [soft bright music] [light clicks on] 502 00:24:09,724 --> 00:24:13,931 What we're trying to do here today is raise awareness. 503 00:24:13,931 --> 00:24:15,896 - We're stimulating right whale entanglement 504 00:24:15,896 --> 00:24:18,551 which is the leading cause of mortality for the species, 505 00:24:18,551 --> 00:24:20,931 so it's the major reason why they're 506 00:24:20,931 --> 00:24:23,482 on the road to extinction. 507 00:24:23,482 --> 00:24:25,793 - We have postcards that we have made up 508 00:24:25,793 --> 00:24:27,344 of the students' arts, 509 00:24:27,344 --> 00:24:30,448 and the postcards will go to elected representatives 510 00:24:30,448 --> 00:24:33,413 asking them to support the Save the Right Whale Act. 511 00:24:33,413 --> 00:24:35,241 [muffled chatter and laughter] 512 00:24:35,241 --> 00:24:38,103 - I came here because I wanted to save the whales 513 00:24:38,103 --> 00:24:40,827 because people accidentally get it in their nets. 514 00:24:42,379 --> 00:24:45,793 - It's that proximity to extinction that brings some urgency 515 00:24:45,793 --> 00:24:48,000 to those of us that still have an opportunity 516 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,689 to make a difference to try to make a difference. 517 00:24:50,689 --> 00:24:52,137 [wheel clicks] 518 00:24:52,137 --> 00:24:54,586 - I learned about how many deaths there were just 519 00:24:54,586 --> 00:24:57,034 off the shores of the Cape, which is where I'm from, 520 00:24:57,034 --> 00:25:00,000 and I learned about how serious it is. 521 00:25:01,620 --> 00:25:04,172 - We really appreciate artwork. 522 00:25:04,172 --> 00:25:06,000 Rather than just seeing numbers 523 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,586 and reading words, you see an image. 524 00:25:09,586 --> 00:25:13,931 - We can remember a powerful image for the rest of our lives 525 00:25:13,931 --> 00:25:16,655 and that can be a very, very powerful tool 526 00:25:16,655 --> 00:25:21,275 in terms of moving that needle in favor of conservation. 527 00:25:22,724 --> 00:25:24,413 Among the greatest things I've ever had the privilege 528 00:25:24,413 --> 00:25:27,896 of doing was being in the presence of a right whale. 529 00:25:27,896 --> 00:25:29,241 I was diving alone. 530 00:25:29,241 --> 00:25:31,103 I was in the sub-Antarctic of New Zealand, 531 00:25:31,103 --> 00:25:32,689 and I had this giant right whale, 532 00:25:32,689 --> 00:25:35,000 like a submarine, coming down. 533 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,551 I remember bending over backwards in like a yoga pose. 534 00:25:37,551 --> 00:25:39,689 My tank was scraping the sand. 535 00:25:39,689 --> 00:25:41,379 [soft poignant music] [whale moans] 536 00:25:41,379 --> 00:25:44,068 He was a sand whale with a softball-sized eye turning 537 00:25:44,068 --> 00:25:46,931 to look at me, probably trying to figure out what I was. 538 00:25:46,931 --> 00:25:50,551 It is breathtaking in a way that I can't explain. 539 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,620 Will we let this species slip through our hands 540 00:25:56,620 --> 00:26:01,137 and watch it go extinct, or will we protect what we love? 541 00:26:01,137 --> 00:26:02,862 - [Man] Okay, you ready? 542 00:26:02,862 --> 00:26:04,896 - Thank you again for coming out, 543 00:26:04,896 --> 00:26:07,931 for honoring the North Atlantic right whale. 544 00:26:07,931 --> 00:26:09,275 [crowd applauds and cheers] 545 00:26:09,275 --> 00:26:11,482 - We wouldn't like it if we were sick, 546 00:26:11,482 --> 00:26:15,103 so why make other animals so sick? 547 00:26:15,103 --> 00:26:17,965 [muffled chatter] 548 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,275 [device beeps and trills] 549 00:26:23,275 --> 00:26:26,137 - [Woman Over Intercom] Your exercise has been started. 550 00:26:26,137 --> 00:26:29,689 [beeps echo over speaker] [ship horn blares] 551 00:26:29,689 --> 00:26:32,241 - We use the simulator extensively 552 00:26:32,241 --> 00:26:35,482 to practice navigational skills, ship handling skills, 553 00:26:35,482 --> 00:26:38,551 and collision avoidance, not only with other ships 554 00:26:38,551 --> 00:26:40,275 but with marine life. 555 00:26:40,275 --> 00:26:42,793 [thunder rumbles] [rain pours] 556 00:26:42,793 --> 00:26:44,655 Operating a ship in heavy weather 557 00:26:44,655 --> 00:26:49,000 can be particularly challenging, especially when it comes 558 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,103 to being able to detect a right whale. 559 00:26:52,103 --> 00:26:53,758 They don't show up on radar, 560 00:26:53,758 --> 00:26:56,551 they are not visible at a great distance, 561 00:26:56,551 --> 00:26:59,241 and at night it can be virtually impossible 562 00:26:59,241 --> 00:27:01,379 to detect their presence. 563 00:27:01,379 --> 00:27:06,379 [slow dramatic music] [whale moans lightly] 564 00:27:13,275 --> 00:27:16,689 Unfortunately, with right whales, a lot of the technology 565 00:27:16,689 --> 00:27:18,793 that we have isn't particularly helpful. 566 00:27:18,793 --> 00:27:23,379 Our best asset to detect and avoid a right whale 567 00:27:23,379 --> 00:27:26,275 is our own eyes looking out the windows. 568 00:27:27,172 --> 00:27:29,931 [waves crash] [thunder booms] 569 00:27:29,931 --> 00:27:34,931 [ship horn blares] [beeps echo] 570 00:27:41,689 --> 00:27:45,344 [soft dramatic music] 571 00:27:45,344 --> 00:27:46,724 [water sprays] 572 00:27:46,724 --> 00:27:49,000 - My name is Christopher W. Clark. 573 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,827 I study the sounds of life on the planet, 574 00:27:51,827 --> 00:27:54,793 particularly the voices of the whales. 575 00:27:54,793 --> 00:27:56,034 So these are the sounds 576 00:27:56,034 --> 00:27:58,275 of two right whales greeting each other. 577 00:27:58,275 --> 00:28:00,724 [whales moan] 578 00:28:03,551 --> 00:28:05,793 So when I've been doing recordings of whales, 579 00:28:05,793 --> 00:28:07,793 there times I was literally in the boat. 580 00:28:07,793 --> 00:28:09,551 I had the hydrophones in the water, 581 00:28:09,551 --> 00:28:13,137 I had headphones on, and I can't hear anything. 582 00:28:13,137 --> 00:28:14,655 I'm going, "What's wrong?" 583 00:28:14,655 --> 00:28:17,896 And then I realize, "Oh, I'm in the shipping lane." 584 00:28:17,896 --> 00:28:20,379 The sound on the ship is coming from tens 585 00:28:20,379 --> 00:28:23,310 and tens of miles away, but I can't hear the whales, 586 00:28:23,310 --> 00:28:26,000 and I can't see it on my displays. 587 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,068 They can't hear each other, and they can't communicate. 588 00:28:29,068 --> 00:28:31,482 [water splashes and sprays] 589 00:28:31,482 --> 00:28:33,000 When you're living in the ocean, 590 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,655 you are highly dependent upon sound 591 00:28:35,655 --> 00:28:39,689 as your primary mechanism for survival. 592 00:28:39,689 --> 00:28:42,551 These animals navigating the ocean using sound, 593 00:28:42,551 --> 00:28:44,586 when that noise gets up to a certain point, 594 00:28:44,586 --> 00:28:47,551 you see their whole communication system just collapse. 595 00:28:47,551 --> 00:28:50,862 The noise increases their stress levels, 596 00:28:50,862 --> 00:28:53,896 and their stress level makes them more susceptible 597 00:28:53,896 --> 00:28:57,379 to injury and to disease. 598 00:28:58,448 --> 00:29:01,862 It's just this rising tide of noise, 599 00:29:01,862 --> 00:29:03,931 and then the whales are suffering 600 00:29:03,931 --> 00:29:05,137 in their ability to communicate 601 00:29:05,137 --> 00:29:07,827 and maintain their normal behavior. 602 00:29:07,827 --> 00:29:12,827 [waves crash in distance] [whale moans] 603 00:29:17,689 --> 00:29:18,827 - Park and brake. - All set. 604 00:29:18,827 --> 00:29:20,793 - Status, all up here is normal. 605 00:29:20,793 --> 00:29:24,448 - [Tim] Our primary job is to monitor right whales. 606 00:29:25,862 --> 00:29:29,000 - The challenge with flying over right whales can be unique. 607 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,379 - [Man Over Radio] Clear for takeoff. 608 00:29:31,379 --> 00:29:34,482 - For these surveys, we start off flying straight lines 609 00:29:34,482 --> 00:29:36,517 at 1,000 feet over the water. 610 00:29:36,517 --> 00:29:39,206 - We have two observers monitoring the ocean surface 611 00:29:39,206 --> 00:29:42,172 and looking for indications that right whales are present. 612 00:29:43,586 --> 00:29:45,482 - [Man] We got a right whale, 7-4 Tango Whiskey. 613 00:29:45,482 --> 00:29:46,931 - [Brad] Once a whale is spotted, 614 00:29:46,931 --> 00:29:49,482 we'll then maneuver the aircraft over the whale 615 00:29:49,482 --> 00:29:52,551 in order for them to be able to take pictures. 616 00:29:52,551 --> 00:29:55,103 We use photo identification to tell 617 00:29:55,103 --> 00:29:56,448 how many whales are there. 618 00:29:56,448 --> 00:29:58,000 We are also checking the whales to see 619 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,310 if there's any entanglement. 620 00:30:00,310 --> 00:30:03,620 With monitoring, we can pinpoint the key areas 621 00:30:03,620 --> 00:30:06,931 that are important to either have ships slow down 622 00:30:06,931 --> 00:30:09,724 or to modify fishing gear to reduce the risk 623 00:30:09,724 --> 00:30:11,379 that whales can become entangled. 624 00:30:12,827 --> 00:30:14,827 Right whales are highly migratory. 