Seaspiracy, new to Netflix on the 24th of March 2021, has certainly opened up my eyes to the major threat of the fishing industry towards our oceans. From mass plastic pollution circulating among marine life to overfishing, the earth’s ocean crisis is only becoming worse.
Plastic Pollution
Recently, we have been made increasingly aware of the damaging effects of plastic straws to marine life. However, Seaspiracy reveals the shocking reality: plastic straws make up a mere 0.03% plastic in our ocean’s garbage patch.
What accounts for the remainder? Well, 46% of plastic in the Great Pacific garbage patch is from vessels’ fishing nets. Therefore, the 250,000 sea turtles who are actually captured, killed and injured by nets are not victims to our plastic straws, but the fishing industry instead. The creator of Seaspiracy, Ali Tabrizi, poses the question: why has this never been mentioned before?
Whilst we were so focused on cutting down our plastic emissions, the majority of plastic pollution in our oceans still remains. And fishing organisations have little to say on the matter.
Overfishing
Overfishing is the greatest threat to dolphins and whales. In the coastal Japanese town of Taiji, fishermen view dolphins as the ones overfishing the oceans and leaving little produce for humanity. Their solution is to fish them. Therefore, whales and dolphins are needlessly slaughtered to enable humanity’s overfishing.
Despite the national whaling ban, 700+ are killed each year in Taiji. And across the globe we kill over 11,000 sharks per hour. Yet, sharks only kill ten people a year.
We are, in fact, the threat.
Breakdown of Ecosystems
Overfishing impacts not only humans, but also the ocean’s ecosystems. Many global fish masses are plummeting to extinction, having a much larger effect on our planet than many would believe.
Seabird populations have decreased by 70%. Their predators are overfished and or fished as bycatch, meaning there’s not enough fish for these aerial predators.
The major threat continues as these fish are also vital to keep the corals alive. With the damaging effects of trawling, the ocean has no hope of survival.
Our Impact Means Everything
What can we do as individuals to prevent our earth’s ocean crisis from down spiralling even further? The simplest thing we can do is carry metal and reusable items. But doing this alone won’t be enough to save our oceans.
If possible, shift to a plant-based diet or reduce your consumption of fish. This will help limit overfishing, as the demand for fish will decrease. Get involved in beach clean-ups where you can and donate money to ocean charities. Support causes such as the enforcement no catch marine reserves and end all fishing subsidies, to limit the damaging effects of overfishing and bycatching.
And lastly, watch Seaspiracy on Netflix to open your eyes to the reality of the fishing industry and the earth’s ocean crisis.
For more information visit www.seaspiracy.org or @seaspiracy on Instagram.
Charlotte Smith
Featured image courtesy of Tuan Nguyen on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
