Netflix SeaSpiracy - Scuba Instructor Reaction, Review & Commentary

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jagfish

The man behind the fish
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Netflix SeaSpiracy - Scuba Instructor Reaction, Review & Commentary (Full Version)
Scuba instructor, ocean enthusiast, and Japan resident reacts and comments on the Seaspiracy movie from NetFlix. The movie is thought-provoking and lends visibility to the themes of ocean sustainability, domesticated food sources vs. wild, and the value of a life.
A shorter version will be released later.
 
Seaspiracy: Netflix documentary accused of misrepresentation by participants

Guardian:
In a scene in the film, Palmer, the associate US director of the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP), which is operated by the Earth Island Institute, was asked if his group could guarantee that no dolphins were ever killed in any tuna fishery anywhere in the world.

“I answered there are no guarantees in life but that drastically reducing the number of vessels intentionally chasing and netting dolphins as well as other regulations in place, that the number of dolphins that are killed is very low”, he said.

“The film took my statement out of context to suggest that there is no oversight and we don’t know whether dolphins are being killed. That is not true.”

In response to the film, the IMMP said Seaspiracy “falsely claims” that the Dolphin Safe label is a conspiracy to benefit the global fisheries industries.

David Phillips, the director of the IMMP, said the film had chosen to “grossly distort and mischaracterise” the aims of the label. In a statement, Phillips said: “The Dolphin Safe tuna programme is responsible for the largest decline in dolphin deaths by tuna fishing vessels in history. Dolphin-kill levels have been reduced by more than 95%, preventing the indiscriminate slaughter of more than 100,000 dolphins every year.”

Of course, the guardian is very politically motivated so keep that in mind when you read their articles. Not that I'm disputing the article, it's just something to keep in mind when reading from that site.
 
I was not a fan of this film whatsoever. The problems he hits are real (and holy cow it was a massive infodump) but the film is so sensationalized and ignores or puts down current efforts (like his entire segment on aquaculture calling it disgusting and unethical) in favor of saying "the only thing you can do is stop eating fish/meat", which, unless you're already so inclined, is a non-starter and usually only makes people defensive.

The director is apparently known for making highly sensationalized, pro-vegan films where, again, the only solution is to stop eating meat.

People who are already in the camp will love it and ignore where science and facts are overlooked, and people outside will just continue to bash on the issues because you can't start a discussion with "This is bad and you are bad if you do this"
 
puts down current efforts (like his entire segment on aquaculture calling it disgusting and unethical) in favor of saying "the only thing you can do is stop eating fish/meat", which, unless you're already so inclined, is a non-starter and usually only makes people defensive.
It's also a non-starter if you're not wealthy. Not possible to be healthy on a vegan diet without spending a lot of money on special foods and supplements. I have some friends who have tried it and despite being firmly middle class in the US, the cost was a big problem. In short, the idea is nonsense. I couldn't say exactly what/why because I would personally never consider it so haven't even looked. I'm more in the camp of eat nearly only meat and supplement with some veggies sometimes.
 
Seaspiracy: Netflix documentary accused of misrepresentation by participants



Of course, the guardian is very politically motivated so keep that in mind when you read their articles. Not that I'm disputing the article, it's just something to keep in mind when reading from that site.

I noticed that when I was watching. It's like when I disagree with my parents and they already have a conclusion they have in mind. Whatever answers were given, no matter how reasonable (and I was honestly surprised that the dolphin safe guy outright said "no we can't guarantee anything" cause that's true), the next question is ramped up and keeps pushing "You said X is X but Y is X so you don't really care". Whether or not the dolphin safe guy was lying or covering his own a** or being purposefully misleading, I do not appreciate anyone using that type of 'interview'
 
It's also a non-starter if you're not wealthy. Not possible to be healthy on a vegan diet without spending a lot of money on special foods and supplements. I have some friends who have tried it and despite being firmly middle class in the US, the cost was a big problem. In short, the idea is nonsense. I couldn't say exactly what/why because I would personally never consider it so haven't even looked. I'm more in the camp of eat nearly only meat and supplement with some veggies sometimes.

Exactly and I was so unimpressed and borderline enraged when he covered 'look at all these plant based seafood options!'

