Hello everyone!
I recently read about a new documentary release on Netflix, called Seaspiracy and I read some reviews claim that everyone should watch it! The documentary is directed by British filmmaker called Ali Tabrizi and focus on the destruction of marine life from the activities of commercial fishing.
You can watch the trailer here:
The documentary starts with Alis' worriment about the risen number of a terrifying phenomenon, beached whales. We already know from national geographic campaigns and articles that more and more whales are beached with tone of plastic and fishnets on their stomachs. It is a sad story about how huge is our impact on this planet and we have to awaken cause without marine life there will be no life for us either!
As Ali mentioned in the documentary, although he donated to ocean charities, attended beach clean ups and stopped using plastic in his everyday life he was still feeling that there was something more distractive for the marine life than plastic. The journey started when news spread the word that Japan will resume commercial whale hunting despite the worldwide ban. He visits a place called Taiji where every year 700 dolphins and small whales are herded into a cove for slaughter. It is a huge undercover buisness and even the authorities are protecting them. The picture will shock you, we can't even imagine what is really happening around us.
The journey continues at the port where Ali was surpised by facing one of the biggest tuna industries which was landing Bluefin tuna , an endangered spiece and one of the most expensive in the world. They were also landing sharks on the port to slice off their fins to sell them for fin soups in the food industry. It is unbelievable that we do this damage to nature, sharks keep the ecosystem alive and the ocean healthy and we act with no sense.
Of course the damage does not end there and is worldwide, many creatures are killed as bycatch from the commercial fishing fleet. Every year at least 50 million sharks are caught this way, also seals , seabirds. The worst and most annoying part is that this kind of fishery is awarded for it's sustainable fishing practices for so many years. Even internationally recognized seafood labels can not guarantee if there are killed other animals from bycatch, it is outrageous!
Another serious problem that is not refered on the campaigns about sea polution, is the discarded fishing nets that are way more dangerous for sea creatures than plastic straws. Most organizations focus only on plastic and don't even presents this side of distraction, unbelievable!
Last and most shocking corruption of fish industry is claimed to be at Thailand, where shrimp industry is based on slave labor ! There are interviews of people who lived under this situation and they claim that they had been slavors for many years in ships and they couldn't escape, they had been tortured and others got killed! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it sounds impossible that people actually experience inhumane situations like these in our days.
To summarize cause it has been a long post, Seaspiracy is a documentary you should definitely watch and start wondering what is really going on around us. It is your call what you are going to believe or not, but I think it worths to give a chance to see from this perspective. I have to warn you that some parts of the documentary are shocking and contains images that could be disturbing for someone. Personally I got sensitized by these disclosures and I will stop supporting the commercial fishing industry and expect from that I will do my best to diminish the everyday use of plastic more than I already do. It is our duty to protect our planet and stop contribute to the distuction!