625 00:30:14,827 --> 00:30:19,413 They range from Florida up through into Canadian waters. 626 00:30:19,413 --> 00:30:22,448 In 2015, we started doing some surveys 627 00:30:22,448 --> 00:30:24,310 up in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 628 00:30:24,310 --> 00:30:27,310 We found a large number of whales there coincident 629 00:30:27,310 --> 00:30:29,172 with a major mortality event. 630 00:30:30,413 --> 00:30:32,137 Total of 12 right whales were found 631 00:30:32,137 --> 00:30:33,689 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence dead. 632 00:30:33,689 --> 00:30:36,620 [dramatic music] [ship horn blares in distance] 633 00:30:36,620 --> 00:30:40,344 When we do fly over a carcass, it is a little disheartening. 634 00:30:41,758 --> 00:30:45,206 We spent a lot of our time helping the Canadian government 635 00:30:45,206 --> 00:30:48,551 relocate carcasses so they could tow them back to shore 636 00:30:48,551 --> 00:30:51,103 to examine them to find out exactly 637 00:30:51,103 --> 00:30:53,068 what the cause of death was. 638 00:30:53,068 --> 00:30:55,827 [airplane roars] 639 00:30:58,586 --> 00:31:03,068 [mid-tempo bongo drum music] [people sing in unison] 640 00:31:03,068 --> 00:31:05,379 - I'm here to do a ceremony to honor the spirit 641 00:31:05,379 --> 00:31:08,482 of an animal that's very magnificent. 642 00:31:08,482 --> 00:31:10,241 It's important that we let the creator 643 00:31:10,241 --> 00:31:12,724 and the spirits know that we've heard the message 644 00:31:12,724 --> 00:31:14,827 and about the hard times that are coming 645 00:31:14,827 --> 00:31:16,862 when the whales come ashore. 646 00:31:16,862 --> 00:31:21,862 [soft dramatic music] [muffled singing] 647 00:31:23,310 --> 00:31:25,172 - We're in northeastern New Brunswick on Miscou Island. 648 00:31:25,172 --> 00:31:28,000 We're here to necropsy the right whale 649 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,655 that's behind us here. 650 00:31:29,655 --> 00:31:34,655 [plane buzzes overhead] [slow dramatic music] 651 00:31:35,241 --> 00:31:37,413 [waves crash] 652 00:31:41,931 --> 00:31:45,862 The pathologists, along with many vet techs and their team, 653 00:31:45,862 --> 00:31:48,655 are performing a necropsy on the right whale 654 00:31:48,655 --> 00:31:50,103 to hopefully identify what 655 00:31:50,103 --> 00:31:52,448 could possibly be the cause of death. 656 00:31:52,448 --> 00:31:53,724 [excavator starts up] 657 00:31:53,724 --> 00:31:55,275 - The one thing we're gonna do try 658 00:31:55,275 --> 00:31:56,551 to get the complete history from the previous sightings 659 00:31:56,551 --> 00:31:58,068 'cause we know that he's been entangled before. 660 00:31:58,068 --> 00:32:01,275 He wasn't disentangled. He just shed the gear on his own. 661 00:32:01,275 --> 00:32:03,000 It's a very difficult thing to do 662 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,896 as we look at this beautiful animal 663 00:32:04,896 --> 00:32:07,724 and then have to open it up and look inside. 664 00:32:09,241 --> 00:32:11,448 - [Stephanie] Does anyone need a new knife or anything? 665 00:32:11,448 --> 00:32:13,551 - No, we're good for now. - Okay. 666 00:32:13,551 --> 00:32:15,103 - [Tonya] It was extremely fresh, 667 00:32:15,103 --> 00:32:18,310 and the fresh of the animal is the more we can learn. 668 00:32:18,310 --> 00:32:21,000 We have various samples from all the major organs, 669 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:22,758 and then we have a variety of bones 670 00:32:22,758 --> 00:32:24,896 and baleen going for genetics. 671 00:32:24,896 --> 00:32:26,689 [machinery whines and whirs] 672 00:32:26,689 --> 00:32:29,620 Fisheries and Oceans Canada are in charge of the management, 673 00:32:29,620 --> 00:32:32,034 so the information is provided to them. 674 00:32:32,034 --> 00:32:33,551 It is then in their hands to figure out 675 00:32:33,551 --> 00:32:36,551 what the next steps are and to decide what to do. 676 00:32:36,551 --> 00:32:39,551 [water splashes] [slow tense music] 677 00:32:39,551 --> 00:32:41,931 - In 2017, when North Atlantic right whales showed up 678 00:32:41,931 --> 00:32:44,275 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the first time 679 00:32:44,275 --> 00:32:45,965 in significant numbers, 680 00:32:45,965 --> 00:32:49,620 we didn't have a mitigation measures in place specific 681 00:32:49,620 --> 00:32:52,620 to that like we did in other parts of Atlantic Canada 682 00:32:52,620 --> 00:32:55,103 where North Atlantic right whales were present. 683 00:32:55,103 --> 00:32:57,724 And we started to see the impacts of that 684 00:32:57,724 --> 00:33:00,482 in terms of some whale mortalities. 685 00:33:00,482 --> 00:33:02,827 - [Tonya] We had 17 animals that had died, 686 00:33:02,827 --> 00:33:05,000 five in the US, 12 in Canada. 687 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,689 That was a major light turning on for a lot of people. 688 00:33:09,137 --> 00:33:12,344 - We ultimately closed the golf fishery in 48 hours. 689 00:33:12,344 --> 00:33:14,206 - The Department of Fisheries and Oceans 690 00:33:14,206 --> 00:33:17,448 announced the closure of 10 zones to lobster fishing 691 00:33:17,448 --> 00:33:20,413 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, this following the sighting 692 00:33:20,413 --> 00:33:23,517 of five endangered North Atlantic right whales. 693 00:33:23,517 --> 00:33:25,034 [water sprays and splashes] 694 00:33:25,034 --> 00:33:28,551 - In 2017, it was a news for everybody, but for us, too. 695 00:33:28,551 --> 00:33:30,724 - Bottom line, it was an inconvenience 696 00:33:30,724 --> 00:33:32,551 that cost us financially. 697 00:33:32,551 --> 00:33:34,620 - Not one person in the fishing industry 698 00:33:34,620 --> 00:33:36,724 would agree with what was going on. 699 00:33:36,724 --> 00:33:37,965 They know anything can happen, 700 00:33:37,965 --> 00:33:39,448 and they can do nothing about it. 701 00:33:39,448 --> 00:33:41,482 That's why there was a protest. 702 00:33:41,482 --> 00:33:42,724 - [Female Reporter] Hundreds of traps 703 00:33:42,724 --> 00:33:44,137 were discarded on the front steps 704 00:33:44,137 --> 00:33:48,344 of liberal MP Serge Cormier's Caraquet office. 705 00:33:48,344 --> 00:33:51,241 - The lobster and crab fishery in Atlantic Canada 706 00:33:51,241 --> 00:33:55,241 is a huge contributor to the economy in those provinces, 707 00:33:55,241 --> 00:33:59,482 representing over $2 billion in economic value. 708 00:33:59,482 --> 00:34:02,310 - Compared to like 10, 15 years ago, 709 00:34:02,310 --> 00:34:04,793 volume has doubled if not tripled. 710 00:34:04,793 --> 00:34:06,137 It's possible that the climate change 711 00:34:06,137 --> 00:34:08,103 has something to do with it. 712 00:34:08,103 --> 00:34:11,448 Lobster seems to be migrating to colder temperatures. 713 00:34:11,448 --> 00:34:15,551 - These measures have had a huge impact on profit margins. 714 00:34:15,551 --> 00:34:17,517 - [Female Reporter] The union has been asking DFO 715 00:34:17,517 --> 00:34:19,482 to reconsider the complete closure. 716 00:34:19,482 --> 00:34:21,206 - [Tonya] Immediately following 2017, 717 00:34:21,206 --> 00:34:23,862 Canada has been lacking in its implementation 718 00:34:23,862 --> 00:34:25,448 of our Species at Risk Act. 719 00:34:25,448 --> 00:34:27,827 - We did put in place a variety of measures, 720 00:34:27,827 --> 00:34:30,034 and those measures have evolved over the last three years. 721 00:34:30,034 --> 00:34:33,758 - There's been some changes made this year from last year 722 00:34:33,758 --> 00:34:36,862 that allows us to continue to fish in these shallower waters 723 00:34:36,862 --> 00:34:38,862 where the whales don't seem to pass. 724 00:34:38,862 --> 00:34:40,172 - [Female Reporter] Research done in Canada 725 00:34:40,172 --> 00:34:42,862 and the US suggests that's where the whales 726 00:34:42,862 --> 00:34:46,551 and their calves spend a considerable amount of time. 727 00:34:46,551 --> 00:34:48,517 - [Tonya] We went through a lot in 2017. 728 00:34:48,517 --> 00:34:50,862 We were very fortunate last year in Canada not 729 00:34:50,862 --> 00:34:52,206 to deal with any dead right whales. 730 00:34:52,206 --> 00:34:53,758 We are hoping for that to continue, 731 00:34:53,758 --> 00:34:57,068 but obviously, there were other things at play. 732 00:34:57,068 --> 00:35:02,000 [bulldozer hums] [dramatic music] 733 00:35:10,724 --> 00:35:12,379 - The causes are still being assessed, 734 00:35:12,379 --> 00:35:15,137 and the final necropsy reports will be coming out. 735 00:35:15,137 --> 00:35:18,517 - Right now, those whales are stressing us. 736 00:35:18,517 --> 00:35:21,724 They accuracy of those go very fast. 737 00:35:21,724 --> 00:35:25,000 It make the job for us very hard. 738 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,931 - Let's see what caused the death of this whale 739 00:35:27,931 --> 00:35:30,862 before put the dark cloud on fishermen's head. 740 00:35:30,862 --> 00:35:34,344 - It's a sad situation, but it's hard to take one and say, 741 00:35:34,344 --> 00:35:35,793 "We have to change the world 742 00:35:35,793 --> 00:35:38,000 to save one particular species." 743 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,827 The whales are just another story in a big book 744 00:35:40,827 --> 00:35:44,206 of changes that we've already seen and will continue to see. 745 00:35:44,206 --> 00:35:47,206 [bulldozer rumbles] 746 00:35:48,275 --> 00:35:50,275 - Scientists continue to study what 747 00:35:50,275 --> 00:35:53,000 is driving the distribution of North Atlantic right whales. 