The End of the Line: The World Without Fish
Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.
Oceans without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act.
The End of the Line chronicles how demand for cod off the coast of Newfoundland in the early 1990s led to the decimation of the most abundant cod population in the world, how hi-tech fishing vessels leave no escape routes for fish populations and how farmed fish as a solution is a myth.
The film lays the responsibility squarely on consumers who innocently buy endangered fish, politicians who ignore the advice and pleas of scientists, fishermen who break quotas and fish illegally, and the global fishing industry that is slow to react to an impending disaster.
A number of comments trying to downplay veganism, conveniently overlooking the fact that plants produce oxygen and absorb CO2 (i.e. exactly what is needed to reduce the greenhouse effect). Animals also produce a vast amount of methane. It's a no brainer. Eat plants.
Human bodies are biologically suited to plant eating (Frugivore), look it up.
There are no valid arguments left in favour of eating animal products from any scientific or moral perspective, watching people attempt it is frankly embarrassing.
We saw this film in class today. More of our natural resources being depleated for profit.
Why don't you distribute this film for free on youtube? This information should be available to anyone!
It would be very nice if that were possible, Michelle S. I don't know the filmmaker but I think the suggestion is pretty bold. Do you think it is free to do the film? Would you like to pay the costs of the filming, editing promotion?
I want to learn more about fish farms, but I could not watch this doc. It was much too painful. I know that enormous fish net, kill and process all on the same floating ship sea factories are providing "cheap" filet o fish for
McDonalds and frozen fish sticks. The floating fish processing factories were designed for profit in efforts to feed an exponentially exploding human population. We are literally eating and or consuming our way through our food chain. The head has eaten through the tail.
Why and how Japan insist that their seafood are mostly from Japan? All they do is buy from other fishing boat in the middle of the oceans and shipped it back to Japan. Did you m*rons know that Mitshubishi monopolize and control hundreds of thousnand of Tuna in their frozen warehouses, and thats only in 1 tuna spices. Can you imagine of other seafood that they all claim are from Japanese waters?
there would still be abundant cod stocks if they had stuck to traditional fishing methods..europeans fished these cod stocks for 500 years using traditional hook and line methods. corporate factory freezer ships equiped with otter trawls (huge nets dragged across the ocean bottom) came on the scene in the sixties..30 years later the cod stocks collapsed. once publicly traded seafood companies got involved it was all over in a relatively short time..traditional inshore fisherman and scientists tried to warn the government but we all know how that scenario plays out all over the world..
Key phrase "if we continue fishing as we do now..." Think about it. From an economic standpoint, why would a fisherman continue to take his boat out to seek out non-plentiful fish. A fish which would also become astronomically expensive.
Supply and demand is not a difficult concept but it demands looking at a resource dynamically. That is, as the supply decreases, the cost of bringing it to market increases which also drives down demand.
Long story short, the fish will be fine.
dear UncleNubbs, your logic is sadly shortsighted and mechanical, much like the logic in our own government and economy. Fish are living things and don't act like an economics textbook. Once that supply diminishes past a certain point, fish won't be strong enough to repopulate the oceans and it could take hundreds of years, if it does at all! What about our children? Will they be able to fish, like their father used to?
the cost of bringing it to market doesn't correlate entirely on fish supply, because modern fishing technology has allowed us to go farther and deeper; find fish easier and take it quicker. We all have to see the real implications here and how easily we have an effect on the planet, i mean, there is like 7 billion people on the planet...
No, UncleNubbs. The fishermen choke the supply with doing the work for which they are ready and outfitted NOW: fishing, to feed their families in the moment they are in. Future concerns are not important. Just like the coal workers; not interested in the environmental concerns - unless they are provided a very real and immediate antidote to securing an income. That's the job at hand; replacing the work with a quick and easy go-to. Rally rich folks. Build sustainable businesses for those who can't leave their environmentally destructive ones without jeopardizing income.
Like all things left to corporations & governments, it will die a quick death under their watch. These individuals lay waste to everything they touch without any moral thoughts. They only think of themselves & how they might profit. If we are going to stop these things we must stop supporting the people & companies that do these things.
Glad to finally see this doc. Also glad I've never eaten seafood. Team Fish! <3
You have no idea what you're missing out on... I love fish and would hate to see this day..... :(((
Easiest way to solve the problem is to decrease demand. Ways to decrease demand not so easy. Tell people to have fewer kids and tell people to eat more anchovies like the woman in the docu said.
Only by controlling our own populations will we be able to save other species. We can not continue to over populate this planet & expect there to be enough food to feed us all. For far too long we have just taken what ever we wanted without any thought about the future. What are we going to say to our children & grandchildren when they ask us why when we knew what was happening we did nothing to stop it ? Sorry won't be a good enough answer. A species can only become extinct once, there is no second chance.
Robfin. Stopping meat and fish eating isn't a lasting solution. Making the production more sensible to everyone is, same with not endangering species because of our culinary desires.
