1 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,640 This is Coast! 2 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,720 As islanders, we're surrounded by the sea. 3 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,120 It shapes and sustains us. 4 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:34,320 Beneath the waves lie watery riches, food and other treasures. 5 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,840 Bounty that defines coastal living, 6 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,160 and forges fruitful relationships across our seas. 7 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,200 I'm heading for a unique place, 8 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,880 a North Atlantic neighbour famous for its bounty. 9 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,920 Out there is somewhere I've never been, yet always wanted to. 10 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:01,160 People call it "nature's larder", and it's simply breathtaking. 11 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,040 I'm touching down in the Faroe Islands. 12 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:21,040 An archipelago of 18 islands, 200 miles north west of Shetland, 13 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,320 the Faroe Islands are a self-governing nation 14 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:26,080 within the Kingdom of Denmark. 15 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:31,200 While I'm in lands afar, the rest of the team are casting off 16 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,160 on their own search for bounty. 17 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,760 Mark's venturing into unknown waters in the wake of our earliest fishermen. 18 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,200 We're trying to fish, the boat is burning... 19 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,800 This is such a risky operation! 20 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,560 Hermione's discovering how a microscopic bounty 21 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,400 aroused passions in Victorian art and science. 22 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:58,640 Plankton opened up a whole new world of mystery, of the magic of nature. 23 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,800 Tess is finding out how help from the seashore was 24 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:07,600 enlisted to keep Britain flying during the Second World War. 25 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,440 A German scientist stepped in with a unique solution, 26 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,720 he would save our skies with seaweed. 27 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,360 And I'm searching up top and down deep 28 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,920 for an array of Faroese fodder! 29 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:25,960 This is bounty from the sea. 30 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:56,960 I'm in the Faroe Islands, a place totally dependent on the sea 31 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:58,680 and its riches. 32 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,080 Out there is a world of opportunity, 33 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,600 oceans awash with bounty, a natural larder. 34 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:13,800 I want to discover what makes the Faroe Islands so reliant on the sea. 35 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,200 What makes this coast and these waters so fertile? 36 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,840 To find out, I'm embarking on an island odyssey. 37 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:28,640 My journey will take me around the islands, starting in the capital, 38 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:30,800 Torshavn, I'm making my way 39 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,360 to Muli on Bordoy, then to Gjogv on 40 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:40,480 Eysturoy where I'll attend a Faroese gathering - including a feast. 41 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:43,880 I might be miles from home, 42 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,320 but Britain has long been linked to this place by bounty. 43 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,200 The British supplied the first fishing smack in the 1850s 44 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,440 that took the Faroese fishing fleet offshore, 45 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:01,000 creating a population explosion and changing this archipelago forever. 46 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,880 Today, the Faroe Islands are one of the six biggest suppliers 47 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:06,720 of fish into the UK. 48 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:13,200 An astonishing 90% of the Faroese export is fish. 49 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:19,000 Flourishing North Atlantic waters are home to species such as cod, 50 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,840 herring, mackerel and salmon. 51 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:29,040 Bounty from these seas defines this isolated community 52 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:34,160 and surviving the harsh winter months means nothing is off-limits. 53 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:41,240 For 400 years, the Grindadrap whale hunt has been a ritual which continues today. 54 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:44,520 This custom is controversial 55 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,240 and draws objections from the wider world. 56 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,280 Gathering food for the table is a tradition handed down through 57 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:55,480 the generations here. 58 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,680 Be it on land or in the sea, I want to unlock the secrets of these 59 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:05,000 bountiful waters by doing some Faroese foraging of my own. 60 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,800 I'll see what I can bring to the table at the end of my journey. 61 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:19,000 But what, beyond fish, thrives in these waters. 62 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,760 Birgir Enni, a local diver and lifelong underwater forager, 63 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,840 is taking me in search of other edible treasures. 64 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,680 Hello, Birgir! Hello. Welcome. 65 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,120 We're sailing north out of the main town of Torshavn, 66 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,440 the capital of this little archipelago. 67 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:44,400 I'm aboard the Nordslyd, a traditional Faroese schooner, 68 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,400 built here in the 1940s. 69 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,400 What are we looking for, Birgir? The mussels, the horse mussels. 70 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,840 And where do we find Faroese horse mussels? 71 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:58,360 Yeah, all around the island you can find them. 72 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,480 Yeah? Yeah, in the Fjord especially. 73 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:08,840 Back home, we predominantly eat the blue mussel. 74 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:13,520 Here, on the Faroes, appetites are somewhat bigger. 75 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,680 This is one from the British water. OK, I'm familiar with these. 76 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:21,000 I have one here, this is, this is our mussels. 77 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,520 That's enormous! It's like a small boat. 78 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,600 Yeah, yeah. They can be up to 45-years-old. 79 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:28,360 They grow very, very slowly. 80 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,880 They are full of meat - I like them best of all. 81 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,520 It's for health, fire food - it makes you strong. OK. 82 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,760 Finding these monsters from the deep means taking the plunge 83 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:42,160 and getting wet. 84 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,680 This is a Faroese swimming costume. 85 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:54,000 As Birgir dives into the depths, I'm charged with searching closer to shore. 86 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,760 But I'm the world's worst snorkeler, 87 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,680 so the chances of me finding anything are slight. 88 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,800 Despite its northerly latitude, the water is surprisingly temperate. 89 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,400 That's because the Faroe Islands sit right in the path 90 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:26,160 of the Gulf Stream - a warm Atlantic current that brings nutrient-rich 91 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,840 waters from the Gulf of Mexico right up into the North Atlantic. 92 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:35,800 It makes for waters that never drop below six or seven degrees all year round. 93 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,120 Such clear conditions are courtesy of strong currents 94 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,680 and little heavy industry. 95 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,720 Coupled with a steady temperature and rich supply of plankton, 96 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,280 it's the perfect habitat for horse mussels. 97 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:00,760 These sleeping giants can lie undisturbed for decades, 98 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,560 growing and growing. 99 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,520 Living part-buried in the sediment and amongst all this kelp, 100 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:11,000 they're not an easy bounty to spot. 101 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,600 But Birgir has come up trumps! 102 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,400 Look what Birgir has found. 103 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,840 Catch a gander at this. 104 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:25,440 HE STRUGGLES 105 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:31,960 Look at the size of them! Birgir, how old do you think this one is? 106 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:34,280 Yeah. 30 years, 30 years.. 