748 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,655 It certainly does include climate change. 749 00:35:55,655 --> 00:35:57,448 [bulldozer beeps and whirs] 750 00:35:57,448 --> 00:35:58,931 - [Tonya] It's actually very hard to turn around 751 00:35:58,931 --> 00:36:01,862 and look at it because we've done this way too much, 752 00:36:01,862 --> 00:36:06,379 and the thing is its ability to survive almost solely rests 753 00:36:06,379 --> 00:36:07,793 in our hands, 754 00:36:07,793 --> 00:36:12,586 [remains squelch] [bulldozer hums and beeps] 755 00:36:16,344 --> 00:36:21,344 [soft dramatic music] [boat hums] 756 00:36:22,931 --> 00:36:24,310 - [Man] Bring on board! 757 00:36:24,310 --> 00:36:26,793 - I've been measuring this cross section 758 00:36:26,793 --> 00:36:28,103 for the last seven years. 759 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,793 We sampled these different organisms from the algae, 760 00:36:33,793 --> 00:36:35,931 the bacteria, and the viruses all the way up 761 00:36:35,931 --> 00:36:38,551 to the zooplankton, the food for right whales. 762 00:36:40,310 --> 00:36:42,172 Okay, so if we lower this thing, 763 00:36:42,172 --> 00:36:45,103 we're coring the ocean, and everything you catch 764 00:36:45,103 --> 00:36:48,000 in your zooplankton net is everything that's out there 765 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,482 that's gonna become massive, right? 766 00:36:49,482 --> 00:36:51,965 The swordfish, the lobster larvae. 767 00:36:51,965 --> 00:36:54,448 And since we're talking about the base of the food chain, 768 00:36:54,448 --> 00:36:57,482 it's what drives the productivity of everything else. 769 00:36:57,482 --> 00:36:59,448 [water splashes] 770 00:36:59,448 --> 00:37:00,965 There are live animals in here, 771 00:37:00,965 --> 00:37:04,241 and we're gonna move these things into a small jar, 772 00:37:04,241 --> 00:37:06,000 and then we're gonna pour alcohol on 'em, 773 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,931 and it'll be preserved for a good week. 774 00:37:10,172 --> 00:37:15,172 So if you look in here, you see all those darting animals? 775 00:37:16,344 --> 00:37:17,965 - Yeah! - Those are all copepods. 776 00:37:17,965 --> 00:37:22,482 Copepods are the most abundant animal on the planet, period. 777 00:37:22,482 --> 00:37:23,931 If you crushed 'em all up, 778 00:37:23,931 --> 00:37:26,275 it's the equivalent of about a trillion humans. 779 00:37:26,275 --> 00:37:27,241 - Wow. - Whoa. 780 00:37:27,241 --> 00:37:30,517 - How does a 40-ton animal live 781 00:37:30,517 --> 00:37:34,000 on a animal that is this big? 782 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,931 It's only because all of the copepods go down 783 00:37:37,931 --> 00:37:40,379 at the same time and they aggregate 784 00:37:40,379 --> 00:37:44,103 into a compact layer of just fat animals. 785 00:37:44,103 --> 00:37:46,758 From here across the Atlantic to Norway, 786 00:37:46,758 --> 00:37:50,413 it forms of density that makes it worthwhile 787 00:37:50,413 --> 00:37:53,034 for an animal to dive to feed on 'em. 788 00:37:53,034 --> 00:37:55,827 [boat hums] 789 00:37:55,827 --> 00:37:58,034 Some of these copepods have been around 790 00:37:58,034 --> 00:38:00,000 for 200 million years. 791 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:04,000 They've adapted and fine tuned their life cycle 792 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,000 to live in a particular environmental setting, 793 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:08,724 and now that environmental setting 794 00:38:08,724 --> 00:38:11,793 is changing faster than they're able to adapt. 795 00:38:11,793 --> 00:38:13,689 As the temperature has been increasing, 796 00:38:13,689 --> 00:38:16,965 the populations of these Calanus have been decreasing, 797 00:38:16,965 --> 00:38:19,275 and the organisms that depend on them, 798 00:38:19,275 --> 00:38:23,275 such as right whales, are not gonna find sufficient food. 799 00:38:23,275 --> 00:38:27,000 It's that disconnect that's beginning to cause the problem. 800 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:32,000 [waves crash against boat] [slow tense music] 801 00:38:33,482 --> 00:38:35,344 That's a Calanus. Looks like one. 802 00:38:35,344 --> 00:38:37,310 Looks like she's swimming like that. 803 00:38:37,310 --> 00:38:39,379 - [Woman] So these are... 804 00:38:40,448 --> 00:38:42,103 - They're tiny little organisms 805 00:38:42,103 --> 00:38:44,517 that have this really complex behavior pattern. 806 00:38:44,517 --> 00:38:46,103 [contemplative music] 807 00:38:46,103 --> 00:38:49,000 Well, this is actually a really good image 808 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:50,586 of how much fat they have. 809 00:38:50,586 --> 00:38:51,931 This is what right whales eat. 810 00:38:51,931 --> 00:38:54,551 They eat Calanus finmarchicus. 811 00:38:54,551 --> 00:38:56,517 - Right whales need to find any thousands 812 00:38:56,517 --> 00:38:59,172 and thousands of pounds of Calanus per day 813 00:38:59,172 --> 00:39:01,724 when they're feeding in the Gulf of Maine. 814 00:39:01,724 --> 00:39:04,827 So even small declines can have a huge difference. 815 00:39:06,206 --> 00:39:08,137 The waters in the Gulf of Maine have been warming faster 816 00:39:08,137 --> 00:39:11,758 than 99.9% of the rest of the world's oceans. 817 00:39:11,758 --> 00:39:13,551 There's a strong inverse relationship 818 00:39:13,551 --> 00:39:16,000 between temperature and Calanus. 819 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,068 When waters get warm, we see a big decline 820 00:39:19,068 --> 00:39:22,482 in Calanus and especially the energy-rich Calanus 821 00:39:22,482 --> 00:39:23,620 that right whales need. 822 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,000 Depending on where you look in the time of year, 823 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,068 you can see anywhere from the 30 824 00:39:29,068 --> 00:39:32,000 to a 90% decline in Calanus. 825 00:39:33,068 --> 00:39:34,448 Then the right whales have 826 00:39:34,448 --> 00:39:36,689 to start looking elsewhere for their food. 827 00:39:36,689 --> 00:39:38,241 They started showing up in places 828 00:39:38,241 --> 00:39:40,206 where we didn't have management 829 00:39:40,206 --> 00:39:42,689 and conservation programs in place. 830 00:39:43,862 --> 00:39:45,379 So they were more vulnerable to things 831 00:39:45,379 --> 00:39:49,310 like ship strikes or gear entanglements. 832 00:39:49,310 --> 00:39:50,517 [machine whirs] 833 00:39:50,517 --> 00:39:51,862 We've built our management strategy 834 00:39:51,862 --> 00:39:53,896 around this idea that the right whales 835 00:39:53,896 --> 00:39:56,862 are gonna do roughly the same thing every year, 836 00:39:56,862 --> 00:39:58,689 and as the climate has changed, 837 00:39:58,689 --> 00:40:01,965 it's really altered the predictability in that pattern. 838 00:40:01,965 --> 00:40:04,551 The mortalities have gone up so sharply because, 839 00:40:04,551 --> 00:40:05,965 all of a sudden, 840 00:40:05,965 --> 00:40:08,000 those management strategies don't work anymore. 841 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,586 [dramatic music] 842 00:40:11,586 --> 00:40:14,862 - I believe that the team here can put something forward 843 00:40:14,862 --> 00:40:18,379 that's in the ballpark of what is needed for the species. 844 00:40:18,379 --> 00:40:19,586 - I'd probably say it has to go back to the team, 845 00:40:19,586 --> 00:40:21,000 we have a discussion about it. 846 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,758 - People took the situation seriously this time. 847 00:40:23,758 --> 00:40:27,517 It has gone a direction that we have not seen 848 00:40:27,517 --> 00:40:32,517 in nearly a quarter of a century of doing this. 849 00:40:33,689 --> 00:40:36,103 - This is the least squishy discussion we 850 00:40:36,103 --> 00:40:38,379 have had in 25 years. 851 00:40:38,379 --> 00:40:41,000 - Now as a Maine lobster fisherman, 852 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,137 I am responsible for three different families directly, 853 00:40:44,137 --> 00:40:47,724 and my ability to come home today and to be able 854 00:40:47,724 --> 00:40:50,413 to tell them that I might not be able 855 00:40:50,413 --> 00:40:53,275 to support them in the future was something I 856 00:40:53,275 --> 00:40:57,206 have had a really, really hard time thinking about. 857 00:40:57,206 --> 00:41:01,655 In my boat alone, I am gonna remove 10.78 miles 858 00:41:01,655 --> 00:41:02,896 of vertical line. 859 00:41:02,896 --> 00:41:05,448 It's scary for me, but I know that's something, 860 00:41:05,448 --> 00:41:08,896 and I can go back to my fishery and have that conversation. 861 00:41:10,344 --> 00:41:12,551 - I'm here basically trying to get myself out of a job. 862 00:41:13,758 --> 00:41:17,689 Am I so certain on this consensus that I 863 00:41:17,689 --> 00:41:20,137 will disband my disentanglement team? 864 00:41:21,379 --> 00:41:25,517 I'm no fool, but this is the best step 865 00:41:25,517 --> 00:41:28,034 that I have seen taken since I've been on the team. 866 00:41:29,448 --> 00:41:32,000 - If you can live with moving this package forward, 867 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:33,448 please raise your hand. 868 00:41:35,275 --> 00:41:39,000 In 20 years of meeting and convening this team, 869 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,000 it has never put forward measures as strong 870 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,103 as what has been accomplished today. 