The Diminishing Marine Life

Watching “The Sea of Truth” elicits a wave of emotion in me. Emotions of fury with the human race and remorse for marine life. The documentary does not shy from facing the truth head on, and does not evade the responsibility of informing the world the damage it is causing, a fact that has been reinforced by Poloczanska et al. (2013). It is surprising to learn that 90% of predatory fish in the oceans are gone, not because of an apocalypse, but because of human activity. In pursuit of capitalistic ends, the art and habitat that is the ocean floor is destroyed, leave alone the fact that the same takes hundreds of years to rebuild.

The documentary is loaded with information that evokes a string of thoughts about our actions, both consciously and in the subconscious. By extrapolating what has happened in the past to the future, the documentary uncovers that there is an imminent disappearance of fish from the ocean in the next 30 years. The sad thing is that nothing is being done; fact is, we humans are accelerating the problem through the use of technologies such as sonar and indiscriminate fishing techniques. Even with fishing quotas and other interventions, such technologies are making it so easy to finish the remaining fish through fishing. All along, I have been convinced that sustainable fishing is the solution, but the documentary throws a dark cloud on the concept by thrashing it and offering an end to fishing as the solution.

The documentary leaves me wondering, what is going to happen to the fishing industry. Further, what else can the human race to quicken or hasten the process of recovery. Is quitting fishing and fish eating substantial on its own? How about the ocean floor? How is it going to be reconstructed? It was a surprise to learn that the ocean absorbs carbon and the higher the carbon, the higher the damage caused.

Extra Credit

The documentary “Troubled Waters – Documentary About Impacts of Overfishing” by Fact & Narrative Films which was published on the 14^th January, 2015 is an eye opener. The documentary is loaded with statistics and facts about the impacts of overfishing. The documentary acknowledged that one in seven people in the world are supported by fishing industry. The documentary describes that overfishing starts with huge species of fish mostly the predators and continues down to the smallest fish in reducing sizes. It is shocking to learn that the all fish species have been overexploited to levels above 87% and others such as the Bluefin Tuna have been exploited by more than 96%. All along the documentary, it has been demonstrated that human activities are tipping the ecological scales to the worse. Demand for marine products, a search for new opportunities and significant improvements in technologies continue to complicate the situation.

References

Fact & Narrative Films. [Video] Troubled Waters – Documentary About Impacts of Overfishing. Retrieved YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YACTNvuijQY

Poloczanska, E. S., Brown, C. J., Sydeman, W. J., Kiessling, W., Schoeman, D. S., Moore, P. J., … & Duarte, C. M “Global imprint of climate change on marine life.” Nature Climate Change 3.10 (2013): 919.