Our seas need protecting

Sometimes we take the sea for granted and don't realise what a vulnerable state it is in fact in. It's hard to fully appreciate the severity of the issue when all we see are the sandy beaches, the clear blue waters and the lapping waves.

Thanks to Netflix's release of Seaspiracy in March 2021, the subject of our ocean's health has once again been brought under the spotlight. I recently watched the documentary myself and I was quite shocked by some of the facts it unveiled about the way we treat the bodies of water that we rely on so heavily.

The ocean's biodiversity is all interconnected so the harm that is done to one species or region has an impact on every branch of marine life and beyond. For instance, when whales and dolphins come up to the surface, they fertilise phytoplankton, a microscopic marine plant that is crucial to the ocean's climate. Phytoplankton absorbs four times more CO2 than the Amazon rainforest every year and generates up to 85% of the oxygen we breathe.

Sharks are fished for their fins then exported to China to make shark fin soup, a traditional dish which sells for upwards of $100 per bowl. The shark fin adds no flavour or nutritional value. Sharks are a species which is essential for the health of the marine ecosystem and they are at risk of becoming extinct. Seabirds rely on predatory fish to drive the smaller fish up towards the surface so that they can dip into the sea and catch them. Since 1950, seabird numbers have declined by about 70%. Humans kill 11,000-30,000 sharks per hour. Almost half of these are killed as bycatch from commercial fishing fleets and discarded back into the sea as waste.

My main takeaway from the documentary was the incredible amount of damage being done by the fishing industry and the deep-rooted corruption surrounding it. What I found the most shocking was the amount of bycatch. Up to 40% of all marine life caught is believed to be thrown straight back into the sea, most dying as a result. This includes over 300,000 dolphins, porpoises and whales each year.

The documentary revealed that between 2000 and 2015, for every dolphin captured (live, to be sold on and kept in captivity), a further 12 dolphins were killed. These dolphins were killed and released back into the sea in order to reduce competition - the fishermen felt that the dolphins ate too many fish so killed the dolphins in the hope of increasing the number of fish available for them to catch. The fishermen didn't have enough fish available to catch in the first place because the waters were already being overfished.

Trawling

One of the most harmful fishing techniques is deep sea trawling. This involves dragging a weighted net along the bottom of the ocean to catch fish. A major problem with this method of fishing is that it is indiscriminate in what it catches are therefore leads to a large amount of bycatch.

This is very harmful to species, reduces biodiversity and damages coral reefs, turtles, invertebrates and young fish. This intensive fishing effectively destroys the ecosystem of the seafloor. Trawling also disturbs the sediment and leads to murky waters which are problematic because they prevent enough sunlight from reaching the life at the bottom of the sea.

Plastic

Plastic polluting the sea is one of the more talked about environmental issues and Seaspiracy suggested that too much emphasis is put on this to distract from the harm done by the fishing industry. Though we need to focus on other issues too, plastic remains a considerable concern and one we need to act on.

Over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die every year from the presence of plastic in our waters, either from ingestion or entanglement. Plastic takes an average of 400 years to decompose and it is estimated that between 5 and 14 million tonnes of plastic enters the sea every year - the equivalent to a bin lorry full of plastic being dumped every minute.

The plastic comes from a number of sources: abandoned or discarded fishing equipment, microplastics from washing clothes, household and commercial waste blown in from landfill sites.

In 2018, 300 endangered sea turtles were found entangled in an abandoned fishing net, all dead. In 2019 a whale washed up on a Scottish beach and was found to have 100kg of plastic in its stomach including fishing nets, rope, plastic bags and cups.

Half of the plastic we make is single-use and less than 10% has been recycled. UK supermarkets alone produce 900,000 tones of plastic packaging each year. This can be reduced by getting rid of plastic packaging on fresh fruit and vegetables, removing the option of single-use plastic bags and encouraging reusable containers instead.

We can help by participating in beach cleanups, recycling and avoiding single-use plastics where possible.

The facts stated in the Seaspiracy documentary have been called into question by some but, given the scale of the claims that are made in it, this is hardly surprising. It is clearly a very controversial issue which questions the integrity of some highly regarded environmental organisations. Regardless of whether the footage was presented in a biased way or not, I believe that the environment is at serious risk due to human exploitation and we need to think more carefully how we can inhabit this earth in a sustainable fashion.

#environment #sea #fishing #marine #plastic