Sea Green

Let us picture the typical image of a cat, a young lively one, sitting next to a small and round fish tank. In this fish tank, there is one tiny goldfish, at prey. The young lively cat has its eyes wide open, active, ready to catch the fish – if only there was no glass window…The documentary Seaspiracy on Netflix was directed by the activist and filmmaker Ali Tabrizi. In a way, Seaspiracy is about the lack of a glass window to protect the Earth’s oceans and its many fish and other living beings, some too deep into the abysses for us to even be aware of yet. Massacre, destruction, pollution, corruption, and humanitarian issues such as slavery and disease are the reality of the fishing industry.

The documentary aims to reveal the true nature of the fishing industry and its devastating consequences on the oceans but also how these consequences become causes. The oceans, representing 80% of all life on Earth, are a major functioning part of the planet Earth and any harm caused to them will impact the Earth and all of its components – including humanity. In the end, we are just part of a bigger picture: a global ecosystem for which oceans and seas are of absolute importance. The other way around, saving the oceans would therefore be of major help to save the planet more generally. ‘According to the study of 7,800 ocean species, we are heading for a complete collapse of ocean life by 2048. If the current rate of overfishing continues, the world’s oceans will be emptied.’, theworldcounts.com.

Seaspiracy calls for our action: if we really want to save the planet – and we should really want to because we are and will all be impacted by the disaster – focus and understand what is happening at sea. And stop eating fish. Indeed, the main argument of Seaspiracy is the reality that the only way to save the oceans is to stop eating fish. One guiding thread throughout the film is the fact that fishing ships at sea are under no real rules since they find themselves far from the shores, without any authority to watch over their activities.

Did you just start buying bamboo toothbrushes? Stopped using plastic cotton buds and plastic straws after watching this viral video of the injured sea turtle? Seaspiracy does not laugh at you for doing so but reminds us of very important numeral facts in order to give you the power to make real change.

For instance, 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is composed of fishing nets. The majority of the remaining 54% is comprised of other fishing gear and tools. Moreover, fishing nets and other fishing objects are far more dangerous than straws and cotton buds, for they are designed to kill. Abandoned fishing gear injures or kills over 100,000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles every year. Another interesting number is that 250,000 sea turtles are captured, injured, or killed by the fishing industry every year in the USA whilst a global survey estimated 1,000 sea turtles die in plastic per year worldwide. Avoiding plastic at all costs is a very good initiative, but to stop eating fish is a particularly powerful solution. If we all stop eating fish there is no more fishing nets piling up into deadly garbage patches and a drastic cut to the harm made to animals such as sea turtles.

Furthermore, 90% of the world’s large fish have been wiped out by fishing and by-catch. By-catch defines the fish and other marine animals caught by fishing nets unintentionally. Each year, 100 million sharks are killed as by-catch alone. Up to 11,446 per hour. Fishing boats’ crews are under the order of throwing back into the sea any animals they caught unintentionally fast enough so that they do not die. In Seaspiracy, this is a rule that is revealed to be hardly followed, without consequence since captains can easily lie about their reporting on by-catch and how they dealt with it.

The animals caught by by-catch are thrown in the water dead or half-dead. What happens at sea remains at sea. Seaspiracy reveals another sidevictim of the fishing industry. In the cove of Taiji, Japan, dolphins are massacred en masse and under the highest secret surveillance. Everywhere Ali Tabrizi goes with his camera, he is violently shooed away or asked to turn his camera off. Dolphins are in fact massacred because they are considered competitors by the fishing industry…If we all stop eating fish, sharks and dolphins would be left alone in a safe home.

What is more, seagrass captures and stores carbon at a rate several times faster than rainforests. Salt marshes and mangroves are other powerful carbon sinks. They are all, however, ‘the most heavily used and threatened natural systems globally: 30% of seagrasses have been either lost or degraded worldwide in the past 50 years’ only (@seaspiracy). Approximately 25 million acres of forest are lost every year. Yet, 3.9 billion acres of seafloor are lost due to trawling – or the equivalent of losing 4.316 soccer fields every minute.

Bottom trawling describes the dragging of large heavy nets along the sea floor in order to catch marine animals. Dr. Sylvia Earle, interviewed in the documentary says: ‘Bottom trawling is akin to using a bulldozer to catch a butterfly…Destroying a whole ecosystem for the sake of a few pounds of protein’. If we all stop eating fish, the marine environments could have time to restore and to ensure biodiversity. They would also continue to help us to fight climate change.

If all these facts are not enough, the numbers not already alarming, Seaspiracy also tackles the lack of ethics surrounding the fishing industry. Human rights are at stake within the fishing industry. Slavery in the seafood industry is reported in 47 countries. Ali Tabrizi has the chance to interview face-covered, voice-trafficked courageous former Thai slaves who explain how captains kindly suggest to Thai men to come and work on their boats only to become slaves on ships under no real surveillance. Abuse and murder are established as common practices on these ships. Moreover, the documentary mentions the fishermen of the West African coast.

These canoe fishermen are the most at risk of dying when working at sea. If this could be due to a lack of security within this type of boats, ‘additional pressure from illegal foreign fishing vessels [such as China’s] stealing fish from the region has meant workers need to paddle further and further out to sea to find fish – increasing their chances of never returning’ (@seaspiracy). The ship of SeaShepherd fight this issue on a daily basis, and Ali Tabrizi allows us to witness their work. The documentary makes a causal link between the shortage of fish in the West of Africa

Netflix’s documentary also highlights corruption and lies. Ali Tabrizi wonders why so many organisations who claim their goals to protect the oceans do not put forward the plant-based diet – the most efficient solution - as a means to contribute to the safeguard of the seas. He finds that many of these organisations are corrupt and find their money among fishing companies. For instance, Tabrizi approaches a representative of the Earth Island Institute about their ‘dolphin-safe’ label found on tuna cans. Up to 45 dolphins can die in the capturing of just 8 tunas. The representative is asked if there is an actual guarantee behind the label and found himself very embarrassed. He admits that there is none, before saying that there is. The conversation appears surreal. The fact that our increasing sensibility is being exploited and manipulated in favour of the fishing industry is absolutely revolting.

The conclusion of Seaspiracy really is that the most meaningful and efficient action is actually very reachable. We all need to change our diets and stop eating fish and this is possible. This is even morally necessary for the only and simple reason that fish are as sentient as all other animals – even if they attract less sympathy than their furry cousins. They feel pain as much as fear and stress. They are social animals – if some fish find themselves in a restaurant’s fish tank and one is taken out and slaughtered in front of the rest of the fish, the fish would all feel the distress that they are next as well as the feeling of having lost a friend, a cousin…

In fact, the only reason why fish tastes what it tastes like and brings as much protein as it does come from what they eat. Alga will taste like the seafood you are used to and will be as nutritious. Fish and meat in general are just an easy means to nutrition. An animal did the job for us, ate and processed nutrients for us. In terms of nutrition fish and meat are an old, unnecessary step that proves itself to be immoral as time and studies pass.

I highly encourage anyone to watch Seaspiracy on Netflix, it is purely, honestly informative, gives answers and solutions. It will leave you revolted but also hopeful: Ali Tabrizi and the interviewees remind us that the oceans have always been capable to heal and keep growing fast: we only need to give them peace, time, and space by stopping to eat fish.

Composed by,

Déborah Lazreug, Undergraduate of English Literature and History of Art at the University of Aberdeen