107 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,440 30 years it's been growing just here. Yes. 108 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:42,920 This is the first contribution to my Faroese feast. 109 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,000 Look at these. 110 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,240 You are very welcome. 111 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:49,280 Welcome to our garden. 112 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:56,480 Surviving on the coast requires ingenuity and resolve. 113 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:02,000 It characterises its people who make a life on the edge. 114 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:08,040 Our seas promise rich pickings if we can harvest them. 115 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:15,000 From the fruitful North Atlantic to the fish-rich North Sea, 116 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:20,160 fishing has united coastal communities for thousands of years. 117 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,480 And this shared heritage stretches back to a time 118 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,240 when this sea didn't even exist. 119 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,600 Mark's heading for Ertebolle on the north west coast of Denmark 120 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,120 to investigate archaeological evidence of the very first 121 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,360 Europeans to fish at sea. 122 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,120 7,000 years ago in the Mesolithic period, 123 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:55,720 this fjord would have been a lush, bountiful landscape. 124 00:09:55,720 --> 00:10:02,440 Now flooded, these waters hold the secret to a Stone Age technology 125 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,520 that would forever change our coast. 126 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,560 In the 1970s, archaeologists made a remarkable discovery, 127 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:17,280 some three metres down on the seabed they found a perfectly preserved 128 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,320 Stone Age village. 129 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:24,360 It would transform our understanding of how people lived in the past. 130 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:35,320 I might be in Denmark, but our two coasts were once linked. 131 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,520 There's the mountains of Scotland. 132 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,600 That's because a landmass used to connect 133 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,080 Britain and mainland Europe. 134 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,920 So, let's put seaweed in, which was once dry land. 135 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,080 It's known as Doggerland. 136 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:53,720 Over the centuries, sea levels rose 137 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:57,920 and flat flood plains were reclaimed by the North Sea. 138 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,640 People were forced to choose which shrinking landmass to follow, 139 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:07,280 one towards Britain or one towards mainland Europe.' 140 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:12,400 We were once connected across the North Sea with a common culture. 141 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:17,800 I've come here to Denmark to find out how discoveries made here 142 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,640 shed light on our Stone Age ancestors back in Britain. 143 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:30,120 Soren Andersen was a principal investigator at the excavation 144 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,920 of Tybrind Vig, a 7,000-year-old settlement found 145 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,160 submerged in a fjord. 146 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:42,280 Discoveries included pots, tools and graves, 147 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:47,040 but there was something more surprising - three boats. 148 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,880 And I have a slide here where you can see one. 149 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:55,160 That's a big one lying on the dry land, on the beach, 150 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,920 for the first time in 6,500 years! 151 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,960 I mean, that must be some of the oldest boats in Europe. 152 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,800 It is, it is. And what surprised us mostly, 153 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,240 it was ten metres long. 154 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:12,360 So, it's an enormous trunk has been used for that boat. 155 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:17,440 The boat was proof of a shifting way of life from hunting on land 156 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,640 to hunting at sea. 157 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:24,480 Prior to this, Stone Age people were transient hunter-gatherers. 158 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:29,120 By building the first boats, they could now fish from the sea 159 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,040 and settle on the coast. 160 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,120 The local museum has built a replica of one of the original boats, 161 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,200 which contained an unexpected feature. 162 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,560 What is surprising is that we have had a fireplace or 163 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:45,560 hearth to the rear of the boat. 164 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:48,160 I mean, it's a completely mad idea, isn't it? 165 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,800 Lighting a fire in a wooden boat? They had a fire in a wooden boat. 166 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:53,640 THEY LAUGH 167 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:57,480 It was a discovery that confounded archaeologists. 168 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,720 Not only had they found evidence the first fishing boats, 169 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,000 7,000 years ago, Stone Age people 170 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,320 were taking fire out to sea. 171 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,560 What was going on? 172 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:20,640 This might look like an empty field, but it could unlock the answer. 173 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:27,000 In the 1890s, a huge Stone Age rubbish dump or midden was uncovered here. 174 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,200 It dated to the same period as the boats 175 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:34,800 and it was full of millions of shells and fish bones. 176 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,960 Look! Here we've got some of the shells that have been thrown 177 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:43,160 up by animals. Oyster and scallops and all sorts of things here. 178 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:47,240 When the midden was originally excavated, it produced many 179 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:51,480 really important finds, including this extraordinary, exquisite 180 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,040 fish hook from the Stone Age. 181 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:59,520 This coastal bounty, masses of bones from protein-rich fish 182 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:03,880 together with the boats, suggests these people were prolific 183 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,400 and successful fishermen. 184 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:10,600 Among the bones found in the midden, were a number of species that 185 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,720 were typically caught at night. 186 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:18,640 Could that perhaps be the reason for the fires on the boats? 187 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:24,760 Eel bones were found in their thousands among the Stone Age rubbish. 188 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,520 These are fish most active after dark, 189 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,000 as retired fisherman Enjar Grevy remembers. 190 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,680 Hello, Enjar! Yes. Hi! Hi, hi. 191 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,560 Can I come on-board? Yes. 192 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:42,400 Enjar fished for the elusive eel at night using lamp light, 193 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,880 a practice now banned. 194 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:49,520 Did that attract the eels? Yes. Where the lights end, 195 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:53,480 you can see the eels come slowly passing by. 196 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:58,960 Sometimes just opposite the boat. And then how did you catch them? 197 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:05,400 When the light was on and I saw the eel... 198 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,000 Very slowly, down... 199 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,240 ding-a-ling-ling... 200 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,120 ..then pull them in. As easy as that? Yes. 201 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:22,280 The idea that this type of fishing might have origins dating 202 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:27,640 back over 7,000 years on this fjord, is something I want to test. 203 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,160 We've been given special permission by the government to do some 204 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:38,840 experimental archaeology to find out how and why 205 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,760 our Stone Age ancestors might have fished at night. 206 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,200 Stone Age expert Jacqui Wood is helping me. 207 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,160 That should be enough. You reckon so? Yeah. 208 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,480 Right! In it goes. 209 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:05,000 Findings from the Stone Age boats revealed that embers 210 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,160 sat on a bed of sand and clay to protect the wood from burning. 