Cutting the overpopulation problem is inevitable. China's already addressed that problem, at this rate the rest of us will follow, one way or another. The more people we have, the more food we need. Address that problem and you don't have to worry about making food out of everything barely edible.
Oh yeah and vegans, watch out for the wheat addiction. Even if it's something doc's and people deny, doesn't mean it isn't there. Wheat can be used to feed us, or it can be used to feed the animals we eat. If you ask me, do the latter.
I tell you, one day there will be greenhouses on top of apartment buildings, to give habitants some extra nutrition. Growing your own food and having more local not-so-big meat producers instead of few big factory-ranches producing for the whole country's supermarkets, is the key. Not because of it's effectiveness in a monetary sense, but because you don't have to buy it from supermarket where it gets wrapped in a polluting plastic box and transported with oil that will end one day. And moreover, because you learn to appreciate food more that way. God, if people wouldn't throw so much food to waste, and I'm not talking just about single households wasting food, but big markets throwing loads of stuff away because it didn't sell before going past date. At the same time many people eat moldy food from a trash can or in a better case, from food-aid lines. People have gained spiritual fat.
Tell the people you vote that you want shops to stop wasting any more food, and support small-community economy. Then we get some real results. Recycling and energy-conserving are good, but they don't address the root cause.
real solution is to limit the amount of fish and meat you eat. Lets face it, the whole world isn´t going to go vegan, eat fish and meat from realiable sources. The truth is that the majority of people just don´t know how to cook any other way. it´s jsut embedded on thier head to slap a steak on the grill. Vegeterian foods taste really good, you just need to find out how to make them.
I only eat meat on weekends, in a way, it´s how I give back to this planet. People just don´t value life enough, and how much peace it gives us to watch otehr forms of life existing, going about thier daily routines. Instead they see themselves as seperate from nature, and in the end, it doesn´t really matter, becuase one day, the selfish people will eat meat and have children who do the same, except those children will live in a world not so filled with the abundance of life, and variety that we have today, only real problem is that my kids will live in that world too.
If you think enough about it, you must realize the impact you have. now multiply your habits by 6,000,000,000. and thats how much meat and food is consumed on the world, the plastic wrapping of the products, the tin cans, it all goes somewhere as well.
Just educate your kids, the only way to change the future is through them, and they learn from you, don´t stop your habits, just curb them, and make sure your kids are more educated on world than you were at thier age.
1. recycling
2. renewable energies
3. money creation (economics)
4. simple market systems
5. Foods other than meat
All can be explained to a 5 year old child, just put some enrgy into doing it. donñt let the Mac D´s adds on TV do it, becuas they are the ones that will profit from thier ill informed choices.
What about this then... Why dont we eat humans!!
Think about how many people die everyday, we should just eat our own kind instead of decimating and massacaring other species. I will never understand how humans feel they are entitled to ruin millions of years of eveloution just to "enjoy" their meal.
If people really want meat to for the health benefits, whats wrong with human, apparently we are pretty close to pork :)
I think humans will have to resort to cannabalism anyway in the next 100 years or so, we really wont have a choice if we keep raping the animals of the earth this way.
The only thing more disturbing than your comment is that fact that eight other people liked it. Here's an idea, you and the other eight psychos go ahead and eat each other first, and the rest of us will just sit here and wait for the world to get better. Numbnuts.
finally able to watch it,
I like how everyone blames the politicians, money, countries, the restaurants, and so on, but its really every individual person who continues to consume fish, its really that simple,STOP EATING FISH, it is not a necesity at all, its a choice. The fishermen wouldn't be out there if people weren't buying the fish in the markets.
Human consumption is clearly out of control. Can we stop this? Only the most optimistic of people would say yes, but I pray they are right.
TO Atrophy, you seriously make me laugh, you try and make yourself sound so intelligent, and yet you can't even get the most obvious and simple thing.
"Vegan isn’t the answer, it just moves the destruction to a different venue. See above (post 59), not to mention the habitat that gets destroyed in the process of clearing arable land."
WHAT DO YOU THINK FARM ANIMALS EAT???? That is seriously the dumbest thing I have ever heard,
anyone who eats meat contibutes to exponentially more land being cleared to feed farm animals, and that includes farmed fish, any meat eater consumes much more soy than any vegetarian considering its the staple food for farm animals.
Over 80% of crops grown on this planet are fed to farm animals, just think, if everyone moved towards a plant based diet, we would only need a fraction of the land we are using now to grow food because there are less or no farm animals to feed. MAYBE we could even replant trees in all those corn fields growing cow food! 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef!
And going vegan is the answer, I don't eat fish, so I am not the problem, you are, that's a fact, you can't drag me into this issue.
USE YOUR HEAD, TRY PLANT BASED FOODS, THEY HELP WITH BRAIN FUNCTION!
Enough with pushing the rabbit food diets please !!
Vegan isn't the answer, it just moves the destruction to a different venue. See above (post 59), not to mention the habitat that gets destroyed in the process of clearing arable land.
