Netflix Review - Seaspiracy (2021)

Seaspiracy, created by Ali and Lucy Tabrizi, and produced by Kip Andersen, serves as a spiritual follow up to Andersen’s Cowspiracy (2014). While the latter dealt with how authorities and industries cover-up the environmental impact of eating, primarily, land animals, the former takes a very similar form, this time dealing with fish and seafood.

Starting out as an investigation into the environmental impact of killing whales and dolphins, the Tabrizi’s travel the world discovering the extensive corruption involved in fishing and fishing regulations. From the dolphin slaughters in Japan; to the shark fin industry in Hong Kong; to the fish farms of Scotland – they are often met with warnings and hostility. It covers a wide range of issues, including the impact that mass fishing has had on Less economically Developed Countries and the use of modern slavery on fishing vessels. Coming up again and again against the notion that sustainable fishing is a myth, the documentary ends in the Faroe Islands, with the inhabitants there practising what they believe to be one of the only instances of sustainable fishing in the world – a slaughter of whales.

Ali Tabrizi (Filmmaker and avid ocean-lover) in Seaspiracy. c. Lucy Tabrizi

The images are so striking. That is the biggest thing I can say – these images will stay with you. We are thrown in the deep end rather quickly with the brutal massacre of the dolphins in Japan – the sight of which is in no way censored or sanitised. The image of the farmed salmon being eaten alive by sea lice was another shocker. But I think the final shots on the Faroe Islands were the most impactful. We see a gentle pod of long-finned pilot whales herded into the bay – the images are beautiful, a pleasant music swells – and then the people descend, hacking and stabbing the whales, their blood staining the water. It’s heart-breaking. The ability to capture and present this footage in the way the filmmakers do should be applauded.

Now, the documentary isn’t perfect. Ali Tabrizi narrates the documentary and his journey with a faux-naïve tone and script – much like Andersen in Cowspiracy – which can get annoying at times. Additionally, there’s a segment dealing with the modern slavery taking place on fishing vessels which is portrayed through animation, which I’m not sure is necessary and potentially detracts from the account given. The focus on “conspiracy” can also come across as sensationalist and tedious at times, regardless of the legitimacy of the claims. But luckily the images and messages are powerful enough in their own right that none of this distracts too much.

Like any good documentary, it makes you really care for what it’s saying – and what it’s saying is important. The light brought to the situation – the fact there is no way to regulate whether seafood is “dolphin safe”; the fact fishing regulators are constantly bribed and threatened; the fact that fishing contributes the majority of plastic pollution in the ocean but authorities conveniently omit this – it should be devastating for the fishing industry. Whether it will actually make an impact remains to be seen. But the solution to it all is not left up to interpretation.

A striking and important documentary that should be essential viewing.