So...we're just going to ignore everyone who lives outside of a giant city? I've lived in rural or semi-rural areas all my life and I can assure you, I have never seen or even heard of plant-based seafood. It isn't an option.

I did cut out my beef and pork intake to maybe once or twice a year, I'll cook some for a stew, and that's my choice for environmental reasons. But when I'm shopping on my own, cheap farmers markets, canned veg, frozen or cheap (probably not ethically raised) chicken, and bulk pasta/bulk anything are how I saved what I could shopping as a college student. Yeah, I usually end up only eating chicken for meat and having a third of my meals vegetarian, but that's cause canned veg are a lifesaver and I and my partner are creative cooks. Being ethically vegan in the way his films always want you too, is a luxury.

And I'm not in any way trying to bash on vegans or downplay the environmental benefits! But you can't revolve the entire conversation around "just be vegan because nothing else matters"
And you can't convince people to be vegan by telling them they're selfish and unethical otherwise (looking at the shark fin soup section). Plus when filmmakers call out people who minimize everything they can and only have occasional meat and watch out for environmental impacts, but lump them in as "just as bad as everyone who's doing nothing", those people get dispirited and angry.

We don't need doom and gloom and 'you are bad unless you do this' in films anymore. We've had enough of that. We need spotlights of what's working and what's left to do so people, especially young people who've spent their lives being battered around by news of one disaster after the next, can see that it isn't hopeless and there are things to do that help.
 
I was not a fan of this film whatsoever. The problems he hits are real (and holy cow it was a massive infodump) but the film is so sensationalized and ignores or puts down current efforts (like his entire segment on aquaculture calling it disgusting and unethical) in favor of saying "the only thing you can do is stop eating fish/meat", which, unless you're already so inclined, is a non-starter and usually only makes people defensive.

The director is apparently known for making highly sensationalized, pro-vegan films where, again, the only solution is to stop eating meat.

People who are already in the camp will love it and ignore where science and facts are overlooked, and people outside will just continue to bash on the issues because you can't start a discussion with "This is bad and you are bad if you do this"
So true...only after this vid I saw the cowspiracy vid is available on NetFlix...I was thinking "oh, sh#t...I won't be able to eat anyting!
 
I haven't watched it yet, despite having a couple opportunities because I feared it would be sensationalism, get debunked in articles and then get labelled as fake. Which is unfortunate because if you lie, even just grossly embellish reality, it ruins the efforts to advance the changes we really need.

That take is from what I'm reading from you guys, but if it's a push to be a vegan, and it sounds like there's a few other people who get website space to voice that opinion on other platforms, I think it's worth noting there's strong evidence that human evolution really began to take off when our species started cooking meat. I have no problem with vegans, but they are a very small minority and if your approach to sustainability is to tell everyone eating meat is wrong, you're gonna have a long road ahead of you and are actually doing more harm than good.

Invention of cooking drove evolution of the human species, new book argues

“You are what you eat.” Can these pithy words explain the evolution of the human species?

Yes, says Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, who argues in a new book that the invention of cooking — even more than agriculture, the eating of meat, or the advent of tools — is what led to the rise of humanity.

Wrangham’s book “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” is published today by Basic Books. In it, he makes the case that the ability to harness fire and cook food allowed the brain to grow and the digestive tract to shrink, giving rise to our ancestor Homo erectus some 1.8 million years ago.​
 
While this film thoroughly disgusted me with the blatant waste and wanton destruction of specific fish populations and their habitat, I do still eat some seafood....... And don't even try to talk me out of pork and beef~!
 
Nets are bad and governments should really limit their use. They are simply too destructive and can really hurt fish stocks. To be honest, I kind of feel like the only form of commercial fishing should be spearfishing, because it's the least destructive to the environment.

Aquaculture will need to be the future if we're to supply a global population with food. Of course, as you might imagine, I am against globalization as well because it's not sustainable and continues the out of control growth of the human population. Nevertheless, we've made good progress with aquacultured shell food and shrimp. We need to do better to find sound solutions for fish. In the absence of aquaculture, artificial reefs, whether intentional or not should be high priority for any state or country on the water's edge. The upper Gulf coast and California are great lessons on what an artificial reef system can do for fish stocks.
 

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