Segment Number: 404

Episode 404
State(s): Georgia

A pulp mill in Georgia has discharged effluent into a mighty river for decades, and critics accuse both the company and state authorities of neglect.

Episode 404
State(s): Arctic Ocean

As climate change melts sea ice and opens the Arctic Ocean to more shipping
and oil exploration, marine mammals and native people in small boats are at risk.

Episode 404

A richly diverse spawning aggregation site, Puerto Rico’s Bajo de Sico deserves increased protection for endangered fish and fragile coral reefs.

Seamount of Life: Using special recording technology to document the spawning of endangered fish like the Nassau grouper, scientists in the Caribbean study spawning aggregation sites that are critically important for the survival of many ocean species. We follow them to one of these sites off the western coast of Puerto Rico that has been severely impacted by overfishing; conservationists say an effectively enforced marine protected area is urgently needed there.

Arctic Traffic: Climate change is causing a rapid loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, opening the region to more shipping traffic, oil exploration and other industrial activities that were never possible before. This is creating growing risks to whales, walruses, seals and seabirds – especially in the narrow migration corridor in the Bering Strait. The traffic also poses new risks to the region’s local native people who hunt and fish in small boats. Conservationists are pressing for new measures to protect the marine environment, wildlife and welfare of local residents in the changing Arctic.

Altamaha River Pollution: The Altamaha River in southern Georgia is a major waterway, still undammed, flowing in its natural state more than a hundred miles to the Atlantic and its spectacular estuary. But there’s a large pulp mill on the river that has been operating for decades, and critics say it has been discharging pollution into the river which they allege the pulp company refuses to clean up, and which the state of Georgia has been slow to address. We go to the river to see for ourselves.

Diatoms and Climate Change: In another story on the warming Arctic, we meet researchers in Greenland who gather samples of fossilized microscopic algae in lake sediments, discovering vital clues about past and current climate change in the region.