Skaana with Mark Leiren-Young

Sometimes animals who hang out with humans need a vet. Sometimes they need a lawyer. The belugas at Marineland in Niagara Falls need both. Whales around the world need sanctuary. And sharks everywhere were saved by a Canadian law. Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, returns to Skaana to talk with host Mark Leiren-Young about fighting for animals who live in the water and on the land. "Some things did change and they're going in the right direction." Made in Canada, eh 🍁

To Support Camille Labchuk & Animal Justice

Iberian orca guardian, Alexandra Johnston, talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about hanging out with the world's most infamous orcas. On orcas as click-bait – the orcas who are “attacking” boats and how social media is creating orca hysteria. “Blue fin tuna is their main prey source. They are fish eaters, not boat eaters.” Alexandra Johnston. “I really feel these orcas have been used as click-bait for the last five years.” On the infamous White Gladys: “She's a part of this family that's fighting to survive. She's very authoritative, she's very dominant, she's very curious, but she's not this bloodthirsty tyrant leading t...

Have you ever met a polar bear? They're the fiercest animal on earth, one of the most iconic and one of the most chill – in every possible way. Cate Collins – the lead scientist/science translator – for polar bear tours to Churchill, Manitoba, talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about hanging out with polar bears, polar bear mating and the impact of the climate crisis on their habits and habitat. “They are the top of the food chain… and they don't have too much to be scared of.” – Cate Collins Made in Canada, eh 🍁

Skaana on social media:

Legendary dolphin trainer turned anti-captivity icon Ric O'Barry on his journey from catching and training Flipper to going to jail to save dolphins. Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young dives into The Dolphin Project, the making of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove and his upcoming fundraiser in Victoria, BC. “I started sympathizing with the dolphins and I could see things from their point of view. And I still do, I still do that. Every decision I make regarding whatever I get into a situation, I don't know exactly what to do, I try and see it from their perspective and ma...

Salmon expert Misty MacDuffee on shrinking salmon, damn dams and what needs to be done NOW to save the iconic southern resident orcas. Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young dives into the Raincoast Conservation Foundation's report on what needs to be done to save these whales with one of the report's authors. “The solutions that government has focused on have not helped the whales and in some cases have perpetuated the problem that’s facing the whales.” Made in Canada, eh 🍁

 Skaana on social media:

Mark on social media:

Shownotes:

2:34 Salmon expert Mis...

The Killer Whale That Changed the World – the story of Moby Doll and the accidental orca capture that changed everything between humans and orcas – was created for CBC Radio's Ideas by Skaana host, Mark Leiren-Young and produced by Yvonne Gall. It originally aired on CBC in 2013, won the Jack Webster Award for Best Radio Documentary and sparked the award-winning book, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World, which is currently being adapted as a feature documentary. This episode is being shared with the permission of CBC Radio.

One of the goals of this audio documentary was to capt...

Mark Leiren-Young reads the chapter about Jaws vs. shark from his award-winning book, Sharks Forever. Years after the movie based on his book was one of the biggest hits in the world, Peter Benchley said that in a new version of Jaws, the shark wouldn’t be the monster. “The shark in an updated Jaws could not be the villain; it would have to be written as the victim, for, worldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors.”

Excerpt From

Sharks Forever

Mark Leiren-Young

This material is protected by copyri...

David Shiffman (author of Why Sharks Matter) on how Jaws changed the world for sharks, humans and movies… how the fear of sharks led to so many species being threatened and endangered and why you should be suspicious of “shark experts.” “More people in a typical year are bitten by other people in the New York City subway system than are bitten by sharks in the whole world… More people die falling off cliffs trying to take a scenery selfie than are killed by sharks in a typical year.”

Made in Canada, eh 🍁

Skaana on social media:<...

Sperm whale expert Shane Gero on his whale family in Dominica, the power of storytelling and the culture, codas and language of sperm whales. Also… why all science is political. “Science is inherently political… until the sperm whales are able to speak for themselves, someone has to be their advocate… conservation is inherently a human behavioural change.”

Made in Canada, eh 🍁

Shownotes:

2:40 On his whale family and two decades of working with sperm whales.

4:30 On falling for whales.

6:30 What we know… Like… “They have the biggest brain to ever exist.” And studyin...

Beatrice Frank, new(ish) executive director of The Georgia Strait Alliance on the past, present and future of one of the most effective environmental organizations in British Columbia for their 35th anniversary. We talk about fighting threats with awareness – and lawyers – keeping the ocean clean, working with American eco-organizations in the age of Trump and the power of positivity. “We sue the government often… we just want them to be accountable for what they say they will do.”

Made in Canada, eh 🍁

Shownotes:

2:30 Meet Beatrice Frank – the new executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance...

