Films / Movies / Films & Videos / Films About Diet and Food / FIsh, Fishing, Seafood / MARINE MAMMAL PARKS / SEAFOOD / FISHING / WILDLIFE

SEASPIRACY, Reveals Rough Seas Ahead

by Jennie Richards · Published March 24, 2021 · Updated March 25, 2021

“The only ethical thing to do is to stop eating fish.”
“The single best thing I can do every day to protect the ocean and marine life, is simply not to eat them.”

The long-awaited feature-length documentary Seaspiracy will radically change the way you think about fishing and eating fish. From the makers of Cowspiracy, director Ali Tabrizi and his cinematographer wife, travel the world in search of the truth about what is happening to our oceans, marine life, and the consequences of the fishing industry. Along the way, they interview countless leading conservationists, scientists, activists, fisherman, and industry experts, and risk their lives to uncover the truth about the state of our oceans today. The film addresses why all fishing today is basically unsustainable, why fish farming is not the answer to our appetite for fish, why commercial fishing is destroying our oceans and marine life, what is driving the near extinction of certain species, and why money and greed are at the bottom of all of it. But it is our human appetite for seafood worldwide that is truly driving this dangerous depletion of our oceans. Clearly, it’s time for a change. The film makes the case well, that a change in human behavior and values is needed if we are ever to save our oceans and all the sea life in it.

It becomes clear watching the film, that consumers and fisherman are at war with the oceans. Maybe not a war they are aware of or are conscious of, but that is the value of watching the film. And if there is any question who will win the war, humans will lose with a dead, devoid sea. The claim that is made by marine biologists for years now, that our oceans will be completely depleted of fish by 2048 if we continue down this path, is repeated. Watching the film, gives us pause to think it may come even earlier. Clearly, overfishing is wreaking absolute havoc with our oceans, depleting fish stocks beyond the reproductive rate, causing the extinction of species, triggering serious imbalances in marine life, and killing the apex species which keep our oceans healthy. The film makes a good case for the myth of sustainable fish and fishing, basically there’s no such thing. The main non-profit that promotes the MSC sustainable fish label is paid for each label they sell—making the sustainable fishing industry a fraud—a complete scam. Fish farming doesn’t seem to be the answer either, polluting our oceans with fertilizers, pesticides and chemicals, and killing at least half the fish from disease before they ever hit the market, is not productive and is contributing to our oceans further demise.

But in the end, people will make the difference, individuals like you and me. How? By not supporting the overfishing, the wasteful and deadly by-catch rates, the extinction of so many species, the human slavery, the suffering and pain caused to all marine creatures caught in a cruel net. How? Through the non-animal alternatives of readily available plant-based seafood that is a burgeoning industry in its own right. Plant-based seafood alternatives seem to be the best answer, cause the least harm, do the most good, and can save the oceans. That is, if people put their consumer dollars and minds where their heart and values are. It’s up to us. Each of us.

Film Length: 1 hour, 29 minutes

Film Premier: March 2021

Sustainable Fishing?

“There’s no such thing as a ‘sustainable fishery,’ fishing is not sustainable, that’s just a marketing phrase to appeal to consumers. This is an appeal to people who eat fish and in doing so will support these nonprofits. Many of these nonprofits are exploiting the problem.”

Sustainable fishing is not working at all. The MSC, Marine Stewardship Council, founded by UNILEVER, gets 80% of their 30 million pounds of annual income from licensing their logo on seafood packages. The more companies they certify the more income they make, making the certification meaningless. Only two fishing companies have ever been denied certification by the MSC in over 20 years. It’s impossible to enforce sustainable fishing laws with rampant illegal fishing around the world every day.”

Fish Farming

“Farmed fish are fed a massive amount of wild fish turned into processed dried fish meal. Fish farming is just wild fishing in disguise. Today around 50% of the world’s seafood comes from fish farms. Scotland is one of the leading producers of farmed fish. On salmon farms there, fish are infested with sea lice parasites. Confined to swim in circles in their own waste, they produce massive amounts of organic biological waste that goes into the ocean. In Scotland, 50% of all salmon die from egg to plate, a symptom of factory battery salmon farming – from anemia, infectious diseases, lice infestation, chlamydia, heart disease—this is welfare abuse, it’s a waste of resources and biological nonsense.”

Watch the Film

Watch the film Seaspiracy on Netflix

What You Can Do

Switch to eating a plant-based, non-animal, vegan diet – Eat 100% plant-based foods, not animal-based foods.
Eliminate eating fish – Fish are not heart-healthy. Most fat in fish is not healthy, the majority of fat in fish is saturated fat and cholesterol that leads to increased heart disease, arteriosclerosis and artery blockage. Not to mention the pollutants and toxic chemicals found in fish.
Eliminate foods that contain cholesterol in your diet – For every 1% reduction in cholesterol means a 2% reduction in heart disease risk.
Eliminate all animal products from your diet – Benefit the planet, your health, the environment, and the animals.
For more help going vegan visit these websites: NutritionFacts.org, Cowspiracy, Forks Over Knives, Try Vegan-Stay Vegan.
Watch the documentary film Troubled Waters: See Troubled Watershere https://youtu.be/YACTNvuijQY, that explores what has happened to our oceans because of our appetite for seafood and looks at what we can do personally to kick start a reformed fishing industry.

Film Facts

“Scientists are predicting the loss and death of 90% of the world’s coral reefs by 2050.”

“The oceans are home to 80% of life on Earth.”

“The abundance of seabirds has declined by about 70 percent.”

“Commercial fishing is essentially the same as wildlife poaching, catching up to 2.7 trillion fish every year. 5 million fish are killed every single minute. No other industry on Earth kills as many animals.”