211 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,400 Leave that to settle a little bit and we'll take some logs with us 212 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:14,040 to keep it going. 213 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,920 Off we go! 214 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:21,400 Jacqui and assistant Kif have brought along a prehistoric fishing 215 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,960 kit of harpoons and flares, 216 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:27,680 all based on archaeological findings. 217 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:32,200 While Stone Age man would have known what to do, for us 218 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,800 it's more error than trial, 219 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,120 and it's not long before we're in trouble. 220 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,440 Hang on we've got a problem here, Jacqui. OK. 221 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,920 I've dumped a whole lot of bark at the back there... No! 222 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,280 ..and it's actually burning the boat! OK, well... 223 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:50,000 This is completely mad, isn't it? 224 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,600 We're in the middle of the North Sea, in a dug-out canoe. 225 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:55,520 I mean, we're trying to fish, 226 00:16:55,520 --> 00:17:00,000 the boat is burning - this is such a risky operation. 227 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,720 But it must have been a really sort of profitable one to the 228 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,640 people in the Mesolithic, or they wouldn't have done it, would they? 229 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,680 You either drown or you starve. 230 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:13,520 With the fire under control, the fishing can get underway. 231 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,480 Jacqui believes our ancestors used bundles of birch bark 232 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,360 slotted into sticks as flares. 233 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:26,320 OK, Jacqui. There you go. Oh, wow! Wow! 234 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,640 It's amazing how deep you can see into the water. 235 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:35,560 Fire had a dual purpose, to light the way and lure the fish. 236 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,000 It appears that light fools the fish into thinking it's a 237 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:43,560 different time of day, or they mistake it for luminescent prey. 238 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,600 Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that amazing? 239 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,160 It's just like tea lights, isn't it? 240 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:51,840 They're like little tar boats. 241 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,960 Tar, found in the birch bark, acts as an accelerant, 242 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,480 creating brilliant candles that burn on the water. 243 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,360 Do you think they knew about this bark and this extraordinary characteristic of it? 244 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:06,200 Oh, absolutely. Because they actually cooked the bark 245 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,040 underground in pits with fires to get the actual tar off. 246 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,240 So, there it is. It's burning still on the surface. 247 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:15,440 Like little candles, aren't they? 248 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,160 You can see how that, that will actually, that light will then go through the water... Yep. 249 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,480 ..and really attract the eel. So, basically this would fascinate 250 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,080 the eels and they'd come to see what it is 251 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,880 and then we'd actually harpoon them. 252 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:33,520 There's something down there, actually. 253 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:41,280 My harpoon with a bone point tip is designed for trapping eels. 254 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,480 But I'm not having much luck. 255 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,960 I don't think I'd make a very good Mesolithic fisherman! 256 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,080 THEY CHUCKLE 257 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,920 We haven't matched the skills of our Stone Age ancestors 258 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:56,320 and with eel numbers down and wind conditions less than favourable, 259 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,600 we leave empty handed. 260 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:02,680 But we've proved the principle that you can take fire to sea 261 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:04,640 and fish at night. 262 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,080 After this experiment, I'm completely convinced that 263 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:14,560 Stone Age people used lights to fish at night 264 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,800 here on this fjord. 265 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:23,320 A practice they started continued for thousands of years. 266 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:27,000 Our forebears were some of the first boat builders 267 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000 and advanced fishermen. 268 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,120 Pioneers in coastal living. 269 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:34,840 Their ingenuity enabled them 270 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,360 to exploit the incredible bounty that lay underneath the sea. 271 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:54,160 Our Stone Age ancestors fished to survive. 272 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,040 The bounty they ate was one they caught themselves 273 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,160 from unsullied seas. 274 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:07,400 Today, our world is one of cleaned, processed, pre-packed bounty. 275 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:13,360 And some of what we take out of our waters is wrapped in a problem 276 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:16,640 that goes back in - plastic. 277 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:22,960 A billion tonnes has been discarded since the '50s, a floating 278 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:28,120 coastal scrapheap, which may take thousands of years to degrade. 279 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:41,720 In Orford Ness, on the east coast of England, artist Fran Crowe 280 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:47,040 is on a mission to turn one person's rubbish into another's bounty. 281 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,920 I came across a United Nations report 282 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,520 that estimated on average there are 46,000 pieces of plastic 283 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,360 floating on every square mile of sea. 284 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:02,680 And in a rather mad, crazy moment I decided to set myself a challenge 285 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,720 of saving one square mile of sea by collecting 286 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:10,800 46,000 plastic pieces whilst walking my local beaches. 287 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:14,720 It took me a year to do. 288 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,720 On a typical walk, I'd find maybe 700 pieces, 289 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,680 even on a beach that looked pristine when you went there. 290 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,680 And on Orford Ness, I could probably pick up several thousand, 291 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,960 but I couldn't actually carry everything I saw. 292 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,160 When I get the stuff home, first of all I have to dry it, 293 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,080 get the sand off it and so on, but then I start to sort it. 294 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,800 And I'll sort it by colour, for instance, 295 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,640 putting all the pink and red plastics together or the blue. 296 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:45,280 I also sort it by type, 297 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,760 so I'm putting bottle tops together, I've got cotton bud sticks here. 298 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,120 These have definitely been flushed from homes. 299 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:58,760 It's the materials for my art and it's my personal bounty from the sea. 300 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,160 I am making something beautiful with them often. 301 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,400 That isn't my main purpose, 302 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,480 but I do hope that what I'm doing will inspire people 303 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:19,080 to think differently about these kind of objects and how we use them. 304 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:26,720 Today, what I've collected from this tiny bit of Orford Ness, 305 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,800 I'm going to just put into one big pile. 306 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,200 This is going to be... 307 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,680 a seafood soup, harvested by hand from the North Sea. 308 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,480 To serve, just add water and salt. 309 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:57,440 I'm 200 miles offshore from Britain in the Faroe Islands. 310 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,200 Here, you're never more than three miles from the sea. 311 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:08,440 It's made the Faroese experts in coastal living, 312 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:13,320 reliant on, and defined by, bounty from these waters. 