The problem is the commercial market and the consumers driving it plain and simple. Fish farming, consumes what... fish to feed the fish. What happens to the overproduction and expired ? Fish, beef, pork, dairy, eggs, everything else... it gets tossed. Its waste, nothing but senseless waste. The same happens with your plant diets too. Overproduced grain, corn etc, sits in hopper cars and silos to rot. fresh fruits and vegetables that have been sitting on the produce counters too long, they get tossed. Dented cans never make it to the shelves. It has become common practice to toss food items that can't be sold because of blemishes, near expiry, Bakery day olds or damaged packaging in a locked dumpster, nobody gets it.
Wasted time, wasted money, wasted food.
No diet is superior or saving anything in the long run.
The only solution, grow it, fish it, hunt it yourself if you can. Deep freeze it, dry it, can it, bottle it, use it... don't throw it away.... period.
honestly, the fact that you seem to think this is about "dented cans" deeply deeply worries me. People like you are always willing to stay in denial so they can continue stuffing their faces at the expense of our entire planet.
GO VEGAN, when we are facing a crisis like this is it too much to ask? I love vegan fish, shrimp and lobster from the local asian market made from organic soy and wheat. The ocean cannot handle an appetite like the humyn beings. The worst part about it, is that it's not going to be ok, no more fish, lets just turn to farmed fish, its going to be total ecosystem collapse, and 70% of our oxygen comes from the sea life in the ocean, GET CONTROL OF YOURSELVES! NOTHING TASTES THAT GOOD!
there is yet another choice. Going vegan. I wish they would have mentioned that.
the only solution i can see to solve this problem is for scientist to invent synthetic fish feeds that comes from plant or better grass or even pure chemical thats proven safe.., and just like what the farmers are feeding their pigs chickens(half natural ingredients half synthetic) the fisherman can do this to their breed too..
This should have nothing to do what the big corp.s are doing.It should be what YOU can do to rely on your natural survival skills by going out and catching YOUR own fish. I'm sure no matter what part of the world you live in you can go out and provide for yourself with a line and a baited hook.
Of course big corps are nasty little devils that are ruining our oceans and should be stoped . But you know as well as I do that's not going to happen.So indiviually we have to get off the couch and go catch them our selves. Fresh water or salt water!
Yes Heather my local fishing communitie is in slow failure, their fair quota is not there, while big factory ships clean out the cod as just a BY catch.
In all the generations these family's fished they did not kill the stock.
But hay, federal regulations are made by people who know nothing about fishing, some likely never seen the ocean or talked to a single fisherman. Its all done in corporate boardrooms thinking in the short term.
Oil and fishing don't get along to begin with, and oil companies have lobbyist working on their needs.
Add to overfishing the several dead zones, miles of floating garbage patches, and oil spills... I am amazed our oceans aren't completely dead already.
I agree it is the greedy commercialization of the fishing industry that is the major cause. Of course, I saw the price of most fish going up at the grocery store a few years ago, as well as my local fishing communities in slow failure, and I just stopped buying fish. As much as I love it, I love our living planet more. I knew the increasing price of all fish was a sign that something was wrong.
@Randy Wilson has said the entire mouthful. It isn't the local fisherman but the commercialization of fishing that has done to our oceans what no non-commercial venture could do. Fresh water fishing, while no commercial fishing is done to empty out the rivers and lakes, is being destroyed by the polution of companies dumping their wastes into this limited supply and making fresh water catches unsafe to eat and this is done due to the need to pay off their debts at the least cost of doing business and even if fined, the damage has already been done.
Some salmon runs have been destroyed due to the damming of those rivers that the salmon had used for the sake of drinking water by not allowing the dams to open during the salmon season yet any river downstream from a dam will open its floodgates on certain days of the week to accomodate water rafting groups ie: if there is money in the activity, it can be provided for, if not directly and immediatly then forget it.
The tap root of a tree is the source of a strong tree and the tap root of the economic system of most of the world is the reserve system. If it is a detrimental system, it must be eliminated. Any third world nation that has any resources wanted by the rest of the world is essentially taken over by the United Nations by the IMF, the International Monetary Fund (the biggest reserve bank of them all), by putting them in debt with no hope of paying that debt back and with the first missed payment the systematic confiscation of resources begins.
Australias monetary system may be different but I would ask you to look at the new parlement compound built there and ask yourself why it is so much larger than Australia needs. It is because it will be the capitol of the New World Order being established by the United Nations. An island, even as large as Australia, is more easily defended from the rest of the world and the country itself has sufficient resources available to not have to rely on imports for survival.
I can only hope I am wrong but I don't believe I am.
Well I live in a way back fishery community. These local fisherman are not the problem. They are not.
Look for the problem with the fish factory boats, freezer boats, large foreign fishing operations fishing with no limits and high tech gear. Cleaning the stock out. Leaving a waste behind. Their BY catch of cod alone, from just one of them boats, is larger then the entire cod quota for the locals for my entire island.
I may not be a fisherman but I can see for myself whats going on, just by looking out the window.
exactly..it is no coincidence that when factory freezer ships came along the fishery was destroyed in a few decades..the same fishery that had fed people for 500 years..but if it ever comes back..it will be only the seafood companies that are permitted to fish commerically..