“150 million tons of plastic garbage are already floating in the ocean. It breaks down into micro-particles and ends up in every single fish and creature in the seas.”

“The problem is with over 4,600,000 fishermen at sea, it’s hard for governments to police the illegal fishing.”

“Sharks are key to the survival of the ocean. Sharks only kill about 10 people per year in the ocean. Comparatively, we humans kill 11,000-30,000 sharks PER HOUR. Mostly, as by-catch, while fisherman are trying to catch other fish.”

“Up to 40% of all marine life caught for fishing are thrown overboard and die.”

“6 out of 7 species of sea turtles are threatened or going extinct now – this is because of fishing. In the U.S. alone, 250,000 sea turtles are killed, injured or captured every single year by sea fishing vessels.”

“Plastic straws only account for 0.003 % of all plastic in the ocean, yet it is the most talked about type of plastic pollution.”

“Less than 1% of all of our oceans are protected. It’s an utter disgrace.”

“The greatest threat to whales and dolphins is commercial fishing. Over 300,000 dolphins and whales are killed every single year as “by-catch” in industrial fishing.”

“46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are plastic fishing nets.”

“Due to the high prices of tuna, they are being driven into extinction. Today less than 3% of the species remain, that were once thriving decades ago.”

“The fishing industry is destroying the fish and the rest of the life of the seas.”

“The ocean is the biggest carbon sink on the planet.”

“95% of all carbon is stored in the ocean.”

“Trawling is the most destructive form of fishing, scarring the sea floor, leaving no life behind, bottom trolling wipes out 3.9 billion acres of marine life per year.”

“24,000 fishermen die every year at sea.”

Quotes from the Film

Fish feel. Fish feel pain and fear. They are highly sensitive and sentient. They have an excellent sense of touch, vision, hearing—they feel curiosity, fear and pain. The myth that fish don’t feel is just an ignorant justification for killing them.
There’s no such thing as a ‘sustainable fishery,’ fishing is not sustainable, that’s just a marketing phrase is all. This is an appeal to people who eat fish, to support the nonprofit. Many of these nonprofits are exploiting the problem.
These animals washing up on shore, their entire stomachs are filled with plastic garbage, it’s devastating.
If dolphins and whales die, the oceans die, if the oceans die – so do we. Protecting these animals means protecting the entire planet.
Industrial pollutants are found most concentrated in fish. Fish don’t make Omega-3 fatty acids, it comes from algae. Fish have high PCBs, cholesterol, saturated fat, toxic chemicals – they are not healthy for you to eat.
Bycatch are the invisible victims of eating fish and fishing.
Today, the equivalent of a garbage truckload of plastic is dumped into the sea every single day.
There is an International Whaling Ban since 1986, but some countries are operating under the radar, namely Japan.
In Taiji, Japan, each year, 700 dolphins and small whales are herded into a small cove, then they are slaughtered. It is a war on dolphins. Police, secret service, undercover cops—followed us everywhere.
Where are the big environment groups? They are deliberately not participating in the concerns of overfishing in our oceans.
The Taiji “dolphin drives” continue to be funded by the marine park entertainment industry. Live dolphins are very expensive to buy. They are caught by the Japanese, then sold to marine parks. Everything dolphins want and like to do—they cannot do; everything they don’t want to do—they are forced to do.
From 2000-2015, for every one dolphin captured, the Japanese killed another 12 dolphins. Why slaughter them? The fisherman view the dolphin as “pests” that eat fish, threatening the overfishing the Japanese do. The Japanese were killing dolphins as a scapegoat for their overfishing, so they could continue overfishing tuna.
The shark finning industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry. It’s mafia-esque run. Sharks around the world are being killed for their fins. Fins that are being shipped to Asia, mainly China, for shark-fin soup, with no nutritional benefit at all.
People should not be afraid of sharks, people should be afraid of not having sharks in the ocean. They keep the ocean healthy; sharks keep the fish stocks healthy; sharks keep the ecosystems alive; they keep coral reefs alive—if they get “finned” into extinction, the oceans will turn into a swamp—and guess who will die next, us!
When you eat fish, you are putting a death sentence on the dolphin population.
Dolphin-safe tuna? One fishing vessel caught 45 dolphins in order to catch 8 tunas. They were working for the “Dolphin-Safe” label. Who is behind this label? The Earth Island Institute in Berkeley, CA. How can you know it’s dolphin safe? They are taking the captain’s word for it only. This is fraud. It’s phony. The internationally recognized seafood label was a complete fabrication, since it guaranteed nothing.
Discarded fishing nets is far more dangerous because they are designed to kill fish. Fishing vessels discard a massive number of nets and fishing gear.
Is there something the public and individuals can do to stop the fishing nets trash? Yes, people need to say “no” and stop eating fish and supporting this industry.
The Plastic Pollution Coalition is a project of the Earth Island Institute – the same ones who work with the fishing industry to sell more seafood! No wonder they don’t want to talk about the leading cause of plastic pollution in many parts of the world.
The biggest issue by far is commercial fishing to the health of the oceans and marine life.
Industrial fishing – is a death machine. Huge fishing ships that “mop up” the fish in the ocean.
Since the middle of the 20^th century humans have succeeded in extracting from the ocean mass quantities of marine life. It’s estimated that if we keep taking wild fish like we are today, by 2050, there will be no commercial fishing, because there will be no fish to catch.
We are at war with the oceans, if we win it, we will lose everything.
We will see empty oceans by 2048.
Slavery at sea is a massive problem. People are murdered. You can be a victim of corruption, of paid police forces, it’s dangerous. The authorities cover it up. A lot of seafood today is from slavery. People don’t see how their seafood is being caught, they only care about consumption.