Saving Seafood

Everything You Know about Shark Conservation Is Wrong

May 25, 2022 — More people than ever before are aware of the shark conservation crisis and want to help, which is great news. However, many well-intentioned people often don’t know the true causes of—and solutions to—this crisis, resulting in what’s at best wasted effort, and at worst harming what they’re trying to support. This conservation dilemma has inspired the last decade of my research and public science engagement. It also inspired my new book, Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator, which synthesizes hundreds of research papers and reports to inform readers of the true threats to sharks and how we can begin to solve them. Only by following the evidence and seeking data-driven, sustainable solutions to overfishing can we save these fascinating and important creatures.

Many people believe that the largest or only threat to sharks is “shark finning”: the practice of catching sharks, harvesting their fins and discarding the carcasses at sea. But this isn’t the case and hasn’t been for decades. I’ve seen some online petitions calling for bans on shark finning within Florida waters get tens of thousands of signatures. Apparently neither the petition creators nor the many signatories are aware that we already banned shark finning across the United States almost 30 years ago. While supporters of these petitions say that they’re “raising awareness,” it does not help anyone or anything to share incorrect information about what the problems are or how to solve them. Such feel-good solutions do nothing while diverting energy, media coverage and funding away from solutions that might really help.

Sustainable fisheries for sharks absolutely exist and are a vital part of livelihoods and food security in developing nations in the Global South. Sharks have relatively few offspring relatively infrequently, which complicates fisheries management, but the principle is the same as for any sustainable fishery: perform scientific research to learn how many sharks are present, and allow fishermen to take some of them (but not so many that the population collapses). In fact, 90 percent of surveyed shark scientists and 78 percent of surveyed shark conservation advocates prefer sustainable shark fisheries to total bans on fishing for sharks and trade in shark products!

If you’ve never heard about sustainable shark fisheries before but have heard that the best way to save sharks is by banning the U.S. fin trade, it’s probably because, for reasons that aren’t very clear, such bans get much, much more media attention than science-based sustainable fisheries management. Many people are also influenced by provocative and misleading (to put it mildly) “documentaries” like 2021’s Seaspiracy.

Read the full story at Scientific American

PETA, Seaspiracy producer call on Biden to reverse offshore aquaculture executive order

May 4, 2021 — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and “Seaspiracy” producer Kip Andersen are calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to reverse a Trump administration executive order permitting the growth of offshore aquaculture operations and practices.

PETA and Andersen said in a letter to Biden that Executive Order 13921 on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth allows for the “the proliferation of damaging and deadly offshore fish-factory farms,” which “cause substantial suffering to the farmed fish.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Seaspiracy fueling plant-based surge in Europe, as Cargill becomes next big player to invest in seafood analog market

April 28, 2021 — Plant-based seafood analog products continue to gain in popularity in Europe. To meet that demand, suppliers have been launching new plant-based products, while companies traditionally aligned with the seafood industry have been investing in plant-based firms.

Agriculture giant Cargill is investing in Bflike, a start-up created by BOX NV. Bflike has patent-pending vegan fat and blood platforms, and it plans to license its proprietary technology and premix ingredient solutions to food manufacturers and retailers so they can commercialize their own meat and fish alternative products.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Seaspiracy’s lasting impact on sustainable seafood businesses

April 21, 2021 — With each passing day, Seaspiracy becomes increasingly irrelevant, buried in the never-ending content cue of the world’s largest streaming platform. The last month has been full of fact checks, flame wars, and funding accusations. Though it brought out the worst of everyone on social media, it brought the marine science and stakeholder community together. There is a clear consensus that the film was awful. Even Ray Hilborn and Daniel Pauly agree!

I sneer at the filmmaker’s silly “fact page,” a regurgitation of each false claim in the film listed in chronological order.  But I acknowledge—the joke’s on us. The filmmakers had no intention of presenting facts or having an honest discussion about ocean health; they sought to create a piece of horror entertainment by slandering the seafood industry. And they succeeded. For those of us in the sustainable seafood world, the cut is deep and unlikely to heal soon.

