15 June 2013

The Last Ocean

The Halifax Oceans Film Fest is going on now, and last night I went to a screening of The Last Ocean. It's a movie I hadn't heard about previously, on a topic I only knew in passing.



It was a good movie in that it got its message across. It had some beautiful Antarctic footage. Lots of penguins, some seals. Not really enough fish for my tastes, though, given that it was a movie about the effect of overfishing on this system. But there was some amazing under-the-ice footage that was wonderful. My main problem with it is that it covered a large time span - over 10 years and it was often unclear when they were talking about. It's a bit of a convoluted story and I think the timeline could have been more clear.



The movie was very critical of the New Zealand government, the fishing industry, and the Marine Stewardship Certification process (for all of you that think MSC seafood is always a good choice, you might want to do more research).  The best quote in the movie, and by "best" I mean "most infuriating," was an industry rep who said that a well-managed fishery is just as effective as a marine protected area. If I'd been at home and not in public watching this, I would have yelled at the screen. That statement totally ignores the whole entire point of marine protected areas. To protect. The area. Not the fishery. Ugh. Unlike a lot of nature docs, this one didn't really try to end on a positive, all-is-not-lost tone. They did say that the Ross Sea can still be saved, and that we should join in the fight. And stop eating Chilean Sea Bass.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This looks really interesting Ellie, thanks. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

- Oz