The End of the Line

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THE END OF THE LINE delves beyond the surface of the seas to reveal a troubling truth beneath: an ocean increasingly empty of fish, destroyed by decades of overexploitation.

Exploring the tragic collapse of the cod fishery in Newfoundland in the 1990s, the imminent extinction of the prized bluefin tuna, and the devastation wreaked by illegal catches and surpassed fishing quotas, the film uncovers the dark ecological story behind our love affair with fish as food.

The film argues that unless we demand political action from governments, responsible menu selections from restaurateurs as well as changing our own consumption habits, we could see the end of wild fish by mid-century.

WARNING Contains disturbing images.

'End of the Line is a moving film about the unnecessary tragedy of our depleted ocean life. Had we taken better care, our once-magnificent ocean fisheries could have produced far more than their now-tattered remnants are capable of. This engaging, passionate film shows how and why we need to realize that the ocean is not limitless, and what we need to do to help it recover from decades of abuse.' Carl Safina, President, Blue Ocean Institute, Author, Song for the Blue Ocean and Eye of the Albatross

'Stunningly filmed, End of the Line is a riveting indictment of the ecological and socioeconomic consequences of commercial overfishing of the world's oceans. Factually accurate interviews include author Charles Clover and some of the world's foremost fisheries biologists, marine ecologists, and ocean conservationists. This up-to-date documentary includes effective case studies and graphics that illustrate the history of overfishing and mismanagement by developed nations. Importantly, the causes of industrialized overfishing are explained, including ways that every citizen can prevent the looming crisis in our seas.' Dr. Mark Hixon, Professor of Marine Conservation Biology, Department of Zoology, Oregon State University

'End of the Line is the story of a Ponzi scheme--not on Wall Street but in our oceans. For too long, we have assumed that the sea and its bounty are inexhaustible, that new resources will always be found, and that larger harvests--or new aquaculture techniques--will always keep our plates full of food from the sea. But in reality, too many boats and too much fishing are depleting the oceans. New technologies, including ever-bigger trawls that scrape the ocean bottom and high-tech tools to find and track fish, are gradually destroying the oceans' ability to produce. End of the Line vividly chronicles the ecological, economic, and social consequences of this Ponzi scheme, revealing dying fisheries and out-of-work fishing communities. It is up to everyone to sustain the oceans' supply of healthful food: politicians must lead, we must all change the way we eat, and industry must abide by the rules.' Dr. James R. Karr, Professor Emeritus, Fisheries and Biology, University of Washington

'The End of the Line provides an accurate portrayal of the extent of overexploitation of fish stocks globally, currently the main driver of change and loss in marine biodiversity, while touching upon related problems of unsustainable mortality of sensitive species groups and habitat destruction in marine fisheries. The film highlights the failure of the science-policy interface to prevent this overuse and misuse from occurring, a critical governance deficit warranting wholesale changes. The film promises to contribute to changing purchasing practices by seafood consumers, with concomitant improvements in fishing practices and management.' Dr. Eric Gilman, Senior Research Scientist, Blue Ocean Institute

'Compelling...It tackles a truly serious problem and the science presented is credible. It is appropriate for levels from high school to graduate students and has a broad appeal because most people eat seafood and it tells an absorbing story...The End of the Line provides ripe teaching opportunities for courses such as introductory sociology, social problems, environmental sociology, sociology of science and technology, and political sociology.' Todd Paddock, Independent Sociologist, Teaching Sociology

'Well-researched, well-edited and nothing short of a call to action...A useful classroom tool...Beautifully filmed, and an excellent review of the worldwide overfishing dilemma--I highly recommend this film to all school, public and college libraries.' Barbara Butler, University of Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Educational Media Reviews Online

'This compelling story, effectively narrated by Ted Danson, is beautifully filmed and edited...This highly recommended video is essential for general audiences.' Library Journal

'There's no disputing this documentary's dire warning...The good news is that marine reserves are helping restore the fish population, restaurants are being held accountable for the seafood they serve, and consumers are becoming more vigilant. But fishing technology is far ahead of the environment, and only humans--the most implacable predators--can reverse the course...Recommended.' Video Librarian

'The End of the Line draws on interviews with scientists, activists and fishermen to create a compelling case...[The film] has a clear call to action.' G Magazine

'[A] call to action...Roams the globe to show how the overfishing of our oceans by greedy multinationals has endangered popular species like bluefin tuna, marlin, and Atlantic salmon.' Gerald Peary, The Phoenix

'End of the Line is an educational tool and a call to arms. Murray imparts three written commandments to his viewers as the film ends: consumers, politicians and advocates must enact change. We must be curious eaters, asking questions about where our fish comes from and whether it is sustainably produced...In addition, politicians need to value science and take control of fishing regulations and fisherman must be forced to observe the rules. Advocates for a sustainable fishing movement must work for the creation of more ocean reserves...As we 'win' the fight against fish by exploiting the ocean's exhaustible resources, Murray challenges us to ask what we have to gain by doing so.' Stacey Slate, Civil Eats

'A classical, stately documentary, that blends striking imagery with informed commentary to credibly present the facts.' Film4

'This documentary does an excellent job of dramatically increasing awareness. I strongly recommend it to teachers. Show it to your classes. Talk about it and brainstorm solutions. The next generation has a short window of opportunity to take action. Or the jellyfish, plankton, and motly assortment of marine worms my husband and I found so intriguing will be the sole inhabitants of our grandchildren's seas.' Veggie Revolution blog

'This is a film about overfishing, plain and simple...That focus gives the film a tight, logical momentum...An intensely sad film, and also an important one.' Grid Magazine

'This doco is loaded with facts and stats...It's compelling viewing, and outlines the problem - and the solution - in minute detail...If John Pilger were to make a documentary about over-fishing, this would be it.' Filmink

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Main credits

Murray, Rupert (Director)
Murray, Rupert (Cinematographer)
Waitt, Ted (Producer)
Knie, Erica (Producer)
Zoullas, Alexis (Producer)
Barnes, Chris Gorell (Producer)
Hird, Christopher (Producer)
Search, Jess (Producer)
Lewis, Claire (Producer)
Duffield, George (Producer)
Danson, Ted (Narrator)
Ferguson, Claire (Film editor)

Other credits

Edited by Claire Ferguson; filmed by Rupert Murray; original music by Srdjan Kurpjel & Marios Takoushis.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

overfishing, oceans, Charles Clover, overexploitation, cod, collapse of cod fishery, Newfoundland, bluefin tuna, fishing quotas, fish as food, political action, governments, menu selections, restaurateurs, changing consumption habits, end of wild fish, mid-century, Mitsubishi, hoarding bluefin tuna, industrial fishing, West Africa, emigration to Europe, Nobu, declining world food catch, loss of predators, Alaska's fishery, marine reserves, power of consumers, Daily Telegraph, trawling, St. Johns, John Crosbie, Brian Mulroney, Jeffrey Hutchings, Callum Roberts, Daniel Pauly, Boris Worm, Almadraba, Ray Hilborn, Roberto Mielgo, Sergi Tudela, European Uniion, Malta, Lampedusa, Tokyo, ICCAT, Rashid Sumaila, Haidar El Ali, diving, Senegal, Coral Triangle, Chesapeake Bay, cownose ray, Pete Peterson, ecological imbalance, lobsters, shrimp, prawn, scallops, jellyfish, United Nations, Steve Palumbi, global warming, marlin, Chilean sea bass, endangered species, Richie Notar, Jamie Oliver, Alaska, fishing policy, Matthew Moir, Marine Stewardship Council, MSC, Yvonne Sadovy, consumer power, Peter Redmond, Birds Eye, fish farming, Patricia Majluf, anchovy, aquaculture, Exuma Cays, Hardy McKinney, South Andros, Nassau grouper, fishery subsidies, sustainable seafood, Wagamama; "The End of the Line"; Bullfrog Films

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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The Exuma Cays Land and
Sea Park in The Bahamas

00:02:51.380 --> 00:02:53.740
is one of the oldest
marine protected areas

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in the world-- a man made
sanctuary in the sea.

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The waters teem with
life from the smallest

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to the largest creature
in the food chain,

00:03:02.660 --> 00:03:06.220
because they are protected from
the most efficient predator

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our oceans have ever known.

00:03:08.498 --> 00:03:09.995
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:04:22.849 --> 00:04:24.440
Now, where do you?

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Well, I reckon if you
fish off that point.

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Yeah.

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Cast a fly straight out.

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What's that?

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Probably a bat.

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Look there!

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Take it easy.

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Look.

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We put this fish here.

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I came into this because at
a very small and very limited

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way, I was a hunter of fish.

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My first salmon-- my
first salmon, also

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the largest I ever caught,
on a Welsh river, 23 pounds.

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I was chuffed to
bits to catch that.

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Huge fins.

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I have never been
more proud of myself.

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It was the last that
anybody caught on that beach

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for years and years.

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I don't think anybody's caught
one as big as that since.

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And I was triumphant.

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But I also have felt
guilty about that fish

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ever since, because it was one
of the last of a spring run

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that now no longer happens.

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Now, why were fewer
of them coming back?

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Well, I didn't know.

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But I thought I'd
better find out.

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And that's really what
set me off on this journey

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to find out what was
happening to fish in the sea.

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[PHONE RINGING]

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It's Clover, Charles Clover.

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I've got some queries.

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What is the tuna that you serve?

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Which ocean is it from?

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And how is it caught?

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As a journalist, what
changed my view of the sea

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is when I walked into the wrong
press conference in the Hague

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in 1990.

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And this was the
first presentation

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I'd ever seen about the effect
of trawling upon the sea bed,

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and upon those creatures
that lived on it.

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And what they said was that
trawling with a beam trawler

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was like plowing a field
seven times a year.

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And I'm a farmer's son.

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And I thought to
myself, how many

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crops would grow if you plant
that field seven times a year?

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And I thought, not
very much at all.

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And that changed my whole view
of what was going in the sea.

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Our view of the
sea has always been

00:07:11.725 --> 00:07:16.658
that it is huge, beautiful,
and inexhaustible.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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The oceans are the common
heritage of all mankind.

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And for billions of years,
they have been full of life.

00:08:01.966 --> 00:08:02.938
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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These huge resources
that we once

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believed to be renewable, that
our whole human history has led

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us up to now to believe
that are renewable

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are not renewable
anymore because

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of what we're doing to them.

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And so our entire philosophical
approach has to change.

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It's not going to be
the same in the future

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as it was in the past.

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That's where we are now.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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We never used to think about
where our fish came from.

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But, in fact,
they're wild animals.

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And we found that out to
our cost for the first time

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in Newfoundland.

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For centuries, the
waters in Northern Canada

00:09:09.730 --> 00:09:13.090
teemed with unbelievable
amounts of codfish.

