Fish, films and frustration

Our media-crowded world bombards us with campaigns, messages, stories, celebrity nonsense, 24/7 news and obsessive analyses of politics, natural disasters, air crashes and so much more. No wonder it can be hard to make an impact when a really important story is being told.

Here is a fresh example. Five years ago, the then Daily Telegraph environment editor Charles Clover wrote a powerful book about the depletion of the world’s fish stocks. Called The End of the Line, it was a detailed description of the systematic destruction of the balance of ocean life as a result of our demand for fish, whether it is for bluefin tuna or our own hearty staples of cod and haddock. It told of the consequences of overfishing and of using destructive techniques with the effect of knocking out all manner of other sealife that wasn’t destined for the dinner table.

Moreover, it highlighted the iniquities of the EU fisheries policy, whereby perfectly good, wholesome and edible fish are being thrown back to sea dead, because although the quota was met, the ‘wrong’ sort of fish had been caught.

The book certainly had an impact, but not as much as was needed to change attitudes with regards to consuming fish sustainably or to transform policies. However, with director Rupert Murray and an award-winning production team, Clover has taken this message one big step further and produced a hard-hitting and very graphic documentary film of the same name.

As I write this, I have only seen the trailers available on the website (www.endoftheline.com) and read the reviews, but you will see enough to want to question the provenance of any fish and seafood that you eat in the future. If we were to manage our land in the way we are destroying the ocean floor, which is being savaged in the unseen darkness of the deep waters, I don’t think we would put up with it.

This film follows a recent and increasingly honourable tradition of using cinema to mobilise concern and action. From Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to Franny Armstrong’s deeply depressing The Age of Stupid, the messages around resource use, climate change and our ability to influence our own future are getting out, loud and clear. I felt The Age of Stupid was a haunting and sad film, devoid of positive signals on what people could actually do, and for many it might even be debilitating. Despite its anger and strong imagery, The End of the Line at least comes with a campaign and clear messages on which seafood and fish types to avoid and, at the very least, to ask questions about if you are eating in restaurants. As ever, labelling and clear information for consumers is the key to empowerment, so at the minimum we need to see all the retailers following the lead of Waitrose on proper fish labelling. And even the (no doubt many) vegetarian readers of Resource would agree that if folk continue to eat fish, it should be sustainably caught to preserve marine diversity.

It’s a major resource use issue and it will need global action as well as the empowerment of local consumers. There are tough decisions ahead about the size of fishing fleets and the willingness of nations to sacrifice short-term decision making for the long-term benefit of the marine environment and, ultimately, the balance of life on the planet.

Here in Yorkshire though, on a Friday afternoon that might lead to a Friday teatime treat of haddock and chips from our excellent local fish and chip shop, I now have to ponder over the guilt and dilemma faced by the informed consumer. But I won’t ponder for too long. The evidence is now overwhelming. Governments need to act, but it’s also time for a little local campaign. Wish me luck as I talk sustainable haddock with the chap in the chip shop...