313 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:20,160 I'm on a quest to find out how they survive in the middle of the North Atlantic. 314 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,360 I've already bagged, with a little bit of help, some giant mussels 315 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,680 from the deep, now I want to unearth whatever delicacies lurk on land. 316 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,600 It might look green, 317 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,120 but this treeless coast is battered by the elements. 318 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:41,560 I want to know what can thrive in these conditions and how. 319 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,600 The Faroes' position in the path of the Gulf Stream 320 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:51,640 creates verdant waters, 321 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,880 rich in bounty, but things are tougher on land. 322 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,040 Four seasons in one day is the norm 323 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:03,400 and being a tiny archipelago in a vast ocean 324 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,680 means growing anything is a struggle. 325 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,680 So the locals have learned to harvest other things. 326 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,960 Sea birds flock to towering cliffs, 327 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,680 guillemots, scavenging great skuas, 328 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,960 parading puffins. 329 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,000 Past and present, the Faroese risk life and limb, 330 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,120 swinging on a wing and a prayer to net this feathered quarry 331 00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:32,920 and gather their eggs. 332 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,480 But when it comes to greens, 333 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,520 there's a four-legged competitor for these scarce riches. 334 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:52,280 Sheep. 335 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,120 And they're everywhere. 336 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,480 Already here when the Vikings, the first documented settlers, 337 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,160 arrived 1,000 years ago, 338 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:06,240 they gave this place its name - The Faroes or Land Of The Sheep. 339 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:11,240 Today, there are more of them on the islands than there are people. 340 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,560 As a result, mutton, like fish, 341 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,000 forms a large part of the Faroese diet. 342 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,600 But here it doesn't come in its freshest form. 343 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:28,640 It's called skerpikjot and it's dried outside in ocean winds, 344 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,520 another bounty from these seas. 345 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:36,400 I'm heading for the tiny hamlet of Muli on Bordoy 346 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,640 to meet shepherd Archie Black. 347 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,160 Hello, Archie. Hello, nice meeting you. 348 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,040 He's going to introduce me to this peculiar Faroese delicacy. 349 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:50,120 What do you call this little house? 350 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:53,400 This is wind drying house for sheep meat. 351 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,640 So, this is the meat here hanging up drying, is it? 352 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:58,920 Yes, it's the back legs of the sheep. 353 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,920 This storehouse, as you see, it's very close to the sea 354 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,600 and during storms the sea salt gets up in the air. 355 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,320 So the salty air from the sea blows through 356 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,600 these gaps in the timber walls. 357 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,200 It blows through, yes. This storehouse is from around 1600. 358 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,600 There were no refrigerators in those times, 359 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,320 so it's a way to preserve the meat. It's the only way. 360 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,240 The skerpikjot can hang for up to six months 361 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:30,000 in these little houses, curing in the salt-rich sea air. 362 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,440 Salt draws out moisture, drying the mutton. 363 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,040 It also prevents the growth of mould and microbes 364 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,840 that can turn the meat rancid, making it safe for us to eat. 365 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,960 But it doesn't do much for the smell. 366 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,680 Oh, Archie. I really hesitate to ask, 367 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,160 but may I try a very, very small piece? A very small piece. 368 00:26:55,480 --> 00:27:01,280 This is softer than this one. Yeah. These soft ones - hanging for around 369 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,440 four, maybe five months. 370 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,960 And these are harder - seven to eight months. 371 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,520 I think I'll start with a soft one. 372 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,280 A small piece. And do you eat it raw? Yes. 373 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,840 Just straight in, this hasn't been cooked? 374 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,120 Sometimes... No, no. This is just wind dried. You manage. 375 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:26,400 HE EXHALES 376 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,840 Mm. 377 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:35,600 You get used to it! 378 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,600 I can see you might get used to it. Yes. It's, um... 379 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,520 It has two consistencies - the outside that's been dried in 380 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:50,080 the wind, which is quite tough, and the inside that's quite soft 381 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,880 and like soft cheese. Yes. 382 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,360 But the aroma in your mouth is fantastically powerful. 383 00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:58,480 It's very powerful, yeah. Yeah. 384 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,160 It really goes around your whole mouth. Yeah. 385 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,560 It goes up the back of your brain... Yes. ..round the back of your head 386 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,240 and back down. 387 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,320 Skerpikjot might be an acquired taste, 388 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:16,040 but curing and salting meat in remote places like this, 389 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,240 surrounded by an often angry sea, 390 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,360 provides a lifeline. 391 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,680 The isolation of these islands has created a hardy people, 392 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:31,720 who, past and present, have used all their resources to survive. 393 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,400 Food is not the only bounty provided by our seas. 394 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:01,720 Artists have long looked to the changing moods 395 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,920 of our coast for inspiration. 396 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,000 From the rousing music of Vaughan Williams 397 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:10,720 and the epic art of Constable, 398 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,800 to Coleridge's Rime Of The Ancient Mariner 399 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,080 and Shakespeare's Tempest. 400 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:24,200 And hidden beneath the waves, nature forms its own art. 401 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,440 An unexpected bounty that fires the imagination. 402 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,560 It's just a little harder to see. 403 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:42,360 On Devon's south coast, Hermione's peering into the deep to uncover 404 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:47,360 one of the most fundamental and beautiful bounties within our seas. 405 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,840 Torquay, a resort built and invented by the Victorians. 406 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:04,120 150 years ago, people weren't just promenading up and down the piers, 407 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,800 they were making the most of the mild climate and the sheltered coves 408 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:09,880 in an altogether different way. 409 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:17,120 For many Victorians, Torquay was the home of marine zoology and botany. 410 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,520 The English Riviera once teemed 411 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,120 with bonneted and bespectacled naturalists. 412 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:27,520 And with ready access to sandy beaches and plentiful rock pools, 413 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,400 they were all prospecting for wonders from the sea. 414 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,320 They were exploring a life aquatic. 415 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,960 Now, inside here are some of the world's drifters, 416 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,520 little algae and animals that float with the currents. 417 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:49,720 The Victorians were captivated by the microscopic world of plankton. 418 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:57,920 A collective of plants and animals that drift with our tides. 