@Madskills & @Jo McKay
Here in US there are alot of lakes that are just simply UNDER fished. That results in a lake being "stunted". If every one kept ever panfish they caught the size would greatly increase. Granted ,carp will ruin a lake fast and swift, but even these are very tasty (if you know how to fix them.) I throw my crawdad trap in the Snake River in the spring and summer months and on every hall I can have as many as 200 good sized daddys in my trap.There's a lot of fish to be caught.
In the North West of US (Minnisota) they have so many bullheads( mini catfish)that the farmers actually dredge the lakes and haul tons of them out and use them for fertilizer.Like I said before ( and I can only speak for US) there is no excuse for us to rely so heavily on our oceans.
Thanks a lot. I've been waiting to see this for a while.
@ProudinUS ... fresh water is another ecological disaster already being felt. Consider, less then 2.75% of the Earth's water is fresh ... 75% of the earth is oceans, and oceans do much more than provide us with food. I agree, however, that most people are too far removed from their food chain; I live in a lake land forest region, 100,000 lakes - we have fish and wild life in abundance, partly because First Nations insisted on conservation efforts and would not allow commercial fishing, long before that was 'popular', and partly because we are semi 'remote... (I agree the 'shore lunch' and time on the lakes is an awesome experience, and if more of us spent time 'in' the wild world, we would both be better for it, and have much more genuine respect). @ Madskillz ... this is me, backing of the path in the jungle - :)
@ProudinUS #43
What if the fresh water fish are running low too?
Yes on fishing. I HATE eating fish, but I love fishing. There is always some sucka that will eat my prey (:
In Oz, and lots of countries I'm sure, we have a specific law on certain hazardous species such as European Carp and Red Fin. Regardless whether you want to eat them or not, it is ILLEGAL to chuck em' back. You have to kill them. You can actually get FINED for not doing so LOL!
Makes sense, except the bit where you just leave them on the banks. If nobody wants to put a bit of salt on them and eat em', perhaps keep for bait? (we do). Or WICKED compost? Dinner for the inlaws perhaps?
It isn't demand for fish that is causing the depletion of the oceans, it is the requirement of anyone fishing the oceans to harvest larger quantities of fish to make enough money to pay for their ever increasing debt due to inflation and cost increases. These monetary things are not necessary in any economic system. They are contrivences associated with a fiat currency, a manipulated money supply and the application of interest to that money supply.
If only one country has a reserve system that supplies that country with its currency, it is only a matter of time before the entire world will have this type of system. It is inevitable. That's how a reserve system is intended to function. It is a cancer on the world that won't end until it is eliminated completely.
All money supplied by a reserve bank is done so at interest. This borrowed money is the money supply. The United States, read the 16th amentment to the Constitution, collects taxes from individuals NOT to pay for any government function but for only two purposes:
1. To provide for the common defense
2. To pay the INTEREST on the national debt
No money is being spent on defense as we are not defending ourselves but rather attacking everybody we are currently engaged with and if you know how a loan works, if you only pay the interest, eventually you will have paid the lender an amount equal to what you have borrowed while still owing that lender the entire principle. At that point, you have converted the borrowed principle into interest and your money supply is gone. The resolution for the borrower is to borrow more money at interest to cover the interest costs and replace the now gone base money supply PLUS, since you are doubling your borrowing, the new interest payments are larger than your previous payments so the cycle will repeat faster the second time.
Every time money is borrowed into the money supply, the previous supply is diluted causing each unit to be devalued. This means that if you could live on caching 10 fish a day, you now must catch more just to stay even since all of your expenses will increase but your income per fish won't go up as fast. It is this ever increasing need to pay back interest on artificially created fiat money that precipitated ever larger conglomerates of business and has caused the dissapearance of virtually all small businesses and made the single income family a thing of the past.
Something nobody understands is that the money that you have borrowed, even after you convert it to interest and pay it back, is still a part of the overall money supply and more borrowing continues to dilute it. Since 1933 and the inception of the Federal Reserve into the United States, to note the Bank of England is the main reserve, the dollar has lost 97% of its buying power and with the recent government spending will reach 100% loss when the Federal Reserve will declare US bankruptcy and take over direct control of the government instead of the indirect control it now has.
How's that Japanese fish rapping?!!
Seriously, I would give this documentary a 5 star rating.
Wow! Scary what humans can do. Poor fish. This is a well made, informative and relevant documentary. Very hard to watch at some points. This is the story of greed and foolishness. This is a fabulous movie and I am going to pass in on.
All the prevoius post were good. I also like to eat fish. One thing that came to mind was the fish that is wasted. The ones I'm refering to is at the supermarket the fish on display in the cases that aren't sold. It will stay fresh only so long( even though it was frozen at one time and they defrosted it for the case). I just wonder the amount that goes unused that was intentionaly meant for consumption.
Maybe Soylent Green is the answer( just kidding).
So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.
