David Abel

Sacred Cod: The Flight for a New England Tradition

David Abel, Andy Laub

A documentary following the sharp decline of the cod fishing industry in New England. Included is an in-depth look at the potential causes and the resounding effects upon the lives of the fishermen themselves.

Entangled

David Abel, Andy Laub

Efforts to protect North Atlantic right whales from extinction, the impacts of those efforts on the lobster industry, and how the National Marine Fisheries Service has struggled to balance the vying interests. There are now believed to be fewer than 400 right whales, making them among the planet’s most endangered species. Between millions of lobster lines and warming waters due to climate change, their population has been plummeting, and their survival is threatened. The federal government is proposing regulations which could reduce lobster lines by half in much of the Gulf of Maine and harm the livelihoods of many lobstermen and has sparked a political backlash. The future of the iconic species hangs in the balance.

Gladesmen: The Last of the Sawgrass Cowboys

David Abel

Gladesmen is a feature-length documentary about the government’s ban on Florida’s iconic airboats in much of the Everglades. The measure is part of the world’s largest effort to repair a damaged ecosystem, a vast river of grass that has been ravaged by more than a century of development, pollution, and other environmental degradation.

Lobster War

David Abel

Brian Cates, Brian Guptill

The story of a climate-fueled conflict between the United States and Canada over waters that both countries have claimed since the end of the Revolutionary War. The disputed 277 square miles of sea, known as the Gray Zone, were traditionally fished by US lobstermen. But as the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than nearly any other body of water on the planet, the area’s previously modest lobster population has surged. As a result, Canadians have begun to assert their sovereignty, warring with the Americans to claim the bounty.