documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing
 

The world’s first major documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing premiered at Sundance Film Festival

http://endoftheline.com/

Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act. http://endoftheline.com/files/100212...n-slab-550.jpg
The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Sundance took place in Park City, Utah, January 15-25, 2009.
In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food.
It examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.
Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans.
One of his allies is the former tuna farmer turned whistleblower Roberto Mielgo – on the trail of those destroying the world's magnificent bluefin tuna population.
Filmed across the world – from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market – featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials, The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.
The end of seafood by 2048

Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.

I saw somewhere once a little card you could keep in your wallet that had a list of fish ranked by how good or bad it was to eat. The ranking was weighted to include fishery condition, environmental impact (farmed fish were included), and health impact. I'd love to get my hands on one now.

It's a pretty sobering story, I haven't seen the film yet (I'll try to for sure) but the news I've been getting on the topic is not good.

The earth if finite, even if man's wants and ambitions are not.

I could make a movie right now arguing that Mercedes Benz ownership will shorten your life. I could state the facts that support my argument, recite anecdotal evidence as support, then creatively write/produce the film to sway my evidence in my favor. I promise not to give you any information on how a Mercedes can actually lengthen your life, because that's not part of my argument.

We might be overfishing, but one movie cannot give you all the information to create an intelligent, individual opinion.

In the late 80's you couldn't give away fish in a restaurant. Probably because we were still using outmoded methods of preparation that killed the fish a hundred times over before it reached the table.

These days I eat fish about twice a week, but I really don't see how eating that little can have such a great impact on the oceans. Maybe it does. Hmm...

Edit: Gawd the trailer shows video of people clubbing fish to death and stuff. You think there may be a slight sensationalist element to this thing?

People forget that every action an individual takes must be multiplied millions or billions of times over to understand the impact of humanity in total. Not EVERYONE eats fish twice a week, but many, many people do -- or even more often.

I bet a lot of fast-food consumption is part of this (including places like Red Lobster in that category). Things like "all you can eat shrimp" can't help.

True, but it can start one thinking and digging deeper into the subject. That's the start of the process.

"The total annual consumption of prey by sperm whales worldwide is estimated to be about 100 million tons — a figure greater than the total consumption of marine animals by humans each year."

One movie?! News of this trend has been out on many fronts for some time. We know beyond doubt that the once prolific Cod fishery on the east coast is in very bad shape. Not much significant recovery in spite of a Canadian ban on cod fishing since '92. Some think that there aren't enough fish left to bring about a recovery.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/collapse2005.html

A lot of the diet of sperm whales is deep dwelling huge squid. Sperm whales can dive for that stuff. They find many squid beaks (looks like a really large parrots beak, sort of) in the bellies of deceased sperm whales.

Whoa. Found this wild tale about a particularly large sperm whale ramming and sinking a whaling boat in the early 1820s:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)

Partly right...Their diets vary from region to region and does usually include a good variety of fish. The main point is that this is just one animal in the ocean that eats more then humans do...there are plenty of other fish eating species out there. As POS said earlier...you need more then one movie to come up with an answer.

"One study, carried out around the Galápagos, found that squid from the genera Histioteuthis (62%), Ancistrocheirus (16%), and Octopoteuthis (7%) weighing between 12 and 650 grams (0.026 and 1.43 lb) were the most commonly taken."

Good for the whale.... I read the story of the Essex long ago, cannabalism, insanity etc...sounds like a Tarintino movie...

we overfish and there should be a way to force commercial fishermen to replenish the stock or slow down the harvesting...

Seems I remember something about Red Lobster agreeing to volentarily limit their
all you can eat crab legs to once or twice a year. After they were threatened with possible legal or federal problems.

Too long ago, and I dont feel like googling it.
I could easily be wrong on this one.

Some of those species are the ones most desired by humans: salmon, tuna, swordfish, bluefish, cod.

One sad note in this story is the rampant overfishing of menhaden, one of the main feeder fish for more desirable (for humans) fish. Menhaden is not eaten by people, except in some oil extracts, IINM. Mostly industrial uses -- fertilizer, etc.

Do you mean that sperm whales eat mainly the smaller squid? They don't have the baleen straining setup, how could they catch enough small ones to make it worth their while?

That figure seems questionable but either way fishing pressure is clearly evident based on human consumption.

Overfishing killed Monterey Bay anchovies, sardines they're wiped out and they did it in less than 20 years.

I love fish but I would like to have a continuous supply of them since they don't reproduce when they're dead.