419 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:04,080 Most of these tiny floaters are almost impossible to spot with the naked eye. 420 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:09,440 They are no one species, shape or size. 421 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,240 Found in vast numbers throughout the world's ocean, 422 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,080 they underpin the marine food chain. 423 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,080 But 150 years ago, 424 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:25,360 how on Earth could the Victorians even see this minute bounty from the sea? 425 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,880 I'm meeting historian Kate Williams to find out. 426 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,440 The Victorians were completely obsessed by 427 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,280 the microscope and particularly with plankton. 428 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,880 Plankton opened up a whole new world of mystery, of the magic of nature, 429 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:46,280 and also about all this incredible, beautiful detail they could see. 430 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,400 Microscopes were first invented in the 16th century. 431 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,880 But it was one Victorian man's obsession with them 432 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,760 that introduced plankton to the masses. 433 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:02,640 Amateur naturalist John Quekett was a microscope fanatic 434 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,080 who hand made one at aged 15. 435 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:11,800 His dream was to develop microscopes for professionals and hobbyists alike. 436 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,120 Quekett was really leading the way in the idea of what you could see 437 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,000 under the microscope, particularly with plankton - 438 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,360 he was obsessed with plankton. 439 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,800 So, where does plankton come into the story, then? 440 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,560 Well, plankton is the number one focus of the story. 441 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:29,440 He used plankton as essentially a kind of eye test 442 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,920 for the microscope, so he could check whether 443 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:35,880 the microscope's resolution, the magnification was correct. 444 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,320 And one kind of plankton, known as diatoms, 445 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,360 would forever be the microscopist's friend. 446 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:46,640 Because at every stage of magnification 447 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,720 their cells reveal new details. 448 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,640 So much so that they're still used today 449 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,320 to check microscope resolution. 450 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:59,360 As technology advanced, so Quekett's obsession grew. 451 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:03,000 He wrote a book which sparked a passion for microscopy 452 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,960 and plankton amongst the middle classes. 453 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,120 The Practical Treatise On The Use Of The Microscope, 454 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,200 not really a catchy title. It's a bestseller! 455 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:14,440 No, it is a catchy title, this was a best seller! 456 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:16,880 So, this... If we were two Victorian ladies, 457 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,960 I'd say, "Miss Hermione, give it to me, I want it!" 458 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,000 Because it was so fascinating. 459 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,800 He persuaded your average middle class person that 460 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:30,240 looking down a microscope was the most fun you could possibly have. 461 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:34,200 "The microscope is the most important instrument ever yet 462 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,520 "bestowed by art on the investigator of nature." 463 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,560 Microscopes flew off the shelves into the parlours 464 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:49,040 of the Victorian middle classes, but they didn't just look at plankton, 465 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:54,480 they arranged it into astonishing displays to show to their friends. 466 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,200 This is a rosette slide. 467 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,080 Each individual element of the picture 468 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,720 is a single piece of plankton. 469 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:10,960 Dazzled by nature, the Victorians had created a new art form, 470 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,240 one that you had to gaze down a microscope to admire. 471 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:21,240 But how do you manipulate something so tiny into such stunning arrangements? 472 00:34:22,240 --> 00:34:25,480 One man keeping this Victorian craft alive today 473 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,880 is plankton arranger Klaus Kemp. 474 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,760 Hi, Klaus. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, yes. 475 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:36,880 Klaus, plankton are so tiny, 476 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,880 how did the Victorians go about picking them up. 477 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,680 They were using a thing called a pig's eyelash. 478 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:46,920 A pig's eyelash is a long stem 479 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,600 with a slightly...arrowhead to it, 480 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:54,480 which allows them to individually pick up a diatom 481 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,080 and place it into position. 482 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:03,640 Instead of a pig's eyelash, Klaus uses a fine glass needle 483 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:07,360 to pick up individual diatoms to place in his artworks. 484 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:13,360 I'm desperate to have a go to see if I can pick up a plankton. 485 00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:17,120 Oh, wow. 486 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,880 It's just a slide covered in little... Oh, gosh! 487 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,720 ..little, tiny fragments. It's a bit like looking at a slide of glitter. 488 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,200 OK, I've got the needle positioned over one. 489 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:30,560 Right, now drop the needle to touch the diatom. 490 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,560 Oh, it's lost it. No, it's coming up. It's got... 491 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,440 Keep going, keep going. You're going to clear the slide. Right, OK. 492 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,840 Then move the slide out of the way. Klaus, I think it's fallen off. 493 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,480 HE GASPS What?! 494 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:45,560 I think it's fallen off. You're not supposed to make it fall off. 495 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,760 Klaus, I just don't know how you do this all day. 496 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,320 It's absolutely impossible. 497 00:35:55,240 --> 00:36:00,080 Klaus has taken this Victorian art form into the 21st century 498 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,080 with his own unique style. 499 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:10,560 The Victorians and their microscopes opened up the minute world 500 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,320 of plankton, but they were only beginning to understand 501 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,760 this bounty's full importance. 502 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,200 Today, we know that plankton is not only fundamental to life 503 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:24,200 in our seas, but to life on dry land, too. 504 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:28,200 It emits half of all the oxygen we breathe. 505 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,600 So, without plankton there would be no fish in the sea 506 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,840 and probably no you and no me. 507 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:39,160 Plankton underpin the very existence of every living thing on Earth. 508 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,400 And with climate change affecting our seas, 509 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,760 it's more important than ever to know what's happening to it. 510 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:53,720 Marine biologist Richard Kirby is on a mission to measure plankton 511 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:58,200 levels around the world, using nothing more than a secchi disc, 512 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,160 which looks a lot like a dinner plate on a piece of string. 513 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,520 Got it? Yeah. 514 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:05,360 You're measuring the depth at which 515 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,840 it just disappears from sight beneath the surface. 516 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:11,120 The disappearing disc allows Richard to measure 517 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,360 the density of plankton in the water. 518 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:18,080 So, as the disc disappears, the only thing that's preventing us 519 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,320 from seeing it is the phytoplankton in the water? 520 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,440 That's right. The creatures that start the whole marine food chain. 