Seaspiracy by Ali Tabrizi on Netflix is a must sea documentary, about the exploitation of our oceans caused by our insatiable appetite for seafood.  However, what 14 year old wants to sit down and watch a documentary?  None that I know for that matter, but my mother forced me to watch so I endured the 2 hours of my life that I thought would be painfully torturous. In the end, I actually really enjoyed it and I was so moved I am here writing you this article.

Seaspiricy opened my eyes and made me realise how badly we treat our oceans, how food labels often obscure what is happening out at sea and how we are falsely led to believe that single use plastics are the main killer of sea animals, when commercial fishing is.

I’m not here to preach but we’ve really messed up and it’s not getting any better.  Overfishing is causing a wipeout of a complex food chain from the top down because when you take out sharks everything goes along with it.  Our shark population in the oceans have decreased by around 90% and according to the documentary, at this rate the oceans will be dead by 2048, that will put us teenagers in our early 40’s.

We are led to believe that plastic straws and plastic cutlery are huge killers in our ocean, but a sad fact is that everything leads back to commercial fishing and what’s worse is our governments lobby to protect it claiming sustainability, but when Ali Tabrizi confronted environmental organisations and the government, none of them could come back with an answer for sustainable fishing.

If we truly care for the oceans and our future, we have to vote with our mouths.  The catering company that my school contracts to offers fish, and we don’t actually know where it comes from or what amount of suffering that piece of fish has endured because for all we know, 45 dolphins could have been killed to retrieve those 8 pieces of tuna they sell, under the label of dolphin safe sustainable fishing.  That is why independent catering should do fish free Fridays, to demonstrate that they care for our future and that we are not just a bottom line.

The only way this is going to improve, is if we stop or dramatically reduce our intake of fish, we need to give time for our oceans to heal and for the fish to replenish.  Whatever your plans are this easter weekend, make time to educate yourself on the true horror and destruction we cause to our oceans and sea life, watch Seaspiricy.  The hypocrisy must end. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.