All language subtitles for The.Polar.Sea.S01E04.720p.WEB.x264-CRiMSON Eng

GORDON PINSENT: Last time
on The Polar Sea...

The great melt draws
tourists and journalists
to the Arctic...

(ULLA SPEAKING GERMAN)

(CAMERA CLICKS)

PINSENT: ...where they find
life very different from
what they had imagined.

Culture is becoming
a valuable commodity here.

And art,
a key to survival,

as climate change
makes it harder for
families to get food.

But for Northwest
Passage sailors,

the warming Arctic
is still punishing on
people and equipment.

MARTIN SIGGE:
A little welding job
brings me to shore.

PINSENT: As DAX goes
deep into the Passage,

the long journey is
pushing the little boat
to its limit.

(SEAGULLS CAWING)

DAX sails northwest
into Lancaster Sound.

It is bound
for Resolute Bay,

600 kilometers away
through uninhabited
wilderness.

RICHARD TEGNER:
We stayed a couple of days
in Pond Inlet

before we continued
our trip.

(RICHARD
SPEAKING IN SWEDISH)

(GRUNTING)

PINSENT: They're in
the kingdom of
the polar bear.

Every year,
local travelers report

more of the great predators
wandering these shores.

Few people walk here
without a gun.

(SPEAKING IN SWEDISH)

PINSENT: Cape Hatt
is at the mouth
of Lancaster Sound,

first of the
channels that form

the Northwest Passage
to the Pacific.

It is also where
blue water appears first

as the sea ice melts inward
from the ocean coasts.

But even in August,
in the era
of global warming,

most of the passage
is still solid ice.

DAX bides its time
in Cape Hatt.

Just ahead,
off Devon Island,

the Swiss yacht, Libellule,
also rides at anchor.

(SQUAWKING)

(SPEAKING IN
FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PINSENT: The family
of Philipp Cottier,

and their two-man crew
can do nothing but play,

always with someone
on bear watch.

(GUN CLICKS)
(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(SHOT FIRED)
(PHILIPP LAUGHING)

(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARIELLE DONZE
SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(MARIELLE LAUGHING)

RICHARD:
When we entered the shore,

there were, uh, signs

saying that this is a
scientific research area

that is supposed
to study the impact

of crude oil
on the shores.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

They intentionally
poured out crude oil
on the beach

and on the ice to study
the way it behaved,

traveling through the ice
and the sand.

(SPEAKING IN SWEDISH)

(SNIFFING)

(SPEAKING IN SWEDISH)

Further inland
we found something

that must have been
a research station,

but it was totally smashed.

It was refrigerators,
gas tubes,

and building parts,
toilets, a stove,

but all smashed,
and just left like that.

Then the studies
were over, and they...

They offered
the community of
Pond Inlet

to buy the station,
the camp for one dollar.

And they...

So they get rid
of the problem
to take care of it,

and nobody
took care of it.

PINSENT:
The story is not unusual.

Scientists have always been
drawn to the Arctic

but support for
their work here
has never been strong,

and it's usually
pursued in the service
of some other goal.

RICHARD: Amundsen's
raised funds for his trip.

He makes the scientists

pay him for finding
the Magnetic North Pole.

But, of course,
he wanted the adventure

but that was a way
to finance it.

PINSENT:
British Navy captains
were ordered not to delay

their missions with
scientific exploration.

But still,
every ship returned
with plants and curios

that were as strange
to Victorian England

as trinkets from
another planet.

Even 20th century
expeditions rarely took
science seriously.

They often collected animals
just as trophies.

And their encounters
with Inuit provided
mutual amusement,

but little exchange
of knowledge.

(SINGING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(ENGINE WHIRRING)

PINSENT:
Today, climate change has
brought a huge increase

in scientific attention
to the region.

Global warming
is advancing faster

at the Poles
than anywhere else.

Researchers from
all over the world

are now rushing to learn
its biological impacts.

