Combine Deadliest Catch thrills, red carpet star power, and chef-created dishes, and you’ve got this fascinating three-part PBS documentary about people saving our ocean food supply. The hosts, domestic diva Martha Stewart, actress Shailene Woodley and journalist Baratande Thurston, each dive into an episode where they go hands-on with folks harvesting sustainably from the seas. And of course, they happily sample the catch! The foodie adventure series was cooked up by four-time James Beard Award and Emmy Award winner, chef Andrew Zimmern, and welcomes special guest, chef JoséAndrés.
In the opener (June 19), Thurston encounters a severe storm at sea off Puerto Rico while working at a sustainable diamondback squid fishery. “As someone who loves seafood, I spend a lot of time shopping for food; it didn’t occur to me that part of the price is danger, associated with someone going out on a limb so I can enjoy some halibut or squid or cod,” says the host of PBS series America Outdoors (watch the video above to see the full interview). “We’re being thrown two feet off the deck. Couldn’t see the other boats. Lost all comms. The captain revealed to us the next day how un-calm he was inside.”
Thurston’s experience echoes that of many who make their living on the water. That very fishery was born from the wreckage of 2017’s Hurricane Maria. Thurston sits down with Andrés, who founded World Central Kitchen, to discuss how the organization helped locals cope with the disaster. First, they fed the hungry. Then they provided grants to repair boats, buy new engines, and rebuild the fishery as an investment in food security not dependent on imports.
Stewart’s quest (June 26) is less physically harrowing but deeply emotional. She goes to a place with which she has a strong personal connection, the Gulf of Maine, the planet’s fastest warming body of water. Stewart sails into Penobscot Bay with a young fisherman who gave up his plans of lobstering for a more sustainable alternative: scallop farming. Stewart learns the ropes at the operation and then cooks some of the harvest while discussing how Maine’s famed lobsters are migrating further north in search of colder water.
“Lobsters are moving to Canada, and it’s not for the health care,” says Thurston who on America Outdoors worked on a Maine oyster boat and saw how people are adapting to climate change to preserve their way of life. “Communities are defined in part by the environment around them – their sense of ritual, purpose. People were trying to create jobs to keep their children in Maine.”
California native Woodley’s love for her home is one thing that propels her to go underwater with urchin divers off the Golden State’s coast (July 3). They collect some of the booming population of “zombie” urchins (named for their almost unkillable nature) which are devouring the kelp forests crucial to the ecosystem. They then deliver the urchins to a farm where their buttery roe is grown and harvested – turning an ecological imbalance into a saleable commodity.
“We try to make it immersive,” Thurston says, “I hope people feel the story, more than just intellectually trying to understand it.”
For ocean lovers or anyone who enjoys surf as much (or more) than turf, this doc is right up there with Shark Week as necessary summer viewing! Watch the video above for the full interview with Thurston.
Hope in The Water, Premiere, Wednesday, June 19, 9/8c, PBS