521 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,560 It's just disappearing out of sight now. 522 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:31,240 And the depth we're at is 10.4 metres. 523 00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:35,800 But Richard is just one man and our oceans are vast, 524 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,720 so he's enlisting the help of sailors around the world to get their own 525 00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:42,880 secchi discs and submit their data to his survey 526 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:44,920 via a mobile phone app. 527 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:49,120 Got the app on. Secchi. And now we can input our depth. 528 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,280 And we measured 10.4 metres, spot on. 10.4. 529 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,440 And submit. And submit. 530 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:59,080 Richard's work, like that of the Victorian John Quekett, 531 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,760 is putting these tiny creatures on the map. 532 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,280 By engaging seafarers with plankton, 533 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:09,880 he's safeguarding the future of this vital bounty from our seas. 534 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,160 I'm on an overseas treasure hunt. 535 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:38,640 My prize? 536 00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:40,080 Bounty from the sea. 537 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,720 The Faroe Islands have been dubbed nature's larder. 538 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:48,400 I'm on a journey to discover 539 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:52,160 why plentiful seas make for rich pickings. 540 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,960 But when foul tides bring hard times, 541 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,320 you need a back-up. 542 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:03,520 And for the Faroese, that bounty is farmed Atlantic salmon, 543 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:05,760 their biggest export. 544 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:13,560 There are 25 salmon farms in the Faroes, one in almost every fjord. 545 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:19,240 They produce 70,000 tonnes of these slippery slabs of silver every year, 546 00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:22,760 worth a whopping £265 million. 547 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:28,480 They're the number one foreign supplier of salmon into the UK. 548 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:32,600 But keeping salmon contained in large numbers like this 549 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,160 doesn't come without complications. 550 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,880 The biggest threat to farmed salmon around the world 551 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:44,280 is sea lice, a marine parasite. 552 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:49,480 These copepods are a member of the crustacean family, 553 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:51,240 like crabs and lobsters. 554 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:57,840 Problematic for captive salmon, sea lice also target passing wild fish. 555 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:01,080 But here in this tiny archipelago, 556 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,760 they believe they could have a global solution. 557 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,400 Hello, Arni. Hello, Nick. Welcome on-board. Thank you very much. 558 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:12,520 Arni Olsen works for the biggest producer of salmon in the Faroes 559 00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,440 and they're exploiting their unique location. 560 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,120 We're pioneers when it comes to farming in rough waters, 561 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:21,120 because it's probably the farming area where you farm salmon 562 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,280 with the strongest currents in the world. 563 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,640 Doesn't it make it difficult for farming? 564 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,240 It does make it difficult, 565 00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:29,880 but the current optimises the welfare of the salmon. 566 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,160 We don't see the same kind of problems. For example, the sea lice 567 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,240 numbers are much lower than in comparatively weaker currents. 568 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:41,360 Farming in fjords with strong currents can stop sea lice 569 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,880 taking hold, but doesn't eradicate them completely. 570 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,880 To do that, the Faroese want to move their commercial treasure offshore, 571 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:52,800 into the open ocean. 572 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:01,040 But colossal seas present mountainous challenges. 573 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:05,120 Marine scientist Oystein Patursson is overseeing trials 574 00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:07,920 that could make this ambition a reality. 575 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,600 This was deployed on our test site in the open ocean. 576 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:13,800 Is this a standard mooring line? 577 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:18,680 No, these are more heavy-duty than would be used on a fish farm. 578 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,000 And what's the breaking strain on this? It's about 100 tonnes. 579 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,280 100 tonnes. So, it will hold 100 tonnes of force? Yes, yes. 580 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,800 And how many of these would hold the...? There would be 12 of these. 581 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,080 12 of these?! Yes. 582 00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:32,520 That gives you... 583 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:36,480 That's an incredible insight into the power of the ocean. 584 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,520 Sea pens are tethered by a complex mooring system 585 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,040 of heavy-duty ropes and chains. 586 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,880 But there's more to open sea farming 587 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:49,560 than simply holding the rigs in place. 588 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,960 This is all broken. Yeah, you see the steel is broken here. 589 00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:57,040 That's amazing! This has been snapped by the power of the ocean? 590 00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,720 Yeah, just where the... Twist and twist... 591 00:41:59,720 --> 00:42:01,560 When the waves are moving by, 592 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,480 it keeps on twisting and twisting. The forces must be fantastic. 593 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,640 Yeah, we had very large waves during this winter. 594 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,040 It was 16 or 18 metres and, er... 595 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:14,440 16 or 18 metres? That's taller than a house! Yeah. 596 00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:20,280 The pens need to be strong enough to contain the fish, 597 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:24,280 yet flexible enough to roll with wild waters. 598 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:28,320 Trials are ongoing to perfect this challenging design. 599 00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:33,920 By working with all nature can throw at them, 600 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:38,280 the Faroese could be the first to solve the sea lice problem. 601 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,960 If they succeed, they'll be enhancing their own bounty 602 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:44,880 and that of salmon farmers around the world. 603 00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:51,760 Making the most of their seas comes naturally to the Faroese people. 604 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:56,200 This resourcefulness was a life saver in World War II. 605 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:17,280 With Britain short of food, Faroese fishermen came to our aid, 606 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,360 landing much-needed bounty at Aberdeen. 607 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:27,440 The North Sea was awash with mines, German U-boats lurking. 608 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,960 And to the south the Battle of the Atlantic raged, 609 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,800 to keep food and supplies flowing. 610 00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:41,800 From a quiet corner of Cornwall, Tess is investigating 611 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:44,640 how Britain's defence of this precious trade route, 612 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:48,360 bringing in vital bounty from the sea, was launched. 613 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:50,960 This coastline looks peaceful enough now, 614 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:54,560 but during World War II, the Lizard Peninsula was home 615 00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:56,720 to a crack Air Force squadron, 616 00:43:56,720 --> 00:44:01,200 flying the deadliest, fastest aircraft, the Mosquito. 617 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:12,040 This miraculous aircraft was a product of war, 618 00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:16,320 built with the sole purpose of taking on the Germans. 619 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:21,080 It was the brainchild of aviation pioneer Geoffrey de Havilland. 620 00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:26,040 In an age of sluggish metal-clad bombers, he broke with convention - 621 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:29,000 he made this one out of wood. 622 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:33,480 This is a piece of an actual De Havilland Mosquito. 623 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,080 It was part of the fuselage fished out of the Thames after a crash. 