Changes in the politics of
this region have transformed

how science is now done
and why.

In 1999,
the High Arctic region

was declared
the territory of Nunavut.

One of the most
important gains for Inuit,

was control
of wildlife resources.

Arctic science now
requires the permission
of Inuit communities.

And often, they are
employing the scientists.

Juelie Kuksiak
and Stephen Atkinson

are scouring
the Baffin coast
in search of bears.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

Juelie is a hunter,

and his community
wants to hang onto

its ancient practice
of hunting the bears.

He believes
there are plenty of bears

but Western Public Opinion
wants the bears protected.

STEPHEN ATKINSON: One
of the key questions is,
how many polar bears

can be harvested
without causing a decline
in the population.

Instead of actually
catching the polar bears,

we're just sampling
a small piece of skin
from each bear

using a biopsy dart.

It's a dart
about the size,

the length of a pencil,
little bit thicker.

Uh, it's fired from
a dart gun from,
from the helicopter.

And it, it just sort of
takes a small punch
of skin from each bear

and the dart
bounces off the bear,
falls to the ground.

The bear is then
able to walk away.

When it's walked away,
we can land,
pick up the dart,

and our little piece
of skin is there.

PINSENT: Darting bears
from a helicopter
requires deft flying.

When they spot bears,
Juelie is let off

to make the chopper
lighter for maneuvers.

And once on the ground,

Juelie goes from
predator to prey.

(GRUNTING)
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

(GUNSHOT)

(JUELIE KUKSIAK SPEAKING
IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

PINSENT:
Inuit want to preserve
the polar bear hunt.

Not for themselves,
but for Southern
sports hunters.

Sport hunting
of polar bears

can bring $50,000
to a community.

It can bring in three times
as much money
as eco-tourism.

STEPHEN: I can
certainly understand,

um, the perspective
of people who
live in the Arctic

who see polar bears
on an everyday basis

and they may see
more polar bears

than they've ever
done in the past

and obviously,
that's going to
make people, uh,

come to the conclusion that
there are more polar bears,

and maybe,
that's the case.

On the other hand,
there are certainly...

Some scientists
have suggested

that people are
seeing more bears

because the bears have
changed their behavior

or their distribution
has changed

because the ice
is forming and melting
in a different way.

And again,
I don't have the answers

as to which of those
explanations is correct.

Uh, what we are
trying to do here is to...

...is to try get some
of those answers.

PINSENT: These kinds
of questions extend

from the largest
Arctic creatures
to the smallest.

(SQUAWKING)

Millions of birds
migrate to the Arctic,

to feed and breed
every summer.

Some travel
tens of thousands
of kilometers to get here.

One of their main
landing spots

are the cliffs
of Bylot Island,

just off the Baffin coast.

Scientists think
they are drawn here

because the summer Arctic
is rich in insects.

Now, the numbers
of migratory birds
in the Arctic are crashing,

and no one knows
exactly why.

(SQUAWKING)

Researchers think
climate change has
thrown off the schedules

that link emerging insects
and arriving birds,

leaving the birds starving.
(CHITTERING)

Laval University in Quebec
has established a camp here

to study
the island's biology.

(METER BEEPING)

(CLICKING)

(FANNY SENEZ-GAGNON
SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

(CHITTERING)

PINSENT: Just offshore
in Lancaster Sound,

researchers monitoring
the whale population
have the same problem.

We know so little about
these most elusive beasts.

Francine Mercier
works for Parks Canada.

She is here
trying to capture
the song of the narwhal

as part of a
wildlife inventory
of Lancaster Sound.

FRANCINE MERCIER:
Surprisingly,
narwhal are still one of

the mysterious species,

um, because
they're so remote.

We know that
they feed on fish

and various other
small species and...

We know that they
seem to use their tusks
to fight a bit

but we're not sure
if that's the
actual purpose.

Maybe they're playing.

Uh, it's just...

An odd species
that we really don't know
that much about.

