Movie Review – Seaspiracy

To begin my review let me start by saying i am never eating fish ever again And neither will you after watching Seaspiracy.

Trust me. This documentary is a real eye-opener to the realities of the world’s fishing industry through the use of undercover filming, whistleblowers and interviews. It begins exploring how modern day fishing damages marine wildlife but then uncovers more and more shocking facts about the world’s oceans and how humans are destroying them at an alarming rate. Facts and statistics are shown on screen to illustrate how severe situations are in the oceans, for example, it is estimated that if fishing trends continue in the way they are going, by the year 2048 we will see virtually empty waters. Additionally, the film-makers explored the impact of plastic pollution and found that plastic fishing nets, discarded by fishing boats themselves, make up nearly half of the dangerous substance that winds up floating in the ocean creating a huge risk to innocent sea creatures. Something in particular that  struck me was the fact that the fishing industry does not just harm species underwater but also creates a torturous environment for people above it. 

Modern slavery was a huge concern and the film-makers interviewed former captives who said that they were forced to stay on boats for years, constantly being threatened and even seeing others killed. I would certainly encourage you to watch this documentary , i don’t want to give away too many spoilers as it is really impactful when you first watch it. Although if you’re wondering about anything you can do to help, the film concluded by saying the best thing individuals can do is to stop eating fish and instead consume plant-based seafood. However, there’s a huge problem with this. Plant-based seafood is expensive and there isn’t a huge variety in supermarkets. It might be easy to make this switch if someone has disposable income and can afford to make this kind of lifestyle change but, the bottom line is, that is not affordable for everyone. Furthermore, it sparked lots of conversation across social media where some claimed the show created a false narrative about having no solution to the extreme fishing methods but, there are many places across the world that have actually implemented strict regulations to fishing and have restored levels of fish in their local areas – so it isn’t impossible.

To conclude I would say that Seaspiracy definitely achieved it’s aims of creating a huge awareness of what is really happening in the current world of industrialised fishing. This is a documentary that everyone should watch and I guarantee that you will take something away from it when you do

You can watch a trailer of the movie on YouTube by clicking on the link below