The Monterey Bay is an extremely amazing place.
I remember the first time that I went out there, I was in awe.
My name is Jason Berring
and I’m a camera assistant
and behind-the-scenes camera operator.
During the filming of the Monterey Bay episode,
I was involved with filming butterflies,
humpback whales, elephant seals,
dolphins, killer whales
and even blue whales
and I think that the most fascinating thing
we saw while filming from the drone was actually the blue whales.
What we noticed is that with every one we found, it had a partner with it.
And what we think was going on
was a vetting process in which they travel together,
they dove together and they also fed together cooperatively.
There are times out in the Monterey Bay
where we often smell a whale before we see 'em,
and that is because of the fish that they’ve been eating,
that got trapped maybe in their baleen and it's started to rot.
And so when they exhale,
we get a nice whiff of broccoli, foul, rotten smell.
One of my favourite things about the blue whale is filming them
and with the drone particularly.
When they are just below the surface,
they glow this still, white colour,
and as they breach the surface,
you just see how massive they are
and it is truly the most amazing experience every time.
That is something that will never grow old to me.
It is the largest animal that's ever existed on earth,
it is wild to me that we still get to see that,
and part of the reason that we still get to see that,
is because we've protected these animals from going extinct.
I’ve lived in Monterey Bay for the entirety of my life.
I was born and raised here and still currently live here.
Though I’ve grown up outdoors
and with the Monterey Bay in my backyard,
I’ve only been exposed to the ocean for about four years of my life,
and I have lots of friends and family still that live right here
that have never been out on a boat
to see any of the things the Monterey Bay has to offer.
I still have friends and family
that believe whales can eat the entire boat!
And a lot of this I see as being a just cultural upbringings
and the lack of people that are exposed to the Monterey Bay
being out on the ocean in our communities.
I just, I don’t see very many people, if at all, like myself out there...
Actually I haven’t seen anybody like myself out on the ocean in the Bay.
But this transcends just the Monterey Bay this is worldwide.
If it's, you know, out of sight, it's out of mind, so to speak.
And I just don't see anybody on film crews ever that look like myself.
Growing up I was fortunate enough
to have a family that was very into the outdoors so,
I grew up in a safe environment
that facilitated my love and passion for the outdoors.
That soon transcended into me picking up a camera
and documenting these wild spaces,
national parks, state parks, protected places that are just so beautiful.
And shortly after getting my first drone,
I got a job with Monterey Bay Whale Watch,
that gave me the exposure out onto the ocean that I’d never had before.
That transcended into meeting film crews that would come on the boat
and they would ask me to fly my drone for them,
and slowly I made the connections and here I am today.