They need
to be understood

so that we can
protect them better
in the future

when things change,
because with climate change,

goodness knows
what's going to happen.

(BUBBLING)

(WHIRRING)

(ELECTRONIC BEEP)

(BUZZING)

(BEEPING)

PINSENT: Francine's job is
to establish marine areas

that are protected
from development.

As the Arctic ice melts,

the pressure is
growing here

for mineral
and oil exploration.

(BIRDS SQUAWKING)

FRANCINE:
Lancaster Sound is really
the jewel of the Arctic.

The number of
bird species...

Seventy, 75% of
the world's narwhal
population down here.

Twenty percent
of Canada's polar bears
are in this area as well.

So, it's just unbelievable.

PINSENT:
That beauty is not lost
on the crew of DAX.

To see the bounty
of the tundra,

they are learning
to look closely.

(GRUNTS)

RICHARD: Blueberries.

(ENGINE SPUTTERING)

PINSENT: As his
small crew explores,

Captain Martin Sigge
works to make sure

DAX is up for
a long leg of the journey

where there will be
no possibility of help.

MARTIN: (SIGHING)
Very black.

That's suction.

Watch man make sacrifice,
suck oil.

It's nice and warm, too.

This takes...

This is like chewing gum
if the engine is cold,

if you have cheap oil,
which we have.

What, already?

(MARTIN SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

# The sun it shines
on Baffin Bay

# There goes Upernavik

# Our jib is filled
with the northern wind

# We're greeting Canada

# The sun it shines
on Baffin Bay

# My turn is over now

# Our course is straight on
westward ho!

# Say hello to Canada

# A smell of salt
in Baffin Bay

# A wind, with touch of ice

# Our lines are loose,
haul straight, you fool!

# The goal is Bylot Sound

# The sun it shines
on Baffin Bay

# My turn is over now

# Our course is straight on
westward ho!

# Say hello to Canada #

MARTIN: It was
a holiday yesterday

and, um,
the Inuit have to return

to their old home site.

And we talked
a little to them,

they were fishing,
putting up some nets
from the shore.

That was, uh, very nice.

PINSENT: All Inuit live
in modern villages now,

but every summer
they move back

to hunting spots
that have been known for
countless generations.

(DOG BARKS)

Natasha Mablick
and her extended family

have come to the mouth
of Lancaster Sound
to hunt the narwhal,

that migrate through
every summer.

NATASHA MABLICK:
I think that everyone
should experience

what it's like out here,

because it's amazing.

And for our children
to take part in hunting
and camping

so that the root
is planted and...

When they become older,
they'll be the ones

conducting a hunting camp,
or they'll be the ones

teaching their kids
the way we have taught them.

(HUMMING)

NATASHA: Of course
there will be differences,

like, there's not a lot
of similarities now,
I think,

from the way my ancestors
have hunted narwhal.

We don't get in the kayak

and chase the narwhal
or get as close to them.

We've taken
a lot of their skills

and have modified them,

to the kind of tools
and supplies we have today.

(CAWING)

And I think we should
continue to pass on
this great knowledge,

so that the tradition lives.

(MICHAEL KUSUGAK SPEAKING
IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

PINSENT: Inuit storyteller,

Michael Kusugak
lives in the south now,

but returns
for Arctic summers,
to reconnect.

MICHAEL: One of our greatest
philosophies, I think,

is to help and
encourage others,

um, and especially,
the children, you know...

One thing
I've noticed here,

since we've been here
is that...

You know, all these
young people go out
and help do everything,

even little kids,
all the way up
to the big ones,

they're always helping,
you know.

And I think that's, uh,
the most wonderful thing.

You know, we've got a lot
of this, um, ice,

and when it comes to shore,
they pull it up

and they carry it,
you know, to the barrel,

back there
to make water.

(SPEAKING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(SPEAKING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHS)

MICHAEL: We have, uh...

I think a very, very
special word in Inuktitut.

(SPEAKING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

It's a feeling that we have
for a place like this.

Like, when you look out,

everywhere, all around,

it gives you
this sense of peace.

PINSENT: These days,
the hunters are often

followed by
visiting scientists.

(BIRDS TRILLING)

Sandie Black
is a research veterinarian.

Padraig Duignan
is a pathologist.

They want to know
if warming weather

will expose narwhals
to new diseases.

SANDIE BLACK:
I think the more
I've worked with narwhal,

the more questions
I have about their future

and wanting that to be...

Actually,
don't do that one.

And so, if we're able
to be successful

getting the samples
we're after,

that puts us
a long way further

to answering some
of those questions,

and also helping out
a number of other
researchers.

Uh, every...

You know, every animal
we get to handle
is quite a privilege

and so to make
the most use of that,

um, it's very worth it
to be here and then we just,

do as much as we can
with the opportunity.

If you just lift
from the middle.

PINSENT:
The first whale

the hunters land has
been dead for a while

and is not fit for eating.

(SANDIE SPEAKING)

(MAN SPEAKING)

SANDIE: We were looking
to work with hunters

and pay 100 dollars
for a fresh whale.

Like, can we
give you 50 dollars
to look at this whale?

(MUMBLING)
Is that okay?

SANDIE: Because they sit
as an apex
fish-eating predator,

if there are major changes
in the ecosystem,

I think that we will see
major changes

in the health of
narwhal populations.

They seem to be quite
noise sensitive,
in terms of shipping

and, you know,
we're expecting

not even ten but probably,
a hundred-fold changes

in the amount of traffic
coming though the Arctic.

And what that amount
of sound coming through
these waterways

will do to the narwhal,
we don't know.

So, there is lots and lots
of changes happening

and we're sort of
racing to find out

how much impact there are

and what can be done
to mitigate impacts
if they're there.

Uh, it was found
a couple of kilometers
up the coast

and we think it was shot
but not collected.

We're doing,
essentially, a necropsy
exam on this whale.

Just looking in general
for overall health.

So things we might look for
are parasites in the lungs,

parasites in his guts,

um, just the overall state
of his organs.

Anything that might
help us determine

how healthy
this individual was.

(SQUAWKING)

So we think
it's been dead for
five to seven days.

Uh, there's lots of
fulmar marks on the skin

where the birds have been
feeding on this carcass

and, so now, we've had
a quick look at the outside,

but we're going to have
a look at the inside.

And we can look
at the density,

in fact, we can see it now,
the thickness
of his blubber.

So, um, everything...

He's a little bit bloated,
but everything else
indicates

this animal was in
really good body condition
when he died.

So he's doing pretty well.

(BONES CRUNCHING)

The heart.

(SQUAWKING)

Can you come here?
Yeah.

So, it spins around
and it separates out...

(CLANGS)

...the liquid portion
from the cells.

Well, that's not bad at all!

The ecosystem up here
if you think about
comparing it to the south

and the complexity
of number of species,
plant and animal,

it's much simpler
up here,

but that doesn't really
mean it's less complex,

and in fact, it may mean
there is less resilience
in the system.

Um, should one thing go,

the cascade affect may be
fairly dramatic and rapid.

MICHAEL: A long time ago,
there was a little boy.

And he lived way off
somewhere with his mother

and his little sister
and their old dog.

Now, his mother was
a terrible, terrible woman.

And she would
hardly feed him

and treat him
terribly and...

PINSENT:
The children of the camp
are equally fascinated

by the different cultures'
ways of understanding

the essence of narwhal.

MICHAEL:
He got to be a really,
really good hunter.

He would go out hunting

and he would feed
his mother and sister

but they ate
all the best food,
his sister and him.

And one day,
the mother said,

"Why do you not
treat me very well?

"Why don't you
feed me very well?"

And the boy said,

"Well, my sister and I,
we go hunting."

And the mother said,
"Well, I can
go hunting, too."