871 00:41:43,103 --> 00:41:46,310 [soft uplifting music] 872 00:41:49,034 --> 00:41:54,000 [contemplative music] [group applauds] 873 00:41:57,620 --> 00:42:01,172 - [Michael Asaro] Who cannot live with this package? 874 00:42:01,172 --> 00:42:03,172 Sharon. - While this has a lot 875 00:42:03,172 --> 00:42:05,482 of attraction for me and I think there's a lot here 876 00:42:05,482 --> 00:42:10,000 that can be useful, my concern is I don't see 877 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,931 what else is gonna be considered by the agency besides this, 878 00:42:13,931 --> 00:42:16,137 and I don't consider the sufficient. 879 00:42:16,137 --> 00:42:19,448 - So I don't think it's the solution to the problem, 880 00:42:19,448 --> 00:42:22,448 but I think we came very close. 881 00:42:22,448 --> 00:42:25,689 - In my opinion, probably lead us to a situation 882 00:42:25,689 --> 00:42:29,379 where the unsustainable kills of right whales 883 00:42:29,379 --> 00:42:31,241 in the fishing industry will stop. 884 00:42:31,241 --> 00:42:35,689 - There's absolutely a need for expedited implementation 885 00:42:35,689 --> 00:42:38,689 of what can be done as quickly as it can be done. 886 00:42:38,689 --> 00:42:41,379 - When we look at such deep cuts to the fisheries, 887 00:42:41,379 --> 00:42:44,517 we do have to look at [chuckles] the possibility 888 00:42:44,517 --> 00:42:46,620 of unintended consequences. 889 00:42:46,620 --> 00:42:48,862 - If the measures necessary to reduce risk 890 00:42:48,862 --> 00:42:50,448 can't be implemented right away, 891 00:42:50,448 --> 00:42:53,241 then we urge NMFS to take emergency action. 892 00:42:53,241 --> 00:42:55,448 - It's gonna be devastating to some communities, 893 00:42:55,448 --> 00:42:58,000 so nobody's one here except maybe 894 00:42:58,000 --> 00:42:59,689 and hopefully the right whale. 895 00:42:59,689 --> 00:43:02,241 - I feel like this is a really huge step 896 00:43:02,241 --> 00:43:05,827 to have a 50% vertical line reduction in some areas. 897 00:43:05,827 --> 00:43:09,379 The industry has really stepped up to do their part. 898 00:43:09,379 --> 00:43:12,172 - Measures developed here today a very likely 899 00:43:12,172 --> 00:43:14,862 to have potential severe economic impacts 900 00:43:14,862 --> 00:43:17,206 to the state of Maine's lobster fishery. 901 00:43:17,206 --> 00:43:20,137 Recommendations put forward here today are a big ask. 902 00:43:20,137 --> 00:43:22,413 - We did not hammer out all the details, 903 00:43:22,413 --> 00:43:26,379 and the devil is in the details and how something as large 904 00:43:26,379 --> 00:43:30,206 as a 50% reduction in vertical line impacts the fishery, 905 00:43:30,206 --> 00:43:32,758 we need to maintain our rights to disagree 906 00:43:32,758 --> 00:43:35,172 if something isn't panning out in the way 907 00:43:35,172 --> 00:43:39,172 that can be implemented appropriately for the state. 908 00:43:39,172 --> 00:43:44,206 [dramatic music] [traffic whooshes past] 909 00:43:45,862 --> 00:43:48,344 [light bright music] 910 00:43:48,344 --> 00:43:51,344 - I'm just finishing up the last week of the closure. 911 00:43:51,344 --> 00:43:52,620 Starting to set gear. 912 00:43:55,241 --> 00:43:56,517 Load the traps in the boat. 913 00:43:56,517 --> 00:43:58,068 I gotta load the traps in the dock. 914 00:43:58,068 --> 00:44:01,482 I have to bring two loads of the trailer with ropes, 915 00:44:01,482 --> 00:44:02,758 try to get as much gear as I can 916 00:44:02,758 --> 00:44:06,137 in the water right now to start making money. 917 00:44:07,758 --> 00:44:09,034 [birds caw] [door closes] 918 00:44:09,034 --> 00:44:10,517 We just got done 919 00:44:10,517 --> 00:44:12,137 with the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team a week 920 00:44:12,137 --> 00:44:13,482 and a half ago. 921 00:44:13,482 --> 00:44:15,034 A lot got done. 922 00:44:15,034 --> 00:44:16,655 There's been no more added closures, 923 00:44:16,655 --> 00:44:20,655 and Maine has to reduce their vertical lines by 50%. 924 00:44:20,655 --> 00:44:23,586 In the long run, if you're able to go fishing still 925 00:44:23,586 --> 00:44:26,517 and that's all you gotta do, I wouldn't be complaining 926 00:44:26,517 --> 00:44:29,310 'cause it's a lot harsher measures that coulda happened. 927 00:44:32,724 --> 00:44:35,655 There's probably over 10,000 feet of rope here 928 00:44:35,655 --> 00:44:39,206 on these four trawls, including the vertical line. 929 00:44:40,724 --> 00:44:42,620 I fish 800 traps total 930 00:44:42,620 --> 00:44:45,413 with only 80 vertical lines altogether, 931 00:44:45,413 --> 00:44:48,413 so fishing 800 singles to be 800 vertical lines. 932 00:44:52,068 --> 00:44:53,655 When everything's tied down, ready to go, 933 00:44:53,655 --> 00:44:58,206 I'll throw a rope over the top of those high flyers. 934 00:44:58,206 --> 00:45:01,241 Boom, boom, boom. We're ready to go. 935 00:45:01,241 --> 00:45:03,655 [truck hums] 936 00:45:06,310 --> 00:45:09,482 - Maine is taking a stand against a strict new federal plan 937 00:45:09,482 --> 00:45:11,551 to stop right whales from dying. 938 00:45:11,551 --> 00:45:14,379 [dramatic music] 939 00:45:25,827 --> 00:45:27,137 - Maine congressional delegation 940 00:45:27,137 --> 00:45:29,310 is reaching out to President Trump tonight, 941 00:45:29,310 --> 00:45:31,793 asking him to help the lobster industry. 942 00:45:34,620 --> 00:45:35,931 - [Female Reporter] Maine's representatives 943 00:45:35,931 --> 00:45:38,000 say new federal regulations designed 944 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,310 to protect whales are instead a grave threat 945 00:45:41,310 --> 00:45:44,137 to thousands of people who rely on the lobster fishery. 946 00:45:45,758 --> 00:45:48,413 [static hisses] 947 00:46:00,206 --> 00:46:01,655 [static hisses] 948 00:46:01,655 --> 00:46:05,000 - Coastal fishermen from east and west, 949 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:09,068 I wanna welcome you to the Maine lobstermen's rally. 950 00:46:09,068 --> 00:46:11,793 We all know why we're here. 951 00:46:13,206 --> 00:46:16,241 - This is gonna destroy our coastline, 952 00:46:16,241 --> 00:46:18,793 our small communities, our lobster industry. 953 00:46:18,793 --> 00:46:21,275 It's the only industry we have left. 954 00:46:21,275 --> 00:46:23,103 - We all care about the right whale, 955 00:46:23,103 --> 00:46:25,482 but we all believe there's a right way to going 956 00:46:25,482 --> 00:46:29,413 about doing this, and this proposal isn't the way. 957 00:46:29,413 --> 00:46:33,206 - Maine's entire congressional delegation 958 00:46:33,206 --> 00:46:38,206 and Governor Mills stand with you in this fight. 959 00:46:39,655 --> 00:46:41,000 - My administration will not allow the bureaucrats 960 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:43,827 of Washington, DC to undermine our lobster industry 961 00:46:43,827 --> 00:46:46,344 or our economy with foolish, unsupported, 962 00:46:46,344 --> 00:46:48,896 and ill-advised regulations. 963 00:46:48,896 --> 00:46:50,724 - We truly believe from the bottom of our hearts 964 00:46:50,724 --> 00:46:53,310 that Maine lobstermen are not part of the problem. 965 00:46:53,310 --> 00:46:55,793 When a species of oil is at risk of extinction, 966 00:46:55,793 --> 00:46:57,620 who has a seat at the table to ensure 967 00:46:57,620 --> 00:47:01,896 that the process behind set decisions is fair and equitable? 968 00:47:01,896 --> 00:47:05,965 - NOAA has chosen to persecute Maine's lobster industry, 969 00:47:05,965 --> 00:47:08,551 not to diminish the threat to the right whale 970 00:47:08,551 --> 00:47:11,517 but as an expedient means to get the environmentalists 971 00:47:11,517 --> 00:47:12,379 off their back. 972 00:47:13,551 --> 00:47:15,310 - I'm more than willing to stand with you 973 00:47:15,310 --> 00:47:17,689 and fight like hell to make sure that no more 974 00:47:17,689 --> 00:47:20,482 of not having the government listening to me. 975 00:47:20,482 --> 00:47:23,379 - we've been fighting these burdensome rules 976 00:47:23,379 --> 00:47:25,724 that we've had to go through and the nonsense. 977 00:47:25,724 --> 00:47:27,310 Enough is enough. 978 00:47:27,310 --> 00:47:29,068 - There's thousands and thousands of jobs 979 00:47:29,068 --> 00:47:30,241 and people who depend on those. 980 00:47:30,241 --> 00:47:33,482 Once we lose a fishery, it's gone forever. 981 00:47:33,482 --> 00:47:35,137 - I can't think of one thing 982 00:47:35,137 --> 00:47:37,000 that the National Marine Fishery Service 983 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,000 has ever done to help a fishery 984 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:40,931 besides regulate it to extinction. 985 00:47:40,931 --> 00:47:44,724 [crowd cheers and applauds] 986 00:47:44,724 --> 00:47:47,724 [door rattles open] 987 00:47:47,724 --> 00:47:50,620 - Today, we're at the IFAW Marine Mammal Rescue warehouse. 988 00:47:50,620 --> 00:47:52,413 This is our rescue operations centers. 