I'm telling you,the answer is fresh water fish as I stated in my last comment. People need to get off their lazy a$$e$ and go fishin'! Boycott all seafood products if you want! Fresh water fish are a hell of a lot better tasting anyway.
There's nothing better then a filleted bluegill,crappie,
walley..ect. Has anybody even had a crawdad? They taste ten time better then lobster and their in abundance. Most countries have accesably fresh water to catch enough fish to fit their needs. Their is absolultly no need to rely so much on our over fished oceans.
I didn't realize how bad it is already :( - this and the water shortages and the overall degradation of our environment make me very sad for our future. I don't even understand people that make babies anymore... what for? It seems so cruel.
The MONEY argument is very good but let's not forget COMPETITION. We (and especially males) are not built biologically for cooperation. Males (and groups of males) can only measure their success against the misery of another. This is scientifically proven. Humans (and males in particular) are programmed for competition. So we should never expect corporations to work towards equality and fairness. Left to their own devices men (and their corporate tribes) will compete with eachother to the end, even if this means suicide. Easter Island proves this beyond any doubt.
In the wild the basic principle of survival is the externalization of costs - basically stealing life from some other creature, be it plant or animal, to be able to survive and multiply one's own species. What is unique about this point in time is that the hunting game is now GLOBAL. We have no one left to steal from!!! Except our OWN CHILDREN! How sad is that?
Unless we change our competitive nature and learn to cooperate, live sustainably and QUIT STEALING (!) - we are all doomed for sure...
This doc offers many possible solutions, where to start, how to keep going - love that... Zeitgeist is beautiful (but it's not now - I made my comments on that docs comment section). This doc says: IF you eat seafood, choose the product marked "sustainable" - do not buy farmed; ask your fav restaurants if they 'buy' sustainable seafood; just like free trade coffee & clothing, etc; if you live in a country with an Oceans and Fisheries department, send them a letter, ask them to create many more Protected Zones, ask them what they are doing about it; as in my country, it may be as easy as an internet look up and zip off an e-mail. We have a World Wild life Fund, send them your support... for myself, I get 'tired' sometimes, but I can not throw up my hands - what will my great great grandchildren say? @Sara - you have provided a GREAT idea that I am adapting - I have begun by gathering photos (of seafood, and oceans, and oceans dead zones, etc) and am creating a photo album for face book, then when friends start asking "what's with the seafood pics?" I will add the link to this film (maybe a few will watch :) so thank you. @ Madskillz ... :) smiling ... I hear you; I love my family & friends, I really do: I have learned that attention spans are short. so tho' I know they 'know' about sustainability, they are often too stressed to want to think much about it; I am trying to be more creative, yet I still have trouble learning 'when' to stop talking - somewhere between the beginning when they look interested and 'before' their eyes start to glaze over ... :) I agree philosophically with Epicurus - I need people too - I may have to go out and live in the bush by myself, (am trying to purchase my own piece of organic land) , yet still hope to win over a convert or two, if not, maybe I can set something up that they will want to visit; they will certainly want the food :) - I sincerely think the 'ideas' of sustain-ably living are very attractive to many, still, some 'one' in every family will have to get it started.
"Politicians have to make responsible decisions"? We all know how it goes.
I am disappointed that when authors mentioned that consumers need to change their eating habits all they offered to do was to shop for fish that is being fished in a sustainable manner.
How about decreasing the amount that is being consumed (unless one lives in an area where seafood is single and/or biggest food source)? How about replacing fish with vegan food? There is absolutely no nutrient in the fish that can't be found in a vegan source.
Less demand for seafood will definitely turn things around.
as long as publicly traded companies are involved in fishing it wont work.
@Jo McKay
Yeah, hunting is good. Majority of people are just slack and la-de-da. And yes, people KNOW about sustainability. Not many around me seem to have any real motivations on doing anything about it though (I'm sure thats a revelation). I mean, one has gotta get the latest mobile phone right? Stay in touch? It's important 24/7 because you are so important.
@Cool E Beans
Sure banks are evil. Yes world reserve banks, coorporate nasty etc too. Money whatever yeah.
However, had you ever considered that not ALL Federal Reserves are privately owned businesses? Owned by monarchial factions? Like AMERICAS?
Ours isnt mate. It is moderated directly by our Government. This means it is owned by all Australians. Oh, and our Governement doesnt see much need in appointing interest to every dollar THEY print. That would be a bit silly really, wouldnt it? A bit like the average Australian running around crying 'conspiracy in our Federal Reserve!' after watching Zeitgeist and not reading... anything.
Take a look at some other domestic economy graphs. Australias over the last 100 years will surprise you, but particulary since we dropped the pound sterling about 50 years back. It wont last forever, sure, but it's never had the issues like in the US - whos dollar we match now with only the regualr sort of dubious transactions occuring (ie free trade agreement with US).
Great Movie.it demonstrates how people are greedy "as usually". To full their stomachs, people don't mind if seas become empty of lives. It is crime like any other bloody crimes that should be stopped ASAP or the next human generation will pay the bill. I will start to take pictures for every seafood dish to show them to my grandchildren.So, when they ask my how did fish look like?I would not straggle to answer them
I don't think it is about the money at all... just ask yourself few simple questions.
what tradition will that fisherman children continue ?
