10 Things I Learnt from Watching “Seaspiracy”
“Seaspiracy” premiered on Netflix on March 24th, 2021 and it’s central theme revolves around fishing and it’s impact on the ecosystem of the sea. It’s a very complicated story, but as a consumer there was a lot to be aware of and here’s what I learnt in short summary.
- Straws are not the leading cause of man made waste in the sea.
It’s fishing gear and fishing net- they make up over 50%. And straws made up less than 1% of the waste. Which begs the question why were straws heavily advertised everywhere? Why were we encouraged to stop our use of single straws? And why were franchises, restaurants, and cafes heavily encouraged to stop their purchase of single use straws? Why weren’t fishing gears advertised? And why weren’t we informed?
2. A lot of organizations against plastic waste and who are advocating others to stop their use of plastic are owned by the same companies who are overfishing.
The saying “follow the money”, couldn’t ring truer in this case. Follow where these organizations get funded, who holds majority share, who are it’s owners and partners and there you will find the irony. It’s ironic how the very people who are against the waste put in the sea are the very people who are putting those waste in the first place. How do they have no shame?
3. West Africa is one of the last remaining areas where various types of fish and sea animals come.
Therefore, there’s been a lot of illegal fishing from other countries like Europe and China. Majority of these illegal fishing takes place at night time. Only thieves do their dirty business at night. Just like rats. Richest countries in the world and yet they still resort to stealing.
4. Sea shepherds (aka watchdogs and the police of illegal fishing) go missing or get murdered while on the job.
This shocked me. This just shows how valuable and profitable this fishing business is. People and companies and organizations and businesses are willing to resort to murder to keep fishing.
5. Farmed salmon get colored to look pink orange :)
Can I just say ‘“wow”! The natural pink orange color is due to the food these wild salmons eat, and feeding these food for the farmed salmon is expensive so farmers have gone for colors instead. We as consumers have been fooled. We didn’t know any better and we have been fooled by the false advertising and the fancy name tags and pictures. Wild salmons are hard to find and catch. And sadly majority are caught during it’s breeding season. As a result, wild salmon population has gone down and it’s natural predators like bears will have to find other alternatives. These animals shouldn’t have to resort to alternatives, we should.
6. Fishing is considered to be one of the most DANGEROUS jobs in the world.
Fisherman and woman can go missing at sea. Anything can happen. Bad weather and coming across other fishermen who are not willing to share and even going to unauthorized territory. Anything is possible.
7. Dolphins have been killed (in secret) not for food but as a competition.
Dolphin meat is hardly consumed but they are natural predator to various fishes. In order to fish more people have resorted to killing off these natural predators. ALL IN SECRET. No one in good consciousness would allow or agree with these merciless killings. The countries mentioned in this documentary are Japan (1,000 a year) and France (10,000 a year).
8. The food chain is being disrupted.
Messing up the food chain messes up the whole ecosystem. Say for example, there’s no more worms for the bird to feed on, the bird population will decline. As a result the fox has no more birds to feed on, so it will have to find other animals to eat such as mice and other small creatures. But that will disrupt the small creature ecosystem. When one animal is removed from the food chain, it collapses. The same goes for the food chain in the sea ecosystem.
9. 100 million sharks are killed a year.
If you thought there were too many sharks in the sea you were wrong. There’s too little. They die mostly due to being caught up in fishing nets. By the time these caught sharks are returned back to the sea they’re already dead. Some are farmed for their fins and used for medicine and as a delicacy meal to show ones financial power and ranking in certain countries. But fishing nets are the main problem.
10. Shrimp farming slavery in Thailand.
Human trafficking is a big issue in Thailand and there has been many reports of these victims being used as slaves in shrimp farms. Shrimps are a high in demand seafood and majority of these shrimps are provided by Thailand. The victims have been reported to be Burmese migrants
The importance of this documentary is to raise awareness and to plead it’s viewers to make the right conscious decision and to research the companies they support and who they buy their food from. Dark secrets lies behind these shiny, aesthetically pleasing labels which claims to be “friendly”, “fresh”, “natural” etc. I highly recommend watching this documentary to see everything through your own eyes and to also do your own research to find if it’s claims are true or not. You’ll be horrified to learn that they’re all true.