989 00:47:52,413 --> 00:47:54,689 And so we keep a lot of our rescue equipment here 990 00:47:54,689 --> 00:47:55,896 so that we can run out the door 991 00:47:55,896 --> 00:47:59,034 anytime marine mammals need rescuing. 992 00:47:59,034 --> 00:48:00,310 My name is Dr. Sarah Sharp, 993 00:48:00,310 --> 00:48:02,379 and I'm the animal rescue veterinarian 994 00:48:02,379 --> 00:48:05,275 with International Fund for Animal Welfare. 995 00:48:05,275 --> 00:48:07,689 We do all of the marine mammal stranding response 996 00:48:07,689 --> 00:48:11,000 from the Rhode Island border all the way through Cape Cod. 997 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:14,344 It's one of the busiest stranding areas in all of the world. 998 00:48:14,344 --> 00:48:15,862 [water sprays] 999 00:48:15,862 --> 00:48:18,068 - We just got back from our [indistinct] necropsy. 1000 00:48:18,068 --> 00:48:21,241 We wanna still consider an acute process, 1001 00:48:21,241 --> 00:48:23,206 either human interaction, but we didn't see any other signs, 1002 00:48:23,206 --> 00:48:25,206 or an acute disease process. 1003 00:48:25,206 --> 00:48:27,689 - I would keep entanglement on the differential list 1004 00:48:27,689 --> 00:48:29,689 for this animal just because we just simply 1005 00:48:29,689 --> 00:48:32,103 couldn't examine her for evidence of entanglement 1006 00:48:32,103 --> 00:48:35,172 'cause the sharks had already eaten away those parts. 1007 00:48:35,172 --> 00:48:37,517 It's extremely rare at this point to not have a whale 1008 00:48:37,517 --> 00:48:40,000 that has some evidence of entanglement. 1009 00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:43,517 These whales get entangled in line. They start thrashing. 1010 00:48:43,517 --> 00:48:45,862 They can't get to the surface to breathe. 1011 00:48:45,862 --> 00:48:47,034 It's a quick death, 1012 00:48:47,034 --> 00:48:49,758 but it's actually a fairly traumatic event. 1013 00:48:49,758 --> 00:48:51,655 When we see whales that are entangled 1014 00:48:51,655 --> 00:48:53,413 for a really long period of time, 1015 00:48:53,413 --> 00:48:56,551 they can have a number of different wounds associated 1016 00:48:56,551 --> 00:48:58,172 with the entangling gear. 1017 00:48:58,172 --> 00:49:00,586 The line can embed over the blow hole. 1018 00:49:00,586 --> 00:49:02,103 That's not only gonna be painful, 1019 00:49:02,103 --> 00:49:03,793 but it's also going to significantly 1020 00:49:03,793 --> 00:49:05,827 impact the animal's ability to breathe. 1021 00:49:05,827 --> 00:49:09,344 This line over time essentially works deeper and deeper, 1022 00:49:09,344 --> 00:49:11,103 and it not only cuts through the skin 1023 00:49:11,103 --> 00:49:12,379 and the blubber and the muscle, 1024 00:49:12,379 --> 00:49:15,241 but it actually starts cutting into the bone, 1025 00:49:15,241 --> 00:49:18,448 essentially acts as a very slow guillotine, almost, 1026 00:49:18,448 --> 00:49:21,758 cutting through that whale tissue. 1027 00:49:21,758 --> 00:49:24,103 Even if it's not lethal to them immediately, 1028 00:49:24,103 --> 00:49:26,172 these are things that can decrease their ability 1029 00:49:26,172 --> 00:49:30,517 to carry calves to term and then reproduce that population. 1030 00:49:30,517 --> 00:49:33,137 The slight little sliver of hope that I have 1031 00:49:33,137 --> 00:49:35,172 is that these deaths are actually preventable 1032 00:49:35,172 --> 00:49:36,965 because we're causing them. 1033 00:49:36,965 --> 00:49:39,137 [boat hums] [water sprays] 1034 00:49:39,137 --> 00:49:42,137 It's extremely frustrating that, unfortunately, 1035 00:49:42,137 --> 00:49:44,965 some of the parties are reneging on their promises 1036 00:49:44,965 --> 00:49:47,310 to be able to get the line out of the water. 1037 00:49:47,310 --> 00:49:48,586 [soft melancholy music] [boat hums] 1038 00:49:48,586 --> 00:49:49,827 So I'm absolutely worried 1039 00:49:49,827 --> 00:49:51,275 about extinction for these animals. 1040 00:49:51,275 --> 00:49:53,620 And I'm not only worried about extinction in the future, 1041 00:49:53,620 --> 00:49:57,310 but I'm worried about extinction in the next few decades. 1042 00:49:57,310 --> 00:49:59,620 I don't want these whales, [voice breaks] sorry. 1043 00:50:06,068 --> 00:50:07,103 [exhales] Sorry. 1044 00:50:11,620 --> 00:50:14,241 I don't want these whales to go extinct on our watch. 1045 00:50:16,931 --> 00:50:21,965 [waves crash] [bulldozer beeps in distance] 1046 00:50:45,896 --> 00:50:50,448 - We're here tonight to review Maine's draft plan. 1047 00:50:50,448 --> 00:50:54,448 So back in June, we were looking at proposals 1048 00:50:54,448 --> 00:50:58,482 that included a recommendation of 50% reduction 1049 00:50:58,482 --> 00:51:00,689 in vertical lines or end lines. 1050 00:51:00,689 --> 00:51:03,103 Maine members of the TRT, along with everybody else 1051 00:51:03,103 --> 00:51:07,620 on the TRT, voted in favor of this 60% reduction. 1052 00:51:09,034 --> 00:51:12,206 But the Maine member of the TRT also read into the record, 1053 00:51:12,206 --> 00:51:14,689 "We reserve our right to change our mind 1054 00:51:14,689 --> 00:51:18,206 because we don't know what this means on the water." 1055 00:51:18,206 --> 00:51:19,724 I think everybody was under a lot 1056 00:51:19,724 --> 00:51:21,896 of pressure to come up with a solution. 1057 00:51:21,896 --> 00:51:25,275 You had one of the heads of NOAA Fishery there pushing 1058 00:51:25,275 --> 00:51:27,793 to say, "If you don't do this, we will." 1059 00:51:27,793 --> 00:51:32,551 So first piece of the main plan is a 25% reduction 1060 00:51:32,551 --> 00:51:35,482 in end lines based on our calculations. 1061 00:51:35,482 --> 00:51:39,068 So it is not a 50% reduction as proposed 1062 00:51:39,068 --> 00:51:41,000 through the Take Reduction Team. 1063 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:45,482 If you take all of the vertical lines month by month, 1064 00:51:45,482 --> 00:51:48,206 that's over five million vertical lines. 1065 00:51:48,206 --> 00:51:52,793 We're looking at impacting only 1.4 million vertical lines. 1066 00:51:52,793 --> 00:51:55,620 We've totally changed the denominator here. 1067 00:51:55,620 --> 00:51:59,586 Also, a biological opinion is gonna be written. 1068 00:51:59,586 --> 00:52:02,241 We're expecting that to find that the right whales 1069 00:52:02,241 --> 00:52:04,000 are in what's called jeopardy, 1070 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:06,517 a legal term under the Endangered Species Act. 1071 00:52:06,517 --> 00:52:10,620 We want our management scenarios to be accepted. 1072 00:52:10,620 --> 00:52:13,000 I wanna quickly talk about the wild card here, 1073 00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:15,827 which is the federal court cases that are ongoing. 1074 00:52:15,827 --> 00:52:18,689 About a month ago, a case was filed 1075 00:52:18,689 --> 00:52:20,758 in bringing the Maine lobster fishery directly 1076 00:52:20,758 --> 00:52:22,517 into a lawsuit. 1077 00:52:22,517 --> 00:52:26,793 And I wanna highlight a couple quotes from the same judge 1078 00:52:26,793 --> 00:52:29,068 as it pertains to those whale lawsuits. 1079 00:52:29,068 --> 00:52:31,862 "Any lag between the courts issuance of an injunction 1080 00:52:31,862 --> 00:52:34,413 is precious time for the North Atlantic right whale, 1081 00:52:34,413 --> 00:52:36,758 which has been suffering unprecedented fatalities 1082 00:52:36,758 --> 00:52:39,827 in the last three years, particularly from entanglements." 1083 00:52:39,827 --> 00:52:42,689 This is very concerning to our attorneys. 1084 00:52:42,689 --> 00:52:45,551 It should be very concerning to you as an industry. 1085 00:52:45,551 --> 00:52:48,965 This remains the wild card, having a court step in 1086 00:52:48,965 --> 00:52:51,206 and putting injunction on this fishery. 1087 00:52:51,206 --> 00:52:56,172 So with that, I'll be happy to open it up to questions. 1088 00:52:57,068 --> 00:52:58,310 - Say they pull the plug on us 1089 00:52:58,310 --> 00:53:01,000 and we don't gain their support on this. 1090 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:02,448 Where do we go then? 1091 00:53:02,448 --> 00:53:05,689 - I can tell you this. This is our line in the sand. 1092 00:53:05,689 --> 00:53:08,068 So if they don't accept this, 1093 00:53:08,068 --> 00:53:11,310 sure we're gonna be in a federal court, fighting this up. 1094 00:53:11,310 --> 00:53:14,551 [tense dramatic music] 1095 00:53:24,206 --> 00:53:26,655 [traffic hums] [ambulance siren wails] 1096 00:53:26,655 --> 00:53:28,655 - I'm Erica Fuller, a senior attorney 1097 00:53:28,655 --> 00:53:30,482 at the Conservation Law Foundation 1098 00:53:30,482 --> 00:53:32,896 and the lead attorney on our right whale effort. 1099 00:53:32,896 --> 00:53:35,310 We have participated in lawsuits 1100 00:53:35,310 --> 00:53:38,172 over the last 20 years to try to protect right whales 1101 00:53:38,172 --> 00:53:40,965 from entanglements in fishing gear. 1102 00:53:40,965 --> 00:53:43,310 Our goal is to put enough pressure 1103 00:53:43,310 --> 00:53:46,413 on the agency to take immediate action. 1104 00:53:46,413 --> 00:53:48,965 - We cannot allow this right whale 1105 00:53:48,965 --> 00:53:52,137 to go extinct on our watch. 1106 00:53:52,137 --> 00:53:57,137 - One of the things CLF does is bring the pressure 1107 00:53:58,620 --> 00:54:00,793 that needs to be brought on government to do its job. 1108 00:54:00,793 --> 00:54:03,206 - We just don't have time to study them to death. 