Will our children/grandchild eat fish ? and if you answered yes then how much that peace of fish would cost if that amount of reserve tanks will not supply even Japan.
@Cool E Beans
Money is the problem, but in this case I think its not where it comes from but the want of it driving the exploitation. Big companies that absolutely MUST have an annual increase in sales and profits.
Almost forgot. Join the Zeitgeist Movement and watch their newest video recently posted here, 'Zeitgeist: Moving Forward' and good luck to you all.
I guess nobody really gets it. Pointing fingers at each other and none pointing at the real problem...MONEY First, you must watch all of the documentaries on where money comes from and realize what you must do to end the situation we have been put into. ALL MONEY IS DEBT owed by the borrower to the lender PLUS INTEREST and since only principle is borrowed, more borrowing must occur to pay back the initial loan thus creating an ever escalating, never ending cycle of expanding debt until COLLAPSE (watch that video on this site).
I am begining phase III. Let me explain.
Phase I: Remove as much money from the banking system as you can as each dollar removed (in whatever currency your country uses) lessens the amount of reserves available for loans to be made.
Phase II: Pay off ALL existing debt. All money that exists is borrowed principle so that when it is paid back, it is eliminated. No debt = no money. Also, as long as you owe a debt, that money is able to be used as a reserve for more loans ie: if you borrow $10,000 it enters the money supply and becomes a debt to you but an asset to the bank which can loan an additional $100,000 against their asset as long as you are current on your payments. This is why the financial situation is becoming critical because each defaulted loan not only is a removal of the money borrowed, it is a removel of the basis of other loans secured by that loan.
Phase III: Get off the grid and I mean the entire grid. Look into alternative power supplies for your home. My power company will pay you if you produce more power than you use. Make your home a real asset. Rethink your auto usage and neccessity. I am currently working on a fuelless engine design (crazy? look around at other peoples ideas). Watch 'Who Killed the Electric Car' on this site (add a solar panel to the roof). Permaculture as a replacement for part of your food supply. Try alone or as a community. Buy locally grown foods - less transportation.
Understand that all of the fish caught is traded for money and all fish released, dead or alive, is released because it cannot be traded for money. The two most common threads among all documentaries are either 'point of view' or 'money'. And while there are three sides to every coin, money has only one source - the world Reserve Banking System.
@ Vlatko. Thank you again for the important contribution of this doc. To others, I have 'shared' this doc - stumble upon, twitter, etc - but I am thinking, perhaps face to face still has some value - some key points in the film may not be 'generally known'(I am often 'shocked' by how much folks 'know' about celebrities, and how little they know about anything else -glad to see more are commenting here). For ex. I must have known/heard that it takes 5 pounds of wild fish to feed one Farmed Salmon - (lots of people do think that farmed fish helps save our oceans)- bring that up at work, coffee shops, corner pub, etc. Then, less than 1% of our oceans are 'protected'? How cracked is that - that is one place People CAN make a difference - demand wild life refuge in the oceans.
@ Madskillz ... once again, very well said, you got through the biology, the emotion, conservation in "how" we 'hunt',and the commercialized markets very succinctly. @ 420 good quote, but I am going with the more positive for quote of the day from @ Madskillz - Be willing to "Pay sh*t loads for your wants, or go out and get it for yourself". I think a lot of people KNOW that we must live more sustainably or we will not survive;our ability to find intelligent and simple answers, will, I think, decide. From a Philosophic perspective, I was reminded of a gathering of elders (North America) that took place in Morley, Alberta. They were asked to send a response to Q's from the United Nations - I paraphrased their letter several years later in a paper, this way: "It is our experience (1000's of years) that when we sit in council to decide on a question that will affect the lives of our future generations, then we accept that first we must consider carefully, unto 7 generations into the future,'how' they will be impacted - we do not leave our council until all are pleased with the strategy, because when we 'look' across the landscape we are looking at much more than today, we are seeing the burial grounds of those future generations - and 'we walk with great care over the lives of our grandchildren' ..." Let us, walk softly my friends.
one way to inform consumer choice would be through a universal product labelling system that used a simple colour coding system from green to red to describe the embodied energy required to get the product on the shelves. additional information could be added but no more than three or four key attributes on each label(no one wants to scrutinise labels for 10 minutes per item)
the organisation responsible for the labelling should be in-dependant, publicly funded and completely transparent.
there is simply no way to fix it... like the activist said in the money: people are crazy. of course, the taliban could step in and starting blowing up pixie dust on people..
the worlds problems have been caused by one thing and one thing only..overpopulation...too many people..they didnt have these problems two hundred years ago.
Great doc. I find it pleasantly ironic though that if some of the peak oil predictions are correct the fish will be saved simply because there won't be any diesel to run the ships in 40 or so years.
@ya'll
Right. Good, strong message obviously coming across (or pre-obtained) based on all posts. Some offered solutions, but the only solution in this case is a blanket one of such.
