SEASPIRACY : Fact checks and prudent assertions

The documentary ‘Seaspiracy’ by the British filmmaker Ali Tabrizi has garnered considerable reverberations in the seafood industry worldwide. For the record, we absolutely agree with the view offered by the filmmaker that the rate of fishery extraction in certain parts of the world is unsustainable. Infact, most of us entered the marine industry due to our fascination with the sea along with the treasure of unique species who call them ‘home’. However, we also share the same passion to ensure the sustenance of the human population which is expected to hit 10.9 billion by 2100 according to the UN. So, it is our earnest duty to debate the assertion that sustainable fisheries and aquaculture which we have championed since our inception is an oxymoronic concept and it is certainly something, we along with most sections of the scientific community disagree with. As members of the global seafood community and supply chain, we earnestly believe it necessary to offer our point-by-point rebuttal to some of the unfortunate claims which were broadcasted in the documentary.

1. Sustainability by definition entails the ability to meet the needs of the current population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Ending the consumption of seafood including from aquaculture effectively deprives millions of people of their primary source of protein. This creates a problem of equity as well because, according to a study published in Nature by Hicks et al., 2019[1], a lot of the seafood from developing countries are either exported to developed countries or directly extracted by developed countries leading to even some coastal communities in developing countries being deprived of micronutrients available from the seafood that they harvest.
2. The second point of contention is with the use of algae-based alternatives to seafood, especially as a source of Omega-3 fatty acids. The culture of microalgae for human consumption is a very novel concept and we are involved in multiple algae projects as well. However, the primary problem with algae production is generally increasing density of production and reducing land usage. The production of lipids in algae requires starving the algae itself of nutrients (Source: Zhu et al., 2016)[2]. However, starving the algae also prevents the microalgae from multiplying to increase its density which effectively means that the microalgae can be used for the production of lipids by starvation or to increase the density but not both at the same time (Zarrinmehr et al., 2020)[3]. This was one of the various reasons why biodiesel production from microalgae hasn’t been viable since the balance between developing lipids in the microalgae and upscaling production in limited land can never be met. Microalgae production is also highly susceptible to contamination which means that the production can be continuous only up to a certain point. So, while algae-based food is something we passionately champion and support, the fact remains that it is empirically near impossible to entirely replace seafood with algae-based products to feed humanity as a whole, at least in the near future.
3. The statement we completely disagree with is the assertion that aquaculture is essentially “wild fishing in disguise”. Firstly, salmon farming in cages is not representative of the aquaculture industry as most of the salmon farming in cages takes place in just three countries – Norway, UK (Scotland) and Chile. Nevertheless, even taking the salmon industry into consideration, the use of fishmeal and fishoil for salmon production has been reducing consistently since 1995 (Davidson et al., 2016)[4] with Egerton et al., 2020[5] confirming that the minimum recommended amount of fishmeal required for growing salmon is just 5% which combined with a very low feed conversion ratio of almost 1:1 due to advances in breeding and nutrition means that even less fishmeal is used. Even this relatively minuscule amount is expected to be replaced soon with protein from plant or other sources. This is assuming that the fish being cultured is a carnivorous fish at all. Rabbitfish for example are herbivorous fishes that can be fed with seaweed or seagrasses which means their impact on the wild fish stock is almost nil. A popular type of Rabbitfish in the GCC is the Safi. Solutions exist for the other problems discussed in the documentary as well such as the sea lice problem which is progressively being solved by using lumpfish which feed on the sea lice off the salmon. Moreover, entirely closed systems called ‘Recirculating Aquaculture Systems’ (RAS) exist which isolate the cultured fish from the environment preventing parasitic or disease attacks while the culture conditions can be controlled to an impressive extent. RAS technology hence is not just a revolution in productivity but animal welfare as well.
4. The documentary greatly diminishes the impact of land-based plastics and the impact of climate change. A report by Greenpeace suggests that just 10% of the plastic waste in the oceans comes from fishing gear[6], not close to 50% as claimed in the documentary. Moreover, according to NOAA[7], warmer water temperatures due to climate lead to corals expelling the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white, not overfishing as claimed in the documentary. Overfishing does affect the coral ecosystem (as it does in any marine ecosystem) but not the corals themselves[8]. By misrepresenting these facts, the documentary inadvertently shifts the nucleus of attention from climate change which is the greatest challenge to humanity since the industrial revolution.
5. Finally, the assertion that ‘leaving the oceans alone’ or moving to plant-derived food is the solution for the overfishing problem is a very counterproductive solution. Growing plants require land and in most parts of the world, agriculture is the key contributor to deforestation and depletion of the water table while surface run-off from the chemicals used in the agriculture industry eventually reaches the oceans affecting marine life.[9] Essentially, instead of solving a problem, we are shifting the problem to the land. For example, a majority of the increase in Soy production which is a popular meat substitute was in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, where production has contributed to deforestation in important biodiversity hotspots of the Amazon rainforest and vulnerable species in these places—many of which are found nowhere else in the world—are at high risk of extinction according to the WWF[10]. These pressures on land were essentially the reason why countries and companies started talking about the blue economy (which we champion as well) given that the oceans cover around 70% of our planet and provides ample opportunities for diversification and reduce land usage.