624 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:40,720 And if you look here, you can see the outer and inner ply, 625 00:44:40,720 --> 00:44:44,760 between which is balsa wood, which is incredibly light. 626 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,120 This whole piece is featherweight. 627 00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:51,480 De Havilland's wooden aircraft might have seemed vulnerable, 628 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:54,360 but it solved the problem of metal shortages 629 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:57,920 to become our fastest and most manoeuvrable bomber. 630 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,320 It was constructed like a giant model plane, 631 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,800 built in two halves and literally stuck together with glue. 632 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:12,480 But what was it like to fly one of these timber terrors? 633 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:18,280 I'm meeting Flight Lieutenant Des Curtis, 634 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,600 one of the last surviving Mosquito crew. 635 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:26,000 He flew from an RAF base here on the Lizard Peninsula 636 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,760 to fight in the Battle of the Atlantic. 637 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:33,440 Des, what was it actually like to be in a Mosquito, to fly one? 638 00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:35,320 Oh, very exhilarating 639 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,800 because it was the fastest aircraft at the time, 640 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,120 it was the most versatile aircraft. 641 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,800 People say that the Spitfire was the most beautiful aircraft, 642 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,960 but anybody who's ever flown in a Mosquito will tell you 643 00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,720 that was the best aircraft they ever flew. 644 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,720 During the war, German U-boats sank 15 million tonnes 645 00:45:56,720 --> 00:46:00,320 of Allied shipping as they sought to starve supplies 646 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,960 and cripple our war effort. 647 00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:07,720 The Mosquito's mission was to take these deadly submarines on. 648 00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:11,840 Our job then was to use this very fast moving Mosquito 649 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:16,920 to seek out German U-boats in the Bay of Biscay 650 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:20,680 and attack them as they were going in and out of the U-boat pens. 651 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:25,160 All this noise going on while you were diving at 30 degrees 652 00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,640 onto the sea, by the time you got near the water level you were 653 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:30,200 doing nearly 400 miles an hour, 654 00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:33,120 which was the maximum speed of a Mosquito. 655 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:40,480 This wooden wonder seemed set to win the Battle of the Atlantic, 656 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:44,480 but it wasn't long before it, too, came under threat. 657 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:49,280 As the German blockade tightened its grip, concerns grew that 658 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:54,040 the one vital ingredient needed to make the Mosquito would be cut off. 659 00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:57,560 Balsa wood was perfect for the job - 660 00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:01,240 light, strong and just the right compression strength 661 00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:03,840 for the manufacturing of Mosquitos. 662 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:07,600 Only one problem, it came from Ecuador. 663 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,560 With a raw material from the far side of the world 664 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,960 and nothing even remotely similar on home soil, 665 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:19,160 the race was on to create a substitute. 666 00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:23,080 The answer would come from an unexpected source. 667 00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:28,120 A German scientist stepped in with a unique solution - 668 00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:32,560 he would save our skies with bounty from our seas. 669 00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:34,640 Seaweed. 670 00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:40,720 With or without the German blockade, 671 00:47:40,720 --> 00:47:45,280 this was one resource we had in abundance around our shores. 672 00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:49,800 But who would think of building an aircraft out of seaweed? 673 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,640 Step forward this man, Peter Plesch, a chemist. 674 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,440 He was tasked with finding a home-grown material 675 00:47:56,440 --> 00:47:59,640 to keep Mosquitos rolling off the production line. 676 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:02,880 Peter was born in Frankfurt, 677 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:07,800 but the rise of Nazism in the 1930s forced his Jewish family 678 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:11,280 to uproot themselves and flee to England. 679 00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:15,840 This German scientist had come to the aid of Britain's war effort. 680 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,840 To tell me more is Philippa Neilson, his granddaughter. 681 00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:23,560 What do you think was his inspiration as a child? 682 00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:25,040 Why did he become a scientist? 683 00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:27,320 Well, his father was a doctor, a medical doctor, 684 00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,200 and one of his patients was Albert Einstein, 685 00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:32,280 who went on to become a family friend. 686 00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:34,240 That's not any old scientist, is it? 687 00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:37,920 No. So, as a child, Einstein would be in and around the family home. 688 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:42,480 And here he is, Einstein with that unmistakable brainy hair. 689 00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:44,240 And Peter, then, in his own right, 690 00:48:44,240 --> 00:48:47,520 becomes a really eminent professor eventually, doesn't he? 691 00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:50,360 Yes, he was a specialist in polymer chemistry. 692 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:54,080 He went on to write over 160 papers himself 693 00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:58,760 and, in fact, he wrote the last one when he was aged 90. 694 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:05,160 In 1942, Peter Plesch joined a company called Cefoil, 695 00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:08,920 who were exploring the potential of transforming seaweed 696 00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:10,800 into a solid material. 697 00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:17,160 I've actually got a recording here of Peter talking about his first encounter with seaweed. 698 00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,960 Somebody at the Ministry of Aircraft production 699 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:28,080 saw this very light and flimsy foam 700 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:35,520 and said, "If you can make this material up to a certain standard 701 00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:39,880 "of mechanical strength, then we would be interested in this." 702 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:45,240 So, the professor buried himself away in his laboratory, 703 00:49:45,240 --> 00:49:49,600 calculating and concocting experiments using alginates, 704 00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:51,920 a substance derived from seaweed, 705 00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:56,960 in a bid to create a substitute for the balsa wood used in the Mosquito. 706 00:49:58,120 --> 00:49:59,960 His work was top secret. 707 00:49:59,960 --> 00:50:03,480 This is a letter between staff members at the Ministry of Supply 708 00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:05,880 and it refers to the company Peter worked for. 709 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:09,400 It reads, "MAP," Ministry of Aircraft Production, 710 00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,760 "are contemplating starting a production unit for the manufacture 711 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,440 "of a solid foam from alginates 712 00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:18,200 "as a substitute for balsa wood for aircraft." 713 00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:21,200 "Experiments are understood to have been successful 714 00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:25,600 "and if the war goes on, this requirement may grow in importance." 715 00:50:29,600 --> 00:50:33,920 Peter Plesch turned seaweed into this material, 716 00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:37,960 which is as light and as strong as balsa wood. 717 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:39,880 So, how did he do it? 718 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:46,240 This is the last surviving piece of Peter Plesch's seaweed substitute 719 00:50:46,240 --> 00:50:48,440 suitable for the Mosquito. 720 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:54,400 But the only evidence for how he created it lies in complex scientific equations. 721 00:50:57,720 --> 00:51:01,880 To us mere mortals, Peter's research is as clear as mud, 722 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:03,840 so in order to crack the code 723 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,800 I've enlisted the help of a top notch scientist 724 00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:10,680 and, together, we're going to conduct our own seaweed experiment. 725 00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:18,800 Dr Katherine Haxton is from Keele University. 726 00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:23,200 She's brought along some powdered alginate, extracted from seaweed. 