SOFAR, or Sound Fixing and Ranging Channel, is a naturally-occurring ocean layer that allows low frequency sound waves to travel for hundreds of miles without losing energy. This natural structure allows for many whale species to communicate across entire ocean basins, including the North Atlantic right whale.
Over the past decade, the North Atlantic right whales’ migrating patterns have changed as a result of warming in the Gulf of Maine. They now frequent the Gulf of St. Lawrence, putting them in a high traffic zone amidst container ships, bulk freighters, and cruise ships. Eight right whales have been found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this summer, dwindling the population of around 400. Every year, 640,000 metric tons of fishing nets are lost or discarded into the oceans. Almost all individual right whales have been entangled in fishing ropes at least once, and the entanglement can last months and impede their ability to feed or reproduce.
This work explores the tension between natural and human-made structures within the ocean, and the disastrous complications that human industry has had on marine ecosystems. Featuring projected video, soundscape, and an industrial pipe structure that climbs the side of the Neptune building, SOFAR is a reflection on the work that has been done, and a somber reminder of the work ahead. This is a companion piece to Neptune Theatre’s presentation of Artistic Fraud’s Between Breaths, which celebrates the work of Newfoundland conservationist Dr. Jon Lien, who pioneered techniques for rescuing whales entrapped in fishing nets.