We certainly appreciate the filmmakers for bringing focus on some of the horrifying issues which unfortunately still prevail in the fishing industry. Slavery, hunting of marine mammals, the illegal trade of shark fins, etc. are real problems in the fishing industry but the solution for these problems would be to increase customer awareness, oversight, transparency, empowering law enforcement and multi-national cooperation between nations, NGOs, agencies and institutions. Problems like by-catches need to be solved by the use of technology and eventually, we need to move seafood production from fisheries to aquaculture since aquaculture despite producing almost 50% of the world’s seafood is still at a nascent stage but promises to be more sustainable with the advent of new technologies while the fisheries industry has been stagnating.

To conclude, we are thankful to the filmmakers for highlighting the problems in what is essentially an industry that the public seldom ponders over, especially in developed countries. However, the misrepresentation of the facts and the na?ve conclusion can be highly detrimental to solving the other big problems that we face – Climate Change, Deforestation, Poverty and Malnutrition. Any solution for overfishing needs to take these issues into account as well and dismissing the sections of the industry like us who are genuinely trying to fix the problems highlighted in the documentary will be counterproductive to our own fight against these issues. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the vulnerability of people from developing or under-developed countries to slipping back into poverty or malnutrition, so solutions need to be based on equity as well!

REFERENCES

[1] Hicks, Christina C., Philippa J. Cohen, Nicholas AJ Graham, Kirsty L. Nash, Edward H. Allison, Coralie D’Lima, David J. Mills et al. "Harnessing global fisheries to tackle micronutrient deficiencies." Nature 574, no. 7776 (2019): 95-98.

[2] Zhu, L. D., Z. H. Li, and Erkki Hiltunen. "Strategies for lipid production improvement in microalgae as a biodiesel feedstock." BioMed research international 2016 (2016).

[3] Zarrinmehr, M.J., Farhadian, O., Heyrati, F.P., Keramat, J., Koutra, E., Kornaros, M. and Daneshvar, E., 2020. Effect of nitrogen concentration on the growth rate and biochemical composition of the microalga, Isochrysis galbana. The Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research, 46(2), pp.153-158. 17.

[4] Davidson, John, Frederic T. Barrows, P. Brett Kenney, Christopher Good, Karen Schroyer, and Steven T. Summerfelt. "Effects of feeding a fishmeal-free versus a fishmeal-based diet on post-smolt Atlantic salmon Salmo salar performance, water quality, and waste production in recirculation aquaculture systems." Aquacultural Engineering 74 (2016): 38-51.

[5] Egerton, S., Wan, A., Murphy, K., Collins, F., Ahern, G., Sugrue, I., Busca, K., Egan, F., Muller, N., Whooley, J. and McGinnity, P., 2020. Replacing fishmeal with plant protein in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) diets by supplementation with fish protein hydrolysate. Scientific reports, 10(1), pp.1-16.

[6] https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/www.greenpeace.de/files/publications/20190611-greenpeace-report-ghost-fishing-ghost-gear-deutsch.pdf

[7]https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html#:~:text=Warmer%20water%20temperatures%20can%20result,bleaches%2C%20it%20is%20not%20dead.

[8]https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral-overfishing.html#:~:text=Overfishing%20can%20deplete%20key%20reef%20species%20and%20damage%20coral%20habitat.&text=Rapid%20human%20population%20growth%2C%20increased,habitat%20damage%20in%20many%20locations.

[9] https://surfrider.eu/en/learn/news/chemical-pollution-of-the-ocean-the-pesticide-issue-121131209634.html

[10]https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/soy#:~:text=In%20many%20tropical%20countries%2C%20extensive,deforestation%20in%20important%20biodiversity%20hotspots.