The Song of the Right Whale

To help protect the North Atlantic Right Whale, boats and ships have to keep over 500 yards away from the species. There are exceptions for scientific vessels tasked with measuring the creatures, and so Rhod climbs aboard scientist Michael Moore’s sailboat on a working trip around Cape Cod Bay. Having looked into the issues of trying to protect these mysterious and threatened creatures of the deep, he finally gets as close as anyone can get to them and watches them living their lives while discovering how scientists assess their health.

There’s hope to be had in the creation of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium which allows all sides to talk together to save the species. Tensions remain though as some scientists believe that the time for talking has passed, while some lobstermen still feel that they are not being listened to. Rhod talks to the law makers about potential new legislation and realises that all of us need to play a part if we want to stop the Right Whale from becoming extinct.

Right Whales have been disappearing from some of their traditional feeding grounds due to climate change pushing their food further north. And then in 2017, they started appearing further north in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world - with deadly consequences. It could have been game over, but Canadian government managed to get legislators, fishermen and environmentalists to solve the problem together. Rhod finds out how they did it.

Ship strikes kill Right Whales every year - but trying to solve this problem involves various agencies, and over 2000 miles of coastline. Rhod learns that speed limits for shipping could be the answer, but if ships have to slow down, there’s an economic consequence to be paid and someone has to pick up the bill. The sound of ships in the water is another source of stress in whales, and with this in mind, Rhod talks to a whale fertility expert who’s embarking on an ambitious project...

What if there was a way of fishing without having vertical lines in the water? Could this help the Right Whales escape entanglement? Rhod discovers that there is a way to do it - and that the technology has been around for decades. The scientists love the idea. So why are many fishermen of Maine and Massachusetts sceptical?

Rhod travels to Maine where closing fishing areas is seen as a viable way of protecting the North Atlantic Right Whale. However, there hasn’t been a registered entanglement in the waters for nearly twenty years and a lot of fishermen haven’t ever seen a Right Whale. They’re angry at having to respond to new regulations to cope with an issue that they believe isn’t anything to do with them. Rhod finds that emotions are running high and a whole way of life and a multi-million dollar industry is under threat.

Although whale hunting has stopped on the coast of New England in the US, the North Atlantic Right Whale is very much under threat from human activity. Rhod Sharp, himself a New England resident, discovers how the whales are at threatened by the sharp pain of boat strikes and the lingering ordeal of being caught up in fishing line, and talks to some of the scientists who have made it their job to try to save the species.

Time is running out for the rare Right Whale - but conservationists and the fishing industry are clashing over solutions. Can the species be saved from extinction?