Discovery Channel Archives

Sharks Are Creeping Into the Northeast Because of Climate Change

July 30, 2018 — Warmer waters are pushing the animals further north into previously shark-free waters. Should we be worried?

Shark Week, Discovery Channel’s annual homage to the ocean’s most infamous predator, comes to a close this weekend.

But residents of northeastern states like New York—long considered a relatively shark-free zone—might not have to wait until July 2019 to see more, as global warming has been linked with a significant northern shift in the habitats of most marine animals, including most sharks.

“There’s an astounding mass migration of animal life towards the poles,” Malin Pinsky, an associate professor in Rutgers’ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, told The Daily Beast. In his work with spiny dogfish, a thin, small shark that lives along most of the East Coast, he’s seen their habitat shift “quite substantially.”

Pinsky isn’t the only scientist to make this observation. In April, researchers in North Carolina published a paper in Nature’s Scientific Resources that documented the northern migration of bull shark nurseries.

By analyzing data from North Carolina’s Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF), the researchers found that between 2003 and 2011, when water temperatures in the sound were hovering closer to 22 degrees Celsius, only six juvenile sharks were caught in the area. But as temperatures began to rise, a group of bull sharks migrated from their previous home in Northern Florida and established a nursery in Pamlico, causing a drastic uptick in juvenile shark presence. Between 2011 and 2016 alone, NCDMF found 53.

Read the full story at The Daily Beast

About Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman

August 21, 2017 — Debuting at the prestigious Documentary Premieres Section at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN weaves together the stories of four unlikely conservation heroes working in America’s heartland. At a moment when it seems that collaboration is not just nonexistent but impossible, these working families cross political and other divides to arrive at real solutions for protecting the land and sea that define our country – and are crucial to all of our survival. From the Montana Rockies to the fields of Kansas to the Gulf of Mexico, RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN showcases the successes of a new crop of conservation heroes.

RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN will premiere as part of Discovery Impact, a slate of groundbreaking documentaries focusing on humankind’s impact on the environment and what individuals and society as a whole can do to solve some of the largest problems facing the planet. Narrated by award-winning journalist Tom Brokaw, and directed by Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated Susan Froemke and Emmy-winning filmmaker John Hoffman, the film is based on Miriam Horn’s recently released book, “Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland.”

RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN premieres August 2017 on Discovery.

Read the story at the Discovery Channel

MAINE: ‘Shark Week’ episode to feature Maine professor

June 28, 2017 — During more than 25 years studying a variety of fish, including sharks, James Sulikowski has had to solve all kinds of problems. Among the trickiest and most important: How do you gather data about pregnant sharks without first killing them?

“The catch-22 is that you need the information to better manage them, but in order to get the information [you used to have to] kill them. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Sulikowski, a professor at the University of New England in Biddeford, said. “So that’s where my sort of science came in. We treated sharks basically like pregnant females, like human beings. How are humans studied? Well, you take blood and you can look at that blood for circulating levels of hormones [to determine if the female is pregnant].”

That idea morphed into taking special waterproof, veterinary-grade ultrasound equipment onto boats and examining sharks that later would be released alive.

That kind of newly available data on shark reproduction made Sulikowski and his colleagues rock stars in the shark world and drew the interest of the Discovery Channel.

When Discovery Channel’s popular “Shark Week” franchise returns for another wall-to-wall dose of toothy adventure in July, Sulikowski and his colleagues will be prominently featured. That episode, titled “Shark Vortex,” will air at 8 p.m. on July 24.

Sulikowski was tight-lipped about what viewers will see during the episode, which marks the second straight year his work will have been featured during “Shark Week.” In 2016, “Tiger Beach” kicked off Shark Week and drew between 6 million and 7 million viewers during three airings, according to Sulikowski.

“[‘Shark Vortex’] is top secret. I signed my life away for that,” Sulikowski said. “But I can tell you it’s a great story. It’s basically sharks of New England, in a sense. It’s gonna have white sharks, it’s gonna have makos, it’s gonna have porbeagles. The ones that really separate us from other places.”