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Legend had it that you could
walk across their backs

00:09:15.579 --> 00:09:16.120
on the water.

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The cod was so plentiful the
communities thrived on fishing.

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As the years went on,
technology improved.

00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.360
The boats got bigger,
and catches increased.

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The bounty seemed endless.

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Then in 1992, the
unthinkable happened.

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[SHOUTING]

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In.

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St. John's tonight, angry
fishermen vented their rage.

00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:52.470
They charged the room
where John Crosby

00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:54.150
was holding a news conference.

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But security would
not let them in.

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What had once been
the most abundant cod

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population in the world had
been fished out of existence.

00:10:02.910 --> 00:10:05.460
I've decided that, effective
at midnight tonight,

00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:08.560
there will be a moratorium
on harvesting of Northern Cod

00:10:08.560 --> 00:10:10.900
until the spring of 1994.

00:10:10.900 --> 00:10:13.410
Either we cooperate
in addressing it.

00:10:13.410 --> 00:10:16.020
Or there's going to be
no fish for anybody--

00:10:16.020 --> 00:10:19.520
no fish for the Europeans,
no fish for the Canadians,

00:10:19.520 --> 00:10:22.575
and an ecological
catastrophe on our hands.

00:10:22.575 --> 00:10:23.930
With or without you!

00:10:23.930 --> 00:10:25.105
You're going to--

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With or without you!

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And not only me, every
fisherman on this island.

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We're going fishing!

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Overnight, 40,000
people lost their jobs.

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The cod is gone.

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And I think within
the context of cod,

00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.550
particularly in the
Canadian perspective,

00:10:41.550 --> 00:10:43.520
is that this is a species
that has been fished

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for centuries and centuries.

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Cod was the reason that
people migrated from the UK,

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from Europe, Northern France
in particular, to Canada.

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It was because of cod.

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The fishing ban brought
the people to the streets.

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They hoped that one day
the cod would return.

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The significance didn't
drop, didn't dawn on anybody,

00:11:06.650 --> 00:11:07.950
till much later.

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Today, there are so few
left that they've got

00:11:11.990 --> 00:11:14.420
endangered status in Canada.

00:11:14.420 --> 00:11:19.550
And the cod populations have not
rebounded, despite a moratorium

00:11:19.550 --> 00:11:24.210
on cod fishing since 1992.

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In 2007, this
research vessel set

00:11:26.900 --> 00:11:30.020
two lines, each
with 1,500 hooks,

00:11:30.020 --> 00:11:32.820
find out how many cod
were left in the waters

00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:35.770
off Eastern Canada.

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On the first line, they
caught one small codfish.

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On the second, a
small basket full.

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The cod stocks had been
depleted to such a low level

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that they were
unable to recover.

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For Newfoundland,
for a community

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for which the whole reason
for its existence was cod,

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there's this historical
ingrained element.

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It's part of society,
permeates society.

00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:03.980
And the loss of the
fish was basically

00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:05.660
akin to sort of a loss of soul.

00:12:05.660 --> 00:12:09.006
And it still remains
that 15 years later.

00:12:09.006 --> 00:12:09.990
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:12:22.790 --> 00:12:26.400
After the collapse of the cod, a
new breed of fishery scientists

00:12:26.400 --> 00:12:28.200
started to investigate
what had been

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happening to all the fish
in every ocean of the world.

00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:33.223
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Local catches of fish had been
declining almost everywhere.

00:12:51.520 --> 00:12:55.230
But what puzzled the
scientists in 2001

00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:58.790
was that the total world
catch kept going up and up.

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It didn't make sense.

00:13:00.290 --> 00:13:03.200
The concerns that
people have expressed

00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.740
that local stocks were
going down everywhere,

00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:10.295
but that global statistics
were showing an increase,

00:13:10.295 --> 00:13:14.130
that this was a discrepancy.

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Daniel Pauly, a leading
expert in global fishing,

00:13:17.430 --> 00:13:20.090
was asked by the United
Nations Food and Agriculture

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Organization to
investigate this mystery.

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Daniel Pauly had the brilliance
to start examining why,

00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:32.048
in the face of the evidence
that you saw in front of you

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locally, and in the face of
evidence like Newfoundland

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that the figures kept going up.

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It was when Pauly
and his colleagues

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looked at the reported
catches from China

00:13:47.180 --> 00:13:49.920
that they found their answer.

00:13:49.920 --> 00:13:53.000
For every part of the
world, the reporting

00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.820
was right, except
for Chinese waters.

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When Daniel Pauly came
to this department.

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And he said, I
think they're wrong.

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And I said, what do
you mean they're wrong?

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He said, well, it can't be that
China's catching that much.

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And they found out
actually when you

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looked at the biological
productivity of the sea,

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and what we know about
it everywhere else,

00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:20.480
the Chinese figures
could not be right.

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They were just made up.

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They were made up by
communist officials

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who only got preferment
if the graphs went up.

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Graphs kept going
up because they

00:14:29.515 --> 00:14:31.230
kept making up the figures.

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And it was a huge,
seismic moment.

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We concluded that the
were so biased upward

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so much that if you
corrected for this effect,

00:14:43.330 --> 00:14:46.180
the world catch would not be
increasing, but decreasing.

00:14:46.180 --> 00:14:47.665
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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For the first time
in human history,

00:14:56.730 --> 00:15:01.700
the future of the food the world
gets from the sea was in doubt.

00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:05.500
Sent a shiver down my spine,
because that was the one thing

00:15:05.500 --> 00:15:07.600
that a lot of people
were holding on to.

00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:08.910
Well, things may be bad.

00:15:08.910 --> 00:15:10.440
But at least we're
catching lots.

00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:11.898
And we're catching
more every year.

00:15:11.898 --> 00:15:13.610
So it can't be that bad.

00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:18.810
From about 1988, we now
realize, it was on the way down.

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And we only figured
that out in 2002.

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All of these things were
like warning signals.

00:15:24.680 --> 00:15:30.050
And they were telling
a story in aspects.

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This is a story
that was going on

00:15:32.550 --> 00:15:35.070
at the same time as human
influences elsewhere.

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But it's been told late.

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It's been told-- we
haven't had so much time

00:15:38.910 --> 00:15:40.010
to do something about it.

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Now it's on us.

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And now in the next maybe
40, 50 years, it's crisis.

00:15:45.980 --> 00:15:47.190
It's crash.

00:15:47.190 --> 00:15:48.830
It's do something about it time.

00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:51.280
And that's why
this is, arguably,

00:15:51.280 --> 00:15:53.626
one of the biggest
problems in the world.

00:15:53.626 --> 00:15:55.120
[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Man has been hunting
fish in the sea

00:16:37.190 --> 00:16:39.812
since he discovered
they were there.

00:16:39.812 --> 00:16:41.300
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:09.589
For the last 3,000 years,
these men and their forefathers

00:17:09.589 --> 00:17:13.380
have expected giant bluefin tuna
to migrate from the Atlantic

00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:16.599
Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:20.650
And every spring, the
fishermen set their trap--

00:17:20.650 --> 00:17:23.698
in ancient method of fishing
known as the almadraba.

00:17:23.698 --> 00:17:24.694
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17:26.686 --> 00:17:27.682
[CHEERING]

00:17:32.662 --> 00:17:33.658
[SHOUTING]

00:18:02.044 --> 00:18:03.538
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:48.990
The almadraba
fishermen once used

00:18:48.990 --> 00:18:52.120
to catch thousands of bluefin.

00:18:52.120 --> 00:18:54.870
But over the last 10
years, their catches

00:18:54.870 --> 00:18:57.106
have declined by 80%.

00:18:57.106 --> 00:18:57.856
[SPEAKING ITALIAN]

00:19:48.165 --> 00:19:49.638
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:19:58.990 --> 00:20:01.660
On the other side of
the world in Canada,

00:20:01.660 --> 00:20:03.760
scientist Boris
Worm had been trying

00:20:03.760 --> 00:20:06.890
to work out how many tuna
and another large fish

00:20:06.890 --> 00:20:09.610
were left in the sea.

00:20:09.610 --> 00:20:12.746
Somebody said counting fish is
just as easy as counting trees,

00:20:12.746 --> 00:20:14.495
just that they're
invisible and they move.

00:20:14.495 --> 00:20:18.250
So it's an almost
impossible thing

00:20:18.250 --> 00:20:21.895
to do, especially when you want
to assess how the global ocean

00:20:21.895 --> 00:20:23.410
has changed-- the whole thing.

00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.690
We asked that very
simple question--

00:20:29.690 --> 00:20:32.390
where are we now
relative to a baseline

00:20:32.390 --> 00:20:34.140
that we set about 1950?

00:20:34.140 --> 00:20:36.030
Because large-scale
industrialized fishing

00:20:36.030 --> 00:20:39.450
started around 1950.

00:20:39.450 --> 00:20:42.240
So here in 1952 when
the series starts,

00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.770
we that the around
Japan there's already

00:20:44.770 --> 00:20:47.770
blue colors dominating,
meaning that the catch

00:20:47.770 --> 00:20:51.190
rates were low-- around
one fish per 100 hooks.

00:20:51.190 --> 00:20:53.350
In areas that were
newly-exploited,

00:20:53.350 --> 00:20:57.160
we see catch rates
about 10 times higher--

00:20:57.160 --> 00:20:59.125
10 or more fish per 100 hooks.

00:21:04.030 --> 00:21:06.790
Worm used Japanese
fishing fleet data that

00:21:06.790 --> 00:21:09.940
had recorded how many fish
were caught on every 100

00:21:09.940 --> 00:21:13.260
hooks they set.

00:21:13.260 --> 00:21:17.030
This is the first time
industrial longline fisheries

00:21:17.030 --> 00:21:19.650
went out into the open
ocean and just worked

00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:22.186
through the whole ecosystem.

00:21:22.186 --> 00:21:23.178
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:21:49.470 --> 00:21:52.250
And you see that the
fishery has reached

00:21:52.250 --> 00:21:54.590
a truly global coverage.

00:21:54.590 --> 00:21:57.280
And a lot about the ocean
is in the blue colors now,

00:21:57.280 --> 00:22:00.400
meaning the abundance of
these large first globally

00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.810
has probably declined
by about 90%.

00:22:03.810 --> 00:22:06.020
This has been widely-criticized.

00:22:06.020 --> 00:22:09.300
And there have been many
papers written to undermine,

00:22:09.300 --> 00:22:10.820
attack these findings.

00:22:10.820 --> 00:22:15.360
Totally wrong-- there's just no
question that's totally wrong.

00:22:15.360 --> 00:22:18.100
Some fishery scientists felt
that Worm's findings didn't

00:22:18.100 --> 00:22:21.230
reflect their local situation.