There is an undercurrent of misunderstanding (or understanding) in that the solution already lay in our roots as a species. Call it what you like, but we have somewhat been there and already done it before. There is much survival insight still remaining. The answers are inherent regardless.
I reffer, somewhat controversially, to hunting. Hunting is the key. How do we do it RIGHT.
Hunting for upkeep is seemingly '101' to the average Joe. This is a good (and integral) start. However, we are bombarded by mass economic market forces which are difficult to de-structure. I feel for the families who are losing livlihood, sure. But it is obvious, when in context, that they along with everyone else are going to lose out along these 'lines' in the near future. This means their kids, the ones who they do it for.
Back to hunting. Hunting is completly NATURAL within any living organism on the planet. It may be passive or direct, but is still one in the same. Some hunt for prey, others hunt for the by-product of such. It is what turns the world around.
In the biological sense (lets just keep it here), there must be a respect in hunting our meat food sources. There is no guilt in catching a large bounty (in order to provide), and it should be encouraged. It is the means through which this can be exploited which result in the follow-through issues.
Man is evolved to hunt. Sometimes women, but mostly men. Women hold everything else together (; . The primary evolutionary award in attaining 'bounty' for a man is true elation/euphoria. It is seen in a single fisherman who atains a good fish, or a group of commercial fisherman who atain a good HAUL. It must be pointed out here that if the primary product were just being thrown away to no means, almost nobody would be interested in such.
We eat, therefore we are. It is integral, it is evolution. It is correct.
One of the drawbacks of technology (I love my PC), is that it makes us lazy. Lazy in ways that are detrimental to our very beings. We tend to extend the bounds of principle group dynamics (vital for the Human species), to allow for overkill in other areas which we decide are no longer our 'personal' responsibility. And perhaps therefore, our accountability. We lose so much individually from this - I can not begin to express.
It is not just a loss in bounty (for all). It is a loss in our integral humanity. We were designed to hunt. We MUST hunt. Here is the solution;
Market forces are seemingly overwhelming at present. We are encouraged to read labels and choose responsible, convenient consumer preferance at 'apparent' cost. Now, although I love what is behind this subtle strategy, it is not straight to the point (yet). ON TOP OF industrial market prices for produce, there must be a counter Government additional cost to such. More than may already be in place, that is. EXACTLY like we see with Cigarettes. This makes lazy 'hunting' a struggle to the average person. GOOD. So it should. It also provides funds for re-integrating said funding into society, perhaps much of which on maintaining our aquaculture also.
When a person, whether though understood means or simple want (perhaps need) is pushed to go out and 'get it for themselves' - they will find pure integrity within the process. They will fill a personal evolutionary satisfaction (or void) which is predominant to their (our) species. It's that simple. We need to be doing this to properly evolve. It relates to much of what we would otherwise be doing (in the office, workshop, mill, home etc). It keeps us SHARP.
Pay sh*tloads for your wants, or just go out and get it yourself.
Everyone is kicking a goal.
@420 vision "The Greatest Achievement of Mankind is going to be our own Destruction " That is a great quote
When I saw the guy insist, "we're going fishing,:" knowing full well, it couldn't last forever; it reminded me of my "testa-dura" Mother. (hard-headed) She still hasn't learned, you don't get love and respect from a child, by threatening them with violence! My little great-nephew likes to stick his tongue out at you. I tickled him when he did it to me. My Mother said, "If you do that again I'll slap the snot out of you." Some people NEVER learn. Times change, and you must change with it. NOT the "kind of change" Obama promised though.
The problem is NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. In construction, there is a similar problem. "Feast, or Fathom." We build, and build, and about every 10 years, almost like clockwork, it "gets-slow." You have to PLAN AHEAD. It is no one's fault but those who fish. If they didn't fish, "we" wouldn't eat them. It isn't the "fault" of the little-guy, as always, it is the "fault of the CORPORATIONS." The same with construction. It all is caused by the "big-guys." Not the small guys trying to make a living. America hasn't been a "country," since 1871. "Income taxes" didn't even start....until 1913. Illegally at that. Because the big corporations collect the money for the government, KNOWING they don't have to, because there is NO "income tax" on WAGES; only on "Corporate-Gain." I never knew that. I'm now disabled and retired. But for those who aren't, READS THE LAW.
Just wanted to add. Vlatko, you have outdone yourself on this one. A must see! Please people, tell everyone you know to watch this. As @Leonardo said, "people just don't want to think about it". Well, we have to think about it, & do what ever we are capable of together to rectify a monumental wrong that we have done.
Read the book a few years ago & watched this film about a year ago. Needless to say that makes me better than the rest of you. ... Seriously though, what is so frustrating & shocking to me is that this has been common knowledge since the 80's & it has only been in this past decade that this catastrophe is becoming a recognized issue on a global scale.