1109 00:54:03,206 --> 00:54:06,413 We really need to start getting a long-term solution 1110 00:54:06,413 --> 00:54:07,620 on the water. 1111 00:54:07,620 --> 00:54:11,034 - I expect to force the federal government, 1112 00:54:11,034 --> 00:54:14,482 to force Canada, to force the fishing industry 1113 00:54:14,482 --> 00:54:17,827 to step up and make the necessary changes 1114 00:54:17,827 --> 00:54:20,482 to make sure that we don't lose this right whale. 1115 00:54:20,482 --> 00:54:22,172 - Obviously our work's not done. 1116 00:54:22,172 --> 00:54:24,517 We have a way to go - We do. 1117 00:54:24,517 --> 00:54:27,551 - and not much time to get there. 1118 00:54:27,551 --> 00:54:30,551 [slow tense music] 1119 00:54:52,896 --> 00:54:55,758 - This is where the rubber meets the road. 1120 00:54:55,758 --> 00:54:57,724 Welcome to the real world of democracy. 1121 00:54:58,896 --> 00:55:00,689 My name is Richard Maximus Strahan, 1122 00:55:00,689 --> 00:55:04,241 and I'm a conservation scientist and revolutionary. 1123 00:55:04,241 --> 00:55:05,793 We're trying to get a law on the election ballot 1124 00:55:05,793 --> 00:55:07,241 to protect whales from being caught 1125 00:55:07,241 --> 00:55:09,655 in fishing gear right here in our state waters. 1126 00:55:09,655 --> 00:55:12,000 We're in the middle of global mass extinction. 1127 00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:13,827 You ever hear of the right whale? 1128 00:55:13,827 --> 00:55:15,827 - Yes. - So I file lawsuits, 1129 00:55:15,827 --> 00:55:20,000 petition the government to protect the endangered wildlife. 1130 00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:23,000 You have to fight extinction from the ground up. 1131 00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,000 - Today, we are here to build 1132 00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:28,275 and celebrate a 100-foot-long right whale 1133 00:55:28,275 --> 00:55:32,448 and calf composed from over 1,000 tiles created 1134 00:55:32,448 --> 00:55:35,724 by involved young citizens and their supporters. 1135 00:55:35,724 --> 00:55:37,482 We're using the right whale as a symbol 1136 00:55:37,482 --> 00:55:39,827 for the larger humanitarian effort 1137 00:55:39,827 --> 00:55:42,344 that we need to address climate change. 1138 00:55:42,344 --> 00:55:43,620 This whale is swimming right 1139 00:55:43,620 --> 00:55:46,137 in the front door of the state house. 1140 00:55:46,137 --> 00:55:47,586 When we sit down with legislators, we can say, 1141 00:55:47,586 --> 00:55:49,034 "We did this right on your doorstep 1142 00:55:49,034 --> 00:55:51,448 because we need you to care about these issues." 1143 00:55:51,448 --> 00:55:54,413 Let's give it up for the right whale. All right. 1144 00:55:54,413 --> 00:55:56,827 Here are the state house, our resolution 1145 00:55:56,827 --> 00:56:00,379 is directing Congress to pass the Save Whales Act 1146 00:56:00,379 --> 00:56:03,068 to protect and preserve this right whale 1147 00:56:03,068 --> 00:56:04,310 for future generations. 1148 00:56:05,758 --> 00:56:08,241 - Do you have any questions? - No, just save the whale. 1149 00:56:08,241 --> 00:56:09,172 - Good attitude! - We need to. 1150 00:56:09,172 --> 00:56:10,793 - So if we forced to state 1151 00:56:10,793 --> 00:56:15,068 to force the Endangered Species Act on the fishing industry, 1152 00:56:15,068 --> 00:56:17,137 it'll be the shot heard round the world. 1153 00:56:17,137 --> 00:56:20,965 - From 2003 to last year in 2018, 1154 00:56:20,965 --> 00:56:24,103 the primary cause of death was entanglement. 1155 00:56:24,103 --> 00:56:27,275 There are a lot of things that are hard in the world. 1156 00:56:27,275 --> 00:56:30,586 Figuring out how to solve this particular problem is not. 1157 00:56:30,586 --> 00:56:32,206 We can't give up now. 1158 00:56:32,206 --> 00:56:34,620 [audience applauds] 1159 00:56:34,620 --> 00:56:36,206 - It's like if you saved the right whale, 1160 00:56:36,206 --> 00:56:38,103 you save the ocean. 1161 00:56:38,103 --> 00:56:42,310 So I need 10 signatures. I have 11. 1162 00:56:42,310 --> 00:56:45,310 And if you could certify these right now, 1163 00:56:45,310 --> 00:56:47,068 I think the gods are on my side. 1164 00:56:48,103 --> 00:56:50,655 Decision 2020. 1165 00:56:50,655 --> 00:56:53,448 The people for the first time in history get to vote. 1166 00:56:53,448 --> 00:56:56,896 Whales or fishing, bad fishing. You take a pick. 1167 00:56:56,896 --> 00:56:59,000 And if the people sell out the whale, 1168 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:01,551 then they get the extinction that they've asked for. 1169 00:57:03,793 --> 00:57:08,103 If society is not going to stop a whale from going extinct, 1170 00:57:08,103 --> 00:57:10,655 I don't think you're gonna stop much of anything else. 1171 00:57:11,758 --> 00:57:16,586 [crickets chirp] [slow dramatic music] 1172 00:57:17,172 --> 00:57:19,827 [truck starts] 1173 00:57:19,827 --> 00:57:24,862 - Last time I saw a right whale was middle of April. 1174 00:57:24,862 --> 00:57:26,793 To me, it looks like a freight train on the surface 1175 00:57:26,793 --> 00:57:28,517 with a mouth looking down a tunnel. 1176 00:57:29,896 --> 00:57:34,482 - Hey, almost 3:30. I'll see you in a little bit. 1177 00:57:34,482 --> 00:57:36,586 [grunts] 1178 00:57:38,034 --> 00:57:40,827 [door shuts] [boat starts up] 1179 00:57:40,827 --> 00:57:41,827 And I am off. 1180 00:57:42,965 --> 00:57:45,275 My mermaid, I rub her backside everyday 1181 00:57:45,275 --> 00:57:47,275 before I leave the harbor for good luck. 1182 00:57:48,586 --> 00:57:50,620 I don't wanna see nothing get harmed. 1183 00:57:50,620 --> 00:57:53,137 I'm doing all I can do now to protect the whale. 1184 00:57:53,137 --> 00:57:55,344 I'm doing my part, I know that. 1185 00:57:56,724 --> 00:57:58,620 I remember sitting at the TRT, and one of the head guys 1186 00:57:58,620 --> 00:58:00,379 from the National Fishery Service got up and said, 1187 00:58:00,379 --> 00:58:02,275 "If you don't come up with a consensus, 1188 00:58:02,275 --> 00:58:05,206 we will come up with a plan." 1189 00:58:05,206 --> 00:58:07,724 You might wanna come up with a plan of your own 1190 00:58:07,724 --> 00:58:11,517 that might sting a little than being put out of business. 1191 00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:16,413 But we are almost to the gear. So we gotta get ready. 1192 00:58:16,413 --> 00:58:21,413 [slow dramatic music] [boat rumbles] 1193 00:58:22,275 --> 00:58:23,931 We're seeing lobsters here. 1194 00:58:25,275 --> 00:58:27,241 If somebody's saying, "Fuck this, fuck the whale, 1195 00:58:27,241 --> 00:58:29,689 let it die," to me, I don't wanna hear it. 1196 00:58:29,689 --> 00:58:31,620 If somebody's trying to shut you down, 1197 00:58:31,620 --> 00:58:33,620 that's just good ammunition for 'em, 1198 00:58:33,620 --> 00:58:36,551 and they're the first ones to come crying to me afterwards. 1199 00:58:38,310 --> 00:58:42,103 But that's just human nature. A lot of people are scared. 1200 00:58:42,103 --> 00:58:44,310 They don't know the facts on a lot of stuff. 1201 00:58:46,413 --> 00:58:49,206 Takes time, but if you're not at the table, 1202 00:58:49,206 --> 00:58:50,793 be prepared to be served. 1203 00:58:52,172 --> 00:58:56,103 There's a lot of fishermen working hard with the scientists 1204 00:58:56,103 --> 00:58:59,724 to try to solve a problem, to try to do something about it. 1205 00:58:59,724 --> 00:59:02,137 We'll see what happens what the feds decide to do. 1206 00:59:04,758 --> 00:59:07,931 [soft ethereal music] 1207 00:59:08,827 --> 00:59:12,137 [ropes click and slide] 1208 00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:17,068 - This is a special place. 1209 00:59:17,068 --> 00:59:20,034 Cape Cod and this body of water 1210 00:59:20,034 --> 00:59:23,655 are part of my family's heritage. 1211 00:59:23,655 --> 00:59:28,655 It's been the backyard of now 11 generations of us, 1212 00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:33,068 and into it come these exceptionally rare animals, 1213 00:59:33,068 --> 00:59:35,413 these last of the right whales. 1214 00:59:35,413 --> 00:59:38,689 So this is the place to study them where the last battle 1215 00:59:38,689 --> 00:59:40,862 to save them will take place. 1216 00:59:43,103 --> 00:59:46,413 We started doing our disentanglement work in 1984, 1217 00:59:46,413 --> 00:59:48,931 and it was the first real effort 1218 00:59:48,931 --> 00:59:52,000 to slow down free swimming entangled whales 1219 00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:54,241 that otherwise would die, 1220 00:59:54,241 --> 00:59:56,724 and it has followed on to this day 1221 00:59:56,724 --> 00:59:58,896 as we've attempted to develop methods 1222 00:59:58,896 --> 01:00:01,551 to free animals from lethal entanglement. 1223 01:00:02,551 --> 01:00:03,758 - [Man] Keep going, keep going. 1224 01:00:03,758 --> 01:00:05,344 [muffled speaking] 1225 01:00:05,344 --> 01:00:09,827 - This is an effort to disentangle a whale we call Ruffian. 1226 01:00:09,827 --> 01:00:11,034 - [Man] Get ready, [indistinct]. Woo! 1227 01:00:13,517 --> 01:00:16,275 - Who had towed gear all the way 1228 01:00:16,275 --> 01:00:20,965 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence into Georgia-Florida waters, 1229 01:00:20,965 --> 01:00:23,689 a distance of 1,700 miles. 