00:22:21.230 --> 00:22:22.880
Some thought that
even attempting

00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.600
to count how many large fish
were left in all the oceans

00:22:26.600 --> 00:22:28.810
was an impossible task.

00:22:28.810 --> 00:22:33.470
I think that in their haste
to get the big picture,

00:22:33.470 --> 00:22:37.630
they don't look carefully
enough at local places.

00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:39.970
They actually disagree
with one thing--

00:22:39.970 --> 00:22:43.940
certain tuna, yellowfin and
skipjack in the Pacific.

00:22:43.940 --> 00:22:47.770
And there they say
it's only 70%, not 90%.

00:22:47.770 --> 00:22:51.630
Whether it's 90% or 95%, or 80%,
or 70%, is rather irrelevant.

00:22:51.630 --> 00:22:53.440
We all know they've
declined dramatically.

00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:00.760
So focusing on the particulars
in that sense is not helpful.

00:23:00.760 --> 00:23:03.420
The overall trends
in Worm's findings

00:23:03.420 --> 00:23:06.140
were reflected in official data.

00:23:06.140 --> 00:23:08.755
Species after species
had collapsed.

00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:14.190
Everybody recognizes that
there's major problems

00:23:14.190 --> 00:23:16.460
in the world's fisheries.

00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:21.951
And at one level, it's a
question of, how bad is it?

00:23:21.951 --> 00:23:23.424
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:52.880
Today, in every ocean
of the world high-tech,

00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:57.360
industrial vessels are hunting
down every known edible species

00:23:57.360 --> 00:23:57.970
of fish.

00:24:01.579 --> 00:24:03.870
The basic problem in most
fisheries that are in trouble

00:24:03.870 --> 00:24:05.450
is too many boats.

00:24:05.450 --> 00:24:11.000
Too much capacity
chasing too few fish.

00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.000
Global fishing capacity
could catch the world

00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:15.455
catch four times over.

00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:23.000
The world's longlining
industry sets 1.4 billion hooks

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:24.520
every year.

00:24:24.520 --> 00:24:27.320
These are estimated to
be set on enough line

00:24:27.320 --> 00:24:30.500
to encircle the globe
more than 550 times.

00:24:33.430 --> 00:24:36.540
The mouth of the largest
trawling net in the world

00:24:36.540 --> 00:24:41.464
is big enough to
accommodate 13 747s.

00:24:41.464 --> 00:24:44.035
We are fighting a
war against fish.

00:24:44.035 --> 00:24:47.890
And we are throwing
at them our industry.

00:24:47.890 --> 00:24:50.950
And we are winning.

00:24:50.950 --> 00:24:55.405
And that's how we perceive
our interaction with them.

00:24:55.405 --> 00:24:57.110
It's a fight.

00:24:57.110 --> 00:24:59.010
The thing is we're
too good right now.

00:24:59.010 --> 00:25:02.572
Technologically, not a single
hunted animal on this Earth

00:25:02.572 --> 00:25:03.970
has a chance.

00:25:07.090 --> 00:25:12.620
These vessels are equipped with
so much electronic equipment

00:25:12.620 --> 00:25:17.456
that the fish have absolutely
no chance of escaping.

00:25:17.456 --> 00:25:21.810
The skipper knows exactly
where he is in relationship

00:25:21.810 --> 00:25:25.230
to a rock where fish could
hide, in relationship

00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:28.675
to a wreck where fish
will be attracted to.

00:25:33.110 --> 00:25:35.190
It doesn't take very
long for us to have

00:25:35.190 --> 00:25:39.264
very serious consequences
in what we're doing.

00:25:39.264 --> 00:25:40.430
We keep pressing the button.

00:25:40.430 --> 00:25:41.960
We're not willing to hold back.

00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:42.960
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:25:47.100 --> 00:25:50.950
The might of the fishing
armory has grown exponentially

00:25:50.950 --> 00:25:52.330
in the last 50 years.

00:25:52.330 --> 00:25:57.170
The amount of fishing power that
we have at our command today

00:25:57.170 --> 00:26:00.975
far outweighs our ability
to control ourselves.

00:26:10.430 --> 00:26:13.330
Fishing has transformed
entire ecosystems.

00:26:13.330 --> 00:26:17.250
In fact, I would say one of the
largest scale transformation

00:26:17.250 --> 00:26:20.570
of the planetary
environment has been

00:26:20.570 --> 00:26:22.050
the impact of bottom trawlers.

00:26:25.330 --> 00:26:27.640
Nets that are dragged
across the sea bed,

00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:30.150
and as they are
pulled, they cut down

00:26:30.150 --> 00:26:32.270
the animals that live
on the surface-- things

00:26:32.270 --> 00:26:34.570
like corals, and sea
fans, and sponges.

00:26:34.570 --> 00:26:38.300
The signs of destruction
brought up on deck by the trawl

00:26:38.300 --> 00:26:39.740
would make an angel weep.

00:26:43.825 --> 00:26:48.120
If the fishing effort
continued to increase,

00:26:48.120 --> 00:26:51.410
continued to be directed
at the dwindling resource

00:26:51.410 --> 00:26:54.926
you would, of course,
catch most of it.

00:26:54.926 --> 00:26:56.405
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:27:11.710 --> 00:27:15.800
The bluefin is one of the
most iconic fish in the sea.

00:27:15.800 --> 00:27:17.940
It's beautiful,
hydrodynamic shape

00:27:17.940 --> 00:27:21.880
and specially-heated blood
allow it to accelerate faster

00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:24.840
than a super car.

00:27:24.840 --> 00:27:28.660
Pound for pound, its delicious
flesh is the most expensive

00:27:28.660 --> 00:27:31.720
and sought after on the planet.

00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:36.720
The bluefin once sustained
Roman legions in battle.

00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:40.550
Now it feeds fashion-conscious
diners and sushi restaurants

00:27:40.550 --> 00:27:41.527
around the world.

00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:50.710
Bluefin is the frontline.

00:27:50.710 --> 00:27:57.100
Bluefin is the most immediate
crisis that we know about.

00:27:57.100 --> 00:27:58.830
For many years,
scientists have been

00:27:58.830 --> 00:28:01.270
predicting that the
king of the tuna

00:28:01.270 --> 00:28:03.170
would be hunted to extinction.

00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:05.685
But now, it is
actually happening.

00:28:05.685 --> 00:28:06.675
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:28:19.070 --> 00:28:22.060
Roberto Mielgo is a
bluefin tuna fisherman

00:28:22.060 --> 00:28:24.810
who has turned whistleblower
on an industry he

00:28:24.810 --> 00:28:27.070
believes is out of control.

00:28:27.070 --> 00:28:29.880
A lone presence in the
ports of Europe, Mielgo

00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:34.476
is hunting for information to
bring the slaughter to a halt.

00:28:34.476 --> 00:28:35.432
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:28:38.778 --> 00:28:40.700
That's bluefin.

00:28:40.700 --> 00:28:43.650
I can actually tell
from here, it's bluefin.

00:28:56.170 --> 00:28:59.410
I started in this business
as a tuna farm diver.

00:28:59.410 --> 00:29:03.080
That was many years ago.

00:29:03.080 --> 00:29:05.368
Those days were
the good old days,

00:29:05.368 --> 00:29:08.870
where the stock was
healthy, I would say.

00:29:08.870 --> 00:29:14.260
But then bluefin tuna became
big business-- I mean,

00:29:14.260 --> 00:29:16.290
really big business.

00:29:16.290 --> 00:29:20.330
In 2002, I was in
Tunisia, I think it was.

00:29:20.330 --> 00:29:25.855
And that's when I first sensed
that something terribly wrong

00:29:25.855 --> 00:29:28.160
was happening.

00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:31.050
The conflict was that I started
something I could not control.

00:29:31.050 --> 00:29:34.660
And as from there,
I took the decision

00:29:34.660 --> 00:29:36.895
to try and do the right thing.

00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:42.790
That is a bluefin unloading.

00:29:45.910 --> 00:29:48.180
Let's say there's
only two containers,

00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:54.000
and they jam-packed those
two 40-feet reefer containers

00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.890
with 28 tons each.

00:29:57.890 --> 00:30:05.550
That is 56 tons of fish,
which is more than what Taiwan

00:30:05.550 --> 00:30:10.730
would normally declare as
catches at the end of a fishing

00:30:10.730 --> 00:30:11.230
season.

00:30:11.230 --> 00:30:12.700
So there you go.

00:30:12.700 --> 00:30:14.660
One boat.

00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:16.700
Just one boat.

00:30:16.700 --> 00:30:21.080
What's at stake here
is an infamous minority

00:30:21.080 --> 00:30:27.480
of people making millions,
and millions, and millions

00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:30.830
by decimating a species.

00:30:30.830 --> 00:30:31.940
Is that right?

00:30:31.940 --> 00:30:32.640
Is that moral?

00:30:49.290 --> 00:30:52.540
In Luxembourg, European
Union ministers

00:30:52.540 --> 00:30:55.770
meet to decide the fate of
the fish and the industry

00:30:55.770 --> 00:30:57.236
which depends on it.

00:31:00.890 --> 00:31:02.850
Fishing is supposed
to be controlled

00:31:02.850 --> 00:31:05.150
through internationally
agreed quotas--

00:31:05.150 --> 00:31:08.050
the amount fisherman
are allowed to catch.

00:31:08.050 --> 00:31:09.865
These are recommended
by scientists.

00:31:15.300 --> 00:31:18.835
What will happen this
afternoon, and what it

00:31:18.835 --> 00:31:20.480
will mean to the bluefin tuna?

00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:24.050
What will happen is that
fisheries minister and the EU

00:31:24.050 --> 00:31:29.864
will take a decision
that goes against

00:31:29.864 --> 00:31:32.030
any rational, scientific
advice for the conservation

00:31:32.030 --> 00:31:34.790
of bluefin.

00:31:34.790 --> 00:31:38.390
Bluefin scientists are
recommending a catch of 15,000

00:31:38.390 --> 00:31:41.450
tons simply to avoid collapse.

00:31:41.450 --> 00:31:43.880
In order to rebuild
the fish population,

00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:47.350
the catch needs to be
less-- at 10,000 tons.

00:31:47.350 --> 00:31:52.240
But ministers vote for
a catch of 29,500 tons,

00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:55.370
twice what it should to keep
the population from crashing,

00:31:55.370 --> 00:31:57.710
and three times what it
should be able to let the fish

00:31:57.710 --> 00:31:58.650
recover.

00:31:58.650 --> 00:32:00.120
I just can't accept that.

00:32:00.120 --> 00:32:02.110
This is political quota.

00:32:02.110 --> 00:32:06.170
It's negotiating with biology.

00:32:06.170 --> 00:32:08.570
And you just can't
do that and expect

00:32:08.570 --> 00:32:10.050
to see the biology survive.

