The documentary, The End Of The Line, takes a look at the status of the world's oceans (Photo courtesy of End Of The Line)
Fish is a big part of our diet. We eat everything from fish sticks and fast food fish sandwiches to sushi and swordfish steaks. But Lester Graham reports a new documentary makes the case we’re overfishing the oceans:
Transcript
Fish is a big part of our diet. We eat everything from fish sticks and fast food fish sandwiches to sushi and swordfish steaks. But Lester Graham reports a new documentary makes the case we’re overfishing the oceans:
This new film is called The End of the Line.
“Everybody recognizes that there’s major problems with the world’s fisheries. And at one level it’s a question of ‘how bad is it?’”
That’s Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington, one of the scientists in the documentary.
The film is a compelling argument that huge fishing trawlers are pushing the fish stocks to the edge.
The first sign of a problem was the cod fishery off the coast of Newfoundland. It collapsed in the 1970s.
But it seemed, despite problems around the world, the total catch around the globe was going up every year. That is, until researchers realized just a few years ago, Communist officials in China were reporting inflated fish numbers to impress their superiors. The world catch was actually getting smaller.
Scientists were stunned, and worried.
“For the first time in human history, the future of the food the world gets from the sea was in doubt.”
“Send a shiver down my spine because that was the one thing a lot of people were holding on to: well, things may be bad, but at least we’re catching lots and we’re catching more every year, so, it can’t be that bad.”
Boris Worm at Dalhousie University is one of the researchers who confirmed the world catch is getting smaller.
He and others have been studying the fact that boats are catching fewer fish, even though the nets are larger and the long lines put out more hooks.
Claire Lewis produced The End of the Line documentary. She admits, this leaves people who see fish as a good source of low-fat protein in a spot.
“It’s very hard. As a parent, you have conflicting evidence. You want to give your children and you want to feed yourself healthy food. You know that’s what fish is. On the other hand, you cannot possible ignore what we’re doing to the oceans, to the ecosystem in the ocean in eating too many fish.”
“Today in every ocean of the world, high-tech industrial vessels are hunting down every known edible species of fish.”
Ray Hilborn: “The basic problem in most fisheries that are in troube is too many boats.”
Charles Clover: “Too much capacity chasing too few fish.”
That last speaker is Charles Clover. The film documentary is based on a book he wrote by the same title. Like the film’s producers, he wants people to be more aware of the plight of the world’s fisheries.
Producer Claire Lewis says there are examples where fishing is being controlled more carefully.
“The most graphic example, I think, in our film, is that fact that in Alaska – which is a very well managed fishery – they take 10% of the stock only. In the North Sea in the E.U., they take 50% of the stock. Now, it seems to me that’s a really, really big difference.”
Lewis says, if left to the big commercial fishing operations, they’ll just keep fishing until fish stocks collapse. And she believes stricter government regulations and better informed consumers are the only things that will stop them.
“I really do believe that it’s the individual consumers who are going to make a difference to this. I think it’s something we can all individually do.”
The film tries to get people to start thinking about what they can do: such as, asking about the fish before you buy it, letting politicians know a sustainable fishery is important, and it encourages people to get involved with groups such as Seafoodwatch.org.
The End of the Line is narrated by actor and environmental activist Ted Danson. It’s appearing in theaters across the nation.
For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.