Squil-le-he-le – Lummi Elder and matriarch – on her relationship, and her nation's relationship, with the orca known as Lolita, Tokitae and Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, the attempt to bring her home and sharing that story in the powerful new documentary Resident Orca. Resident Orca is now available on Crave in Canada and is still in festivals in the USA and around the world. “You can't separate Canada and the US…  “Clean up our beaches. Stop using plastic. Talk to your electeds. And say it's enough. Breach the dams. It's enough, stop the pollution. It's enough, talk to Canada and let's join forces in saving that...

Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young breaks out his political pundit persona and talks about the Canadian election, how Trump upended the Canadian election and Canada and why that new baby orca needs a name NOW! A special audience Q&A episode with producer, Bug Lewis, asking the audience questions!

“Don't vote for the guy who doesn't believe there's a problem with the climate.”

Made in Canada, eh 🍁

Shownotes:

1:30 Mark's background as a satirist and a political journalist and columnist.

3:00 Meet Skaana producer and audio engineer, Bug Lewis!

3:45 The scoop o...

Arno Kopecky (author The Environmentalist's Dilemma) on covering Tory leader Pierre Pollution Poilievre's vs. the environment, Canadian eco-politics and the Greens vs. Greens.  When Pierre's not Trumpy. And when he is. And what he'll ask Pierre Poilievre – if he ever gets to ask him a question. “He turned the carbon tax into kryptonite.” Made in Canada 🍁

Shownotes:

4:25 On being the only journalist embedded with Canada's Conservative Campaign.

5:04 “It feels like a prolonged sort of Grateful Dead Festival festival tour meets the Freedom Convoy tour.”

7:05 Pierre's greatest hits…

10:52 On making sense of conspir...

Shaking hands with a Giant Pacific Octopus… Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young shares an excerpt from his new book Octopus Ocean: Geniuses of the Deep.

“Mark Leiren-Young’s Octopus Ocean gives young readers a wonderful sense of many aspects of the world of octopuses in a very clear, concise and interesting way. It makes the reader think, and it educates without preaching. This book is a door to the magnificent world of the octopus—a door that, if opened and explored, will bring much joy and connection.” – Craig Foster, star and producer of My Octopus Teacher, co-founder of the Sea Change...

In 2018 Tahlequah captured the world's attention when she carried her dead daughter's body for seventeen days in what became known as the “tour of grief.” The human who shared that story with the world was Seattle Times reporter, Lynda Mapes. Tahlequah just lost another newborn daughter. She just completed a second tour of grief. And this time… the world wasn't watching. Lynda Mapes and Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young talk about why the media and the world wasn't tuned in this time, trolls who blame Tahlequah for her tragedies, the future and fate of Tahlequah and her family and the challe...

“In my lifetime I want to eradicate whaling.” – Paul Watson. Paul Watson is out of jail, back in France and still fighting for whales, dolphins, turtles, manatees and more. Paul Watson talks to Skaana host, Mark Leiren-Young, about his arrest and how it helped raise awareness about sketchy international arrest warrants, Japan's unjust justice system, illegal whaling, aggressive non-violence and his response to being called a “terrorist.” “I find it absolutely amazing that my case is being discussed at the highest levels of Japan… it really shows you how defensive they are about their illegal whaling operations.”

Shownotes:

Let the Herring Live! Eric Pelkey is done pretending BC fishers should still be capturing herring. The Community Engagement Coordinator for the W̱SÁNEĆ leadership council talks about a proposed boycott, over-fishing, under-enforcement and the disappearance of a keystone species with significance to the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation and the entire eco-system of the Salish Sea. “Without the herring the salmon can't live. The sea lions can't live. The seals can't live. And if there's no salmon, the killer whales and the larger sea mammals can't live either. No salmon, no killer whales… The herring is a keystone species fo...

A letter from Captain Paul Watson from prison in Greenland, an interview with Paul in prison  and a plea for you – yes you – to help save his life. On December 18th, 2024, the government of Denmark will decide whether to send Captain Paul Watson to die in a Japanese prison. Please email the Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard and ask for the immediate release of Captain Watson. Phone: +45 7226 8400 Mail: jm@jm.dk Sign The Free Paul Watson Petition at www.paulwatsonfoundation.org and contact any government official you can to demand his release. Use the hashtag #FREEPAULWATSON on all...

Andrew Lewin – host of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast – on Jaws vs. sharks, orcas vs. sharks, Asian carp and working with and against Canada's department of Fisheries and Oceans and how young people can and do change the world. “There's nothing scarier to a government than young people who care.” – Andrew Lewin

Shownotes:

4:35 Andrew Lewin on how Jaws still defines and defames sharks. Growing up on Jaws. “I was petrified to go in a pool… the original movie is still scary.”

9:44 Orca – A killer whale monster movie. “If anyone is gonna have revenge, orcas w...