I clearly recall that fisherman from NFLD in 1992, even after being told "their are no more fish" yelling into the news camera "We are going fishing!" Such a sad, pathetic paradox in that he had to have know of the impending outcome years prior to this. I was aware like so many other Canadians back in the 80's & I am not a commercial fisherman. He was a commercial fisherman for Pete's sake & certainly was aware of the changes in stocks long before the rest of the general population yet still refused to see what was happening.
Sadly it is probably too little too late. I absolutely love sea food & have had a healthy diet of such here on the west coast of Canada my entire life. It is difficult to imagine & accept a human existence without the richness & goodness the oceans have supplied for millennia.
As for the traditional slaughter of the majestic giant Blue Fin Tuna in the Mediterranean & Japan, well there are numerous traditions that we as civilized man no longer practice. Tradition! That makes it OK, right?
money, bigger, faster, cheaper... that's what drives the uncaring and destructive exploitation we are seeing here. There really is no reason to fish with a half kilometer drag net or drop 10,000 hooks from one boat except to drive the consumer market and be the one making the money from it...
Gotta keep those shelves stocked and bank accounts full.
What will it take for humanity to wake up? Drastic change is needed, and unfortunately I fear that such change will not occur until we confront the reality of our own demise. What may be more important however, is that the source of this demise is recognized and confronted.
The source of this demise is beyond individual greed. The belief that greed is inherent to human nature is part of the mythos which perpetuates a system aimed at actively promoting individual desires at the expense of the 'other'.
The human species will be the first species on earth to become extinct as a direct result of it's own actions, and this will be the greatest achievement of mankind.
If our oceans die so do we but I have very little hope we will change our behaviour and have less children, it just won't happen and people need to eat.
if commenting is any indication of interest, the religion docs really is where people are putting their efforts on... a.k.a afterlife seems to be what really matters for most people...or the religion of theoretical science which is like a religion anyways. real life problems like this....people just dont want to think about it, because the forces that control it are too great.... people feel powerless.
I love fish and fishing. I eat every single farm stock trout I catch and release every wild fish (barring unforeseen trauma to the fish). As someone said it is the factory ships that are the big problem. Also selective fishing. When a net is brought in all the fish in it should be eaten instead they throw away the species they were not targeting. I recently read a conservation article addressing size limits in fishing. We have them backwards. By having limits aimed toward larger fish we are effectively culling the strongest breeding specimens and leaving the runts. Anyone with sense can see the flaw in that.
Sink the factory ships and make pretty reefs out of em, conservation will be much easier then :P
We don't see the fish for the ocean. We can look at the savanna and jungles and see rhinos and tigers. We cant look at the ocean and see the tuna, sharks and cod.
I was complete blown away by the exposure of the fish farms, I was under the assumption that fish farms were the salvation for the endagered species!. Great Doc, Thank you for posting.
"Imagine your meals without seafood."
stop eating fish and meat, its only serious solution that can help ;>
Absolute...Insane...Greed! @The Realist, for what it's worth, you get my vote for quote of the day ... @ AtomicB, yes.
wow AtomicB how simple wht didn't anyone think of that???
Fish, forests & first-borns... Mankind has been killing itself forever.
@Cristiano In away I agree, at least I think I agree about the point you're tying to make. But I also know that these 'poor so and so's' have a legitimate grievances here. We (being the consumer and fisher)have created a bloated and unsustainable market and in so-doing created a dependency on that market. Seriously regulate fishing and we will create more poverty, however if this continues we will still create more poverty and moreover hunger, and an ecological disaster. Something needs to be done obviously, to find out what we need to look at this with seriousness and objectivity (in so far as we can muster).
@Levi, you're joking I hope. If you aren't, prove it.
REVOLUTE ... boycott the corporations and get some scientists into government. when the greedy ppl are gone we can run the world properly, and maybe save some fishies (and ppl) :D
most fish in the grocery store are from fish farms yo. Not even in the ocean but like Kansas.
It seems that nobody really wants to listen. The only thing that matters is how much money we can make today. The poor fishermen and their families. Sob, sob. What will they do if they can no longer fish????? Their families have been doing ...it for many generations! They don't know any other craft. It's a longtime tradition! And so it goes on all over the planet: poor so and so; what will he or she and their families do if they can no longer turn forests into coal and fire; if they can no longer hunt to get something to eat.... Well, good luck then.
Very informative doc.Our planet is 2/3 ocean and is the most unprotected areas on Earth.We have to find some alternatives other then seafood.
Here in the US we have plenty of fresh water fish that can substitute for seafood. I am an avid fisherman and I love to eat fish...bluegill,crappie,perch,walley,catfish and trout.All of these are in abundance.It's easy to come home with 100+ a day of some of these speices. If you like lobster a fresh water crawdad tastes just as good anyday. There's no reason that we should rely so much on fish caught from the sea.
I understand many countries rely on the ocean, but when you get big corporations sticking their noses in for a profit there's never going to be much of a future for the resources that are needed from our oceans.
I fear the oceans will be The Tragedy of The Commons writ large.
oh no! Im a conservation angler from Canada(freshwater fishing only) but this still scares me.Fish is good but not worth killing off a species for.
if you fish for sport please practice catch and release!
save our fisheries!!!!