Sargasso Shanty – Jessica Law – UK

Jessica Law is a folk singer-songwriter based in Cambridge, UK. She is also a news writer for the global conservation organisation BirdLife International, and is passionate about communicating science in interesting and innovative ways. These two skills came together for Sargasso Shanty, which tells the true story of the European Eel’s incredible migration journey. Formerly abundant, this fascinating fish is now Critically Endangered, in part due to the damming of rivers and other modifications to natural watercourses. Jessica’s home city, Cambridge, used to be part of a vast wetland known as the Fens, where eel fishing was a booming trade that fed the entire country. In the 18th – 19th century, this vast habitat was drained to make way for farmland, and eels found it increasingly difficult to migrate upstream. Today, fish bypasses and “eel ladders” are in place across the area to give them a helping hand.