Raised on Newfoundland’s west coast, Jenn Thornhill Verma grew up immersed in the life and lore of fishing communities and the rhythms of the North Atlantic. She is the author of the bestselling book Cod Collapse: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland’s Saltwater Cowboys, a contributor to Canadian Geographic, and a fellow with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where she recently reported a series for the Globe and Mail on the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

In this episode of Explore, Thornhill Verma and podcast host David McGuffin discuss the legacy of the cod fishery collapse in the early 1990's, the politics of fisheries management, and the urgent effort to protect one of the world’s most endangered whales: the North Atlantic right whale. With fewer than 400 individuals remaining, these whales face a variety of threats, including ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, and, of course, the climate crisis.

Want to learn more?

• Visit Thornhill Verma’s favourite place in Canada: Nain, Labrador 
• Watch the documentary, Angry Inuk (National Film Board of Canada)
• Discover more about whales in Explore episode 99 with Canadian sperm whale researcher Shane Gero – a fascinating conversation about the attempts to decode the sperm whale's click language using AI.

*North Atlantic Right Whale sounds in this episode are courtesy of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.