Between the Ears - Empty Ocean

Residents of Fair Isle, Britain's most remote inhabited island, talk about the loss of fishing and seabird colonies caused through over-fishing by trawlers and global warming. They also speak about the loss of traditions that bind the community together and have been handed down from generation to generation. With music by composer Damian Montagu and Fair Isle musicians, including his collaboration with singer Lise Sinclair on the song Empty Ocean. It sets Paul Rich's poem The Halibut Fisher's Saturday Night, about the great hauls of the past compared to today, where the ocean is empty of fish and the seabed smooth from over-fishing. There is also Sinclair's poem Silent, portraying the disappearance of seabirds from the skies because of the lack of sandeels for feeding.