Talking Trump vs. science, facts and the planet with Dr. Andrew Rosenberg.  The former director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists and former director of NOAA on Project 2025, popping social media bubbles and why it is so friggin' important that Americans vote… And not for Trump. “Whatever your issue is, should you be concerned? Yes! …This is not a time to sit it out.” On Project 2025: “It’s worse than you think it is. No matter how bad you think it is, it’s worse.”

Shownotes:

4:11 Andrew Rosenberg explains what the...

Andrew Lewin – host of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast – on teaching the world about oceans, myth-busting fake facts and falling for the oceans from his home in Ontario. “This is what people should be talking about.”

Shownotes:

3:25 How Andrew Lewin fell for the oceans and marine biology.

5:18 The first time Andrew saw a whale.

6:47 Finding Flipper and falling for dolphins. “You have this sense of awe when you look at dolphins.” Can dolphins be, um, jerks?

8:45 Talking orcas – including the orcas who eat great white sharks.

11:20 The or...

Sixteen-year-old Hawaiian environmental activist Rylee Brooke hasn't just been fighting for the environment – and the rights of keiki (young people) – since the age of eight, she's teaching other young people and adults how to make change and make laws. Adventures in changing things locally and globally, making the case for Vote 16 and proving that young people can do pretty much anything – including inspiring law-makers to do better.

Shownotes:

3:30 Meet Rylee Brooke. “I kind of grew up doing community service.”

7:12 Starting “The Plastics Project” and sparking youth-run beach clean-ups at age eight.

8:20 How 15 kids cl...

Sy Montgomery (author: Soul of an Octopus) and Warren Carlyle (founder of OctoNation) on friendly octopuses, the Mayor of Octopus City, and their top octopus secrets from their new book Secrets of the Octopus that accompanies the National Geographic TV series. Second of a two-part interview about the wild world of octopuses! “We're in the age of octopus,” Sy Montgomery.

Shownotes:

2:28  How the books Secrets of the Octopus and Soul of the Octopus informed the TV series and vice versa.

4:10 How OctoNation raised the profile of octopus photographers and vice versa.

7:02 Favou...

Sy Montgomery (Soul of an Octopus) and Warren Carlyle (founder of OctoNation) on octopuses taking over the media, the origins of OctoNation, why octopuses needed a publicist and some of the secrets of octopus from their new book Secrets of the Octopus that accompanies the National Geographic TV series. First of a two-part interview about all things octopus!

Shownotes:

0:01 Meet author Sy Montgomery.

0:13 Meet Warren Carlyle “the PR agent for the octopus.”

3:50 How Sy met Warren.

4:25 Warren’s journey from high fashion to the deep ocean.

5:32 The origin...

NOAA scientists Kim Parsons & Tom Jefferson on orca species, orca survival, orca scat, really old whales, the return of harbour porpoises, the fight for vaquitas and so much more in the second part of a special two-part episode on the two soon-to-be official species of orcas who call the Salish Sea home.

Shownotes:

2:29 The challenge of naming new animals… scientific names, the names we use and the politics of naming. Yes, we're sticking with Residents & Bigg's.

5:15 How many orca species are there? The challenges of collecting data.

7:01 The genetic challenges facing th...

NOAA scientists Kim Parsons & Tom Jefferson on killer whale science, killer whales versus orcas, orcas versus dolphins, how science becomes official, the challenges of translating science to civilians and so much more in the first of a special two-part episode on the two soon to be official species of orcas who call the Salish Sea home.

Shownotes:

3:45 Meet marine mammal biologist, Tom Jefferson.

4:21 Meet molecular geneticist, Kim Parsons.

5:10 Orcas or killer whales? And how to pronounce orcinus orca.

6:35 Orcas vs. whales/dolphins vs. Delphinidae and confusion over “common names.”

...

Eco-pirate Paul Watson talks about taking on whalers in Iceland and Japan, splitting with the Sea Shepherd, launching an eco-church and what the hell just happened in his world with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young (author of Sharks Forever & Orcas Everywhere). “We're ecologically ignorant. And unless we learn to educate ourselves, we're not going to survive.”

Shownotes:

4:45 Paul Watson on how he landed in Paris and why he's only working with Sea Shepherd France & Brazil.

5:40  “They said I was too controversial. Too confrontational.”

9:20 On being an international fugitive. And the disappearance of his Inter...

Author, broadcaster and activist Melody Horrill (The Dolphin Who Saved Me) talks about saving the Port River dolphins and how a dolphin named Jock saved her with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young (author of Sharks Forever & Orcas Everywhere). “Dolphins do have a special place in our hearts… They help us connect to the water and the natural world.”

Shownotes:

5:10 Meet the Port River dolphins. And find out why they're in trouble.