00:32:10.050 --> 00:32:12.410
This is a species
which is as endangered

00:32:12.410 --> 00:32:13.532
as the white rhinoceros.

00:32:13.532 --> 00:32:15.240
And, yet, it's being
hunted to extinction

00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:17.307
in the Mediterranean.

00:32:17.307 --> 00:32:19.390
It's being exploited at
more than twice the levels

00:32:19.390 --> 00:32:20.237
it should be.

00:32:20.237 --> 00:32:22.070
And those countries
that have over-fished it

00:32:22.070 --> 00:32:24.280
are not being forced to pay
back what they've over-fished--

00:32:24.280 --> 00:32:26.520
so not a day in which the
European Union has covered

00:32:26.520 --> 00:32:27.860
itself in glory.

00:32:27.860 --> 00:32:30.820
Bluefin tuna is not the
only fish whose stocks

00:32:30.820 --> 00:32:32.730
have declined dramatically.

00:32:32.730 --> 00:32:34.870
And most of the others
have declined while

00:32:34.870 --> 00:32:38.600
under the supervision of the
scientists and politicians

00:32:38.600 --> 00:32:40.990
in the richest
nations of the world.

00:32:40.990 --> 00:32:44.270
If fishery managers
were engineers,

00:32:44.270 --> 00:32:47.490
they would have been fired
long ago, because we'd

00:32:47.490 --> 00:32:49.950
be having collapsing
buildings and bridges

00:32:49.950 --> 00:32:53.700
all over the place, because the
calculations and so far out.

00:32:53.700 --> 00:32:58.920
And so it's not a question of if
fish stocks will collapse when

00:32:58.920 --> 00:33:00.270
you make decisions like that.

00:33:00.270 --> 00:33:02.190
It's a question simply of when.

00:33:02.190 --> 00:33:03.300
Collapse is inevitable.

00:33:03.300 --> 00:33:04.272
[EXPLOSION]

00:33:06.216 --> 00:33:07.188
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:33:15.936 --> 00:33:20.275
This is the center of the
bluefin tuna universe.

00:33:20.275 --> 00:33:21.480
Malta is that.

00:33:26.500 --> 00:33:29.460
Roberto Mielgo has come
to Malta to investigate

00:33:29.460 --> 00:33:31.220
whether the tuna
industry is catching

00:33:31.220 --> 00:33:33.686
more than the quota allows.

00:33:33.686 --> 00:33:35.180
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:47.360
Hello, Charles,
how are you doing?

00:33:47.360 --> 00:33:48.710
How are you getting on?

00:33:48.710 --> 00:33:49.650
Well, busy.

00:33:49.650 --> 00:33:51.070
Have you found a lot?

00:33:51.070 --> 00:33:52.220
Quite a lot, yes.

00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:59.460
Despite the scientists
recommending an annual cash

00:33:59.460 --> 00:34:02.210
of 15,000 tons,
and the politicians

00:34:02.210 --> 00:34:05.400
setting 30,000 tons,
official figures

00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:09.530
show the Mediterranean bluefin
tuna industry simply ignores

00:34:09.530 --> 00:34:13.620
the regulations and
catches 61,000 tons--

00:34:13.620 --> 00:34:16.400
a third of the entire
bluefin tuna population.

00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.429
Mielgo discovers
that some fishermen

00:34:22.429 --> 00:34:26.989
will stop at nothing to get hold
of this sought after commodity.

00:34:26.989 --> 00:34:30.295
I flew to Lampedusa
the other day.

00:34:30.295 --> 00:34:33.380
And just by chance,
I came across

00:34:33.380 --> 00:34:34.679
some interesting documents.

00:34:34.679 --> 00:34:40.860
Is there anything to the link
them to fishing activity?

00:34:40.860 --> 00:34:44.370
So they can catch as many
fish as possible, the fleets

00:34:44.370 --> 00:34:48.320
use planes to spot the tuna
shoals-- an activity that

00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:51.000
has been outlawed during
this part of the season

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:52.199
for the last 10 years.

00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:01.460
Mostly, these
planes were operated

00:35:01.460 --> 00:35:06.130
by Italian fishing fleets
fishing south of Lampedusa,

00:35:06.130 --> 00:35:10.110
east of Tunisia, and
outside Libyan waters.

00:35:10.110 --> 00:35:11.350
This is a disgrace.

00:35:11.350 --> 00:35:13.780
The Italian government
isn't doing a thing.

00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:16.460
Nobody is enforcing
the rule of law.

00:35:16.460 --> 00:35:18.660
This is a disgrace for
the European Union.

00:35:18.660 --> 00:35:19.652
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:35:40.490 --> 00:35:42.760
The breaking of the
rules by fisherman

00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:46.620
is one of the biggest problems
facing the world's oceans.

00:35:46.620 --> 00:35:50.150
Illegal, unregulated,
and unreported fishing

00:35:50.150 --> 00:35:53.840
is worth up to
$25 billion a year

00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:55.870
Fisherman cheat
because they can.

00:35:55.870 --> 00:35:58.100
Fisherman cheat because
they don't get caught.

00:35:58.100 --> 00:36:00.540
That's true of all systems.

00:36:00.540 --> 00:36:03.741
A study for the House of
Lords in the United Kingdom

00:36:03.741 --> 00:36:07.530
reported that 50% of the
cod caught in the North Sea

00:36:07.530 --> 00:36:08.680
was illegal.

00:36:08.680 --> 00:36:13.939
Every other fish on your plate
was stolen-- stolen from you.

00:36:13.939 --> 00:36:14.917
[BELL TOLLING]

00:36:35.980 --> 00:36:39.980
Mielgo has come to Tokyo, the
center of the world tuna trade,

00:36:39.980 --> 00:36:42.300
were last ditch
attempts are being made

00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:44.646
to save the majestic bluefin.

00:36:44.646 --> 00:36:45.638
[SPEAKING JAPANESE]

00:37:03.530 --> 00:37:05.680
The biggest company
in the tuna business

00:37:05.680 --> 00:37:08.600
is the multinational
Mitsubishi-- makers

00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:11.140
of cars and electrical products.

00:37:11.140 --> 00:37:13.005
They don't actually
catch the fish.

00:37:13.005 --> 00:37:14.540
They just buy it.

00:37:14.540 --> 00:37:19.730
I would think that Mitsubishi
Corporation itself would

00:37:19.730 --> 00:37:23.885
be in control of
something like 60% of all

00:37:23.885 --> 00:37:26.371
of the entire bluefin
tuna production--

00:37:26.371 --> 00:37:29.293
northern bluefin tuna
production in the Atlantic

00:37:29.293 --> 00:37:30.267
and the Mediterranean.

00:37:33.190 --> 00:37:36.100
Mielgo is here to attend a
meeting of the International

00:37:36.100 --> 00:37:39.230
Committee for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tuna--

00:37:39.230 --> 00:37:42.610
ICCAT-- which has been
called in a desperate attempt

00:37:42.610 --> 00:37:44.970
to persuade the
industry to stick

00:37:44.970 --> 00:37:47.580
to internationally-agreed
quotas.

00:37:47.580 --> 00:37:49.380
Roberto speaking here in Tokyo.

00:37:49.380 --> 00:37:51.110
How are you getting on?

00:37:51.110 --> 00:37:57.480
Well, it's been a humbling
experience, Charles.

00:37:57.480 --> 00:37:59.840
Mielgo had discovered
that Mitsubishi

00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:04.750
were sending out new larger
boats to bring back bluefin.

00:38:04.750 --> 00:38:09.370
They have pumped up their
freezing and transportation

00:38:09.370 --> 00:38:11.460
capacity.

00:38:11.460 --> 00:38:14.260
Mitsubishi claim to
control less than 40%

00:38:14.260 --> 00:38:17.310
of the bluefin import
market, and say the new boats

00:38:17.310 --> 00:38:20.480
were sent to
replace old vessels.

00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:23.690
But Mielgo believes that
Mitsubishi and other traders

00:38:23.690 --> 00:38:27.980
are building up frozen reserves,
which will be worth much more

00:38:27.980 --> 00:38:30.380
if fish stocks are depleted.

00:38:30.380 --> 00:38:33.420
If there's no more
bluefin tuna caught,

00:38:33.420 --> 00:38:39.310
but you're sitting on 60,000,
70,000 tons of it frozen,

00:38:39.310 --> 00:38:41.380
you name the price.

00:38:41.380 --> 00:38:44.490
Mitsubishi say they try to
provide the Japanese market

00:38:44.490 --> 00:38:47.790
with stable supplies
at reasonable prices,

00:38:47.790 --> 00:38:51.750
while supporting policies to
ensure long-term sustainability

00:38:51.750 --> 00:38:53.410
of the stock.

00:38:53.410 --> 00:38:56.560
But Mielgo fears that
the result will still be

00:38:56.560 --> 00:38:59.420
the extinction of the species.

00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:03.260
The immediate conclusion
one has to come up to

00:39:03.260 --> 00:39:08.750
is that these guys want to fish
until the very last bluefin

00:39:08.750 --> 00:39:09.930
tuna.

00:39:09.930 --> 00:39:12.160
Once they have caught the
very last bluefin tuna,

00:39:12.160 --> 00:39:15.570
they will go on to bigeye tuna.

00:39:15.570 --> 00:39:18.670
And once they have
over-fished bigeye tuna,

00:39:18.670 --> 00:39:21.250
they will go for
another tuna species.

00:39:21.250 --> 00:39:23.480
Mitsubishi insists
they want to preserve

00:39:23.480 --> 00:39:26.590
the tuna for future
generations, and they support

00:39:26.590 --> 00:39:29.140
cuts in the bluefin quota.

00:39:29.140 --> 00:39:33.030
The fate of bluefin shows what
multinational corporations,

00:39:33.030 --> 00:39:36.630
international fisheries
policy, and consumer demand

00:39:36.630 --> 00:39:39.980
can do to a wild species.

00:39:39.980 --> 00:39:43.740
But the race to catch the
last fish, whatever its price,

00:39:43.740 --> 00:39:46.566
is happening all over the world.

00:39:46.566 --> 00:39:48.060
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:40:36.864 --> 00:40:37.860
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:41:18.300 --> 00:41:20.890
Hundreds of millions
of people in the world

00:41:20.890 --> 00:41:24.210
depend on fish to
keep them alive.

00:41:24.210 --> 00:41:29.360
For 1.2 billion people, it
is a key part of their diet.

00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:32.030
In West Africa, which used
to have one of the richest

00:41:32.030 --> 00:41:34.345
seas on the planet,
the stocks of fish

00:41:34.345 --> 00:41:37.535
have declined massively
in the last 50 years.