727 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:26,040 This is what Peter would have had to work with. 728 00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:31,720 OK, so we've got our solid alginate, and then we add the water to it. 729 00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:35,880 Alginate doesn't dissolve readily, so it clumps together... 730 00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,880 It's clotted. So, can I have a go? Sure. 731 00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:46,680 'With a bit of a blend and some foaming agent to add air bubbles 732 00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:48,840 'to the material and make it light, 733 00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:52,600 'we have a thick, sticky, gel-like substance.' 734 00:51:52,600 --> 00:51:56,920 It's kind of like crystals, almost, isn't it? It's quite fibrous. 735 00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:58,240 Yeah. 736 00:51:58,240 --> 00:52:02,040 'But this is still a long way from Peter's solid block. 737 00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:04,400 'So now we need to dry it.' 738 00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,400 So on his scale, to make, say, eight tonnes of alginate, 739 00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:10,520 he would have to remove 92 tonnes of water. 740 00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:12,520 That's about 1,000 bath tubs. 741 00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:16,920 'To do this, Peter turned to an innovative but dangerous method of 742 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:22,760 'using electricity and water to dry his material from the inside out.' 743 00:52:22,760 --> 00:52:25,720 Katherine, I was looking forward to doing this... 744 00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:31,160 ..but, well, nothing's really happening, is it? 745 00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:34,040 No, we wouldn't necessarily expect to see anything happening, 746 00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:37,280 but that doesn't mean that nothing's happening on a chemical basis. 747 00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:40,440 The modern equivalent, or what a 21st-century scientist 748 00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:43,200 might have reached for, would be a microwave. 749 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:45,360 So, last stop is the microwave. 750 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:48,760 Yeah, we'll put it in a microwave and start it drying. Great. 751 00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:52,880 The microwave may speed things up, 752 00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:55,760 but this could still take a long time. 753 00:52:57,240 --> 00:53:01,400 I do have a gel that I tried making earlier in the lab, 754 00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:03,720 which I can show you. OK. 755 00:53:03,720 --> 00:53:05,720 This was microwaved for about an hour. 756 00:53:05,720 --> 00:53:08,080 Right. Then it was dried in an oven. 757 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:11,640 If you turn it over, you can start to see a sort of 758 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:15,840 gel-like structure with bubbles in it to indicate the foamy nature. 759 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,880 It's incredible to think he came up with this idea 760 00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:21,920 and worked it and worked it and worked it and made it happen. 761 00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,560 Yeah, it's no insignificant effort. It took a lot of ingenuity, 762 00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:29,520 a lot of perseverance, to get to the stage he did with the alginates. 763 00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:33,160 And, Katherine, he didn't have a microwave. No. 764 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:39,960 Even with 21st century know-how, we failed to replicate Peter's work, 765 00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:42,360 a testament to his inventiveness. 766 00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:47,160 The ingenious German professor had transformed a bounty 767 00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:52,200 from the sea into a balsa wood replacement destined for the skies. 768 00:53:54,240 --> 00:53:57,400 So, why didn't we see a fleet of seaweed Mosquitos 769 00:53:57,400 --> 00:53:59,480 take on the German military? 770 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:01,840 I'll let Peter Plesch tell you that. 771 00:54:03,840 --> 00:54:07,160 By the summer of '44, I had solved the problem. 772 00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:11,040 I'd produced a material which was good enough 773 00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:14,680 for the De Havilland engineers, but by then the Battle of the Atlantic 774 00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:18,800 had turned and the supply of balsa wood was no longer a problem. 775 00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:22,040 So I solved the problem but not in time. 776 00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,320 If it had been necessary, there was a solution there. 777 00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:29,360 Using seaweed, an everyday bounty from our seas, 778 00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:32,920 Peter Plesch achieved the seemingly impossible. 779 00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:35,880 That it never took off was down to the endeavours 780 00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:39,400 of the Allied Forces, including the Mosquito pilots 781 00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:41,400 who gained the upper hand 782 00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,520 and brought the Battle of the Atlantic to a close. 783 00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:47,080 One of the strange side-effects of war 784 00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:50,040 is the way it can set imaginations free. 785 00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:52,440 In the desperate search for solutions, 786 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:55,400 there can be extraordinary flashes of inspiration, 787 00:54:55,400 --> 00:55:01,200 transforming humble seaweed into this, an ingenious wartime bounty. 788 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:15,920 I'm nearing the end of my Faroese odyssey. 789 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:21,680 I've discovered how the bounty from these seas nourishes a unique people, 790 00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:27,560 sustaining and maintaining a way of life steeped in tradition, 791 00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:31,160 but one where both eyes are firmly on the future. 792 00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:37,560 More than anywhere else, these islands thrive on their bounty. 793 00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:41,520 I've reached my final destination, 794 00:55:41,520 --> 00:55:44,720 and having netted my catch on land and sea, 795 00:55:44,720 --> 00:55:47,840 all that's left to do is eat it. 796 00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:53,840 I'm heading to a traditional Faroese gathering. 797 00:55:53,840 --> 00:55:57,480 But rather than bring a bottle, it's bring your bounty. 798 00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:05,000 TRADITIONAL FAROESE FOLK SINGING 799 00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:12,160 The setting for my feast is a spectacular natural cut 800 00:56:12,160 --> 00:56:16,880 in the coastline called a Gjogv, giving this place its name. 801 00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:20,560 Bounty of all descriptions has been landed here, 802 00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:24,440 including tradition, like this one, the chain dance. 803 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:28,840 TRADITIONAL FAROESE FOLK SINGING 804 00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:39,160 It was a medieval popular music craze that swept through Europe in the 1200s. 805 00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:43,960 Dances were a way to share dramatic stories and legends about ancient times. 806 00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:47,400 They soon spread with travelling sea trade 807 00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:52,080 and that's how they washed up here in the 13th century. 808 00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:55,440 Stranded in the middle of the North Atlantic, 809 00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:59,920 this is now the only place on Earth to still practice this tradition. 810 00:57:02,880 --> 00:57:05,440 This is storytelling with a real passion, 811 00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:08,280 which is just rising from the sea and the rock. 812 00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:14,000 With 70,000 verses, dances can go on all night. 813 00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:17,480 So a pit-stop for some fuel is a must! 814 00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:20,960 Time to share my Faroese treasures from the sea. 815 00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:24,840 Does the Faroese food help make a certain kind of character? 816 00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:27,120 Yes, of course, of course. 817 00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:32,480 Because Faroese food is our food and we eat a lot from the sea. 818 00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:35,440 We're also eating from hills. 819 00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:38,880 This food comes from around our islands and in our islands. 820 00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:43,360 Bounty from the sea has shaped these people, 821 00:57:43,360 --> 00:57:46,480 carving them out like their rocky coastline. 822 00:57:47,880 --> 00:57:52,040 The Faroese use everything the seas offer to survive. 823 00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:54,520 In nature's larder nothing is wasted. 824 00:58:04,560 --> 00:58:08,680 I've learned so much from Faroese Islanders - 825 00:58:08,680 --> 00:58:12,280 finding bounty on land and sea, 826 00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:16,720 making a few resources go a very long way. 827 00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:19,560 It might be tradition here on the Faroes 828 00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:22,240 but it's a lesson for the rest of the world. 829 00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:30,440 Our waters are rich with wondrous surprises. 830 00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:36,720 They inspire, sustain and connect communities across the world. 831 00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:42,360 Bounty from the sea defines a way of life that all coastal people share.