NOVA Documentary Showcases Bigelow Laboratory Science

Stretching from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, the Gulf of Maine is a sanctuary of extraordinary biodiversity, a regional economic engine, and a natural laboratory for studying the impacts of climate change. This summer, it’s also the star of a new NOVA documentary that showcases the efforts of Bigelow Laboratory scientists and others to understand and protect this critical body of water.

Sea Change, the three-part special presentation produced by GBH, premiered on July 24 and concluded on August 7. PBS has also organized a series of public outreach events coinciding with the film’s airing. Senior Research Scientist Doug Rasher, who features heavily in the second episode of the series, participated in a screening and panel discussion with the filmmakers in Portland on July 26. Senior Research Scientist David Fields, whose work is highlighted in the first episode, is participating at a similar event at the New England Aquarium in Boston on September 10. Virtual attendance is an option for that screening.

Blending natural history, science, and exploration, the film dives into the rich ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine and follows the fishermen, Indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs, and scientists working to untangle and preserve this diverse food web. It also looks at the threats facing the Gulf — and the communities that depend on it — as it warms faster than most of the world’s ocean and portends some of the potential global consequences of climate change.

The first episode, "Bounty in the Gulf of Maine," features Fields, Research Associate Maura Niemisto, and Senior Research Associate David Drapeau as they collect copepod samples aboard Bigelow Laboratory’s research vessel, the R/V Bowditch. Fields describes these tiny animals as the true “charismatic megafauna” of the Gulf of Maine. The team is collecting monthly samples to understand their outsized impact on the food web and see how their population is changing over time and space.

“Understanding the smallest scale organisms and systems and ecosystems really helps us start to understand how the world works in a way we can’t really see when we zoom out to larger-scale things,” Niemisto says in the film. Almost on cue, a right whale and pod of dolphins make an appearance to feast on this essential food source.

The second episode, "Peril in the Gulf of Maine," features Rasher and PhD Student Shane Farrell as they dive into the kelp forests of Cashes Ledge, an underwater mountain range 90 miles off the coast that the narrator describes as one of the Gulf’s “bright spots.”

Rasher and Farrell appear throughout the episode to discuss how Maine’s kelp forests are faring in an era of climate change, how environmental DNA is helping scientists track these changes, and how the thriving forests of Cashes Ledge can help scientists understand the past — and possible future — of Maine’s coastal ecosystem.

“We have healthy kelp forests in the north, collapsed kelp forests in the south, so where Cashes Ledge lies relative to the story along the coast is something I’m really excited to see,” Rasher says in one clip. “It’s a very different world out here… It’s just unbelievable.”

The third and final episode, titled “Survival in the Gulf of Maine,” highlights the people charting a new course of the Gulf of Maine through conservation, policy, and entrepreneurship — including several research partners of Bigelow Laboratory.

Sea Change is produced and inspired by Brian Skerry, an award-winning photojournalist and Bigelow Laboratory advisory board member. Each episode was written and produced by Stella Cha and Chun-Wei Yi.

Photo 2: Bigelow Laboratory scientists David Fields, Maura Niemisto, and Dave Drapeau collect copepod samples in the Gulf of Maine aboard the R/V Bowditch (Courtesy of WGBH Educational Foundation, image captured by Chun-Wei Yi).

Photo 3: Senior Research Scientist Doug Rasher speaks at a screening and panel discussion at the University of Southern Maine in Portland on July 26.