00:41:46.870 --> 00:41:50.795
Rashid Sumaila is an expert
on West African fisheries

00:41:50.795 --> 00:41:53.790
who has come to Senegal to
find out what effect this

00:41:53.790 --> 00:41:56.400
has had on local people.

00:41:56.400 --> 00:41:58.940
Fish is crucial in West Africa.

00:41:58.940 --> 00:42:01.430
The coastal people
depend on fish.

00:42:01.430 --> 00:42:03.510
And even the interior
people come down

00:42:03.510 --> 00:42:07.350
when the farms disappoint them,
when there's drought, deserts

00:42:07.350 --> 00:42:08.220
and so on.

00:42:08.220 --> 00:42:12.010
So it is very
important to keep this

00:42:12.010 --> 00:42:13.800
going for the sake
of the people,

00:42:13.800 --> 00:42:16.990
because if the fish goes
down, the coast of West Africa

00:42:16.990 --> 00:42:19.090
will be littered with problems.

00:42:19.090 --> 00:42:21.950
We cannot afford to let this go.

00:42:28.110 --> 00:42:31.040
Adama Mbergaul is an
artisinal fisherman

00:42:31.040 --> 00:42:34.280
who lives in the Darak,
the capital of Senegal.

00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:35.770
Fishing is his livelihood.

00:42:41.674 --> 00:42:42.658
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:43:41.600 --> 00:43:45.740
Today, Adama earns
$6 from his fishing.

00:43:45.740 --> 00:43:48.500
His fuel cost him $4.

00:43:48.500 --> 00:43:52.040
What is left has
to feed his family.

00:43:52.040 --> 00:43:52.920
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:43:58.520 --> 00:44:02.271
Meanwhile on the same
shoreline, money is being made.

00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:08.160
The governments of many
developing countries

00:44:08.160 --> 00:44:12.890
trade fishing rights for quick
cash from developed nations.

00:44:12.890 --> 00:44:16.650
Taxpayers from the Western world
pay for the largest fishing

00:44:16.650 --> 00:44:19.450
boats on the planet--
super trawlers--

00:44:19.450 --> 00:44:22.210
to fish the distant waters.

00:44:22.210 --> 00:44:24.440
The locals and
their [? parogues ?]

00:44:24.440 --> 00:44:25.460
don't stand a chance.

00:44:28.270 --> 00:44:30.210
That's no good
for the fishermen.

00:44:30.210 --> 00:44:32.120
That's no good for our sea.

00:44:32.120 --> 00:44:37.530
That's good just for European
fisherman, and government

00:44:37.530 --> 00:44:41.960
of Senegal, because
he have lot of money.

00:44:41.960 --> 00:44:46.685
Hidar has dived the waters off
Senegal for the last 35 years,

00:44:46.685 --> 00:44:49.910
and has witnessed huge
changes to the health

00:44:49.910 --> 00:44:52.630
of the local ocean.

00:44:52.630 --> 00:44:55.690
He is campaigning
against foreign boats

00:44:55.690 --> 00:44:58.016
fishing in his waters.

00:44:58.016 --> 00:45:02.140
When I see this, I want
to fight with this guy.

00:45:02.140 --> 00:45:04.940
I want to fight with
this [INAUDIBLE] boat.

00:45:04.940 --> 00:45:07.610
I want to fight with the
government who take his money

00:45:07.610 --> 00:45:09.437
and don't know what to do.

00:45:09.437 --> 00:45:11.770
I want to fight with the
world, because the world' going

00:45:11.770 --> 00:45:13.340
to be dead.

00:45:13.340 --> 00:45:14.770
It's not touchable.

00:45:14.770 --> 00:45:18.140
Fishing is one of the most
wasteful practices on Earth.

00:45:18.140 --> 00:45:21.670
Every year, more than seven
million tons-- a tenth

00:45:21.670 --> 00:45:25.320
of the world's catch-- goes
back over the side dead.

00:45:25.320 --> 00:45:27.180
This includes
hundreds of thousands

00:45:27.180 --> 00:45:32.130
of turtles, sea birds,
sharks, whales, and dolphins.

00:45:32.130 --> 00:45:35.220
See how he do to
destroy the ocean.

00:45:35.220 --> 00:45:37.220
He take just what he want.

00:45:37.220 --> 00:45:41.965
He take just what
he need to sell now.

00:45:41.965 --> 00:45:45.660
But the fish, he don't
need to sell that.

00:45:45.660 --> 00:45:47.260
He put him out.

00:45:47.260 --> 00:45:48.950
And he kill them.

00:45:48.950 --> 00:45:50.450
Look all around you.

00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:01.440
As the fish have been
taken by foreign fleets,

00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:03.780
fishermen like
Adama have been left

00:46:03.780 --> 00:46:06.310
with an impossible decision.

00:46:06.310 --> 00:46:10.270
Should he leave his family
and risk the dangerous journey

00:46:10.270 --> 00:46:11.464
to Europe?

00:46:11.464 --> 00:46:12.338
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:46:43.685 --> 00:46:45.170
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:47:05.020 --> 00:47:07.066
The fish goes.

00:47:07.066 --> 00:47:08.190
The people are made poorer.

00:47:08.190 --> 00:47:09.060
And what happens?

00:47:09.060 --> 00:47:10.400
They try to immigrate.

00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:12.350
The Europeans like are fish.

00:47:12.350 --> 00:47:15.340
But they don't like the people.

00:47:15.340 --> 00:47:18.669
The fish has visa to come
in, but the people are

00:47:18.669 --> 00:47:19.667
[? ten back. ?]

00:47:19.667 --> 00:47:20.665
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:47:53.100 --> 00:47:55.460
Man is not going to change.

00:47:55.460 --> 00:47:57.840
And the sea going to be dead.

00:47:57.840 --> 00:48:01.440
Because man is
crazy, we aer crazy.

00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:02.940
Our world is crazy world.

00:48:38.290 --> 00:48:40.240
In the restaurants
of Asia, diners

00:48:40.240 --> 00:48:44.480
are buying live fish in greater
quantities than ever before.

00:48:44.480 --> 00:48:46.990
These are being taken from
the most beautiful parts

00:48:46.990 --> 00:48:48.925
of the planet--
the Coral Triangle.

00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:54.100
The Coral Triangle
is an area of ocean

00:48:54.100 --> 00:48:56.140
half the size of
the United States

00:48:56.140 --> 00:48:57.610
in the seas of Southern Asia.

00:49:09.610 --> 00:49:12.030
Coral reefs were
targeted as a food supply

00:49:12.030 --> 00:49:14.740
when local waters ran out.

00:49:14.740 --> 00:49:17.050
The most desirable
fish are the reef's

00:49:17.050 --> 00:49:18.220
large, colorful predators.

00:49:27.460 --> 00:49:30.780
Our insatiable appetite
for such delicacies

00:49:30.780 --> 00:49:36.420
threatens to tip the fragile
balance of nature into chaos.

00:49:36.420 --> 00:49:38.145
We don't know what
the implications are

00:49:38.145 --> 00:49:42.820
of losing some of these very--
one particular component

00:49:42.820 --> 00:49:44.280
of the ecosystem.

00:49:44.280 --> 00:49:46.140
We just know that
in other ecosystems

00:49:46.140 --> 00:49:47.220
there have been problems.

00:49:47.220 --> 00:49:48.929
And that when we mess
around with nature,

00:49:48.929 --> 00:49:49.970
there's usually problems.

00:49:52.790 --> 00:49:54.550
On the east coast
of America, there

00:49:54.550 --> 00:49:57.160
is a terrifying clue
of what can happen

00:49:57.160 --> 00:50:01.710
when you disturb the
ocean's natural equilibrium.

00:50:01.710 --> 00:50:03.310
We've got a big
surprise for you.

00:50:03.310 --> 00:50:06.934
We've got a Chesapeake Ray.

00:50:06.934 --> 00:50:07.858
[INAUDIBLE]

00:50:07.858 --> 00:50:09.706
Say it one more
time [INAUDIBLE].

00:50:09.706 --> 00:50:12.560
[INAUDIBLE] Look out, they
coming to you that way

00:50:12.560 --> 00:50:13.231
[INAUDIBLE].

00:50:13.231 --> 00:50:13.731
[INAUDIBLE]

00:50:16.302 --> 00:50:17.760
Most people don't
use it as a food,

00:50:17.760 --> 00:50:19.950
because it's a little
difficult to get to.

00:50:19.950 --> 00:50:21.960
In Chesapeake Bay,
there have been

00:50:21.960 --> 00:50:25.960
increasing reports of a plague
of biblical proportions.

00:50:25.960 --> 00:50:29.640
A little known inhabitant
of the bay, the cownose ray,

00:50:29.640 --> 00:50:31.170
has exploded in numbers.

00:50:41.270 --> 00:50:44.770
Local scientist Pete Peterson
was investigating the increase

00:50:44.770 --> 00:50:46.960
in the cownose ray
population when

00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:49.300
he noticed that the
graph of their growth

00:50:49.300 --> 00:50:51.990
was the exact
opposite of the graph

00:50:51.990 --> 00:50:57.780
of the decline in their
main predator-- the shark.

00:50:57.780 --> 00:51:00.280
Even a number of
quality scientists

00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:03.920
will tell you that
statistics are, in some ways,

00:51:03.920 --> 00:51:06.490
icing on the cake when
you do your science.

00:51:06.490 --> 00:51:08.020
But to tell you
the truth, as you

00:51:08.020 --> 00:51:11.060
look at a plot of how
the numbers of sharks

00:51:11.060 --> 00:51:12.900
along this coast
have changed, how

00:51:12.900 --> 00:51:16.390
the numbers of rays,
skates, and smaller sharks

00:51:16.390 --> 00:51:18.840
have changed at
the same time, you

00:51:18.840 --> 00:51:20.270
don't need a statistic at all.

00:51:20.270 --> 00:51:22.940
It jumps right off
the page at you.

00:51:22.940 --> 00:51:24.790
When large predators
are taken out,

00:51:24.790 --> 00:51:27.820
when they're depleted in
abundance as much as they are,

00:51:27.820 --> 00:51:29.860
we have large
ecosystem effects that

00:51:29.860 --> 00:51:34.000
can cause all sorts
of domino effects

00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:36.599
throughout the
ecosystem-- a lot of them

00:51:36.599 --> 00:51:37.890
surprising, unforeseen effects.

00:51:47.480 --> 00:51:49.360
There's evidence of
this knock on effect

00:51:49.360 --> 00:51:51.370
happening all over the world.

00:51:51.370 --> 00:51:54.357
In Newfoundland, lobster
numbers are exploding.

00:51:57.160 --> 00:51:59.980
The lost of cod and other
bottom-dwelling fishes,

00:51:59.980 --> 00:52:02.570
what we have seen is an
increase in the abundance

00:52:02.570 --> 00:52:03.957
of other things.

