WEBVTT FILE 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]