Next week there is another screening of the documentary The End of the Line at the Mercury Cinema. It is being presented by the Adelaide branch of the Greens SA. The issues covered are particularly relevant to the campaign for Marine Parks in SA, see Greens MP Mark Parnell’s site, or the Wilderness Society, whose campaign manager Peter Owen will be available to answer questions after the screening.
From the filmmaker’s website:
The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Sundance took place in Park City, Utah, January 15-25, 2009.
In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food.
It examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.
Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans.
One of his allies is the former tuna farmer turned whistleblower Roberto Mielgo – on the trail of those destroying the world’s magnificent bluefin tuna population.
Filmed across the world – from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market – featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials, The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.
Helped enormously by a wonderfully rich score, The End of the Line presents its arguments cogently and without hysteria – but alarmingly. Clearly, apart from plain bureaucratic stupidity, money (ie greed) is what’s at the end of the line; a small number of operators are making multi million dollar harvests. And no-one is saying stop, except perhaps those who made this film. But there is a glimmer of hope …
“The End of the Line,” directed by Rupert Murray, based on a book by Charles Clover, is constructed from interviews with many experts, a good deal of historical footage, and much incredible footage from under the sea, including breathtaking vistas of sea preserves, where the diversity of species can be seen to grow annually. We once thought of the sea as limitless bounty. I think I may even have heard that in school. But those fantasies are over.
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