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In this series of Essays writer Jon Gower explores the patches of sea water around Wales, sailing past Viking slave traders, soft crumbling coastlines, industrial scale smuggling, marathon chess matches between lighthouse keepers, ghost ships, whales and walruses along the way. For the country of Wales, surrounded on three sides by the sea, that sea has always been important – a trade route, a means to export ideas such as Christianity, or as a source of fish - especially herring, so many herring.

What Has the Sea Become - tells of the great fortune the herring trade brought Wales over the years, from coastal towns whose very names boast of the fish in their waters, to the priests squabbling over beaches to ensure they got their tithe of herrings. Jon describes the remarkable wealth fishing for this silver scaly coinage has brought the country. We move along the coastline and the other natural commodities the sea offers up but also mark the dwindling fish stocks of recent years because of overfishing and the unfortunate presence of microplastics, clogging up the digestive systems of sea mammals and fish in these same waters. Jon tells of how the sea has become a dumping ground for leftovers from war but sees hope in the reassuring ebb and flow, that harmony will be restored.

Produced by Megan Jones and Philippa Swallow.