Award-winning ocean photographer, film producer and Milford native Brian Skerry recalls scuba diving in Eastport, Maine, the most eastern city of the continental United States and often called the place where the sun rises first.
"I used to go diving all the time (in Eastport). It was like walking into an aquarium or jewelry store," he said of the abundance of marine life under the sea waters of Eastport on the Gulf of Maine.
But a more recent diving trip there helped sound an alarm. "It was like being in a ghost town. Just mud. Visibility was poor," Skerry said during a recent telephone interview. And the sea waters were noticeably warmer. He was struck by "how much we lost in such a short period of time."
'A place unlike any other'
Skerry, who was born in Milford, grew up in Uxbridge and is a 1984 graduate of Worcester State University, is co-producer of "Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine," a three-part documentary special presentation by the NOVA science series produced by GBH in Boston that premieres July 24 on PBS (at 10 p.m. July 24 on GBH Channel 2 in Boston).
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The series documents the impact of climate change on the Gulf of Maine, "a sea within a sea" that extends 36,000 square miles along the Eastern Seaboard of North America, from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. The scenes are often beautiful to look at, but there's a worrying story beneath the surface.
The body of water is "a place unlike any other," the documentary states, with uniquely nutrient-rich water mixed by the world’s biggest tides that feeds a web of over 3,000 species ranging from microscopic plankton to massive right whales. But the documentary says it is warming 97% faster than the global ocean, and "Sea Change" explores what that means for the marine life, for the jobs dependent upon it, and the millions of people along its shores. The gulf is in peril, with some of its fisheries now depleted to extreme levels. Skerry has also had a story on the Gulf of Maine in National Geographic magazine’s June issue.
Skerry's 2021 three-part documentary series for National Geographic "Secrets of the Whales," with James Cameron ("Titanic," "Avatar") as executive director, ran on Disney+ and won an Emmy.
Skerry came up with the idea for "Sea Change" and then worked as part of the team to make the series with filming taking place over the last two years. "Sea Change" is a co-production of GBH and So World Media.
"I started diving and exploring the Gulf of Maine 47 years ago," Skerry said. "I grew up in Uxbridge. I wanted to be a scuba diver. I dived the waters of New England which are predominantly the Gulf of Maine. I spent a lot of years exploring those waters. They are near and dear to my heart." Skerry now lives in York, Maine.
A cautionary tale
A scientific paper on the Gulf of Maine has observed it is warming fast. "Now there's a real sense of urgency," Skerry said. "Sea Change" provides an opportunity to "visually connect to climate change." But he also said the series aims to capture the beauty of the Gulf of Maine.
The first episode, "Bounty," shows how the Gulf of Maine has provided for this continent long before the arrival of Europeans and far into the last century. However, the previously abundant cod was overfished. Now the potentially devastating effects that increasingly warm waters could have include severely impacting local clam harvesting. The warmer waters have led to an explosion of green crabs, which previously would not have been on the gulf's icy sea bottom. Green crabs have a voracious appetite for marine life such as clams.
The episode also shows a collaborative attempt by Native American clam farmers and university scientists to counter the loss to green crabs by placing baby clams in wooden nursery boxes on the shore. So far, the approach seems to be working.
"In many ways it is a blue-chip natural history documentary," Skerry said of "Sea Change." "But it's also a social documentary and a historical documentary."
In addition to being a cautionary tale with possible worldwide significance, the series also strikes an optimistic tone by showing innovation such as the clam nursery boxes and many technological advancements. One of the people in the first episode of "Sea Change" whose living is dependent on the sea says, "Take care of the fish and the fish will take care of us."
"At the end of the day climate change is here on our doorstep but there are reasons for hope," said Skerry. "It has global implications. We can give up, or roll up our sleeves and fight."
'It was certainly a dream of mine'
Skerry's photography has been seen in National Geographic for 26 years. He is a multitime award winner in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and has been recognized with awards from Pictures of the Year International, Nature’s Best, Communication Arts and the Peter Benchley Award for Excellence in Media. He graduated from Worcester State University with a degree in media communications and was the university’s commencement speaker in 2021.
His first film was set at Lake Ellie, actually a very small pond on Worcester State University's campus that students call Lake Ellie. Skerry, still a student, at the time, shot the film as a public service announcement film about scuba diving flags, which are on the surface of the water to indicate to nearby vessels that a scuba diver or divers are immediately underneath. A friend was carrying diving gear and a tank and looked like he was about to go underwater.
Asked if he could have imagined then that we would graduate from making films on Lake Ellie to the Gulf of Maine and around the world, Skerry said, "It was certainly a dream of mine. I went to Worcester State University to study photography, filmmaking."
However, if he knew then what he has now accomplished "I think my head would have exploded," he said. "I worked in textile mills after school (in Uxbridge)."
The remaining episodes of "Sea Change" are "Peril," to be broadcast July 31, and "Survival" on Aug. 7.
"Sea Change" will be available to stream on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App (available on iOS and Android), Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO.
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