British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi’s documentary titled Seaspiracy is based on a topic, which has intrigued him from his childhood- the ocean, the waves and the enormous marine population. What was intended to be a slice of life under water turns into a whirlwind of revelation regarding depletion of the sea animals and eventually the nemesis of the ocean itself, through this documentary.
Seaspiracy, which extends to one hour and thirty minutes, was released in March this year. It is helmed by the team behind award-winning 2014 film Cowspiracy, supported by actor Leonardo Di Caprio back then.
The documentary on the outset delves into large population of whales and dolphins being slaughtered. While the reason for killing dolphins look vague for the filmmaker, his research on the same drives him to that fact that there is hardly any market for its meat. This probe further leads him to unravel mighty truths throwing light on tuna overfishing. As he lurks with his camera and other equipments in Taiji, Japan, the killing of dolphins for no reason appears to be a garb for the thriving tuna selling markets. The tunas are in turn preyed upon by the dolphins on a considerable scale.
It exposes the viewer to a gamut of unnerving facts that fishing has wiped out 90 percent of the world’s largest fish, the whale shark. The documentary becomes an eye-opener as to how plastic straws alone aren’t the problem, as they make up for only 0.03 percent of the plastic waste in the ocean. Instead, it is the fishing nets and wastes recurrently thrown into sea, which makes up for 46 percent of the plastic pollution of the ocean.
Tabrizi then focuses on the incessant and newer ways of fishing that emerge with each passing day causing damage to 3.9 billion acres of the seabed every year.
Another hard-hitting insight which the viewer is exposed to is the claim by marine biologist Dr Sylvia Alice Earle. According to her, if the high rate of fishing of 2.7 trillion fish each year continues, the oceans could go empty. Tabrizi echoes the concern, “If current fishing trends continue, we will see virtually empty oceans by the year 2048.”
By-catching or accidental catching is yet another topic that is dealt with through the documentary. Up to 50 million sharks are believed to be accidentally caught each year. It also revolves around fishing slavery, which could come as a shocking news to be processed. According to the filmmaker, fishermen are held captive for at least 20 years before they seek an escape.
Tabrizi not only unearths relevant questions for posterity, but also provides a solution or an alternate step, with regard to the consumption of sea food. He concludes by saying that one must make a clever switch from animal-based fish and sea food to plant-based ones.
While Tabrizi’s Seaspiracy brings alive a quagmire, it also raises innumerable questions in front of the viewers. That said, the documentary was also put through a litmus test by a few NGOs and experts, who allege that there is a complete misrepresentation, when it comes to claims, statistics and the like.
The cast of Seaspiracy includes Ali Tabrizi, Richard O’Barry and Lucy Tabrizi. As visually appealing and technically rich the documentary looks, it proves just as groundbreaking and necessary to have a discourse on, given the time and age we are living in.
