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We spoke about all the controversy that Seaspiracy stirred up when it came out on Netflix a while ago.

The controversies remain, but one thing does seem to be clearer now.

Seaspiracy oversimplifies the problems out at sea and calls out the fishing industry using claims that aren’t always accurate.

It also gives us only one call to action; to stop eating fish.

Seaspiracy does not give us all there is to know about the fishing industry and the health of our oceans.

Via Outside Online, fisheries expert Daniel Pauly wrote about his opinion on Seaspiracy:

“Seaspiracy does more harm than good. It takes the very serious issue of the devastating impact of industrial fisheries on life in the ocean and then undermines it with an avalanche of falsehoods.”

Pauly argues that the documentary misplaces the blame for overfishing and employs anti-Asian stereotypes, among other issues.

Casper Ohm, a marine biologist based in the UK, takes a similar view of the film:

“Few truths are thrown into a sea of oversimplified interpretations—and worse, misinformation—on a broad topic that encompasses a series of complex, intersectional issues,” he says.

“Nonscientific viewers may not be able to differentiate between facts and falsehoods.”

Ohm and some other experts have recommended three other documentaries worth a look, if you want to give yourself a more thorough understanding of the health of the ocean.

Here they are, with trailers, and more information about each.

The End of the Line

Recommended by: Ohm and Cherilyn Chin, former aquarist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The 2009 documentary The End of the Line starts with a story about the 1993 collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery due to overfishing, which devastated Newfoundland’s economy.

Unlike Seaspiracy, the filmmakers behind The End of the Line believe that there is such a thing as sustainable fishing, and they endorse consumer labelling efforts, such as the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification.

Ultimately, this film has three requests for its audience: buy only sustainable seafood, tell politicians to enforce fishing laws, and support the creation of marine protected areas.

You can watch the full documentary on Vimeo.

Racing Extinction

Recommended by: Chin and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, co-founder of the Ocean Collective and the Urban Ocean Lab.

Racing Extinction, which came out in 2015, offers a wide-ranging look at species that are at risk of dying out, with a particular focus on marine creatures.

It’s directed by Louie Psihoyos, CEO of the Oceanic Preservation Society, who also directed the documentary The Cove, about dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan.

Though the filmmakers clearly have a penchant for using undercover sting operations to catch wildlife traffickers, they appear to engage respectfully with Indigenous people, such as manta ray fishermen in Lamaka, Indonesia.

You can watch the full version on Amazon Prime.

Chasing Coral

Recommended by: Johnson and Chin.

Chasing Coral, released on Netflix in 2017, puts the spotlight on coral reef habitats across the planet, from Hawaii to Australia. This film teaches viewers that the ocean’s entire ecosystem depends on the health of coral reefs—but thanks to ocean acidification wrought by global warming, those reefs aren’t doing so well.

Like The End of the Line and Racing Extinction, Chasing Coral acknowledges and respects that many communities around the globe depend on fishing to survive, which means they depend on coral reefs.

The film closes with a stark message: “If we don’t address the warming of the planet, we will lose this ecosystem, and millions of people will suffer.”

You can watch the doccie on Netflix.

Ultimately, it pays to get your information from multiple sources, rather than simply the latest Netflix doccie.

Our oceans and sea life are in trouble, but completely cutting out fish from your diet isn’t the only way to make a tangible difference.

[source:outside]