Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine

Lore & Background

Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine is a 2024 American television documentary that premiered nationwide on July 24, 2024. The PBS Nova film, comprising three episodes of one hour each, is written and directed by Chun-Wei Yi and Stella Cha. The show's concept creator and producer is National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry. The series investigates the warming of the Gulf of Maine, which is occurring 97 percent faster than the rest of the ocean, and examines its implications for local marine life, jobs reliant on the ecosystem, and the millions of people living along its shores.

Reader's Guide

Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine is significant as a documentary that intertwines science, exploration, natural history, and human experiences to illustrate potential global implications of events in the Gulf of Maine. It allows viewers to witness the remarkable wilderness and wildlife that thrive in these waters and documents the diverse range of people—including scientists, Native Americans, fishers, and entrepreneurs—who are striving to uncover the Gulf's complex history and understand the ocean's role in all of our lives. The series will also be featured in a six-episode digital series created by indigenous filmmakers in partnership with Vision Maker Media and NOVA, highlighting climate issues and presenting solutions in native communities across North America. Its legacy lies in raising awareness about the fastest-warming body of water in the ocean and inspiring positive change.

Did You Know?

• The Gulf of Maine is warming 97 percent faster than the rest of the ocean.
• The documentary premiered nationwide on July 24, 2024.
• It is a PBS Nova film comprising three one-hour episodes.
• A six-episode digital series created by indigenous filmmakers will accompany the documentary.

Production & Creative Vision

Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine arrived on American television on July 24, 2024, as a three-part documentary series under the PBS Nova banner. Each episode runs a full hour, giving the filmmakers ample room to explore their subject with depth rather than surface-level treatment. The series was written and directed by Chun-Wei Yi and Stella Cha, a duo who shaped the on-screen narrative from script through final cut. Behind the creative framework sits Brian Skerry, a National Geographic photographer who served as concept creator and producer, lending the project the visual storytelling sensibility he is known for in his long career documenting the natural world. The combination of a photographic legacy with a documentary filmmaking team gave the series a distinctive visual and narrative identity, positioning it within the Nova tradition of making complex environmental science accessible to a broad national audience.

The Science at the Center

The documentary's central finding is striking: the Gulf of Maine is warming at a rate 97 percent faster than the global ocean average. Sea Change uses this statistic as its anchor, then peels back the layers to show what such accelerated heating means in practice. The series examines how shifting water temperatures ripple through the local marine ecosystem, threatening the species that have thrived in these waters for generations. Beyond the biology, the film traces the economic consequences for communities whose livelihoods—fishing, aquaculture, and other ecosystem-dependent jobs—depend on a stable marine environment. Millions of residents who call the Gulf's coastline home are also drawn into the narrative, underscoring that this is not merely a remote ecological story but a lived, regional reality with far-reaching social dimensions.

Weaving Science with Human Story

Rather than presenting the Gulf of Maine as a sterile data set, Sea Change deliberately braids together multiple narrative threads. Science, exploration, natural history, and personal human experience are interwoven to paint a fuller picture of what is changing and why it matters. Viewers are given a window into the extraordinary wilderness and wildlife that continue to flourish in these waters, grounding the urgency in beauty. Equally important is the cast of people the series profiles: scientists conducting field research, Native American community members sharing ancestral knowledge, fishers navigating uncertain seasons, and entrepreneurs seeking new ways to engage with the ocean. Through these varied voices, the filmmakers work to reveal the layered history of the Gulf and to articulate how the ocean touches every one of our lives, framing a regional story as one with potential global implications.

Extending the Conversation Through Indigenous Filmmaking

The impact of Sea Change reaches well beyond its three television episodes. In partnership with Vision Maker Media and NOVA, the project also spawned a six-episode digital series created by indigenous filmmakers. This companion series broadens the lens from the Gulf of Maine to native communities across North America, highlighting the climate challenges they face and, crucially, the solutions they are developing. The collaboration positions indigenous creators not as subjects being documented but as authors shaping the narrative, a meaningful shift in how environmental storytelling is produced. The stated goal is twofold: to raise public awareness about climate issues affecting these communities and to inspire tangible, positive change. By extending the Sea Change brand into this digital, indigenous-led format, the project creates a wider ecosystem of storytelling that complements and amplifies the original documentary's message.

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