00:52:03.957 --> 00:52:05.790
So in this part the
Atlantic, there's always

00:52:05.790 --> 00:52:07.110
been a fair number of lobster.

00:52:07.110 --> 00:52:10.070
But there's now, evidently,
quite a bit more.

00:52:10.070 --> 00:52:12.860
So it seems fairly
reasonable to conclude

00:52:12.860 --> 00:52:16.250
that the decline of cod
and other predatory fishes

00:52:16.250 --> 00:52:20.230
has basically paved
the way for an increase

00:52:20.230 --> 00:52:23.060
in the abundance of those
things that cod used to eat.

00:52:23.060 --> 00:52:26.830
Fisherman have eagerly
fed off the bonanza.

00:52:26.830 --> 00:52:29.420
There is big money to
be made in lobster.

00:52:29.420 --> 00:52:31.500
But how long will it last?

00:52:31.500 --> 00:52:34.650
This is the situation
that happens everywhere we

00:52:34.650 --> 00:52:37.540
have we removed the large fish.

00:52:37.540 --> 00:52:41.260
In many places, what has
exploded is the shrimp.

00:52:41.260 --> 00:52:42.780
Shrimp have exploded.

00:52:42.780 --> 00:52:44.900
It's good-- shrimp good money.

00:52:44.900 --> 00:52:47.870
But if you over-fish
them, what then?

00:52:47.870 --> 00:52:51.400
The endpoint is when the
prawns and the scallops,

00:52:51.400 --> 00:52:52.810
too, have gone.

00:52:52.810 --> 00:52:57.400
We really will be down to a
highly-simplified ecosystem

00:52:57.400 --> 00:53:01.390
of mud and worms.

00:53:01.390 --> 00:53:03.800
Jellyfish infestations
are increasing.

00:53:07.670 --> 00:53:09.965
Beaches are becoming
no-go zones.

00:53:12.760 --> 00:53:15.240
Our oceans, once
full of large fish,

00:53:15.240 --> 00:53:18.925
are now filling up with
algae, plankton, and worms.

00:53:23.450 --> 00:53:27.680
Plankton sticks, pressed into
fish-shaped pieces, perhaps,

00:53:27.680 --> 00:53:31.490
jellyfish burgers-- the
options are endless.

00:53:35.284 --> 00:53:36.760
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:53:53.010 --> 00:53:54.130
We're losing species.

00:53:54.130 --> 00:53:56.230
What does that mean for us?

00:53:56.230 --> 00:53:57.880
What does that mean for society?

00:53:57.880 --> 00:54:00.530
What does it mean for
the predictability

00:54:00.530 --> 00:54:04.470
of the global oceans,
which is 70% of the planet?

00:54:04.470 --> 00:54:08.280
And the answer is with every
species that disappears,

00:54:08.280 --> 00:54:10.920
some of those
services are eroding.

00:54:10.920 --> 00:54:12.250
There's less food.

00:54:12.250 --> 00:54:13.650
There's declining water.

00:54:13.650 --> 00:54:16.920
And there's declining
stability of the system.

00:54:16.920 --> 00:54:20.950
What alarmed me the most was
that the ability of the system

00:54:20.950 --> 00:54:24.150
to absorb shocks and disasters,
to deal with climate change,

00:54:24.150 --> 00:54:27.140
to deal with overfishing
was diminishing.

00:54:27.140 --> 00:54:30.270
It could be a road of no return.

00:54:30.270 --> 00:54:33.150
According to data collected
by the United Nations,

00:54:33.150 --> 00:54:36.880
the number of fish species
whose populations have crashed

00:54:36.880 --> 00:54:40.080
is growing year by year.

00:54:40.080 --> 00:54:41.570
Worm and the other
scientists have

00:54:41.570 --> 00:54:44.910
projected that if the
current trends continue,

00:54:44.910 --> 00:54:47.610
the stocks of fish
which we now eat

00:54:47.610 --> 00:54:51.340
will have collapsed by
the middle of the century.

00:54:51.340 --> 00:54:54.730
What we noticed was the curves
that they were separating--

00:54:54.730 --> 00:54:56.210
the high and low
diversity curves--

00:54:56.210 --> 00:54:58.050
but they were both dropping.

00:54:58.050 --> 00:55:01.300
All the fish and
invertebrates that we eat,

00:55:01.300 --> 00:55:05.260
that supply us with
seafood, we found

00:55:05.260 --> 00:55:08.820
that by 2003 about
one third of them

00:55:08.820 --> 00:55:11.390
were in what we call
a collapsed state.

00:55:11.390 --> 00:55:14.630
Over the last 50 years, there
was a very, very clear trend

00:55:14.630 --> 00:55:17.600
of year, after year, after
year, more of these species

00:55:17.600 --> 00:55:19.260
were in that collapsed category.

00:55:19.260 --> 00:55:20.705
They started very high.

00:55:20.705 --> 00:55:22.080
They kept dropping,
and dropping,

00:55:22.080 --> 00:55:23.620
and dropping, and dropping.

00:55:23.620 --> 00:55:27.500
And if you take those
curves, and you say,

00:55:27.500 --> 00:55:29.180
well, they're dropping.

00:55:29.180 --> 00:55:30.940
When are they going to hit zero?

00:55:30.940 --> 00:55:33.040
When are they going to
drop down to the point

00:55:33.040 --> 00:55:36.240
where the fisheries
that we're used to

00:55:36.240 --> 00:55:39.560
are no longer going
to be possible?

00:55:39.560 --> 00:55:41.080
And those curves drop down.

00:55:41.080 --> 00:55:43.450
And they hit zero about 2048.

00:55:43.450 --> 00:55:46.460
This is not some
horror scenario.

00:55:46.460 --> 00:55:48.520
It's a real possibility.

00:55:48.520 --> 00:55:51.270
And it's not rocket
science, because if we're

00:55:51.270 --> 00:55:53.170
depleting one species
after another,

00:55:53.170 --> 00:55:54.330
it's a finite resource.

00:55:54.330 --> 00:55:56.340
There will be a
point in the future

00:55:56.340 --> 00:56:00.120
where we will run out if
we don't change the way we

00:56:00.120 --> 00:56:01.860
treat this global resource.

00:56:01.860 --> 00:56:04.700
Worm and the others were
criticized by their opponents

00:56:04.700 --> 00:56:06.780
for naming a precise date.

00:56:06.780 --> 00:56:09.590
But this was not the
point they were making.

00:56:09.590 --> 00:56:13.620
Whoever makes an extrapolation
makes it always assuming

00:56:13.620 --> 00:56:15.620
that things remain the same.

00:56:15.620 --> 00:56:18.410
And I would say that,
assuming that things remain

00:56:18.410 --> 00:56:20.900
the same, this
prediction that we

00:56:20.900 --> 00:56:27.810
will have no fish in 50 years
or so, are essentially correct.

00:56:27.810 --> 00:56:31.880
When the human population comes
under real pressure on land,

00:56:31.880 --> 00:56:35.510
when we begin to have real
problems with global warming,

00:56:35.510 --> 00:56:42.260
when we start running out of
enough food to feed ourselves,

00:56:42.260 --> 00:56:45.790
we have just squandered
of the greatest resources

00:56:45.790 --> 00:56:50.140
that we've ever had on
the planet-- wild fish.

00:56:50.140 --> 00:56:52.181
That's what it means.

00:56:52.181 --> 00:56:53.278
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:57:43.240 --> 00:57:46.920
For generations,
we have eaten fish.

00:57:46.920 --> 00:57:49.810
What can our generation
do to stop us

00:57:49.810 --> 00:57:52.564
reaching the end of the line?

00:57:52.564 --> 00:57:54.028
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:58:12.610 --> 00:58:15.600
Fish, I love fish,
eating fish [INAUDIBLE].

00:58:15.600 --> 00:58:18.920
I can eat fish four times a day.

00:58:18.920 --> 00:58:20.275
My son doesn't like it.

00:58:20.275 --> 00:58:22.400
If I cook fish, he says,
no, Mommy, I want chicken.

00:58:22.400 --> 00:58:24.060
And I said, fish is
good for the money.

00:58:24.060 --> 00:58:26.380
He says, no.

00:58:26.380 --> 00:58:29.790
Well, I love fish, 102%.

00:58:29.790 --> 00:58:30.790
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:58:34.790 --> 00:58:37.550
I love to eat fish.

00:58:37.550 --> 00:58:42.036
So fish are food to me.

00:58:42.036 --> 00:58:43.530
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:58:58.470 --> 00:59:00.060
Lots of the time,
people say, where

00:59:00.060 --> 00:59:03.120
are-- all the fish,
90% of the fish gone.

00:59:03.120 --> 00:59:04.430
Where are they?

00:59:04.430 --> 00:59:06.630
We have eaten them.

00:59:06.630 --> 00:59:08.110
That's what we have.

00:59:08.110 --> 00:59:09.330
We have eaten them.

00:59:23.190 --> 00:59:25.710
When we look at a piece
of fish on our plate,

00:59:25.710 --> 00:59:28.230
what do we know about that fish?

00:59:28.230 --> 00:59:29.470
We know it's good for us.

00:59:29.470 --> 00:59:32.300
We know it's probably got some
omega 3 fatty acids, which

00:59:32.300 --> 00:59:34.924
are good for all
our organ functions.

00:59:34.924 --> 00:59:36.340
But what else do
we know about it?

00:59:36.340 --> 00:59:37.640
What do we know about it?

00:59:37.640 --> 00:59:40.860
Do we know what
species it is even?

00:59:40.860 --> 00:59:44.600
Do we know whether it was
caught legally, or illegally,

00:59:44.600 --> 00:59:48.010
or in the waters of some
distant country where

00:59:48.010 --> 00:59:49.917
the inhabitants would
actually have preferred

00:59:49.917 --> 00:59:51.125
to have caught it themselves?

00:59:53.945 --> 00:59:54.950
Hi there, Ingred.

00:59:54.950 --> 00:59:56.910
It's Chance Clover from
The Daily Telegraph.

00:59:56.910 --> 00:59:59.480
I noticed that marlin
was on the menu.

00:59:59.480 --> 01:00:01.920
This is a kind of an unusual
fish to find on the menu.

01:00:01.920 --> 01:00:05.344
And I wondered which
species of marlin

01:00:05.344 --> 01:00:07.010
this was, because I
thought there wasn't

01:00:07.010 --> 01:00:08.760
an awful lot of marlin left.

01:00:08.760 --> 01:00:13.590
Both these fish-- the bluefin
tuna and the Chilean sea bass,

01:00:13.590 --> 01:00:16.550
are listed as
endangered species.

01:00:16.550 --> 01:00:18.950
I want to talk to
someone who would

01:00:18.950 --> 01:00:26.830
know about the sourcing policy
for fish at Nobu Restaurants.

