Ken Whelan

And my friend, Cushla Drumgoole-Reagan, who actually organises the Explorers programme for the Marine Institute, the work they have done over the last 10 or 15 years is utterly extraordinary.

Yeah, well, normally what happens is that people think when they see a little salmon at the end of its journey down the river, the little baby salmon, and they're jumping out of the water, that they're celebrating spring.

Nice and quietly, groups and groups and groups of kids going out there and being really, really excited to see what they find.

And certainly just, as you were saying, I remember being with Cushla on one occasion when we were doing an adult beach walk in County Louth.

In fact, they're in incredible discomfort.

Because remember what they're doing.

So they're sitting there in fresh water and they think they're a fresh water creature.

And we found some of the remains of some of the porpoises that would have been feeding offshore.

And then their body changes.

And their body changes so that the cells are doing something that's the opposite.

And we'd been looking at a live porpoise just before that.

And she was able to identify then the parts that were left as part of one of those porpoises that had died naturally.

So when they're in fresh water they're trying not to drown.

They're pumping out fresh water all the time.

And making that connection is just fantastic for the kids.

Once they get into salt water, they're trying to retain the water as much as they can.

And getting people to actually start looking and picking up on these rare finds is really important because the way things are changing.

And they suddenly get into a physiological state where they have to retain the water.

And they are completely and totally bloated.

They're feeling very uncomfortable.