1230 01:00:23,689 --> 01:00:26,000 - [Man] Here we go. Oh, easy, easy, before it goes. 1231 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:27,448 - [Charles] The first part of the effort, 1232 01:00:27,448 --> 01:00:30,344 get a grapple across the gear. 1233 01:00:30,344 --> 01:00:31,724 - [Man] I got him. He's in, he's in, he's in. 1234 01:00:31,724 --> 01:00:33,275 Back up, back up, back up, back up. 1235 01:00:33,275 --> 01:00:35,413 Get the boat buoy ready to go over. 1236 01:00:35,413 --> 01:00:36,965 Okay, buoy over, buoy over. 1237 01:00:36,965 --> 01:00:38,896 - And then we're attached to the whale. 1238 01:00:40,413 --> 01:00:44,103 The flukes of a right whale are up to 18 feet across 1239 01:00:44,103 --> 01:00:47,172 and weigh the weight of a small car. 1240 01:00:48,379 --> 01:00:50,206 There are a couple of memorable occasions 1241 01:00:50,206 --> 01:00:53,724 where they were very close, and if they'd hit, 1242 01:00:53,724 --> 01:00:56,172 we undoubtedly would not have lived. 1243 01:00:57,413 --> 01:00:59,965 Once the whale is on the surface, 1244 01:00:59,965 --> 01:01:03,448 the effort is to use a hole to get a hook knife 1245 01:01:03,448 --> 01:01:05,241 into the entangling ropes, 1246 01:01:05,241 --> 01:01:08,379 and there they' just succeeded in getting it, 1247 01:01:08,379 --> 01:01:11,827 and that hook knife will eventually cut the gear. 1248 01:01:11,827 --> 01:01:13,620 [hook knife slices line] [dramatic music] 1249 01:01:13,620 --> 01:01:15,689 - [Man] One, two, three. Okay, that's it. 1250 01:01:16,793 --> 01:01:19,931 - It's a way of remotely cutting the gear 1251 01:01:19,931 --> 01:01:22,689 to be more safe than we used to be. 1252 01:01:22,689 --> 01:01:24,551 [soft poignant music] 1253 01:01:24,551 --> 01:01:29,103 - Joe Howlett was trained here at the center in 2017. 1254 01:01:29,103 --> 01:01:33,137 Joe was dispatched to attempt a disentanglement. 1255 01:01:33,137 --> 01:01:35,034 [whale blows] 1256 01:01:35,034 --> 01:01:36,689 Whoa, just keep some pressure on it. 1257 01:01:36,689 --> 01:01:40,586 Near the end of that disentanglement, he lost his life. 1258 01:01:40,586 --> 01:01:42,827 [water crashes] 1259 01:01:42,827 --> 01:01:46,137 Joe was an exceptionally dedicated guy 1260 01:01:46,137 --> 01:01:48,517 who died in the effort. 1261 01:01:50,241 --> 01:01:52,517 There is on the part of all of us 1262 01:01:52,517 --> 01:01:57,482 who work with right whales a passionate desire to help them, 1263 01:01:58,620 --> 01:02:00,068 not just because they're whales we know 1264 01:02:00,068 --> 01:02:02,827 but because they're on the brink of extinction. 1265 01:02:02,827 --> 01:02:04,689 There has to be further development 1266 01:02:04,689 --> 01:02:07,620 and rapid development of new methods to fish, 1267 01:02:07,620 --> 01:02:11,551 methods that do not involve entanglement. 1268 01:02:11,551 --> 01:02:14,137 [whale moans] [hook knife slices line] 1269 01:02:14,137 --> 01:02:16,000 [rope slides] 1270 01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,344 The answer's really simple. 1271 01:02:18,344 --> 01:02:21,620 It's been there all along, and it goes far 1272 01:02:21,620 --> 01:02:23,931 beyond anything that Take Reduction Team 1273 01:02:23,931 --> 01:02:27,482 has recently decided, and that is no rope in the water. 1274 01:02:28,551 --> 01:02:30,275 That will solve the problem. 1275 01:02:32,931 --> 01:02:35,551 [door rattles open] [contemplative music] 1276 01:02:35,551 --> 01:02:38,482 - Typically in this garage, we repair boats. 1277 01:02:38,482 --> 01:02:40,965 It has been transformed into a research 1278 01:02:40,965 --> 01:02:43,586 and development laboratory for ropeless fishing. 1279 01:02:44,758 --> 01:02:46,000 - My name is Richard Riels. 1280 01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:47,689 I'm the executive director and founder 1281 01:02:47,689 --> 01:02:51,586 to SMELTS, Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society. 1282 01:02:51,586 --> 01:02:55,103 I spent some years studying the entanglement problem 1283 01:02:55,103 --> 01:02:58,689 in large whales and saw a lot of animals suffering. 1284 01:02:58,689 --> 01:03:00,448 When you walk up to a dead animal 1285 01:03:00,448 --> 01:03:03,448 and you see it entangled in gear, 1286 01:03:04,655 --> 01:03:05,862 we probably wanna try to figure out 1287 01:03:05,862 --> 01:03:08,137 how to prevent that from happening. 1288 01:03:08,137 --> 01:03:09,965 - He came to me with an idea 1289 01:03:09,965 --> 01:03:12,275 about building a ropeless fishing system, 1290 01:03:12,275 --> 01:03:13,896 and I told him he was crazy. 1291 01:03:15,310 --> 01:03:17,482 - A ropeless system that could reduce entanglement 1292 01:03:17,482 --> 01:03:20,586 in large whales and give the fishermen a potential 1293 01:03:20,586 --> 01:03:22,275 to work in closed areas. 1294 01:03:23,689 --> 01:03:27,586 Just trying to figure out with fishermen, can we do this? 1295 01:03:27,586 --> 01:03:29,965 This is how ropeless fishing could work. 1296 01:03:29,965 --> 01:03:32,586 The lobsterman shows up to his fishing grounds, 1297 01:03:32,586 --> 01:03:37,586 deploys the gear, and sets a signal to report his position. 1298 01:03:38,448 --> 01:03:40,965 We have no vertical line buoy. 1299 01:03:40,965 --> 01:03:43,482 The marine life that's swimming throughout the ocean 1300 01:03:43,482 --> 01:03:46,931 in the fishing grounds have no chance of being entangled. 1301 01:03:46,931 --> 01:03:48,724 Fisherman returns to the fishing ground, 1302 01:03:48,724 --> 01:03:51,448 activates his recovery system, 1303 01:03:51,448 --> 01:03:53,551 brings a lobster out the surface, 1304 01:03:53,551 --> 01:03:54,931 leaves the fishing grounds. 1305 01:03:55,793 --> 01:03:57,448 [water splashes] 1306 01:03:57,448 --> 01:04:01,758 The technology is there. If we can afford it, we don't know. 1307 01:04:01,758 --> 01:04:03,413 Can we get enough of it built 1308 01:04:03,413 --> 01:04:06,103 that actually impacts global fishing? 1309 01:04:06,103 --> 01:04:07,206 It's a big challenge. 1310 01:04:09,413 --> 01:04:12,206 There's so many animals being entangled. 1311 01:04:12,206 --> 01:04:15,413 Prevention is really the only hope we have 1312 01:04:15,413 --> 01:04:20,413 to end the needless suffering of these large whales. 1313 01:04:21,275 --> 01:04:22,517 In the Gulf of Maine alone, 1314 01:04:22,517 --> 01:04:24,896 there are about 3.5 million lobster traps, 1315 01:04:24,896 --> 01:04:26,931 and at any one time, hundreds of thousands 1316 01:04:26,931 --> 01:04:29,310 of buoy lines are in the water. 1317 01:04:29,310 --> 01:04:30,586 That has to change. 1318 01:04:31,965 --> 01:04:35,965 Ropeless is coming, [laughs] whether it's now, 1319 01:04:35,965 --> 01:04:37,586 five years or 20 years. 1320 01:04:37,586 --> 01:04:40,137 You either adapt or you get left behind. 1321 01:04:40,137 --> 01:04:42,758 [bugs chitter] 1322 01:04:57,103 --> 01:04:59,482 [air hisses] [muffled chatter] 1323 01:04:59,482 --> 01:05:01,793 - Thank you so much for coming, everyone. 1324 01:05:01,793 --> 01:05:04,793 North Atlantic right whales neath is now more than ever. 1325 01:05:04,793 --> 01:05:06,931 We're losing right whales at a shocking rate. 1326 01:05:06,931 --> 01:05:11,931 So we've lost at least almost 30 animals since 2017 alone, 1327 01:05:12,793 --> 01:05:14,241 and those are known deaths. 1328 01:05:14,241 --> 01:05:17,103 We know that we're losing a lot more that we never discover. 1329 01:05:17,103 --> 01:05:20,034 A scientific study recently showed 1330 01:05:20,034 --> 01:05:23,137 they're all dying because of impacts from humans. 1331 01:05:23,137 --> 01:05:25,379 - We all have the opportunity tonight here 1332 01:05:25,379 --> 01:05:28,724 at NOAA Headquarters to have the federal government hear 1333 01:05:28,724 --> 01:05:31,068 from us about what we think should be done. 1334 01:05:31,068 --> 01:05:33,758 We can't afford more delay. NOAA needs to act now. 1335 01:05:33,758 --> 01:05:35,310 They need to act quickly. 1336 01:05:35,310 --> 01:05:37,172 - If strong conservation measures 1337 01:05:37,172 --> 01:05:39,965 and protective regulations and not put in place now, 1338 01:05:39,965 --> 01:05:42,620 they will continue to decline before extinction. 1339 01:05:42,620 --> 01:05:44,793 So this may be their last chance 1340 01:05:44,793 --> 01:05:46,586 to get them on the road to recovery. 1341 01:05:47,896 --> 01:05:49,724 - Good afternoon, everyone. 1342 01:05:49,724 --> 01:05:53,586 Tonight is our a scoping meeting on developing modifications 1343 01:05:53,586 --> 01:05:56,206 to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. 1344 01:05:56,206 --> 01:05:59,862 This is the first of many opportunities for public comment, 1345 01:05:59,862 --> 01:06:02,137 and that is a critical part of the process. 1346 01:06:02,137 --> 01:06:05,724 It helps you all inform the steps that NOAA takes 1347 01:06:05,724 --> 01:06:08,275 as we move towards a proposed rule. 1348 01:06:08,275 --> 01:06:09,551 [slow dramatic music] 1349 01:06:09,551 --> 01:06:10,931 - If the goal is to get 1350 01:06:10,931 --> 01:06:13,448 below potential biological removal level, 1351 01:06:13,448 --> 01:06:15,413 so that's less than one per year, 1352 01:06:15,413 --> 01:06:18,896 and get the risk reduction at the least economic impact, 1353 01:06:18,896 --> 01:06:21,689 what the TRT came up with was pretty smart. 