10:20 “I made it my single-minded mission to let everyone know in South Australia that these dolphins existed. They're here.”

11:10 “They do have a speci...

Author and marine conservation biologist David Shiffman (Why Sharks Matter) talks about Sharkweek, Sharknados, megalodon myths, Jaws and junk science with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young (author of Sharks Forever & Big Sharks, Small World). “More people are bitten by other people on the New York city subway system every year than are bitten by sharks in the whole world… but whenever any shark gives someone side eye anywhere in the world, it's headline news everywhere in the world.”

Shownotes:

4:10 “Jaws has had a really transformative impact. For sharks mostly bad.” How Jaws changed everything for sharks and meeting...

Filmmaker Gloria Pancrazi (Coextinction) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about red herrings, fishy fish farms, whale watching, whale saving and Coextinction. “Orcas are telling us something. They’re showing us something. You can learn a lot about the things we’ve got to do in the world right now by looking at these orcas.”

Shownotes:

3:35 Meet Gloria Pancrazi and how the story of love for orcas turned into a mission to save the southern resident orcas.

6:12 “A lot of politicians like to blame whale watchers because then they can accept a pipeline that’s goi...

Cephalopod expert Danna Staaf (author of The Lady and the Octopus and Monarchs of the Sea) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about the alien world of octopuses, the secret lives of squid and her two new books Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World and The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives: A Natural History of Cephalopods. “They are definitely our fellow earthlings and some of the oddest ones we share the planet with.”

Shownotes:

3:20 Meet Danna Staaf. “They are extremely intelligent animals with extremely short...

Jason Colby (author of Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator) talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about the capture of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and how Penn Cove almost ended the southern resident orcas and was the beginning of the end of the capture era. “It's worth remembering that the argument at the time, if there could have been a debate at the time, it was really between whale catching and whale shooting, not whale catching and whale watching.”

Shownotes:

0:00 The voice of Toki.

4:08 Jason Colby on...

Howard Garrett (Orca Network) remembering the southern resident orca Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and his nearly thirty year fight to bring Toki home to the Salish Sea. “Toki's legacy is building, building, building by the day… She wasn't just a circus animal. She was a member of the southern residents.”

Shownotes:

0:00 The voice of Toki.
4:57 How Howard started fighting to bring Toki home

7:50 “I really feel like she would have thrived and been thrilled and so relieved to be in her familiar waters.”

14:16 A superpod wake for Toki?

15:55 The...

Author and biologist Rowena Rae on swimming with salmon, threats to this essential species and their incredible resilience with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young. “Salmon can thrive if we just give them a chance… if people would just get out of the way, they can thrive”.

Shownotes:

3:54 On becoming a biologist and leaving biology for writing.
7:12 Introducing young readers to the story of Rachel Carson.

9:20 Introducing Rachel Carson and the importance of Silent Spring.

12:20 Swimming with salmon.

14:07 Keystone species and why they matter.

  Humans Vs. Salmon...

Shark expert Alessandro De Maddalena talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young about hunting for the perfect shark photo, the two orcas who are hunting great white sharks in South African waters, what makes great whites great and so much more! “The reason I love sharks is that they are a perfect art form. I consider Mother Nature the greatest artist.”

Shownotes:

Sean Holman @Seanholman founder and lead of the Climate Disaster Project @cdp_community talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young @leirenyoung about the past and future of the media's climate coverage, fighting fires with facts and sharing stories to save the future.

Shownotes:

Jonathan Mesulam @MesulamJonathan Founder and Coordinator of the West Coast Development Foundation in New Guinea talks with Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young @leirenyoung about the crucial fight to stop Deep Sea Mining in his home – New Guinea – and around the world.

Shownotes:

Skaana (@Skaanapod) host Mark Leiren-Young (@LeirenYoung) shares the introduction and opening chapter of his new book Sharks Forever: The Mystery and History of the Planet’s Perfect Predator published by Orca Book Publishers (@orcabook).  “If you swim in the ocean every day for 100 years, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than swallowed by a shark.” – Mark Leiren-Young from Chapter 1, Sharks Forever.

Skaana (@Skaanapod) host Mark Leiren-Young (@leirenyoung) talks sharks, Sharkwater (@teamsharkwater) and politics with Joseph Planta (@Planta) on a special shared episode with Planta On the Line @TheCommentary.ca

Director Josh Zeman (@joshzeman)  on the quest for the loneliest whale in the world and shifting his focus from human mysteries to marine mysteries with his movie, The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52.  “Just when you think you’ve had too much devil-worshipping and serial killers, you go and you spend a day working on whales and everything’s okay again.”
Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.Join the Pod……https://www.patreon.com/mobydollSpotify……………www.bit.ly/spotify-skaanaApple Podcasts………www.skaana.caThe Orca Bites Podcast (on anchor)………www.orcabites.com