Sustainable seafood businesses didn’t deserve this. Those referring to the best available science, making public sourcing policies, exercising due diligence in their supply chains, and seeking certifications are disproportionately impacted. The film concluded that there is no such thing as sustainable seafood, making liars and cheats of those seeking it. A seafood company that makes no sustainability claims is now less likely to receive negative feedback than one that does.

Herein lies the most disgusting part of this film: it disincentivizes sustainability. Sustainable seafood products are often more expensive than unsustainable alternatives, and studies suggest consumers are not willing to pay a premium for environmentally sustainable seafood. Attempting to source seafood sustainably costs time, money, and perseverance. Like brushing your teeth, you can’t just do it once and be considered clean. A diligent seafood sustainability program requires regular re-assessments and constant attention, or else plaque will accumulate. Commitment to sustainability prohibits a fisherman from fishing in a marine protected area even though it might be full of valuable fish; it stops a chef from putting a popular item back on the menu; it requires a mid-size grocery store chain to invest valuable resources into a seafood certification program each year.

Read the full story at Sustainable Fisheries UW

What Netflix’s Seaspiracy gets wrong about fishing, explained by a marine biologist

April 13, 2021 — I wanted to like Seaspiracy, the recent Netflix documentary that has lots of people talking about the damage that industrial fisheries inflict on the oceans and our souls. Since premiering on March 24, the movie has made its way onto (and off) Netflix’s Top 10 watch lists in a number of countries, and everyone from Tom Brady to Wells Fargo analysts have weighed in.

For decades, I have been writing and speaking about the damage Seaspiracy depicts in scientific articles, interviews, and yes, in documentary films as well. While much progress has been made, far too many people still have no idea of the problems facing the oceans. So, the prospect of a popular film on Netflix that could make the threat of destructive fisheries meaningful for its 200 million subscribers is something I welcomed.

The film includes all the damning evidence and dramatic footage required to make the important point that industrial fishing is — throughout the world — a too often out-of-control, sometimes criminal enterprise that needs to be reined in and regulated. In this, it reinforces and shares with a wide audience a knowledge that is widespread in the ocean conservation community, but not in the public at large.

However, overall Seaspiracy does more harm than good. It takes the very serious issue of the devastating impact of industrial fisheries on life in the ocean and then undermines it with an avalanche of falsehoods. It also employs questionable interviewing techniques, uses anti-Asian tropes, and blames the ocean conservation community, i.e., the very NGOs trying to fix things, rather than the industrial companies actually causing the problem.

Most importantly, it twists the narrative about ocean destruction to support the idea that we — the Netflix subscribers of the world — can save ocean biodiversity by turning vegan. In doing so, Seaspiracy undermines its tremendous potential value: to persuade people to work together, and push for change in policy and rules that will rein in an industry which often breaks the law with impunity.

Read the full story at Vox

Fishing industry blasts Netflix ‘Seaspiracy’ documentary for suggested seafood boycott

April 12, 2021 — A Netflix original documentary about the environmental impact of fishing has drawn the ire of local and national seafood experts, who have criticized “Seaspiracy” for a portrayal of the commercial fishing industry that they say is dangerous and misleading.

A group of industry professionals shared what they thought the 2021 documentary got wrong and what they wish it had done instead during a virtual panel hosted by the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association on Friday.

The controversial movie encourages viewers to boycott the seafood industry as the most effective way to help save the oceans. It is directed by British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi and is from the same team that created “Cowspiracy,” a similar film about the farming industry.

“Seaspiracy,” which has come under fire for using questionable data and studies, explores the role of plastic, whaling, marine parks and others for their impact on the oceans, but lays most of the blame on the commercial fishing industry, claiming that the idea of a sustainable fishery is a myth and accusing the industry of mass animal abuses.

It paints a dramatic picture: victims of the slave trade warn Tabrizi that his life is at risk if he keeps filming; dozens of dead sharks have their fins hacked off on a warehouse floor; the water turns red as whales are slaughtered; the filmmakers don hidden spy cameras and are tailed by police.

The imagery is effective, but critics warn that its overarching message, that there’s no such thing as a sustainable fishery and that the only way to save the oceans is to give up seafood, is not only fishy, but flat out wrong.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Don’t Watch Netflix’s Seaspiracy

April 8, 2021 — Yesterday, the sun was shining bright, and birds were chirping outside my window, and the buds were really starting to come out on the trees. It was a stupidly perfect day really, and I had to go ruin it all by watching Seaspiracy.

The Netflix documentary has been among the streaming service’s most popular films since coming out in late March, and yet nearly every marine scientist I’ve seen talking about it has wanted to see the movie sunk into the Challenger Deep, never to be seen again due to rampant misinformation. I’ll leave much of the debunking of the bad science in the film to the subject matter experts. (That includes some of those quoted in the film, who have also said they were misrepresented.) What’s just as disturbing about Seaspiracy, though, is the facile way it frames up how to solve the problems facing the ocean and society in the privileged vegan bro savioriest way possible.

The premise of Seaspiracy is that Ali Tabrizi, its director and narrator, wanted to make a movie about the wonders of the ocean, but quickly got freaked out that humans’ actions were strangling the seas. It chronicles his transition from doing local beach cleanups to getting concerned about whaling and going to the infamous cove in Taiji, Japan, where dolphin slaughters take place on the regular. That sets off a round-the-world trip and interviews with nearly three dozen experts or people involved in the fishing industry.

Read the full story at Gizmodo

Beyond ‘Seaspiracy’: Debunking damaging myths in fisheries

April 2, 2021 — Our response to the docudrama “Seaspiracy” focuses on the underlying motive of plant-based diets and how it misses its target by inciting fear rather than relying on facts.

The University of Washington’s Sustainable Fisheries page regularly tracks misinformation in fisheries news.

The National Fisheries Institute was hot out of the gate with its reply last week.

The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation tracked and documented socially responsible fishing practices in Alaska’s commercial fleet, starting in 2017. Here’s their report and project outline.

The Global Aquaculture Alliance details why the film should be ignored.

SeafoodSource’s report links to responses from many of the NGOs and others who claim to have been misrepresented in the docudrama “Seaspiracy.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Seaspiracy: Netflix documentary accused of misrepresentation by participants

April 1, 2021 — A Netflix documentary about the impact of commercial fishing has attracted celebrity endorsements and plaudits from fans with its damning picture of the harm the industry does to ocean life. But NGOs, sustainability labels and experts quoted in Seaspiracy have accused the film-makers of making “misleading claims”, using out-of-context interviews and erroneous statistics.

Seaspiracy, made by the team behind the award-winning 2014 film Cowspiracy, which was backed by Leonardo DiCaprio, pours doubt on the idea of sustainable fishing, shines a spotlight on the aquaculture industry and introduces the notion of “blood shrimp”, seafood tainted with slave labour and human rights abuses.

Launched last week, the 90-minute film is already trending on the platform as one of its Top 10 most watched films and programmes and has been praised by celebrities including Bryan Adams, the vegan Canadian rock star, who urged his followers to watch it and stop eating fish. Chris Froome, the seven Grand Tour-winning British cyclist, tweeted that “my mind has been blown” by the film. George Monbiot, the environmentalist and Guardian columnist, who appears in it, described it on Twitter as “a brilliant exposé of the greatest threat to marine life: fishing”.

Directed by Ali Tabrizi, a film-maker from Kent, the wide-ranging documentary questions the sustainable seafood movement and looks at the way the Dolphin Safe and Marine Stewardship Council labels may not be able to provide the assurances consumers are looking for.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Industry pans Seaspiracy as misleading

March 31, 2021 — Groups and organizations involved in the global seafood industry, as well as individual stakeholders and scientists, are responding with concern to a new Netflix documentary, “Seaspiracy,” which purports to investigate the impact of commercial fishing on marine ecosystems and wildlife.

The 90-minute film, which has consistently led Netflix’s top 10 rankings around the world since its late-March release, was created by the same team behind 2014’s “Cowspiracy,” a similar feature-length documentary spotlighting the animal agriculture industry.

Read the full story at Seafood Source