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

Troubled waters, heartfelt stories in ‘Sacred Cod’

April 13, 2017 — Of the two sacred emblems of Massachusetts — the bean and the cod — the cod gets all the glory but the bean is certainly more environmentally secure.

For centuries fishermen from Gloucester have relied on cod — and the world has relied on them to provide it — but recently scientists have determined that the fish stocks are being depleted at an unsustainable rate and soon there will be no more cod to fish. The fishermen protest that because of the regulations imposed on them, soon there will be no fishermen left to do the fishing.

Andy Laub, Endicott College’s Steve Liss, and Boston Globe reporter David Abel’s thoroughly researched, reasoned and surprisingly moving documentary “Sacred Cod,” premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. on Discovery, gives time to both sides. They offer warm, robust, and sympathetic portraits of these Gloucestermen with their powerful work ethic, fierce love of family, and faith in the American Dream. And they also thoughtfully and thoroughly present the point of view of the bureaucrats and scientists who are trying to do what’s best with the information they have. Emerging as heroes are those willing to consider both sides and seek new solutions.

On one level, the debate comes down to point of view. Based on their extensive research and analysis, the scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency studying the problem and issuing regulations, say that the cod stock has declined to a fraction of what it must be to remain sustainable. The fishermen take a more empirical and anecdotal approach; they say that the figures are wrong, that from their experience plenty of cod are still out there. One fisherman takes John Bullard, NOAA’s regional administrator, on a fishing trip. The trawling net disgorges a mountain of fish. “There it is, the elusive cod!” the fisherman scoffs. He tells Bullard that he has just caught his entire annual quota in 45 minutes.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

Climate change a character in Discovery’s ‘Deadliest Catch’

April 12, 2017 — Climate change is one of the main characters in the new season of “Deadliest Catch,” with the crab fishermen in one of Discovery’s most enduring and popular shows forced to deal with a sudden warming of the Bering Sea that chases their prey into deeper, more dangerous water.

That leads the adventure series into its own uncharted waters. The show’s 13th season debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

“It’s a big risk for us to discuss climate change because so many people can think that it’s a political issue when really it isn’t, particularly in the context of the fishing fleet,” said R. Decker Watson, Jr., one of the show’s executive producers.

The waters off Alaska that provide the livelihood for the show’s real-life stars warmed by a dramatic 4 degrees in one year. The cold water-loving crab is depleted in the traditional fishing areas, so some of the boats strike out for new territory that is more dangerous because of fiercer storms and is further from rescue workers if something goes wrong, he said.

In fact, the new season documents one vessel lost at sea. It was not one of the crews regularly featured in the series, but all of the regulars knew who was involved, he said.

The developments offer an opportunity to educate an audience that might be less familiar about climate change. The median age of a “Deadliest Catch” viewer is 50 and the show skews 60 percent male which, judging by the results of the last election, might include its share of climate change skeptics. Yet Discovery isn’t interested in preaching; the series is more interested in documenting what is happening, not in explaining why.

There are no scientists aboard the fishing boats, and the show’s main purpose is to follow the lives of the crew, said Rich Ross, Discovery president.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

FishOn: Cod docufilm features Gloucester cast

March 27, 2017 — So, a cod fish walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Why the long face?”

Perhaps the answer to that endearing question will be divulged in one of the three films on commercial fishing that already have hit the screen or soon will.

(And, according to FishOn’s far-flung film sources, there may be a fourth fishing documentary on the way, but that is yet undocumented. As always, watch this space.)

The one documentary already completed is “Sacred Cod,” which examines the New England cod fishery through the lens of its history and influence, ultimately detailing the collapse that led to the current fishing crisis in the Gulf of Maine.

The film has a decidedly Bay State feel, as much of it is set in Gloucester and the waters around Cape Ann and features a cast of familiar faces from the waterfront and among fishing stakeholders.

It is produced and directed by Steve Liss, a long-time, award-winning photographer at Time magazine who now teaches at Endicott College in Beverly; David Abel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The Boston Globe; and Andy Laub, an accomplished editor and founder of As It Happens Creative.