01:00:26.830 --> 01:00:28.456
Can we send them an email?

01:00:28.456 --> 01:00:32.270
No, we can't.

01:00:32.270 --> 01:00:34.420
British journalist
Charles Clover

01:00:34.420 --> 01:00:36.150
has been trying to
find out what has

01:00:36.150 --> 01:00:38.590
sold in some of the most
exclusive restaurants

01:00:38.590 --> 01:00:39.910
of the world.

01:00:39.910 --> 01:00:44.530
After five years of no comment,
eventually Nobu agreed to talk.

01:00:47.590 --> 01:00:48.836
Hello?

01:00:48.836 --> 01:00:50.560
Hello, Mr. Clover, how are you?

01:00:50.560 --> 01:00:52.700
Hello, Mr. Notar, how are you?

01:00:52.700 --> 01:00:55.390
I feel like I know you.

01:00:55.390 --> 01:00:58.530
We've got a fish that has
actively been described

01:00:58.530 --> 01:01:02.150
as endangered since 1996.

01:01:02.150 --> 01:01:05.050
And you're serving it
in your restaurants.

01:01:05.050 --> 01:01:06.460
Not only are we
going to describe

01:01:06.460 --> 01:01:07.834
what it is on the
menu, I'm going

01:01:07.834 --> 01:01:09.440
to put an asterisk next to it.

01:01:09.440 --> 01:01:12.620
And on the bottom of the menu,
I'm going to say, you know,

01:01:12.620 --> 01:01:17.770
it is an environmentally
endangered species just

01:01:17.770 --> 01:01:18.700
so people know.

01:01:18.700 --> 01:01:21.310
That's the first immediate
step that we can do.

01:01:21.310 --> 01:01:22.080
Then we also--

01:01:22.080 --> 01:01:23.410
It's a sort of hard sell.

01:01:23.410 --> 01:01:25.200
Here's some endangered species.

01:01:25.200 --> 01:01:27.442
Are people going to
buy that, do you think?

01:01:27.442 --> 01:01:29.400
Well, you know, you're
boxing me into a corner.

01:01:29.400 --> 01:01:32.924
At one point, people are saying,
you're not being informative.

01:01:32.924 --> 01:01:35.340
At some point, people have to
make decisions on their own.

01:01:35.340 --> 01:01:36.839
If you look at a
pack of cigarettes,

01:01:36.839 --> 01:01:38.900
it has warning signs
saying, this will kill you.

01:01:38.900 --> 01:01:41.120
The question people
will want to know

01:01:41.120 --> 01:01:43.980
is why you just don't
take it off the menu now.

01:01:43.980 --> 01:01:48.910
If you've got orangutans, and
cheetahs, and lions, and tigers

01:01:48.910 --> 01:01:55.210
and things on that menu,
people would be walking away.

01:01:55.210 --> 01:01:56.790
There would be a huge scandal.

01:01:56.790 --> 01:01:58.770
There would be tabloid
stories about it.

01:01:58.770 --> 01:02:00.530
People would be execrated.

01:02:00.530 --> 01:02:03.140
There would be turns
on people's doorsteps,

01:02:03.140 --> 01:02:05.280
envelopes being
shoved through them.

01:02:05.280 --> 01:02:08.184
People would burn each
other's down, scratch

01:02:08.184 --> 01:02:08.975
through their cars.

01:02:08.975 --> 01:02:11.870
And, yet, we're doing
it to things in the sea.

01:02:11.870 --> 01:02:13.550
And we're doing the same thing.

01:02:13.550 --> 01:02:17.090
This dish is modern,
cool, refreshing-- looks

01:02:17.090 --> 01:02:19.690
really, really flashy.

01:02:19.690 --> 01:02:21.150
But it's dead, dead simple.

01:02:21.150 --> 01:02:26.150
So I've got some
beautiful bluefin tuna.

01:02:26.150 --> 01:02:28.910
Now that these kind of
popular television programs

01:02:28.910 --> 01:02:32.050
with celebrity chefs have
made fish fashionable,

01:02:32.050 --> 01:02:35.321
is it too late to save
the world's oceans?

01:02:35.321 --> 01:02:37.570
People are asking me all the
time, are you despairing?

01:02:37.570 --> 01:02:38.790
Or are you hopeful?

01:02:38.790 --> 01:02:41.220
And I say, absolutely hopeful.

01:02:41.220 --> 01:02:43.475
And they ask, what
makes you think that?

01:02:43.475 --> 01:02:44.900
And I say, well, two things.

01:02:44.900 --> 01:02:49.550
One is now we have a much better
understanding than even five

01:02:49.550 --> 01:02:51.480
years ago of what's going on.

01:02:51.480 --> 01:02:56.770
And there's a track record of
when we understood changes,

01:02:56.770 --> 01:03:01.720
and they became
public knowledge,

01:03:01.720 --> 01:03:04.490
they entered people's
consciousness--

01:03:04.490 --> 01:03:06.970
like with pollution, like
with ozone depletion,

01:03:06.970 --> 01:03:09.930
with climate change
more recently--

01:03:09.930 --> 01:03:11.100
things started to happen.

01:03:11.100 --> 01:03:12.590
And people made changes.

01:03:12.590 --> 01:03:14.310
I think that there's
a message of hope,

01:03:14.310 --> 01:03:15.990
because there's
still time for us

01:03:15.990 --> 01:03:18.280
to turn the course of history.

01:03:18.280 --> 01:03:22.640
And although the players
have taken poison,

01:03:22.640 --> 01:03:24.007
there's still time to save them.

01:03:44.420 --> 01:03:50.010
Alaska is on the front line in
the battle to conserve fish.

01:03:50.010 --> 01:03:52.690
According to the UN,
according to the only laws

01:03:52.690 --> 01:03:59.010
that we have of the sea, the
sea belongs to us-- the citizen.

01:03:59.010 --> 01:04:01.380
Not to the fisherman, not
to the aggregates industry,

01:04:01.380 --> 01:04:04.400
not to the oil and gas
industries, it's ours.

01:04:04.400 --> 01:04:07.992
So why don't we claim it back?

01:04:07.992 --> 01:04:13.360
[INAUDIBLE] on for pilot
and co-pilot [INAUDIBLE].

01:04:15.330 --> 01:04:18.190
Alaska has a 200-mile
fishing limit,

01:04:18.190 --> 01:04:21.210
which it strictly enforces.

01:04:21.210 --> 01:04:26.840
Port lock bank, coordinates
are going to be 56.

01:04:26.840 --> 01:04:29.005
It appears that they've
been fishing in one area.

01:04:29.005 --> 01:04:32.020
And they're claiming another.

01:04:32.020 --> 01:04:33.510
One of the lessons
from Alaska is

01:04:33.510 --> 01:04:36.330
first you have to not
allow new boats to enter.

01:04:36.330 --> 01:04:38.690
And you have to find
mechanisms to get

01:04:38.690 --> 01:04:42.875
some boats to leave to match
your fleet size to the capacity

01:04:42.875 --> 01:04:43.813
of the resource.

01:04:46.920 --> 01:04:49.800
Alaska's fishing
policies is not perfect.

01:04:49.800 --> 01:04:53.220
But the number of fishing boats
here is carefully controlled.

01:04:53.220 --> 01:04:56.304
And managers can monitor
how much is being caught,

01:04:56.304 --> 01:04:57.220
and react accordingly.

01:05:01.970 --> 01:05:05.350
Fishing policy here is
determined by the science.

01:05:05.350 --> 01:05:07.530
Catch limits are set
well below the level

01:05:07.530 --> 01:05:11.190
that fish populations
can withstand.

01:05:11.190 --> 01:05:13.380
One of the differences
between Alaska and,

01:05:13.380 --> 01:05:17.050
let's say, the North Sea is
that the average exploitation

01:05:17.050 --> 01:05:22.070
rate on stocks in Alaska is
on the order of 10% a year.

01:05:22.070 --> 01:05:24.750
In the North Sea, it's 50%.

01:05:24.750 --> 01:05:27.570
One way in which Alaska
controls the catch

01:05:27.570 --> 01:05:30.830
is by giving the fisherman
a limited amount of time

01:05:30.830 --> 01:05:32.080
to fulfill their quota.

01:05:40.502 --> 01:05:42.490
Flare, flare, flare!

01:05:42.490 --> 01:05:43.981
[MUSIC PLAYING]

01:06:03.705 --> 01:06:05.830
If you look at it from just
a personal perspective,

01:06:05.830 --> 01:06:08.199
sometimes there's a
personal sacrifice.

01:06:08.199 --> 01:06:09.990
But if you look at it
from the big picture,

01:06:09.990 --> 01:06:11.674
you got to take a
cut in the harvest.

01:06:11.674 --> 01:06:14.750
But you take that knowing that
it gives you an opportunity

01:06:14.750 --> 01:06:17.705
to maybe have a better
season two, three, four, five

01:06:17.705 --> 01:06:18.330
years from now.

01:06:18.330 --> 01:06:20.871
We just don't want to catch that
fish this year or next year.

01:06:20.871 --> 01:06:23.692
We want to catch it 10,
15, 20 years from now.

01:06:23.692 --> 01:06:24.674
[MUSIC PLAYING]

01:06:30.580 --> 01:06:33.520
As consumers, we have
the power to bring

01:06:33.520 --> 01:06:36.500
about a positive change
at sea by demanding

01:06:36.500 --> 01:06:40.300
to know where our fish comes
from, how it was caught,

01:06:40.300 --> 01:06:42.060
and whether it is endangered.

01:06:42.060 --> 01:06:45.800
There is a fishing industry
out there, some of which

01:06:45.800 --> 01:06:48.860
is trying incredibly
hard to get it right.

01:06:48.860 --> 01:06:51.990
And they are not being supported
as much as they should be,

01:06:51.990 --> 01:06:53.470
because people are
not recognizing

01:06:53.470 --> 01:06:55.345
the difference between
what they're doing

01:06:55.345 --> 01:06:58.500
and what the guys who are
just rampantly raping the seas

01:06:58.500 --> 01:06:59.555
are doing.

01:06:59.555 --> 01:07:03.095
I think we have to support that
part of the fishing industry.

01:07:03.095 --> 01:07:04.085
[MUSIC PLAYING]

01:07:11.360 --> 01:07:13.820
For consumers, there are
guides to identifying

01:07:13.820 --> 01:07:15.598
which fish is better to eat.

01:07:18.260 --> 01:07:22.740
Then there are labels which
certify its sustainability.

01:07:22.740 --> 01:07:26.420
One is issued by the Marine
Stewardship Council, MSC.