1354 01:06:21,689 --> 01:06:25,034 - You are only talking about a theoretical, 1355 01:06:25,034 --> 01:06:28,379 unscientific, unproven methodology proposed 1356 01:06:28,379 --> 01:06:32,724 by the very people who are killing the whales to reduce it 1357 01:06:32,724 --> 01:06:35,896 so you, therefore, expect more dead right whales 1358 01:06:35,896 --> 01:06:39,103 from entanglement over the next 10 years. 1359 01:06:39,103 --> 01:06:42,000 Reduced does not equal eliminate. 1360 01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:44,172 - [Speaker] The Marine Mammal Protection Act requires us to- 1361 01:06:44,172 --> 01:06:47,862 - Maybe you should listen to the Endangered Species Act, 1362 01:06:47,862 --> 01:06:50,758 which makes every entanglement a violation of law. 1363 01:06:50,758 --> 01:06:52,000 [people murmur and clap] [dramatic music] 1364 01:06:52,000 --> 01:06:53,724 The goal is to wipe out the right whale. 1365 01:06:53,724 --> 01:06:55,551 - So tonight, again, 1366 01:06:55,551 --> 01:06:57,620 we would like to get input from you now. 1367 01:06:57,620 --> 01:07:00,448 - It's sad watching what's going on here. 1368 01:07:00,448 --> 01:07:04,275 Here we are taking the brunt of the punishment again. 1369 01:07:05,379 --> 01:07:07,103 It's not right. 1370 01:07:07,103 --> 01:07:10,241 I don't know how long we're gonna be able to take it, 1371 01:07:10,241 --> 01:07:12,586 but something has to change. 1372 01:07:12,586 --> 01:07:14,482 [audience members clap and cheer] 1373 01:07:14,482 --> 01:07:16,724 - I'm sorry you feel like we're blaming you. 1374 01:07:17,896 --> 01:07:20,655 I just wanna tell you we're really frustrated. 1375 01:07:20,655 --> 01:07:24,034 We feel helpless. We feel powerless. 1376 01:07:24,034 --> 01:07:27,620 We just wanted to keep these whales alive, 1377 01:07:27,620 --> 01:07:29,862 and we don't think we can do it. 1378 01:07:29,862 --> 01:07:32,000 - We're not out there trying to kill whales. 1379 01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:34,068 It's pretty easy to go up there and say, 1380 01:07:34,068 --> 01:07:35,758 "Invoke this rule, this, and this," 1381 01:07:35,758 --> 01:07:37,034 'cause it doesn't affect you. 1382 01:07:37,034 --> 01:07:38,448 It affects us. 1383 01:07:38,448 --> 01:07:39,482 - To put it bluntly, 1384 01:07:40,896 --> 01:07:44,379 human actions are putting these beautiful gentle giants 1385 01:07:44,379 --> 01:07:46,724 on a direct path towards extinction. 1386 01:07:48,172 --> 01:07:50,965 That is why we are here today, to correct these human errors 1387 01:07:50,965 --> 01:07:54,000 and actions in a meaningful way. 1388 01:07:54,000 --> 01:07:57,068 I urge NOAA to do right by the right whale 1389 01:07:57,068 --> 01:07:59,034 and implement stricter regulations. 1390 01:07:59,034 --> 01:08:00,482 [people clap] 1391 01:08:00,482 --> 01:08:01,689 - [Richard Strahan] That's what we're saying! 1392 01:08:01,689 --> 01:08:04,000 - Both sides of this issue are being played. 1393 01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:06,896 There may be no human action or inaction 1394 01:08:06,896 --> 01:08:10,793 that can save a population of 400 right whales, 1395 01:08:10,793 --> 01:08:13,862 but there are actions that could be taken 1396 01:08:13,862 --> 01:08:16,586 to devastate the local economies entwined 1397 01:08:16,586 --> 01:08:19,172 within lobstering and fishing communities. 1398 01:08:19,172 --> 01:08:22,620 - NOAA is the fox guarding the chicken coop. 1399 01:08:22,620 --> 01:08:24,206 It's owned by fishermen, 1400 01:08:24,206 --> 01:08:26,620 it's run by fishermen under statute, 1401 01:08:26,620 --> 01:08:28,827 and this beautiful, - Three minutes! 1402 01:08:28,827 --> 01:08:31,310 - beautiful opposition that they demonstrate here 1403 01:08:31,310 --> 01:08:32,931 is just part of the scam. 1404 01:08:32,931 --> 01:08:35,862 You're all gonna be replaced by green fishermen 1405 01:08:35,862 --> 01:08:37,896 will not use vertical buoy ropes 1406 01:08:37,896 --> 01:08:39,034 and will actually care - Max, Max. 1407 01:08:39,034 --> 01:08:40,275 - about the environment. - Max, it's time. 1408 01:08:40,275 --> 01:08:41,758 It's time to go, Max. 1409 01:08:41,758 --> 01:08:42,758 - No, I don't want to go. - It's time to go, all right? 1410 01:08:42,758 --> 01:08:43,965 It's time to go. 1411 01:08:43,965 --> 01:08:45,310 - No, it's time for you to go, sir, 1412 01:08:45,310 --> 01:08:46,344 - Max, [indistinct]. - 'cause you're gonna be fired 1413 01:08:46,344 --> 01:08:48,448 for being a liar and a person 1414 01:08:48,448 --> 01:08:50,517 who works to kill off the right whale. 1415 01:08:52,413 --> 01:08:57,448 [soft ethereal music] [waves crash] 1416 01:10:09,206 --> 01:10:12,482 [soft dramatic music] [boat hums] 1417 01:10:12,482 --> 01:10:17,000 - We're about 10 miles from the Georgia-Florida line. 1418 01:10:17,000 --> 01:10:18,482 We're smack dab in the middle 1419 01:10:18,482 --> 01:10:21,206 of the North Atlantic right whale camping grounds. 1420 01:10:21,206 --> 01:10:23,482 It's a big area, so we really depend 1421 01:10:23,482 --> 01:10:25,620 on aerial survey to find the whales. 1422 01:10:27,000 --> 01:10:29,034 - This is the only place that right whales are known 1423 01:10:29,034 --> 01:10:31,655 to go to give birth to their live young. 1424 01:10:31,655 --> 01:10:33,689 [camera clicks] 1425 01:10:33,689 --> 01:10:35,379 Being that they are so endangered, 1426 01:10:35,379 --> 01:10:38,275 we're trying to protect them as much as we can. 1427 01:10:39,482 --> 01:10:41,482 - Going back to the 2000s, we were seeing 1428 01:10:41,482 --> 01:10:44,448 about two dozen calves per year on average. 1429 01:10:44,448 --> 01:10:47,448 Since 2010, that number's dropped in half, 1430 01:10:47,448 --> 01:10:49,034 and two years ago, in fact, 1431 01:10:49,034 --> 01:10:50,551 we didn't even see a single calf. 1432 01:10:50,551 --> 01:10:53,000 That's the first time that it had ever happened. 1433 01:10:53,000 --> 01:10:54,241 - [Woman On Radio] The Coast Guard reported an alpha. 1434 01:10:54,241 --> 01:10:56,310 - We can't make more calves, 1435 01:10:56,310 --> 01:10:59,103 but we could certainly stop killing whales. 1436 01:10:59,103 --> 01:11:00,344 That's just gotta happen, 1437 01:11:00,344 --> 01:11:02,620 or this species might not stand a chance. 1438 01:11:04,068 --> 01:11:06,965 - It's a monumental challenge that we are currently facing, 1439 01:11:06,965 --> 01:11:10,827 and it requires everybody, our state partners, 1440 01:11:10,827 --> 01:11:13,586 the fishing industry, environmental groups. 1441 01:11:13,586 --> 01:11:15,068 We need to all come to the table 1442 01:11:15,068 --> 01:11:18,448 and play a part in the recovery of this iconic species. 1443 01:11:19,827 --> 01:11:22,655 - [Woman On Radio] [indistinct] this is NOAA 48, go ahead. 1444 01:11:22,655 --> 01:11:23,689 - I just wanna give you a heads up. 1445 01:11:23,689 --> 01:11:26,103 We got a mother-calf pair. 1446 01:11:26,103 --> 01:11:28,448 - [Woman On Radio] Good copy. NOAA 48. 1447 01:11:28,448 --> 01:11:30,068 - The National Marine Fishery Service has 1448 01:11:30,068 --> 01:11:33,103 to balance these two objectives that it has 1449 01:11:33,103 --> 01:11:36,862 of sustaining fisheries and protecting species. 1450 01:11:38,172 --> 01:11:40,689 At the moment, that balance has just gone away. 1451 01:11:40,689 --> 01:11:43,586 - [Man On Radio] Three, two, one. Perfect. 1452 01:11:43,586 --> 01:11:47,103 - It's always a challenge to look to dual mandates 1453 01:11:47,103 --> 01:11:49,827 of conserving protected species 1454 01:11:49,827 --> 01:11:53,758 and ensuring thriving, sustainable fisheries. 1455 01:11:53,758 --> 01:11:57,448 We look for solutions that make meaningful progress 1456 01:11:57,448 --> 01:12:01,241 towards recovering right whales while also ensuring 1457 01:12:01,241 --> 01:12:05,034 that our fisheries remain very profitable. 1458 01:12:05,034 --> 01:12:10,034 [slow somber music] [waves crash] 1459 01:12:11,482 --> 01:12:13,896 - We're still looking at least in a couple of years 1460 01:12:13,896 --> 01:12:17,586 before something really starts changing on the water, 1461 01:12:17,586 --> 01:12:22,586 and that's really slow the way these animals 1462 01:12:23,448 --> 01:12:24,517 are disappearing at the moment. 1463 01:12:28,551 --> 01:12:31,413 - I would reject the idea that we're too slow. 1464 01:12:31,413 --> 01:12:33,965 We are working within the process, 1465 01:12:33,965 --> 01:12:36,310 and in order to have affective, meaningful, 1466 01:12:36,310 --> 01:12:39,068 long-lasting measures that are in place, 1467 01:12:39,068 --> 01:12:42,551 we need the collaboration among all of the stakeholders. 1468 01:12:43,724 --> 01:12:46,000 - If the agency is gonna be serious 1469 01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:48,620 about saving North Atlantic right whales, 1470 01:12:48,620 --> 01:12:50,724 then the action that they're gonna have to take 1471 01:12:50,724 --> 01:12:52,344 is gonna be more draconian than 1472 01:12:52,344 --> 01:12:54,517 what's being considered so far, 1473 01:12:54,517 --> 01:12:58,275 and that's hard, but that's where we are now. 1474 01:12:59,862 --> 01:13:03,068 North Atlantic right whales are paying a price for this. 1475 01:13:03,068 --> 01:13:05,655 At some point, we have to turn this around. 1476 01:13:10,344 --> 01:13:12,931 [water sprays] 1477 01:13:25,931 --> 01:13:29,068 [soft ethereal music] 1478 01:13:34,517 --> 01:13:38,413 [people sing in foreign language] 1479 01:13:38,413 --> 01:13:40,931 [bell chimes] 1480 01:13:45,586 --> 01:13:49,068 [waves crash in distance]