Plot Synopsis

Directed by Brian Peter Falk and executive produced by Andrew Zimmern, HOPE IN THE WATER is a three-part documentary that travels the globe to discover the creative solutions and breakthrough blue food technologies that could not only feed us but help save our threatened seas and fresh waterways. The series highlights the stories of innovators, aquafarmers, and fishers who are working toward a sustainable future for the planet. Celebrity environmental enthusiasts Shailene Woodley, Martha Stewart, Baratunde Thurston, and Jose Andres reveal hidden underworlds jeopardized by climate change, irresponsible fishing and exploitation, and habitat destruction. They are each authentically tied to a particular story, seeking smart solutions to a planet in peril. HOPE IN THE WATER debuted on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings), with a new installment debuting each Wednesday through July 3:

"The Fish in the Sea" (Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 9pm on PBS): As our seas and sea life face existential threats on an unprecedented scale, new approaches to fishing on the open ocean aim to turn peril into plenty. In the debut episode of HOPE IN THE WATER, journalist Baratunde Thurston travels to Puerto Rico to see a sustainable diamondback squid fishery born from the wreckage of 2017's Hurricane Maria. Jose Andres, a renowned chef and humanitarian, recounts the aftermath of the hurricane, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. He founded and volunteers with World Central Kitchen and prepared more than four million meals to feed hungry survivors. World Central Kitchen also provided grants to fishers to repair boats, buy new engines, and rebuild their fishery. Marine conservationist Raimundo Espinoza assisted that effort and is now helping these fishers pivot to a new and sustainable species: 60-lb., diamondback squid. The episode also features Hi'ilei Kawelo, an Indigenous fisherwoman and founder and executive director of Paepae o He 'eia in Oahu, Hawaii), who has made it her life's work to restore an ancient fishpond filled with wild fish. And on the Scottish Isle of Arran, two villagers, Howard Wood and Don McNeish, beat the odds to establish the country's only no-take zone an area closed to fishing and now filled with abundance.

"Farming in Water" (Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 9pm on PBS): Farmed fish has a PR problem rooted in a legacy of pollution and environmental disaster. But innovative technologies and a reconsideration of ancient practices may hold the secrets to sustainably feeding our growing population. In the second episode of HOPE IN THE WATER, multi-talented entrepreneur, tastemaker, author, and conservationist Martha Stewart learns the ropes at a scallop farm off the coast of Maine. Stewart has a deep connection to the Gulf of Maine -- the fastest warming body of water on the planet. She sails into Penobscot Bay where Andrew Peters, a young fisherman, abandoned his plans of lobstering for a more sustainable alternative: scallop farming. As Stewart cooks the scallops, she notes that Maine's famous lobsters are now migrating further north in search of colder water. Aquafarms like this are the future. In Alaska, Dune Lankard, a native Eyak fisherman and the founder of Native Conservancy, plants state-of-the-art kelp farms in Prince William Sound -- an antidote to years of environmental destruction. Viewers are also introduced to Dr. Loc Tran, a scientist in Vietnam, and Paul Damhoff, a former livestock farmer in Blomkest, Minnesota, who are all trying to make the world's most popular seafood -- shrimp -- into a responsible bumper crop.

"Changing the Menu" (Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at 9pm on PBS): With demand for seafood on the rise, what we eat can put tremendous pressure on fisheries and negatively affect the ocean. But creative approaches to diversifying our seafood diets are rewriting menus worldwide. In the finale episode of HOPE IN THE WATER, actor and activist Shailene Woodley, goes underwater with urchin divers who collect "zombie" urchins then delivers them to a farm, The Cultured Abalone, where their buttery roe is grown and harvested turning an ecological imbalance into a saleable commodity and helping to save the kelp at the same time. In Philadelphia, marine biologist Dr. Talia Young and founder/executive director of Fishadelphia, connects Atlantic fishers with inner-city high school students through a subscription fish program that features less popular fish. Thor Sigfusson, founder and chairman of the 100% Fish Project in Reykjavik, Iceland, fosters innovation to get the most out of a single cod, including a popular cod collagen soda.