Alewife, a fish with a funny name, lives in the ocean and swims upstream to spawn in lakes along the east coast of North America. Historically, their vast populations fed everything from eagles to whales. But human-made obstructions like dams h

Animal Spirits

May 21st, 2022 16m

On the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica, a remote beach serves as an ideal place for sea turtles to lay their eggs. The Dominica Sea Turtle Conservation Organization (DomSeTCO) keeps watch over the turtles when they come ashore and protects th

Fear Is the Thing with Fins

Jan 11th, 2021 14m 15s

After a shark scare when she was a teenager, Pat Gallant-Charette never liked wading past her waist. So when she decided in her 40s to compete in a 2.4-mile ocean swim, she had to suppress her fears. Now an internationally decorated marathon sw

Turn Down for Whales

Jul 24th, 2020 16m 30s

Researchers have found that ocean noise is a big problem for underwater life. Human activities like shipping, naval exercises, and oil exploration pump the oceans full of loud noises that marine species haven’t adapted to. So when the global ec

A Quarantine Aquarium

Apr 2nd, 2020 14m 48s

As the pandemic rages, we’re all staying home. That has cut many of us off from the places we go to find solace in normal times. Coupled with the endless stream of terrible news washing over us, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So where do you tu

The White Whale

Dec 4th, 2018 9m 31s

Michael Gorman looked up to his older brother Kevin. Kevin was smart, independent, rebellious. He became a commercial fisherman, despite the fact that fishing jobs were drying up. But along the way Kevin developed a heroin addiction that took o

Something Fishy, part 2

Oct 22nd, 2018 11m 5s

Conservation-minded regulations have cut New England’s groundfishing fleet in half. But have they improved the health of the ecosystem? Some fish stocks are recovering, while others - like cod - have continued to decline. And the quota system d

Something Fishy

Sep 18th, 2018 12m 46s

Tim Rider loves to fish, and he does it well: the fish he catches bring top dollar at high-end restaurants in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire for their quality. But even though his operation is a model of ecological stewardship, regulations d

The Business of Elvers

May 8th, 2018 9m 27s

Every spring, fishermen in Maine put out nets to catch baby eels - also known as elvers - as they make their way up streams from the ocean. They don’t look like much, but the 2-inch-long eels are worth up to $2,500 per pound, making them about

The One Who Came Back

Nov 30th, 2017 13m 20s

Every year, hundreds of Gloucester fishermen went to sea and never returned. Howard Blackburn should have been one of them. His story of survival against the odds made him a local hero, but he didn’t stop there. He went on to perform one of the

Fish Camp

Sep 30th, 2017 18m 22s

Jeff and Deb Sandler (a.k.a. Mr. and Mrs. Fish) couldn’t stand each other when they met - they were rivals for the job of education director of Maine’s Portland Aquarium. Four decades later, they’ve traveled all over the world getting kids exci

Whales of New York

Aug 18th, 2017 17m 46s

Hundreds of years of hunting decimated whale populations around the world. More than 50 years since global whaling restrictions were put in place, the North Atlantic right whale is still on the verge of extinction. Other species have begun to b