Thread by @lizadixon

You've probably heard about the new documentary on Netflix, @seaspiracy, which is about the environmental impacts of commercial fishing.

I am going to watch it now and tweet some highlights. This is going to be important.

a thread 🧵

The oceans are home to up to 80% of *all life* on earth.

The vast majority of the ocean remains unexplored 😯

un.org/en/conferences…

Plastics are a prob. Dead animals are often found w/ plastic waste in their stomaches. Plastics also breakdown into invisible micro-particles which we then might consume. Emerging research on the effects of microplastics on our health doesn't look good.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30116998/#:~:t….

Phytoplankton absorbs *four times* the amount of carbon dioxide as the Amazon rainforest and generates up to 85% of the oxygen we breath. So yeah, let's keep the phytoplankton happy please 😅

Apparently, keeping the whales happy is key 🐋

imf.org/external/pubs/…

Re: the microplastics...in 2017, we already knew microplastics outnumber the stars in the milky way galaxy by at least 500 times ✨😲

news.un.org/en/story/2017/…

Reducing our use of plastics as individuals is a good thing.

But the majority of the plastic in our oceans is due to commercial fishing, in fact...

46% of all the plastic in the ocean is ~ FISHING NETS ~

nature.com/articles/s4159…

Going against intl. law some countries (ex. Japan) continue to hunt 🐬&🐋 at scale. Dwindling fish populations means they are seen as a threat to commercial fishing, so they are rounded up & killed

Taiji, Japan (famous from the doc "The Cove") is a hot spot for these activities

Like other not-so-nice agricultural practices, anyone caught trying to film or document these "systematic activities" is seen as a threat. They are often pursued and threatened by officials so that they will be silent and that the status quo can be maintained.

Tuna is a huge industry. Bluefin Tuna is the most expensive fish on the planet––one once sold for over 3 million USD!

But many species of tuna are at risk. You might be eating an endangered species without even realizing it 🙈

https://twitter.com/lizadixon/status/1254805981663506432?s=20

& then there's the famous shark fin soup in high demand in Asia, which drives the killing of an estimated 73 million sharks per year. Obviously that's not sustainable and taking out a top ocean predator has severe consequences for the entire ocean (& us!)

discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/f…

"People shouldn't be afraid of having sharks in the ocean, they should be afraid of not having sharks in the ocean."

- @PauldeGelder 🦈 #Seaspiracy

#Seaspiracy is only 1.5hrs long.

In that time, anywhere from 16,500 - 45,000 sharks will be killed

50% of those will be caught as bycatch. That means in order to support our demand for seafood, *that many* sharks (plus other unmentioned species!) are dying every hour 🥺

Asia gets a lot of blame for negligent fishing practices, but thanks to the work of @seashepherd, we discovered that the French gov's relaxed laws have been contributing to mass by-catch killings of dolphins for the past 30 years.

seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/fr… #Seaspiracy

Have you seen these before? They are designed to make us feel ok about our seafood purchases, but they don't represent anything meaningful

Think about it...how can any organization "will away" unintended bycatch–like dolphins, sharks, rays, whales, etc–from large fishing nets?🤔

Up to 450,000,000 fish will be killed in the time it takes to watch #Seaspiracy (1.5hrs)

How about other animals? 🤔
considerveganism.com/counter/

Scientists estimate that if current trends continue, fishless oceans could be a reality by the year 2048.

That's not just a prob for our oceans, it's also a problem for the climate crisis as the oceans play a central role in stabilizing 🌍's climate

unep.org/news-and-stori…

"The Earth is a spaceship, and every spaceship has a life support system. That life support system is run by a crew of earthlings, and there's only so many crew members you can kill before the machinery begins to break down."

- @CaptPaulWatson of @seashepherd #Seaspiracy

Even if you don't consume seafood (or other animals) you still pay these industries via taxpayer subsides. These subsidies fuel organized crime units which operate alongside it & decimate food & income sources of vulnerable developing nations.

unctad.org/project/regula…

Is overfishing also connected to viral outbreaks (e.g. ebola)? Yes.

"Additionally, decreased fish catch, resulting from over-fishing by subsidized Chinese and European vessels, has enhanced wildlife hunting and bush meat consumption..."

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P… #seaspiracy

Speaking of viral outbreaks, COVID-19 has made life at sea an even bigger nightmare for the industries vulnerable workers.

Slavery is also a problem at sea , an ongoing humanitarian crisis 😔

bbc.com/news/business-…

"Well how about farmed fish? That's ok, right?"

While farming fish does avoid some of the harms of large scale wild-caught fishing, it introduces a host of new problems i.e. incredible amounts of concentrated waste.

Does this look tasty? 😅

bbc.com/news/uk-scotla… #seaspiracy

"Do fish feel pain? Do they have the ability to suffer?"

Consider: "...[fish] have the capacity to feel at a level we almost cannot imagine...fish can sense the most exquisite little movements in water, so you see 1,000 fish moving like one fish."

- @SylviaEarle🐟 #Seaspiracy

"The balance of evidence indicates...fish species have the capacity to experience pain...they are able to experience fear." - European Food Safety Authority, @EFSA_EU

Related: researchgate.net/publication/22…

I mean, we haven't even evolved to this level 😆

huffpost.com/entry/fish-far… #seaspiracy

Many consume fish/fish oil supplements for the nutritional benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. But omega-3s are not "made by fish", they're made by algae which then accumulates in fish as they eat it (or other lil fish).

Consider a switch to algal oil 🙏🏻

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

In conclusion, seafood consumption is:

1. a human rights issue
2. an environmental catastrophe
3. an individual & collective health risk

#seaspiracy

The good news is that the ocean is resilient & can bounce back quickly. How to save the ocean via @seaspiracy:

🚫 No-take zones must be est. & enforced
💰 Govs must stop harmful subsidies
🍽 Avoid eating marine animals

Please note that one of these is 100% in your hands 🙏🏻

*Correction: 46% of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is fishing nets, not "46% of all the plastic in the ocean"