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Fabrice Schnöller is a French engineer who left a highly-paid job in construction and dedicated his life to the pursuit of understanding whalesong. He told Outlook's Saskia Collette how it all began after a chance encounter with a pod of sperm whales. This interview was first broadcast in 2018.

Zach Small is a British father who took his daughters on an ocean adventure to scatter their mother's ashes. But their voyage nearly ended in disaster when their catamaran hit a sleeping whale and their boat quickly began to sink – hundreds of miles from land.

Rainer Schimpf is a dive tour operator from South Africa who photographs ocean life off the Eastern Cape. He told Outlook's Neal Razzell about being swept into the mouth of a large Bryde whale while snorkelling and filming a sardine run. This interview was first broadcast in 2019.

Asha De Vos is a marine biologist who runs Sri Lanka's first marine conservation centre, Oceanswell. Asha has been working to help save Sri Lanka's native and endangered pygmy blue whale. She also goes by the nickname 'whale poop girl' because of what she's discovered from the animal's excrement. This interview was first broadcast in 2018.

In the late 1970s American Michael Fishbach was one of the world's top 50 tennis players. Today he's founder of the Great Whale Conservancy and spends his life trying to stop their numbers from dwindling. Michael told Outlook about saving one particular humpback whale called Valentina. This interview was first broadcast in 2018.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: May Cameron

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty Images)