Released in March 2020 on Netflix, Seaspiracy movie is the little brother of Cowspiracy. Written and produced by the same studio, this movie presents an overview of the current ocean state.
It describes during 90 minutes the impact of human activity on the ocean, from massive fishing to the Great Pacific Garbage patch. This whistleblowing movie underlines ocean life decimation, insisting on how humankind influenced the ocean ecosystem, by fishing some of the species, or with plastic ending up on the ocean or the beach. This movie is a warning message. This movie is an eye-opener.
To challenge, to question, it reveals shocking numbers. On average, sharks kill around 10 people per year. By comparison, we kill 11,000-30,000 sharks per hour. It mentions the mass killing of whales, dolphins and porpoises as collateral damages of intensive fishing. It insists on fishing gear impact. Designed to catch and kill marine life, it continues to act upon this goal even after it has been abandoned or lost: it kills over 100.000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles every year. Indeed, in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch majority of plastic pollution is caused by fishing materials.
Overall, what the documentary wants you to understand, is that human is slowly killing the oceans when we need the ocean to survive. The facts are here: oceans are home to up to 80% of all life on earth, produces 50-80% of the oxygen on earth and absorbs 4 times the amount of CO2 as the Amazon Rainforest. In the meantime, our chemicals, hormones, plastics and fishing practices are destroying it without the possibility of reversing the trend without changing consumption patterns.
Even if some facts can be rechecked: it cites an outdated paper about the likely date of fisheries' global collapse, 2 of its figures about bycatch are incorrect and it confuses carbon stored by lifeforms with carbon stored in seawater. Apart from that, Seaspiracy is a devastating indictment of commercial fishing. It shows the true impact of industrial fishing and how it drives wildlife populations and ecosystems around the oceans towards collapse. It shows how fishing is still authorized in some "marine reserves", how "sustainable seafood" is a scam, how trawling in a protected zone in the EU is bigger than in unprotected... It reminds us that only 6.2% of the world’s marine fish populations are neither "overfished" nor "fully fished" meaning that fish are being caught at their “maximum sustainable yield” (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation statement). It raises several issues and it leaves no one indifferent. As Cowspiracy, it is criticized as being "vegan propaganda", but when one's hear the numbers, what other solution do we have? As said in the documentary, "people are ready to ditch straws to save the fish, but won't stop eating fish to save the fish". Shifting from our current model of consumption to more zero-waste and vegan options appears as the best for everyone, on land and underwater. This movie helps to see the effects of western consumption. It helps to understand that our food and other products do not just appear on a shelf and that all our consumption is tied to this earth and its oceans.
Overall, even if this documentary gravely missed the opportunity to be called Cospirasea, it remains a must-see. This documentary should be available for watching all over the world in schools to educate the kids. It should be made available for free on Youtube. Everyone should learn about these issues, societal and environmental, and use them to make wise and informed choices. The power is in your hand.
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