The+End+of+the+Line+CK

The film portrays the vast devastation done to the world fish population by commercial fishing. In the past decades the fishing technology has gotten more efficient and the world catch has increase. This has vastly decreased the world oceans ability to produce fish and feed the human population. The film goes through many different scientific examples of the collapse of fisheries and the actual events of fisheries failing around the world. The film also tried to convince people that the notion that the sea is too large to be truly affected by human action is false. That this is the main reason for the devastation of the oceans, people fail to see the true consequences of their actions. The director of the film, Rubert Murry, was a fisherman early in his life. He changed his career when he saw that the large fish catches were diminishing, and he was directly causing the destruction of the ocean’s balance. In the film he works to publicize the issue of over fishing in the world’s oceans. Throughout the film there are many examples of the extremely powerful tactics used by the commercial fishing industry. The film repeatedly came back to the point that the world recoded catch has continued to increase when local stock are diminishing every year. Countries are fishing their waters into extinction, but continue to deny there is a problem. One example is China. Their catch is decreasing however they are refusing to believe this and faking the numbers to show cautious growth. They also encourage their fishermen to continue bringing in as much as possible. Much of this problem is cause by the economics behind world politics. In the film there was a section that covered a conference on European fishing industries. There they continued to increase the allowable catch per year. This went in complete disregard to the scientific information presented to the council. There were also other examples of boats unloading well over there allowed catch, however they were not punished because the increase production was good for the economy of the area. Officials would not stop behavior because of fears of disrupting the economy. This lack of political fortitude will eventually lead the world fisheries into collapse, similar to what happened to the Newfoundland fishery in Canada. There was a great deal of scientific information showing the collapse of fish population in various areas of the world. The film even showed graphs that put an exact year on the collapse based on historical records. This was further shown with the story of Newfoundland Canada. There the cod had once been abundant enough to support and entire region of fishermen. Then over the year the cod population had been fished so close to extinction that even after two decades of a fishing moratorium the population had not recovered. People of the area were extremely angry when the fishing ban went into place, they did not realize that they had already fished themselves out of jobs. Similar situation in various stages of collapse were then shown occurring all around the world. One section of the film had the narrator going to expensive restaurants inquiring about the sources of their fish. Many of the placed did not know the location or event that some of the fish were on the endangered list. Other knew their endangered status and said it added to the experience of eating the fish, to be able to eat something that rare. This level of ignorance and apathy can be seen across much of the business world and general population. People do not feel it there responsibility, they were not the ones killing the fish. Many of the business men and politicians in the film that were advocating for the ability to pull larger catches each year cited and economic drain if stricter regulations are put in place. This argument is contradictory to the facts that are being presented about the imminent collapse of the fisheries around the world. One example of an economy after such a collapse is the communities on the coast of Africa. The local fishermen were no longer able to compete with the commercial boats, the fish had move too far from the coast to be attainable by locals. Further continuation of this cycle will lead to complete collapse for the area The short section about fish farming in the film showed it to be more destructive that eating wild fish. This is because the food to feed captive fish is other wild fish that are caught, making an energy negative process. These facts put fish farming in a negative light. However there are other methods to raise fish. These methods were never considered in the film when they have the potential to produce food form plant matter or other waste materials. The first audience would be people who incorporate fish in their diets. This is true but a better audience would be people who still believe that the planet is unaffected by human action. The fisheries’ collapse is one vivid example of the failure of the planets natural systems. Looking at the failure of fisheries is a concrete example that is easily seen also it will soon be affecting a great deal of people if the films predications about other collapse dates are true. The fisheries can be used as a metaphor for other natural systems that are being stressed because of human activities. In Alaska, the film shows a fishing industry that is able to continue to thrive and prosper without decimating its fish population. They have done this with sickly enforced regulations, and limited catch sizes. Also there is an innovative method of obtaining a fishing license. There are only so many boats allowed and each fisherman must purchase a boat spot from a fisherman who wishes to leave the fishery. A further look into creative ideas for sustainable fisheries would have brought more hope and a plan of action for many to support. One place action was suggested in the fail was when the director was talking with restaurants about the sources of the fish they serve. People could bring this concept to their daily lives, looking into the sustainability of their fish choices. One example of such a choice would be fish with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo. This is a logo on fish packaging that show it has been harvested in a sustainable manner. Also one the film suggests that people could eat less fish, especially when there are other plant based alternatives. For many in the world this is not an option because they have no other source besides fish, but for some this is an easy change. The MSC tag of fish products is an interesting idea. This could turn out to be something similar to the Organic tag on food. Food with and Organic tag must be raise a specific way, which in some cases may not be any better than non-Organic food. When reading on the site for MSC I found there was a fishery directly off the coast of Cape Cod. This fishery harvests Atlantic deep sea Red Crab. The site goes through the different standards this fishery must meet to be called sustainable. Examples of these requirements are that harvest must be below a reference point to not impair the reproductive ability of the population, this reference point is determined over several year of scientific study. Also a minimal amount of by catch is allowed, with a 95%survival rate on by catch that is brought in. all this appears to be the basis for a sustainable system for harvesting of crab. The science behind the fishery also looks into the dynamics between males and females during mating. The regulations are adjusted accordingly to ensure the population ratios are correct for a proper productive balance. I also looked into the collapse of the cod population in the north Atlantic. The film showed the reaction of the Canadian population after the moratorium was put in place, putting 40,000 people out of work. The article I found was about the current heath of the population off the coast of New England. This area was not hit as hard with commercial fishing as the Canadian fisheries. However there was still a collapse. As stated by a Green Peace article, one of the major problems with the Canadian fisheries was the introduction of foreign fishing vessels, and the practice of was the introduction “dragger” nets. These tactics created huge yield form the ocean of several years but depleted the population. The article about the current health of the fisheries off the coast of New England was written by the National Ocean and Atmosphere Association (NOAA). The cod population in this area did show a significant decline in the mid 1970’s however it was not fished complete collapse. In recent years there have been signs of increases in the population. The all-time low was in 1995, and there has been a slow increase with only one year of relapse.
 * Title:** The End of the Line Chris Knortz
 * Director:** Rupert Murry, 2009
 * What is the central argument of the film?**
 * How is the argument or narrative made and sustained?**
 * What sustainability problems does the film draw out?**
 * What part of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling?**
 * What parts of the film were you not compelled of convinced by?**
 * What audience does the film best address?**
 * What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?**
 * What kinds of action and points of intervention are suggested by the film?**
 * What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out?**

NOAA.gov, Status of Fishery Resources off the Northeastern US 2006 [] MSC.org, Atlantic Deep Sea Red Crab, January 2009 []