NETFLIX viewers were left “destroyed” and vowing to turn vegan after witnessing the harrowing scenes of dolphin and whale poaching in new show, Seaspiracy.
The gritty documentary, by film maker Ali Tabrizi, focuses on the fishing industry and the corruption inside of it – including the issue of ‘dolphin friendly’ seafood which, it appears, is not so friendly after all.
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The 27-year-old’s quest is to show the harm humans do to marine species and, in the 90 minute Netflix episode, fans were left shell-shocked.
As well as showing a dire 30,000 sharks killed every hour, and salmon with chlamydia, it revealed shocking scenes in Taiji in the south of Japan, where dolphins are driven into a small bay where they can then be captured or killed.
He found that for every dolphin being caught, 12 more were being killed – even though there’s no market for dolphin meat – casting huge doubt on the aspect of tuna fishing ever being ‘dolphin friendly’ – as stated on the food label.
Meanwhile, other scenes depicting whale killing on a boat, understandably forced viewers to turn away.
One Netflix viewer took to Twitter to wail: “If you didn’t cry watching that whale scene in #Seaspiracy then you have no heart.
“Actually heartbroken to watch all of this.”
Another wrote: “I watched this documentary last night and I’m not ashamed to tell you that it made me cry. Great work by Ali Tabrizi. We need more brave nature lovers like Ali to create awareness about the harm that we all do to our planet Earth.”
One then added: “This was horrific and made me cry. I am sick of humans acting as though we are better than animals when we are so barbaric and evil towards them.
“What possesses you to get so excited about stabbing a beautiful whale in the head and slitting its throat?”
An angry viewer then wrote: “DOLPHIN SAFE IS IN NO WAY GUARANTEED TO BE DOLPHIN SAFE.”
One then surmised: “That scene destroyed me.”
“Overfishing” was blamed for the tragic mammal deaths, with Tamara Arenovich of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society stating: “The fishermen view the dolphins as competition – they feel that they eat too many fish, and if they get rid of the dolphins there will be more fish available to catch.
“Essentially the slaughter of these dolphins is a reaction to the overfishing that’s happening here in Taiji.”
Overfishing is where one or many species of fish is removed from a body of water at a rate so high that the affected species become underpopulated in that area.
Tuna is a classic example, with the vast $42billion global industry for tuna on the verge of collapse because of overfishing.
Bluefin tuna have even become critically endangered because of overfishing, driving prices for individual fish through the roof.
A single tuna was sold at a Tokyo market for £2.2million in 2019 – today, the world’s tuna population is less than three per cent of what it was in 1970.
Overfishing is the cause – but dolphins are blamed and massacred in Japan anyway.
Gory fishing spectacles even take place closer to home, like the “Grindadráp” in the Faroe Islands, where hundreds of whales and dolphins are driven on to beaches and hacked to death as part on ancient hunt.
Ali interviews multiple people over the course of the documentary, some of whom have quite damning things to say about the industry.
“We are at war with the oceans and, if we win this war, we’re going to lose it all because mankind is not able to live on this planet with a dead sea,” said one interviewee.
The impact of over-fishing is quite expansive, as almost all the ecosystems in the world are being affected by the industry’s current habitats, and as the problem gets worse, all aspects of life as we know it will be affected.
The industry isn’t just affecting the oceans however. There are tens of thousands of human deaths every single year because of the current practices.
The hard-hitting show prompted many to re-think their diet, with one writing on Twitter: “Seaspiracy made me cry multiple times, such a thought provoking documentary that totally reaffirmed that choosing to go vegan was the right choice for me.”
Another wrote: “My faith in humanity is at rock bottom after watching #Seaspiracy The horror of crossing a line where you can cause an innocent animal such suffering is something I can’t understand. I won’t be eating animals anymore. I can’t watch, cry and carry on as ‘normal’.”
Meanwhile prominent vegan and animal rights campaigner, ex Made In Chelsea star Lucy Watson, added: “I used to eat “dolphin safe” tuna before I stopped eating fish.
“I had NO IDEA “dolphin safe” had zero credibility until I watched #Seaspiracy By eating fish I was killing not only them, but so many others.”