01:07:26.420 --> 01:07:29.150
What we do, and the
choices we make in, say,

01:07:29.150 --> 01:07:31.550
supermarkets, when we
go to a restaurant,

01:07:31.550 --> 01:07:37.620
actually has a direct
effect on marine diversity.

01:07:37.620 --> 01:07:40.640
At the moment, only a small
proportion of the fish we buy

01:07:40.640 --> 01:07:42.840
comes from a sustainable source.

01:07:42.840 --> 01:07:47.770
But with pressure, things
our slowly changing.

01:07:47.770 --> 01:07:50.590
Even the world's largest
retailer-- Walmart--

01:07:50.590 --> 01:07:57.360
has plans to sell only MSC
fresh and frozen fish by 2011.

01:07:57.360 --> 01:08:01.230
We sell approximately 20 million
pounds of fresh fish a year.

01:08:01.230 --> 01:08:04.970
We had to do something that
would protect us as we grow,

01:08:04.970 --> 01:08:07.290
and as we need more and more
product into the future.

01:08:07.290 --> 01:08:10.270
And that's where the MSC
really shone out to us

01:08:10.270 --> 01:08:13.904
as a leading way that we
can really embrace and grow

01:08:13.904 --> 01:08:14.445
our business.

01:08:19.340 --> 01:08:22.439
Birds-Eye, once the king
of the cod fish finger,

01:08:22.439 --> 01:08:27.160
now buys over 2/3 of their
fish from sustainable sources.

01:08:27.160 --> 01:08:31.770
And fast food outlet McDonald's
say that over 90% of their fish

01:08:31.770 --> 01:08:34.840
comes from a sustainable source.

01:08:34.840 --> 01:08:35.899
Knowledge is power.

01:08:35.899 --> 01:08:39.840
And what knowledge gives
you is the opportunity

01:08:39.840 --> 01:08:41.560
to change the way
that you do things,

01:08:41.560 --> 01:08:43.910
to change the way you behave.

01:08:43.910 --> 01:08:47.200
More and more fish
are now being farmed.

01:08:47.200 --> 01:08:48.950
Many people see
this as an answer

01:08:48.950 --> 01:08:52.600
to the increasingly-desperate
problem facing our oceans.

01:08:52.600 --> 01:08:56.274
But fish farming is
not all that it seems.

01:08:56.274 --> 01:08:57.732
[MUSIC PLAYING]

01:09:11.859 --> 01:09:16.200
Fish farming uses wild
fish to feed farmed fish.

01:09:16.200 --> 01:09:17.869
But it kills more
than it produces.

01:09:20.569 --> 01:09:23.810
All of these anchovies will
be ground up for fish meal

01:09:23.810 --> 01:09:27.825
to feed fish and other
animals around the world.

01:09:27.825 --> 01:09:31.090
Of the 100 million tons
that get fished every year

01:09:31.090 --> 01:09:35.109
in the planet, 40% go and
get ground into fish meal

01:09:35.109 --> 01:09:39.689
to feed other fish,
and not to feed people

01:09:39.689 --> 01:09:42.939
so that some rich people
somewhere in the world

01:09:42.939 --> 01:09:45.100
can eat salmon and
can eat shrimp.

01:09:45.100 --> 01:09:48.530
The more fish farming we don
in the West, the less fish

01:09:48.530 --> 01:09:49.330
we have.

01:09:49.330 --> 01:09:52.229
This is one of the
paradoxes that people

01:09:52.229 --> 01:09:54.275
have problems understanding.

01:10:00.560 --> 01:10:03.080
Aquaculture for
species that east fish

01:10:03.080 --> 01:10:04.580
doesn't have that
much room to grow,

01:10:04.580 --> 01:10:06.150
because there just aren't
that many fish out there

01:10:06.150 --> 01:10:07.566
in the ocean to
feed them anymore.

01:10:11.470 --> 01:10:15.430
You actually convert fish from
one species into the other.

01:10:15.430 --> 01:10:19.340
You don't make more
fish, at least not when

01:10:19.340 --> 01:10:21.200
you have farm fish.

01:10:21.200 --> 01:10:23.950
On average, five
kilos of anchovies

01:10:23.950 --> 01:10:26.540
make only one kilo of salmon.

01:10:26.540 --> 01:10:27.860
We've reached the buffers.

01:10:27.860 --> 01:10:29.490
We have reached
the limits on what

01:10:29.490 --> 01:10:32.890
the ocean is capable of
providing to feed the fish

01:10:32.890 --> 01:10:34.020
farming industry.

01:10:34.020 --> 01:10:38.140
So how can it grow if
it's already reached

01:10:38.140 --> 01:10:41.000
the end of its feed stock?

01:10:41.000 --> 01:10:43.930
Patricia has started a
campaign to encourage people

01:10:43.930 --> 01:10:47.910
all over the world to eat small
fish like anchovies, herring,

01:10:47.910 --> 01:10:51.720
and mackerel, instead of the
farm fish that are fed on them.

01:10:51.720 --> 01:10:52.977
Why not eat the fish directly?

01:10:52.977 --> 01:10:54.060
Why not eat the anchovies?

01:10:54.060 --> 01:10:56.550
They're much better for
you than salmon anyways.

01:10:56.550 --> 01:10:59.960
It's this tiny little fish that
has all the energy that you

01:10:59.960 --> 01:11:02.170
need to be healthy.

01:11:08.950 --> 01:11:11.890
If fish farming is not the
answer, despite attempts

01:11:11.890 --> 01:11:15.730
to make it less wasteful,
and sustainable fisheries

01:11:15.730 --> 01:11:18.470
aren't catching on
fast enough, what else

01:11:18.470 --> 01:11:22.165
can we do to save
the world's oceans?

01:11:22.165 --> 01:11:26.580
We need to turn back the clock
200 years to bring back life,

01:11:26.580 --> 01:11:29.390
to restore its
previous abundance

01:11:29.390 --> 01:11:32.840
and productivity in some
places around the world oceans.

01:11:32.840 --> 01:11:35.550
I'm talking about creating
a network of areas

01:11:35.550 --> 01:11:38.699
within which we can
turn back the clock.

01:11:38.699 --> 01:11:40.136
[MUSIC PLAYING]

01:11:49.240 --> 01:11:51.990
It's a nice country.

01:11:51.990 --> 01:11:55.452
[INAUDIBLE] beautiful,
[? and ?] this outside of dying

01:11:55.452 --> 01:11:56.160
and go to heaven.

01:11:56.160 --> 01:11:57.603
[MUSIC PLAYING]

01:12:07.000 --> 01:12:10.320
Marine reserves are areas
of the world's oceans

01:12:10.320 --> 01:12:13.990
where commercial fishing
is completely banned.

01:12:13.990 --> 01:12:17.150
The results can be staggering.

01:12:17.150 --> 01:12:20.940
Wherever people have
established an area that's

01:12:20.940 --> 01:12:24.784
off limits to fishing
and policed it well,

01:12:24.784 --> 01:12:28.655
they've been resolute in
their pursuit of protection,

01:12:28.655 --> 01:12:30.280
reserves have shown
marvelous benefits.

01:12:38.070 --> 01:12:41.170
I studied marine reserves
in the Caribbean.

01:12:41.170 --> 01:12:44.640
And there, the local
community set up

01:12:44.640 --> 01:12:48.870
four areas that were off
limits to fishing in 1995.

01:12:48.870 --> 01:12:50.890
Over time, you
could see the reef

01:12:50.890 --> 01:12:52.980
repopulating, and refilling.

01:12:52.980 --> 01:12:56.020
That life was becoming
more abundant on them.

01:12:56.020 --> 01:13:01.555
We saw an increase of three,
four, five times the amount

01:13:01.555 --> 01:13:03.280
of fish that were
present initially

01:13:03.280 --> 01:13:06.838
over a period of seven years
of protection after that.

01:13:12.345 --> 01:13:16.240
Hardy McKinney is a fisherman
in South Andros in The Bahamas

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campaigning for a reserve to
be set up in an area decimated

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by fishing.

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Have this area set aside
as a protected area.

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No one is permitted
to go here to fish.

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And you allow the fish
to do what they do.

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It just a natural thing.

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You would have more fish.

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So you would go to a rock where
there's one Nassau grouper.

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And next year, you may see two.

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And then following
year, you may see four.

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And so, you know,
naturally it would work.

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Marine reserves are
absolutely necessary.

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But they are necessary.

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And we must have lots of them.

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The best available
calculation on how much

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it would cost to
have a global network

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of marine protected areas that
would cover between 20% and 30%

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of the world's oceans
is that it would

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take about $12 to
$14 billion a year

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to manage a network
of that scale.

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Compared to fishery
subsidies, the amount

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is roughly equivalent.

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The fisheries
subsidies are estimated

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to be of the order of about
$15 to $30 billion a year.

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And those subsidies
encourage over-fishing.

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What this $12 to
$14 billion cost

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of managing protected
areas would do

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would be to contribute to
the solution to over-fishing,

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and in the process would create
about a million jobs worldwide.

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The world has signed
up to establishing

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a network of marine
protected areas by 2012.

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Some nations have promised
to protect 20% or more

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of their seas in the future.

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But we have to put
pressure on governments

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to ensure this happens.

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We have about 4,000
marine reserves

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of different sizes in the world.

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They cover less than 1%
of the world ocean-- 0.6%.

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99.4% of the ocean is fishable.

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You are allowed to fish
in 99% of the ocean.

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Now, that doesn't seem to me
to be a proper representation

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of our interests.

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Marine reserves on
their own will not

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solve the problem of
the emptying seas.

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Fisherman and migratory fish
will move to unprotected areas.

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So these also have
to be controlled.

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Politicians have
to act responsibly

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when making decisions
about the ocean.

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Consumers need to
change their eating.

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And the global fishing industry
has to abide by the rules

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and reduce its capacity.

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The problem is getting political
will to implement these things.

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And people will always argue
well, you can't do this,

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because it would affect too
many people's livelihoods.

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Well, in the end,
those livelihoods

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are disappearing year
by year with inaction.

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I want them to manage
the sea for recovery.

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I want it to be full of fish.

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I want it to be full of
cod, and skate, and paddock,

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and halibut, and
shellfish, and everything.

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Does society want to see
that recovery take place?

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Or is society happy
with massive depletions?

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I don't think my
six-year-old daughter

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is going to be particularly
happy in ten years

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time when she reads about this
stuff, and learns about it.

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And says, God, all this
happened in your life times--

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in your life time,
my life time, anyone

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who's 30, 40, 50, 60 years old.

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This has happened on our watch.

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And we can a collective
responsibility.

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The difference between this and
other environmental problems

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is that actually it is
relatively simple to solve.

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We can act now.

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It's not rocket science.

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We didn't need more
knowledge to do so.

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So let's do what we
can where we can.

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You can do it here.

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You can do it now.

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You just do it.

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