And they walked down
to the beach,

and the boy
took the harpoon line

and tied it around
his mother's middle

and the other end,
he attached to the harpoon.

His mother said,
"That one! That gray one!

"Harpoon that gray one!"

And he lifted his harpoon
and he threw it.

And as soon as the harpoon
got into the whale,

the whale took off.

And when the rope around
her middle was tight,

you know, the mother started
running down the beach

and the whale went down
into the water,

and the mother went
down into the water,
you know, with the whale.

And then, they disappeared
for a long time,

and way out, after a while
the whale appeared again,

and behind her, you know,
behind the white whale,

his mother came up again.

And when she came up,

she was saying,
"What have you done?

"What have you done?

"I fed you
when you were a baby.

"I took care of you!
What have you done?"

And way, way off
in the distance,

he could see
the white whale come up

and behind the white whale,
this, uh, narwhal,

you know,
with the big tusk came up.

And it was the mother,
her braids, you know.

All her braids had
turned into a big tusk.

And they say,
you can still
hear that whale,

"What have you done?
What have you done?"

(GUNSHOT)

Oh!

(SCATTERED APPLAUSE)

SANDIE: In the moment,
I'm pulling for the narwhal.

You know, the...

These samples that
we want to collect
are very important,

but in the moment, I'm...

Yeah, my heart goes out
to the whales.

(GASPS)

(SPEAKING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(KIDS CHUCKLING)

(INDISTINCT TALKING)

(INDISTINCT)

NATASHA: Marine mammals
are a major part
of our diets.

Seals and narwhals
are two of the biggest
mammals of our diets.

I grew up eating seal
since I was a child,

and there's times where,
like, my body
almost needs it.

PINSENT:
Whale skin and blubber,
called muktuk,

provides the only
vitamin C and D

for people in a land
with little fruit
and no vegetables.

(SPEAKING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(NATASHA LAUGHING)
MAN: What do you do
with all of this?

NATASHA: Birds.

PINSENT: The Inuit
only eat the muktuk.

The meat once went
to their dog teams.

Now, it goes
to the seagulls.

The tusk will sell
for about $2,000
in the village co-op.

It will be resold
by a southern dealer
for $10,000.

A handful of countries
ban narwhal tusks.

But Inuit are passionate
about their right
to profit from hunting.

NATASHA: There was
a ban on narwhal tusk.

And I think
Inuit should continue
to do what they do

because we're only selling
a little portion of it.

We still use seal skin mitts
and seal skin boots.

For Inuit who hunt
all year round
and don't have jobs,

selling narwhal tusk
and seal pelts

could be how they
were getting their gas

and their store-bought food
to continue to
go out hunting

and even to buy
bullets and things.

(SPEAKING IN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

(BIRDS SQUAWKING)

PINSENT: For people
who live in the Arctic,

the Northwest Passage
is a river that flows by,

bringing food and
sometimes, strangers.

For Arctic sailors,
it can be an obstacle course
or a highway,

depending on
the ice conditions.

As the ice in
Lancaster Sound melts,

the crew of Libellule
prepare to sail westward

and deeper into adventure.

(PHILIPP SPEAKING
IN GERMAN)

(SLOW MUSIC PLAYING)

PINSENT:
Moored on the coast behind,
DAX is not going forward.

(ENGINE RUNNING)

RICHARD: One morning,
as usual, Martin woke up

a little bit before
the rest of us

and he was
panting, you know,
and moving around

diving into
the engine room and...

I saw these problems
coming and going
all the time,

but I felt now, there is
something really bad,
worse than ever

because he didn't express
any nice feelings.

He was moving violently
and he's slamming the doors

and diving into
the engine room and...

Well, "What will come now?"
I thought.

And after
we had had lunch,
no, uh, breakfast,

he said, uh...

"I can't stand this no more.
It's too much.

"I'm sick and tired of it.
I want to go home."

(ENGINE REVVING)