Seaspiracy

Seaspiracy

Seaspiracy director and researcher Ali Tabrizi started as someone who wanted to save the ocean from plastic. He became particularly interested when the plastic found in the oceans was also being discovered in beached whales filled with it when they washed up onshore. 

In the beginning, Ali thought that trash was the most significant thing affecting the oceans. However, as he went deeper into his research alongside his wife, Lucy, he found that waste in the sea is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the things that are negatively affecting waters worldwide. 

Below is a summary of the most critical issues that this documentary focuses on and why each topic plays a part in wiping away marine life. 

 

1. Dolphins, sharks, and whales are killed deliberately.

Whales and dolphins aren’t just dying accidentally from consuming plastic and other waste. Entire countries intentionally target them. An international ban on all whaling has been in place since 1986. However, countries have secretly continued killing off whales and dolphins for years. The most notable country that does this is Japan. In Taiji, the massacre of dolphins and whales by herding them into a cove where they are slaughtered kills about 700 of them each year. 

The marine park industry funds these dolphin drives since catching dolphins and whales is essential for people to get the best entertainment they can when they go to these parks. Essentially, this captivity that occurs destroys the dolphin’s will to live. 

Dolphins from catches like the ones that occur in Taiji that aren’t chosen for a life in captivity at marine parks are killed onsite for one reason. They are viewed as “pests” by the fishermen in the area and compete for fishing. They believe that if they kill the dolphins who are eating the fish, more will become available for them to catch and sell. However, the overfishing that is occurring all around the world is the one to blame when it comes to the issue of fish populations dwindling. 

2. Overfishing and bycatch 

Overfishing is another major issue that this film touches on, and if this practice should continue, entire species could go extinct in the next couple of decades. Bluefish tuna, for example, is a species of fish that was once abundant in the 70s but is now practically extinct, with less than 3% of the population remaining. The issue with combating this problem is that overfishing is very difficult to enforce, and since the industry is worth so much, it is impossible to cut back on the amount of fishing we are doing.

The Shark finning industry is another multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that is cutting down multiple species of sharks rapidly. People kill sharks for their fins, mainly for a delicacy known in Asian countries as shark fin soup. 

The issue with this industry is that if it continues to kill sharks, at some point, the ocean will become barren and lose all life which will eventually kill us as well. Without sharks as apex predators, all the other kinds of fish that the sharks eat will overpopulate and die off since there’s not enough for them to feed on. 

3. MSC blue label and fake dolphin-safe info

Many canned fish brands will claim that their products are “dolphin-safe,” which means that the fisherman harm no dolphins in the process of harvesting their products. However, dolphin-safe things aren’t necessarily always guaranteed. Observers at sea who are supposed to ensure that companies keep their products “dolphin-safe” can be bribed and are not at sea enough to monitor most activity. 

Essentially “dolphin-safe tuna” cannot be confirmed since there are so few regulations around guaranteeing safety so in most cases the dolphin-safe tuna label means nothing. 

The MSC blue label is another false form of advertising that is pasted on certain marine products. This label stands out to customers since companies can only have the label on their products if they are practicing “sustainable fishing” which is supposedly great for the environment. However, what most people don’t know is that “sustainable fishing” is nearly impossible to achieve and really doesn’t have to do with why the MSC puts its labels on some products instead of others. 

The certified fisheries that are “sustainable” produce huge amounts of bycatch which kills off all kinds of marine life. However, those deaths are ignored and basically aren’t counted which makes the MSC label worthless since animals are still being killed off even though the products are considered to be “sustainable.” 

The reason why the MSC gives their blue label to basically any products despite whether they’re sustainable or not is all because of money. According to Ali’s research, 80% of the MSC’s nearly 30-million-a-year income is from licensing their logo on seafood. Essentially, the more blue labels that are handed out result in more money for the MSC. 

Even though having a dolphin-safe or MSC label on a product might look like it’s helping the environment to the consumer, it is practically worthless. 

4. Industries are destroying the oceans far more than your straws are

When people talk about plastic in the sea, most of it is not your everyday plastics and trash. Instead, most of it is fishing nets and fishing gear. 46% of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for example, is made up of fishing nets. Fishing supplies and equipment are essentially much more deadly and harmful to marine life than plastic straws.

Plastic straws only make up about 0.03% of the plastic in the ocean. Sea turtles are endangered species due to fishing and not plastic, climate change, or ocean pollution. Only about 1,000 sea turtles die from plastic every year; however, around 250,000 sea turtles are either injured or killed by fishing boats every year in the U.S. alone. 

The most surprising thing is that groups that try to help the ocean are directly connected to the fishing industry. 

Places like the plastic pollution coalition and earth island institute are well-known organizations that many people trust with saving our oceans. However, those groups are connected with the fake dolphin-safe tuna label and work with the fishing industry to sell more seafood, hurting the sea a lot more than plastic use. 

5. Climate change 

A lot of people tend to blame our changing environment on climate change or global warming.

This is mainly because our news outlets, governments, industries, and even activists and their organizations have listed climate change as the main problem instead of the real issue, destroying our oceans.

Coral reefs, for example, will be almost all gone by the year 2050, and it’s all because of the growing absence of fish in our oceans, not climate change. Fish fertilize the reefs and give them nutrients and food, but overfishing has resulted in fewer fish, making it nearly impossible for them to survive and replenish themselves. The destruction of reefs is a massive problem since “over half a billion people depend on reefs for food, income, and protection.”

Even though climate change is still a huge problem, our oceans are just as important. Discussion of climate change is growing, but few know what is truly going on in the sea. Both issues should be equally important to the public since our world may drastically change for the worst in the next couple of decades if things don’t change soon. 

Seaspiracy also discusses a combination of other issues that are affecting the world’s oceans just as much as the ones that were briefly covered in this article. Becoming knowledgeable about these topics is just one step into making a positive transition towards saving marine life and their habitats. Cutting out seafood, not visiting marine parks and spreading awareness about these crucial issues are just a few ways that anyone can contribute to keeping our oceans and aquatic life healthy and free. 

 

Explore the Seaspiracy page here. 

The Forest Scout • Copyright 2024 • FLEX WordPress Theme by SNOLog in

Donate to The Forest Scout
$240
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All The Forest Scout Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *