Fishing communities on France's western coast show the path to sustainability.
Empty Oceans, Empty Nets
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Our oceans are not yet empty but the signs are not good. The seas have always been humanity's single largest source of protein, but for the first time in history this critical food supply is at risk in many areas. Despite an ever-intensifying fishing effort, the global catch appears to have reached its limit while the demand for seafood continues to grow.
According to the FAO, 15 of the world's 17 major ocean fisheries are already depleted or over-exploited. These trends are even more troubling when population growth is considered. The world population - now at six billion - will continue to grow by over 60 million people per year, with nearly half this growth in areas within 100 kilometers of a coastline. Over one billion people in Asia already depend on ocean fish for their entire supply of protein, as does 1 out of every 5 Africans. Although North America and Europe rely less on ocean-caught protein, much of the seafood consumed on both continents is imported from developing countries. The entire world shares an interest in restoring and maintaining this critical food supply.
EMPTY OCEANS, EMPTY NETS examines the full extent of the global fisheries crisis and the forces that continue to push many marine fish stocks toward commercial extinction. The program also documents some of the most promising and innovative work being done to restore fisheries and protect essential fish habitat. New market initiatives are examined that give consumers a powerful vote in deciding how our oceans are fished. Commentary is provided by fishermen and by many of the world's most respected marine and fisheries scientists.
'If you knew nothing about fishing, this would be an awesome introduction. From Indonesian out-rigger canoes to Bering Sea factory trawlers, from cyanided reefs and dynamited fish in the western Pacific to tuna weirs in the Mediterranean, it's all here.' National Fisherman
'Empty Oceans is a stunning and substantive new documentary on the horrific impacts of current destructive fishing practices around the globe. The film takes its viewers on a journey that unravels the mysteries of declining fish populations around the globe. Hopefully, seeing this film will convince you that it's time for us all to take action to protect the world's oceans.' Ted Danson, President and Founder, American Oceans Campaign
'Empty Oceans, Empty Nets examines the disturbing decline of marine fisheries around the world...The good news is that fish populations can be restored and sustained through careful regulation of fishing. Consumers can also become more aware of which kinds of fish are best to buy, shunning those listed as commercially endangered.' Los Angeles Times
'54 minutes of film that will...(help you) reorder your priorities and your entrees.' San Francisco Chronicle
'Tells a cautionary tale about the overfishing of the world's oceans, but it also gives us hope for the future as well...the viewer is left with the realization that we can help.' Tri-Valley (CA) Herald
'There are many things concerned individuals can do. I'd start by watching Empty Oceans, Empty Nets , a gripping new documentary about the state of the world's fisheries...As the saying goes, save a fish, save a fisherman. And if we save the oceans, we save ourselves.' The Providence Journal
'Empty Oceans, Empty Nets delivers a thorough summary of the global marine fisheries crisis and makes excellent use of ship-board videos, interviews and graphics... By the end of the film viewers will understand the problems of by-catch, juvenile (pre-reproductive) fish harvest, habitat destruction and problems posed by the increased mechanization of the fishing process.... The footage of sea-floor disturbance caused by bottom trawls is dramatic and something not commonly seen in other fisheries related videos. Empty Oceans, Empty Nets shows some thought provoking footage of fish farming operations and does a wonderful job of explaining the pros and cons of intensive fish culture. The film is certainly a wake-up call...I highly recommend this video to all public, school and college libraries as it is the best, most informative and well balanced fisheries video I have seen.' Educational Media Reviews Online, Barb Butler, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology
'Water, water everywhere and nary a fish in the drink. A scandalizing expose of the rampant destruction visited on global fisheries by sophisticated maritime technologies and free market 'logic.' ' Prof. Timothy McGettigan, PhD, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University-Pueblo
'The stunning visuals of fish in the oceans and the sometimes horrifying footage of catching those same fish, together with the factual information make this video a must have for all library environment collections.' School Library Journal
'Empty Oceans, Empty Nets is a video that challenges viewers to rethink the impact that their choice of fish for dinner has on the environment...presents beautiful scenes of the ocean habitat as it documents modern-day fishing practices...Empty Oceans, Empty Nets is appropriate for high school and college students. The video could easily be used in the classroom to increase general awareness of the global issues involving the fishing industry and its impact on science and society...This video highlights how informed consumers and citizens can make a difference in restoring and maintaining this critical food supply. Recommended.' Science Books and Films
Citation
Main credits
Cowan, Steve (Producer)
Cowan, Steve (Director)
Cowan, Steve (Screenwriter)
Schienberg, Barry (Screenwriter)
Coyote, Peter (Narrator)
Distributor subjects
African Studies; Biodiversity; Business Practices; Economics; Environment; Fisheries; Food And Nutrition; Geography; Global Issues; Habitat; Humanities; Hunger; Life Science; Marine Biology; Natural Resources; Oceans and Coasts; Pacific Studies; Science, Technology, Society; Sustainable Agriculture; Sustainable DevelopmentKeywords
WEBVTT
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[music]
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[non-English narration]
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In the past, if we fished for an hour,
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that was enough to eat. Now, we
have to fish for a full day,
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and we still don’t catch enough.
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Five years ago,
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there were many more fish, so the
fishing industry here is dying.
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Now we do a little fishing but also tourism,
because we can’t survive on fishing alone.
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[non-English narration]
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When the European boat fish, there’s
nothing left with the small boat.
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The local fisherman take much
less than the European boats.
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When I started fishing,
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there were a lot of fish. I think that the
greatest difficulty has certainly been
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when you know what you know about fishing and you know
you’ve got the information and you’re doing the right thing
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and you go out and still nothing there.
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The number of boats from
Asia and Latin America
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must be increasing constantly.
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There are many more to net fishing boats these
days, so our catch is not been so good.
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That’s our biggest problem now.
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[music]
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As the demand for seafood increases
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along with fishing power of the
global fleet, question becomes
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and the oceans keep up.
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Many of the fish species we depend on are in
serious trouble as we enter the 21st century,
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and the situation is becoming
more critical every day.
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During the next hour, we examine
the global fisheries crisis
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that looms as a critical
threat to world food security,
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how it’s come about, what drives
it and what’s being done to try
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and reverse these dangerous trends.
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[music]
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When you look at the oceans, they seem
so vast that you think to yourself,
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how could people possibly fish out the oceans? I mean
the oceans cover much more of the earth’s surface
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than the land does. But most of the
ocean is biologically a desert.
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The life is there but it’s very, very sparse,
and where it’s concentrated happens to be
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along the continents.
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Few people realize the scale
of the world fishing effort
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and what the industry must do to supply
the ever growing demand for seafood.
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[sil.]
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[non-English narration]
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As fish populations’ closer
to home are depleted,
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seafood is being flown into wholesale markets
from remote locations halfway around the world,
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where fish, for the time
being, can still be caught.
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But even in the most remote locations and
in the deep waters of the open ocean,
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fish populations are being
exhausted, one after another
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by vessels using space-age
tracking technology,
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dragging nets that sweep
vast areas of ocean floor,
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and deploying miles and
miles of baited hooks.
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This kind of serial depletion has gone
on since the 1800’s, but the rate
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at which fish stocks are collapsing today is
unprecedented, and the forces that give rise
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to this crisis are complex.
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Simply put, the fish cannot
reproduce quickly enough
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to keep up with an ever intensifying hunt -
feeding an ever growing human population.
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[non-English narration]
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Many of the collapses that we’ve seen,
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many of the new changes that are happening on oceans are a
consequence of activities that people have always engaged in.
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It’s just at a much greater
rate in a faster scale.
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Nobody created these problems deliberately.
There are bad guys out there
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that are trying to do in fisheries.
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Despite the intensified effort, there
is evidence that the global catch
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has been decreasing since the 1980’s. The
decline that many scientists believe
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would be more apparent were not
for the capture of species
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barely considered edible a decade ago.
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As larger fish disappear, the global fleet
is targeting smaller fish at the lower rungs
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of the marine food chain. Because these
species are the prey of larger fish
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and other marine life, their wholesale
removal may cause even further collapses.
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[sil.]
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Also contributing to overall
declines is the fact
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that not all the fish caught
are being brought to shore.
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Each year, over 20 million metric tons of
untargeted marine life, so-called by-catch,
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are discarded as waste - a
volume equal to four times
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the entire catch of the U.S. fishing fleet.
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The amount of by-catch differs with each type of
fishery, but among the worst are shrimp trawls.
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The U.S. shrimpers are working
hard to reduce this waste.
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But worldwide, on average, over five pounds
of untargeted marine life are discarded
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for each pound of shrimp caught.
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The decline of fisheries is not always the result
of high-tech industrial fishing practices.
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[sil.]
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[music]
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Communities in the Western
Pacific and Indian oceans
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are suffering the long term consequences
of fishing with cyanide and dynamite
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- a widespread practice that destroys
coral reef habitats vital to fisheries
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and local economies.
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Reefs are being blasted, poisons are being used causing
tremendous damage to the reefs. They’re important
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to the productivity of the
coastal fishing grounds.
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I think overfishing in… in
our context is a consequence
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of the overall economic situations
that you see in the rural areas,
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the lack of economic opportunities,
landlessness, poverty in those regions.
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Fishing in that context is an
occupation of last resort.
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[music]
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Population growth is another
factor that drives overfishing
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and pollutes the ocean. Now, at six
billion, our numbers are growing
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by over 75 million people each
year - nearly half of whom
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will live within 50 miles of a coastline.
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Over one billion people in Asia depend on ocean
fish for nearly their entire supply of protein.
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Fish or a crucial source of protein
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for one out of every five Africans.
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The demand for seafood is also growing
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in the more affluent regions of the world.
Because their own waters are overfished,
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Japan, the United States, and Europe
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have become net importers of seafood.
Most of which comes
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from unregulated fisheries
in the developing world.
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As we enter the 21st century,
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the international fleet is estimated to have more
than twice the capacity needed to fish the oceans
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in a manner that can be sustained.
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The long-term effects
of this massive effort
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are beginning to show. Marine ecosystems,
millions of years in the making
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are being altered in ways
that have never been seen,
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not in the entire three and a half
billion years of life on earth.
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[sil.]
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We are now lamenting what
has happened to the oceans.
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My grandson calls me all the time and says, “Grandpa,
please take me fishing where your dad used to take you.”
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I can’t, because there’s nothing
to take him fishing for.
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People everywhere share a concern about what
kind of world our children will inherit
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and a growing sense that the
challenges we face have become global.
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From the Atlantic, to the
Mediterranean, to the Pacific Ocean,
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we’ll travel to four different parts of the
world where the threat of empty oceans
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is becoming very real.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
Off the New England coast, upwellings of
nutrient rich water rise up from the ocean floor
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against a submarine plateau
known as Georges Bank,
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providing for what was once the most
productive fishing ground in the world.
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Cod and haddock fisheries flourished here for
centuries, beginning well before the advent
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of modern fishing practices.
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[music]
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
From the mid 1800’s into the 20th century,
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New England fishermen braved the North
Atlantic and wind-powered schooners.
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Once on the fishing grounds,
Doris’ were put over the side.
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Fishing by hand with hook and line, the
fishermen often filled their boats
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to the brim with cod and haddock.
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The only limits to their activities were those
imposed by what the fishermen could endure.
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But all this was about to change.
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In this century, a number
of pieces of technology
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converged disastrously in a
very short period of time.
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Once you had an engine powered
vessel and frozen food,
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
the capacity of a fishing
vessel became almost limitless,
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
because you could always get a more powerful
engine and a larger ship to drag a larger net
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to catch more fish. And the only constriction
would be getting this first to market.
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
Sonar, developed during World War II,
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was the next innovation to give fisherman a
serious technological edge in the hunt for fish.
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Sound waves, capable of
detecting enemy submarines,
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
can also detect schools of fish, and it
wasn’t long before electronic fish finders
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
were in the wheelhouse
of most fishing boats.
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During the 1960’s, New England’s
offshore waters were intensively fished
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by the vessels of several nations.
But in 1976,
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
after the U.S. joined other countries
in prohibiting foreign vessels
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
within 200 miles of their
shoreline, boom times really began.
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
The number of U.S. boats being built
and brought out to the fishing grounds
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soon replaced and exceeded the
size of the international fleet.
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I was part of it. Everybody back then was part of
it. We got to kick the foreigners off our shores.
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So we did that. And everybody says,
“Well, this is our new frontier.
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Let’s develop our new frontier.” The government got involved
and they come in with a government guaranteed loan,
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which financed 90% of it. And I think
they give you 15 years to pay for it,
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which meant if you default it, they
picked up 90% percent of that.
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Record volumes of cod and haddock
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
were landed in New England between
1976 and 1985. But as the 80’s
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
drew to a close, the immense
catches came to an end.
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[music]
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
I’m going back to doing what I need to do
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to support my family and if you’re gonna
send armed terrorist upon my boat,
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they gotta get an answer, because… Fishery managers
eventually put new regulations into effect.
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Large areas on Georges Bank were closed,
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strict quotas were established, limiting the size of the
catch and the number of fishing days allowed each vessel.
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The impact on the fishing
community was severe.
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We could rip up citations just
as fast as you can right ‘em,
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
and then you’re gonna have a political crisis that’s
unparalled, because you’re not gonna take away
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500 houses and 500 boats.
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We knew what was going on and we told people what
need to be done, but people didn’t want to hear that.
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
Few individuals on the council said, we could not overfish the
resource. They did not want to be bothered with the facts
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and the data. And they just didn’t… they wanted to continue
doing that thing and didn’t want the science to interfere.
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The New England Fishery Management
Council is one of eight
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regional management bodies in the U.S.
with authority to open and close fisheries
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and set the total allowable catch.
Most members represent
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interests within the fishing industry.
Leading many to believe
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that the industry is largely
self-regulated and to question
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whether this is in the long-term interest
of maintaining healthy fisheries.
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The important thing is to manage this resource for the maximum benefit
of the nation. Now as the maximum benefit for the nation is employment,
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
for a large group of people who
don’t have another alternative,
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
and that means the cod stock is not as
healthy as… as someone else might want.
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That’s a rational decision for the council to make,
because its view is maximum benefit for the nation.
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I think that’s a blatant conflict of interest. We got
people sitting on the New England council now that
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they don’t want two or three boats uh… buying from the boats, they’re
some of the best people on the council, as a matter of fact,
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
but it’s very hard for them to make
hard decisions against themselves.
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A lot of people who would be fishing
today aren’t because the leadership
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
in the fishing industry was captured
by a few large economic interests.
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Nowadays, our thinking is these are public
resources. They don’t mean that the fisherman
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
who has a quota or a license own them.
It means that you and I own them.
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They’re ours. That’s our resource.
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[music]
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
Some of the fishermen who have managed to stay
in business are feeling the need to invest
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
in larger and more powerful boats - a trend
that can lead to further overfishing.
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
I have to put in a second note
on my house, a security note,
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
and I have to… to look at… at working a lot
harder, frankly. I mean, I’m gonna to have
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
insurance payments to make, I’m gonna have mortgage
payments to make that I didn’t have before,
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
and it’s gonna call for a lot more effort.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
The profit margin is getting slimmer and slimmer. The response
to that is to fish harder. If you’re not making money
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
then you’re gonna fish harder to make
some money. Overfishing isn’t happening
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
because fishermen are greedy or they don’t
know when to stop, overfishing happens
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
because all the incentives
are there for it to happen.
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
The impact of pollution and climate change
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
is another area of grave
concern and debate.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
Scientists are seeing fluctuations
in the abundance of plankton,
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
tiny organisms at the bottom of the ocean food
chain that are a vital food source for ocean fish.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
Although most marine scientists agree
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
that changes in the availability of these
organisms could be linked to global warming,
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
few believe that this is the primary cause
for the decline of fish populations.
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
It’s well known that commercial fishing
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
reduces the total number of
fish, but it also removes
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
the larger fish with greater reproductive
capacity, leaving fish populations
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
more vulnerable to environmental changes.
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
The viability that seems to come from the environment,
actually does not come from the environment,
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
the point is that we have created that
viability, we have… we have made the system
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
most susceptible to environmental crises.
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
To pretend that we can understand
the loss of all these fisheries
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
by blaming it on things like climate change
is to ignore the obvious fact that we…
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
we ate these creatures and
they’re not there anymore.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
To stop the continuous
decline in fish populations,
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
the U.S. Congress enacted the
Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996,
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
requiring fishery managers to take
steps to rebuild overfished stocks
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
and reduce by catch. Many marine scientists
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
and conservation groups believe that the
law has yet to be put into practice.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
The Sustainable Fisheries Act is full of good
intentions. It has not been implemented very well.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
Stronger measures could be
used to protect habitat
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
which is really the source of not only the productivity
of the fish population themselves but, of course, of the
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
fishing industry. Unless more
attention is given to that problem,
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
long-term fisheries are going
to continue to decline.
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
The Sustainable Fisheries Act directs
fishery managers to identify
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
and protect the habitat that is
essential to healthy fish populations.
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
[music]
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
Scientists are beginning to understand
that an intact ecosystem on the sea floor
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
is vital to juvenile fish
in more ways than one.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
With the advent of a fishing technique known as bottom
trawling, the availability of food and places to hide
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
have become more scarce on the seafloor,
making juvenile cod themselves
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
easier prey for other fish.
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
The bottom trawls towed for cod and
for shrimp, consist of a large net
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
that is pulled along the seafloor.
The mouth of the net
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
is spread by the action of two heavy steel plates
that drag along the bottom at either side.
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
In recent years, an innovation
known as a rockhopper
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
has been added for ground fish like
cod, a set of heavy rubber wheels
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
that roll along the ocean floor preventing
the net from tearing on large rocks
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
and uneven terrain. Vast areas of seafloor,
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
formerly inaccessible to
fishing, are now being trawled.
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
We’ve seen in areas that are chronically impacted by hundreds and hundreds
of boats dragging nets and dredges all over the continental shelf
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
that a large percentage of the animals that
make up the structures on the seafloor
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
are eliminated using animals provide
the… the cover for juvenile cod.
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
My basic thesis is not that we shouldn’t be
trawling and dredging anywhere, it’s just, I think,
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
we should be doing this everywhere.
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
In the past, we couldn’t fish everywhere.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
In other words, the existence of fisheries
in the past, relied on the fact
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
that we were not fishing everywhere. There is a complete
mismatch between what the fish can produce for us
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
and what we want from them.
And the only way to kind of
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
accommodate that mismatch is
to create areas where the fish
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
are not caught at all.
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
[music]
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
Because of the difficulties of
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
mandating and enforcing sustainable fishing
practices, a growing number of marine scientists
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
see the value of establishing marine
reserves that are off limits to fishing
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
of any kind. Although very few of
these sanctuaries exist worldwide,
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
they have been shown to restore fish populations
within their boundaries and beyond.
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
One thing the reserves
do is to allow fish to
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
live longer and grow larger. And as fish
grow larger, they produce many, many times
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
more eggs than they do when they’re small.
As the stocks build up
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
inside the protected areas,
so they start to feed fish
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
into the surrounding fishing grounds, they emigrate from
reserve into the fishing areas where they can be caught.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
[sil.]
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
Some fishermen are also taking the initiative to
help minimize the impacts of the gear they use
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
by matching it to the type of seafloor
they fish on. I chose to stay small.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
It’s a choice that I made and it has to do
with the idea that there are certain habitats
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
that simply don’t need to be
invaded by the kind of activity
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
that trawling does create. I have chosen to trawl
on bottom that I think is the kind of bottom
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
that can withstand the impacts
that my gear does do it.
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
There are also New England fishermen
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
who are catching Cod the way it was done
before the advent of industrial trawling,
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
and they’re finding an appreciative
market for their product.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
The hook fishermen uses a baited
hook to catch a single fish
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
and leaves the habitat from which that fish came completely
intact ensuring a place for other fish to grow up,
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
instead of plowing it over and then
saying, “Oh, where is all the fish?”
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
”Oh, hey man, you wrecked their home. They’ve
moved on, if… if they’re still around.”
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
Because hook caught fish often reach
the market soon after they’re caught,
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:40.000
the product is highly valued
in the wholesale fish markets.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
Another New England fishery that has
captured the public’s imagination
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
hunts for a fish much larger than cod.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:08.000
[music]
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
The Perfect Storm presents a true story
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
about fishermen who risk
their boat and their lives
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
to pursue dwindling numbers of swordfish
in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
Although going so far out to sea has become a
fact of life for many long line fishermen,
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
populations of these giant fish could
once be found much closer to shore.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
That’s not here anymore.
It’s… It’s… It’s all gone.
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
It’s really a shame. Uh… The swordfish are… I
always claim that they were the most important fish
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
in the whole ocean. When we first started
harpooning, you could go right off no man’s land
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
and get swordfish or you may even
have harpooning riding close.
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
We never saw a small swordfish.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
They were here, but they never came to the
surface, only the big ones would come up.
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
[music]
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
In the 1960’s, harpooning was replaced by
long line, a fishing practice developed
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
years earlier in Japan.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
Billfish and tuna populations
would never be the same.
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
We only had 400 hooks the first year
we went. So we couldn’t hold enough.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
But it would take us two weeks
to harpoon maybe 50, 60
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
in three days we had refilled the swordfish. It’s
just unbelievable the swordfish you catch here,
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
and right… right close, you know, it wasn’t…
you don’t have to go very far to get them.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
But each year it gets more and
more difficult to catch them.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
How fishermen perceive the
state of fish populations
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
often depends on the length
of their fishing career.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
I’m confident that the fish stocks are in good shape. I… I spoke
with a friend of mine. He just landed a trip of swordfish.
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
He had 57,000 pounds of fish and
he had over a 100 pound average.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Now, 57,000 pounds of swordfish has been a good trip
for years and years and years. It’s… It’s excellent.
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
Obviously, he didn’t catch every last fish in the
ocean. Well, I… I… think there’s plenty of fish.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Plenty of swordfish, I… I have to
ask a question compared to what?
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
Most of these fishermen uh… weren’t… weren’t fishing
when the populations were at… at their unfished levels
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
or anywhere near unfished levels. Oh, we had good
years and bad years, you know, of swordfish here,
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
but… but not consistently like it is today
that they have to travel this distance
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
to get in and get the fish. And with hooks
you catch fish of all different sizes.
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
So, yes, the average size has declined. We still
catch big fish, you know. The average size of,
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
that they just landed recently, was a 100 pounds. I mean,
that’s a nice fish. A 100 pound fish is a good fish.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
Years ago, I mean, they averaged out was
never less than two… you know, 200.
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
They were always averaged out 250, 275. We
even had one trip that we averaged about
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
380 pounds. They were all big fish.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
Today’s long-liners often deploy
up to 60 miles of baited hooks.
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Thousands of these vessels
now fish the world’s oceans,
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
landing millions of tons of
tuna and swordfish every year.
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
The average weight of swordfish
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
caught before 1963 was 266 pounds.
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
By 1970 it was half this
weight and by 1996,
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
it was down to 90 pounds.
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
It’s estimated that over half the swordfish caught are
juveniles that have not had the chance to reproduce.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
It really has only been probably 20 years,
you know, all of this has taking place.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
You’ve got navigation equipment that you
never had, you got temperature sensing here,
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
you got Global Positioning Systems, and temperature
probes, and Acoustic Doppler current profiler,
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
for God’s sake. I mean, oceanographic
vessels don’t all have
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
Acoustic Doppler current profilers. I mean, it’s pretty
sophisticated instrumentation for a fishing boat.
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
Not only has the instrumentation for
locating the fish become hi-tech,
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
the long-lining gear itself has become a
highly mechanized, ultra efficient method
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
of catching. The vessels fish by deploying
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
a heavy monofilament line, laying
out many miles of baited hooks
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
that are allowed to drift with the current
for hours before being hauled in.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:48.000
[music]
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
As with bottom-trawling, long-lining
has become so efficient
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
and the global fleet so large that it can
remove more fish than the species can bear.
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
I really don’t believe that people
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
begin to understand how extraordinarily
bountiful the oceans were.
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
We didn’t know how lucky we were, because
there were these places that we didn’t fish.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
There were these other areas where
fish populations still existed
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
and they reproduced. They
sowed the seeds of the
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
future fish populations. As
we become more desperate,
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
looking for fish in… in farther and farther
away places, we are without realizing
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
some cases removing these populations
that had acted as refuges.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
In addition to swordfish and tuna,
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
long-lining tends to catch other
untargeted targeted species.
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
Fishermen try to keep this by-catch to a
minimum, but this is often difficult to do,
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
and attempts at making the gear more
selective, have had only limited success.
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
[music]
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
Marlins are another type
of incidental catch
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
that’s difficult to prevent. In the Atlantic
Ocean these billfish are among the most depleted
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
of all large fish species.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
The problem with things like marlin is that they are very similar
critters to the tunas and swordfish that are taken by long-lines.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
And I don’t know that there’s ever gonna be a way to reduce
the by-catch of the world’s billfishes in this fishery,
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
unless we can come up with the schemes for closing
particular areas when the catch is very high.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
[music]
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
Sea turtles, considered endangered species
worldwide, also fall victim to long-line hooks.
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
They often survive these
encounters, but not always.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
The U.S. government has closed
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
some of its own waters to long-lining, where sea
turtles migrate and where swordfish populations
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
are known to breed. But
because billfish and tuna
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
migrate across the open ocean, they are
hunted by the international fleet.
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:23.000
[non-English narration]
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
An agreement signed by nations that
hunt for these fish, sets quotas
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
for both fisheries. It also discourages
the taking of juvenile swordfish.
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
But U.S. fishermen feel that their
good faith efforts to comply
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
are not being reciprocated.
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
Unless our international treaties are strictly enforced that
Atlantic swordfish that was permitted to swim by an American vessel,
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
because the American vessel is strictly
hearing through the regulations, that squid
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
or that fish is now captured by a non-American
vessel, and that’s a potential coming back into the
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
American water.
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
Swordfish move across the Atlantic, as do the
American and foreign fishing fleets that pursue them.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
The continental shelf of north-western Africa is
another of the world’s richest fishing grounds.
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
[music]
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
European and Asian fishing fleets,
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
having fully exploited their own fishing
grounds, are fishing in African waters.
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
Vessels come to the port of Las Palmas
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
in the Canary Islands to offload their catch,
most of which is shipped back to Europe,
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
Japan, and the United States.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
[non-English narration]
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
Some break the rules,
others like us do not.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
In America, it must be the same.
Some break the rules, some don’t.
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
I think there are too many regulations, because
before we could fish wherever and however
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
we wanted to. And there was no problem, because
our hoops are big, and so are the fish we catch.
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
[sil.]
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
Enforcement is not good internationally.
And if we decide
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
not to allow undersized swordfish,
small baby swordfish to be imported,
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
umm… we can have an effect, because we… we gotta big enough share
of the market that those people probably stop catching those fish
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
if they can’t sell them to us.
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
A large contingent of Japan’s long-liner
fleet also ties up in Las Palmas.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
These ships target primarily
tuna in international waters,
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
but also catch swordfish,
the marlin, and sharks.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
The total number of fish
has been decreasing a lot.
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
So the biggest problem for me is
that my income has been reduced.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
I suspect we probably have no future
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
if they continue this type of reckless fishing.
In order to rebuild the tuna population,
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
we have to control not only
long-line fishing boats like ours,
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
but also the net fishing boats since they
catch everything including small fish.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
Otherwise, I think the
future of fishing is doomed.
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
That the old tuna fisheries
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
that seem so stable and sustainable were
mainly concentrate pretty close to coastlines.
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Now the technology is spreading
out all over those oceans,
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
imagine going to your local Safeway
and not be able to buy a can of tuna,
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
it’s a real possibility today.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
A different kind of fishing, also
targeting large migratory fish,
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
is practiced in the Mediterranean Sea.
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
Here is a fishery of ancient design,
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
and by its very nature it does not overfish,
yet it too is on the verge of collapse.
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:18.000
[music]
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Each summer, bluefin tuna migrate into
the warmer waters of the Mediterranean
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
to breed and spawn. Their movements have been studied
by fishermen since the days of the Roman Empire.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
[non-English narration]
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
One of the last vestiges of an ancient
and very proud fishing tradition,
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
known as the tonnara, is still practiced
on the western coast of Sicily.
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
A large and intricate net is carefully
maintained. For each summer,
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
it is strategically positioned in near
shore waters to catch the giant tuna.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
The tonnara consists of a
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
long fence like net that forces
bluefin tuna to swim toward the trap.
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
The fish are herded through a
series of netted chambers.
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
In the final chamber, a
netted floor is raised
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
forcing the tuna to the surface.
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:28.000
[music]
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
The slaughter of the tuna
is called the mattanza,
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
the tradition that has endured
for well over a 1,000 years.
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
Although once practiced in over 200 hundred
locations throughout the Mediterranean,
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
there are now barely enough
bluefin to support two tonnaras.
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Though many skippers who fish in
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
international waters know that
fish populations are declining,
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
the industrial hunt continues around the clock
to meet the ever growing demand for seafood.
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
[sil.]
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
Because seafood is a global commodity,
being flown into markets around the world,
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
demand for tuna and other popular
fish has become insatiable.
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
This globalised market
makes it difficult for
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
retailers or consumers to know where a fish
was caught or whether it’s being overfished.
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:43.000
[music]
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Another centuries old fishery in
Sicilian waters, targeting anchovies,
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
is also feeling the pinch.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
Fishing was better 20 years ago. There
were more boats and larger boats.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The number of fish has declined since then,
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
so all these vessels have gone away.
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
My friends can’t survive on fishing here,
so they go to Alaska to fish for salmon.
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
They spend six months there,
and the rest of the time here.
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
European fishermen move
to North America today
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
for the same reasons they have been arriving
in droves for the past three centuries.
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
In the cold waters of the North
Pacific, near the Gulf of Alaska,
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
are some of the most productive
fishing grounds in the world.
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:48.000
[music]
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
Fishermen follow the fish, which is why many
new-world fisheries have met the same fate
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
as those in European waters.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
But in southeast Alaska, two major
fisheries have managed to survive
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
the usual cycle of boom and bust, and
one of these hunts for Pacific halibut.
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
Regarded as one of the
world’s best examples
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
of a well-managed fishery, it is based on a
precautionary approach that limits both the catch
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
and the number of boats.
The results have produced
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
bountiful catches of these
giant fish year after year,
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
but this was not always the case.
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Even though Pacific halibut fishermen
have long supported catch limits
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
low enough to protect the stocks, overfishing
occurred because the fishery had open access
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
allowing an unlimited number
of boats to participate.
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
The fishing season became a frantic race,
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
a so-called derby fishery, with
fishermen working feverishly
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
often in unsafe weather conditions.
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
Today, the halibut fishery
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
is a closed fishery. A vessel cannot
participate unless its skipper or crew members
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
own a share of the total allowable catch
called an Individual Fishing Quota
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
or IFQ. Initially allocated to skippers
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
with a history in the fishery, the quotas can
now be bought and sold like private property.
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
Fishermen can enter the fishery only
by purchasing quota from someone
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
who wants to sell their share.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
We did exceed the quota in a number of those years when we
were derby fishing, because it’s so difficult to control
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
what 3 or 4,000 boats can catch. It
was open access, so anybody could go,
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
so there was an unlimited number of vessels all
trying to race and catch as much fish as possible
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
in the set amount of time.
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
There’s less boats fishing now than there were during the derby years.
People, when they are fishing, they’re not setting as much gear at one time,
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
it’s a little bit of gear
see what they catch.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
I think all of the fisheries are eventually gonna have
to come to this. There’s no unlimited supply of fish.
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
You keep nibbling away at it
eventually you’re going to
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
get them all over, almost all of them.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
[music]
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
The other Alaskan fishery that is
rebounded after an historic collapse
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
targets Pacific salmon, and its restoration
is partly due to an understanding
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
of the biological needs of the fish.
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
Although salmon spend most of their lives in
the ocean, they begin and end their lifecycle
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
in freshwater rivers and streams
that are their breeding grounds.
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
[music]
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
In Alaska, the main spawning rivers have not
been dammed nor have the forest been cut
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
in a way that degrades the
salmons’ spawning grounds.
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Pollution from urban
sprawl is largely unknown.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
A healthy environment is one prerequisite
for a healthy salmon fishery,
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
but it’s not the only one.
During the 1950’s,
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Alaska’s salmon fishery was
on the brink of collapse.
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Fishing was done primarily with
fish traps, a very effective way
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
of capturing the salmon
as they migrate upstream.
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
So effective that by 1953, Alaska was
declared a federal disaster area.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:53.000
[music]
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
Decades after fish traps were banned
and a new management plan phased in,
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
the size of today’s salmon runs
are setting all time records.
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
Throughout the spawning season, the Alaska Department
of Fish and Game keeps an eye on the fish,
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
making certain that enough salmon are
allowed to spawn in each watershed,
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
what managers refer to as escapement.
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
The runs have rebuilt themselves with our
help. And we count fish and compare it to
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
what we think should be in there at this time
of the year. If it looks better than that,
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
then we open the areas that are adjacent. And
if it doesn’t, then we end up closing them.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
At times, fishermen get extremely
aggravated about the things I do.
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
But they realize in long run that you
can’t overfish resource this year
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
and expect it to come back
strong in the years to come.
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
The salmon populations in… in Alaska in
general are so healthy. It’s not a fluke.
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
The biologists are charged
with being sure that
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
there’s adequate escapement every year to perpetuate the runs,
that’s their sole charge. It’s built into the state’s constitution.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
As long as the resource
is the one that wins
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
and that there will be a fishery there when
I retire and my children take this over
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
that they can fight for and maintain
is what it’s really all about.
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
It’s not whether I’m gonna catch a lot of fish tomorrow
or within the next two years, it’s what’s gonna be there
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
20, 30 years from now.
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
There is another essential ingredient to the
success of this fishery that could be applied
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
to many others around the world. The Alaskan
salmon fishery, like other U.S. fisheries
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
on the Pacific Coast, has limited entry,
which means, like the halibut fishery,
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
they are not open to anyone who
wants to fish commercially.
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
There is a fixed number of permits that may be fished
in any given fishery. What that’s done is to make a
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
very stable fleet over time. That… That I think
has proved to work for everybody’s benefit.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
The individual permits
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
also restrict the amount of gear that each
boat can use, gear that is very efficient
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
catching large volumes of fish.
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Purse seine vessels catch salmon
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
by deploying a skiff that pulls out
a long net to encircle the fish.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
The same net is then drawn tight, much like a purse
and hauled aboard landing thousands of salmon
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
at a time. Although the measures
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
taken to restore Alaskan salmon and
halibut cannot apply to all fisheries.
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
There are many around the world that could
benefit by adopting similar practices.
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
I want to interview a tuna. Are you a tuna?
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
No, I’m a octopus. Come on, you’re
to a tuna. Okay, I’m a tuna.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
What’s on your mind? Do you tunas… It wasn’t
long ago, when we could all cheerfully assume
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
that ocean fish were an inexhaustible food source,
that all we had to consider about seafood,
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
was its great taste. Hey! Sorry Charlie!
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
[music]
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Concerns that dolphins were
drowning in tuna nets gave birth
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
to the first consumer seafood campaign, and the industry
responded by adopting more selective fishing methods.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
Understanding that market demand
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
is one of the root forces that drives
overfishing and that regulations alone
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
are failing to stop the declines, a
number of initiatives have been launched
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
to educate merchants and consumers
about the origins of seafood products.
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
One of these is the Marine
Stewardship Council,
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
the unique example of cooperation between industry
and conservation groups have realized the need
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
for objective standards to certify
fisheries that are well managed.
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
For a consumer to the able to
exercise their purchasing power,
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
we need to have systems that when
they promise a sustainably cost fish
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
are not fraudulent, that they really are
supporting a type of fishing practice
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
that has been determined by objective
sources not just marketing people.
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
Seafood with the MSC ecolabel is finding
an appreciative market in Europe
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
and the United States, as consumers become
more aware of the fisheries crisis.
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
Another initiative involve chefs
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
and restaurant tourists, who are taking pains to offer
seafood products produced by sustainable fisheries.
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
It’s very important for a chef
to select the right seafood
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
and know whether it’s plentiful or not, because you
establish recipe, you establish a way of cooking
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
with that fish, you put your choice in
the right place so that you can enjoy
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
fish in the future with your
children and grandchildren.
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
I think that consumers have to
question the origin of the seafood.
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
But I think it’s important is all food. I mean, I in my
restaurant, I represent that… that you have to ask question
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
to know where the food you put
in your mouth comes from.
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
If consumers thought about
what they were eating
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
that this is wild animals, I
mean, if you went into the store
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
and there were rhinoceros
stakes and some tiger chops,
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
you’d ask a few questions. When you go into a fish
store, you should be asking where does it come from
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
and how is it being caught.
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
Most consumers are unaware that
species like Patagonian toothfish,
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
marketed as Chilean sea bass, are
meeting the same fate as orange roughy,
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
whose population’s being fished into commercial extinction
within a short time after being marketed worldwide.
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Several organizations are providing
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
updated information on the status of fish
species and the fisheries that produce them.
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
Some offer seafood guides on their websites
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
as wallet size cards that seafood lovers can
carry with them to stores and restaurants
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
to help identify which products are from
healthy fisheries and which are not.
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
We do it to provide educational resource for
seafood consumers so they can make better choices
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
when they’re in the supermarket, or when they’re in the
restaurant. But an added benefit is that it rewards fishermen
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
who are working and operating in a sustainable
way or environmentally friendly way.
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
Consumers are also being advised to be careful
about what kinds of farmed fish they buy,
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
that some farming practices
may pose yet another threat
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
to beleaguered wild fish populations. We
hope that farm shrimp and farm salmon
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
will someday be sustainable sources of seafood.
But right now, they produce lots of pollution,
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
they destroy habitats, and they consume
more resources than they create.
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
According to a growing number of
scientists, whether or not fish farms
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
put added pressure on ocean fish, depends
on which species are being farmed
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
and how they are being farmed.
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
It is counter-intuitive. You would think, “Gee, if we can
produce them in farms, we don’t have to go fishing as much.”
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
In fact, just the opposite is
true, because many other species
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
that are most highly sought after
for farming are carnivorous species
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
that require fish meal, and
so we have to go fishing
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
for the fish to produce the fish
meal to feed the farmed animals.
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
The aquaculture industry and the aquaculture scientific
community are working hard at solutions to criticisms.
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
But I… I see great progress having been
made in… in… towards the development of…
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
of best practices, uh… towards the
dissemination of technical information.
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
Aquaculture in 30 years is trying to
do what agriculture did in 6,000,
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
and so the learning curve is real steep.
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
Fortunately there are a variety
of farm-raised fish and shellfish
00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
that do not require fish meal in their diet
and involve fewer environmental impacts.
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
Oysters, mussels, tilapia, and
catfish are examples of species
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
that can be raised to help
take pressure off wild fish.
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:38.000
[music]
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
As it becomes more apparent
that the bounty of our oceans
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
depends on an ecological balance
millions of years in the making,
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
a balance more fragile than ever imagined,
we are learning how important it is
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
to fish in a way that preserves the
planet’s most critical life support system.
00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
I think fisheries and ocean ecosystems
00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
are in much greater trouble
than is commonly appreciated.
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
If we act in the relatively near future,
we can turn some of those things around.
00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
If we could get together - the regulators, the
scientists, and the fisherman - I can’t see
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
why a solution can’t be found. I just can’t see
why it can’t happen. This is not science fiction,
00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
it could be done quite straightforward. And
everywhere it has been possible to break this…
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
this cycle of despair. It… It has been
possible to massively increase catches.
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
It really is very much up to us to decide.
People shape the world.
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
We can choose. There’s a lot of potential to bring
things back and have abundance and have beauty.
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
And there’s also a lot of risk right now.
As we enter the 21st century,
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
we are at a crossroads. Whether or
not we meet the challenges we face,
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
depends not only on
fishermen and policymakers,
00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
but on each and every one of us,
both as citizens and consumers.
00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:23.000
[music]
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 55 minutes
Date: 2003
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 9-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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