Seaspiracy - uncovering how fishy positive social impact can be

When it comes to positive social impact, what’s the catch? the netflix hit ‘Seaspiracy’ reveals more…

By: Emily Hambly - Public Relations Coordinator

As I am sure we are all aware, environmental sustainability and climate change has become a large conversation topic over the past few years. In response, I – and hopefully many others – look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and I’ve started at my eating habits. I now look for brands with environmentally sustainable certifications (ie. Dolphin Safe Tuna, MSC Blue ticks, free-range, etc.) to contribute a mere fraction of the restoration efforts needed for our earth.

But what if I told you – particularly in the fishing industry – that these certifications are not only convoluted, but are rife with corruption, collusion, bribery and are financially supported by the very fishing organizations they certify? 

Looking to one of the most eye-opening, honest and controversial documentaries of 2021, the goal of this blog post is to reveal how difficult it can be to evoke and maintain a positive social impact (through topics like environmental sustainability, public policy and civil rights) in one of the most financially intertwined, corrupt and profitable industries in the world – the $246 BILLION fishing industry. 

In the 2021 documentary, Ali Tabrizi’s Seaspiracy shone a new light on the devastating impacts of the fishing industry around the world. What we want to focus on is it’s relevance to our community, our fellow peers, and really, the future of our world. 

In theory, we can speak about positive social impact, learn how to practice ethical and sustainable business, and how to neutralize the infinite social injustices of the modern day world. However, in ‘the real world’, it is much more complex, considering the power of corporate influence, monopolistic/competitive pressures, pre-existing organizational corruption, and countless other intangible aspects of the business world. 

Seaspiracy does a great job of demonstrating how difficult this balance can be, through exposing one of the most lucrative industries in the world. Now granted, we may not want to go into the fishing business, but as marketers, public relation representatives, consultants and financial advisors of these types of affiliate organizations, you can see how closely related we are to this dilemma. 

While I would highly, HIGHLY, recommend watching the documentary (find it on Netflix here), I will be identifying three of the largest social impact dilemmas the movie highlights, and how it challenges the viewer. From the obvious environmental sustainability issues to the less apparent endangerment of human and civil rights, hopefully I’ll give you a chance to learn more about the fundamental complexity of positive social impact.

ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

  Throughout the 1.5 hour documentary, staggering facts continually demonstrate how detrimental fishing is on our environment. To give you a preview of what’s mentioned in the movie, a high-security football-sized cove in Taiji, Japan is caught luring and killing over 700 dolphins and whales each year illegally. Up north, a single small-scale fishery in Iceland caught 269 harbour porpoises, 900 seals and ~5,000 seabirds, ‘accidentally’, in one month. Last but not least, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (circa 2010) actually saved entire ecosystems, as it halted fishing in the surrounding areas to avoid oil interference – despite it being the worst oil spill in American history. Keeping in mind, this doesn’t even cover a fraction of what is mentioned in the movie. 

Practicing Evoking a Positive Social Impact

Evidently, fishing creates mass environmental destruction – from the likes of increasing the global ocean temperatures, increasing plastic pollution from ghost nets, and killing off an estimated 90% of global coral reefs by 2050. So how do we fix this? How do we eliminate, or at least reduce the devastating impacts? 

How are the ‘protectors’ of the environment are actually the predators

Looking to the recommendations of the largest sustainable-practice fishing organizations (Plastic Pollution Coalition, MSC Blue Tick, ) they suggest a) purchasing dolphin-safe or blue-tick certified products if needed, and b) reducing the use of microplastics (ie. straws, cutlery, etc.). Sounds straightforward enough, right?

No. While all of these organizations suggest limiting the use of straws and microplastics, that accounts for only 0.03% of plastic entering the ocean. When these organizations were interviewed, it became suspicious that the mention of reducing fishing gear disposal never came up, seeing as this accounts for nearly 50% of the ocean plastic pollution. That’s when it was discovered; organizations like the Plastic Pollution Coalition are funded by a parent company – for example the Earth Island Institute – who are heavily invested in the fishing industry, and are the ones pushing for more seafood sales. 

So no wonder it didn’t come up, because admitting that their parent company’s practices cause the majority of the oceans plastic pollution would be like biting the hand that feeds you. This twisted turn of events suddenly paints a seemingly positive and justice-seeking organization in grey, and makes the situation of seeking positive social impact as clear as mud. 

HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Not only does the fishing industry sicken our planet, it also contributes to some of the most deadly viruses, making the human race increasingly sick too. Human and civil rights are a large issue within the fishing industry, from unsuspectingly-high mortality rates, catch theft leading to ebola outbreaks, and forced underage slavery/covered-up murder. One of the most notable examples of human rights violations is when the crew was able to interview freed slaves, who bravely risked their lives detailing the bullying, verbal and physcial abuse, forced labour and murder they witnessed and experienced during years of isolation and confinement on board fishing vessels. 

Stagnant Mortality Rates in the Fishing Business

Within a 15-year period, the occupational mortality rate of fishery workers far outweighed the number of U.S. Soldiers during the Iran-Iraq war, with death tolls of 360,000 to 4,563 people respectively – keeping in mind the mortality rates in the fishing business are grossly under-represented. With West-African Canoe Fishermen accounting for the highest mortality rate in the entire world when it comes to the fishing business, it seems the fish aren’t the only groups whose lives are at risk. 

The Ebola Outbreak and It’s Direct Relation to the Corrupt Fishing Industry

Apart from the direct mortality rates from fishing, death tolls from the ebola outbreak can be added to those rates. How is ebola directly tied to the detriments of the fishing industry, you may ask? Simply put, there are oversubsidized European and Chinese fishing vessels that cross water borders to steal the catch of the West-African communities, forcing them to resort to in-land hunting to provide villages with enough food. As such, this caused the start of the 2013 Ebola virus, and continues as an unresolved problem. 

Practicing Evoking Positive Social Impact

To tackle a mere fraction of the human and civil injustices caused by the overbearing fishing industry, we can focus on combating slavery and unpunished murderers on fishing boats. One of the main ways of combating this issue in large cities is increasing surveillance, which is close to impossible – and part of why so many fishing vessels can get away with their illegal activity. Within Thailand alone, there are nearly 51,000 fishing vessels, so imagine that, but multiplied tenfold to make up the world population. 

You could try insisting on more fishing supervisors, but these officials are easily bribed and intimidated by their crews – as their lives are in the hands of those welcoming them on board. Another way to combat these infractions is enforcing stronger policies, though this brings us back to how enforceable new laws are. 

CONCLUDING STATEMENTS AND REFLECTION

While a single blog post cannot even attempt to capture the depth, insight, and complexity that Seaspiracy reaches, I wanted to shift the perspective of fishing-related environmental concerns, to how we as students can leverage this knowledge to strive for positive social impact in executive, middle-management and lower-management roles within large corporations. While it seems like a daunting – perhaps even impossible – challenge, it is very possible to find creative ways to drive innovation in whichever industries you choose to enter. 

While some larger corporations may have fishy practices, these practices shouldn’t be the standard, but rather give us the chance to exceed far beyond our current state, pushing for a longer-lasting and more sustainable future.