“Sacred Cod” showed at a few festivals last fall and will receive its greatest exposure on April 13, when it premieres at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel and joins the cable network’s revolving spring lineup.

It will be screened twice in Boston — April 4 at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel as part of the national meeting of the Center for Effective Philanthropy and, in a Conservation Law Foundation-sponsored screening open to the public, April 13, at the Boston Public Library.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times

Documentary on New England Fishery, ‘Sacred Cod’, Holds Free Public Screenings

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — March 16, 2017 — A new documentary on the state of the New England cod fishery will be screened for the public in a free special engagement in Washington, D.C. The film, Scared Cod: The Fight For a New England Tradition, was directed and produced by Steve Liss, Andy Laub, and the Boston Globe’s David Abel.

The Museum of Natural History has announced plans to hold a free public screening on Friday, March 24, at 6:30 pm. Registration for the event is free and can be done here. Following the screening there will be a panel discussion with Mr. Liss and Mr. Abel, moderated by Nancy Knowlton, the Museum’s Sant Chair for Marine Science.

The film is a “feature-length documentary that captures the collapse of the historic cod population in New England, delving into the role of overfishing, the impact of climate change, the effect of government policies on fishermen and the fish, and the prospect of a region built on cod having no cod left to fish.” It features interviews with fishermen, scientists, and federal policymakers.

Sacred Cod will premiere on the Discovery Channel on April 15.

Discovery Channel Acquires Worldwide Rights to Revealing Documentary ‘Sacred Cod’

September 12, 2016 (NEW YORK) — SACRED COD will make its premiere on Sept. 17 at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine. Tickets can be found here. It will also be screened at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, as part of the GlobeDocs Film Festival. Tickets are available here. For more information, visit the SACRED COD website. The following was released by Discovery Communications:

Discovery Channel announced the purchase of global rights of the revealing documentary SACRED COD. The film will make its world premiere at the 2016 Camden International Film Festival and debut on Discovery in 2017 under the Discovery Impact banner.

An official selection of the 2016 Camden Film Festival, SACRED COD chronicles the collapse of the historic cod fishery in the waters off New England in the United States. Scientists and environmental advocates have attributed the collapse to overfishing, climate change, and government mismanagement. Many of the fishermen — who are losing their livelihoods and way of life as the species have declined — have argued that the science is wrong and have protested government policies that have banned them in recent years from fishing for cod. SACRED COD features interviews with fishermen and their families, along with scientists, advocates, and federal officials who warn about the risks of overfishing and climate change and say that the plight of cod could be a harbinger for fish around the world. The film tells a complex story that shows how one of the greatest fisheries on the planet has been driven to the edge of commercial extinction, while providing suggestions about how consumers can help support sustainable fisheries.

“For centuries, cod was like gold. Wars were waged over it. Settlers sailed across oceans in search of it. And early America used it to finance a revolution,” said David Abel, one of the filmmakers and a Boston Globe reporter who has covered the fishing industry for years. “Cod were so abundant in the waters off New England that fishermen used to say they could walk across the Atlantic on the backs of them, and generations of men from places like Gloucester and Cape Cod spent their entire lives chasing the coveted fish. Cod played such an important role in the early history of New England that a carved replica of the fish has hung for centuries in the Massachusetts State House. It’s called the Sacred Cod.”

“Unfortunately, what is happening in New England is being seen in many fisheries and fishing communities across the world,” said John Hoffman, EVP Documentaries and Specials, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel. “The decline or collapse of fish stocks is a complex issue rooted in climate change, overfishing and shifting legislative policies, which together have destroyed many once thriving communities. SACRED COD is an epic tale of our times about a collapsing ocean ecosystem, which threatens a community’s livelihood, and the scientists who are working to rescue a species and way of life.”

SACRED COD is directed and produced by Steve Liss, Andy Laub and David Abel. The film is presented by Discovery Channel in association with Endicott College, The Boston Globe, In Our Own Backyard, and As It Happens Creative. For Discovery: Ryan Harrington is Supervising Producer and John Hoffman is executive producer.

Read the release at Discovery Communications