A new documentary, "Secrets of the Ocean with David Attenborough," highlights the beauty of marine life and the devastating impact of industrial fishing. The film emphasizes the importance of protecting our oceans.
The documentary showcases the vibrant underwater world, featuring dolphins, whales, and various other creatures. It then shifts to reveal the destructive effects of bottom trawling on marine habitats.
The film reveals that bottom trawling, a practice that began centuries ago, is still widespread. It destroys entire ecosystems in minutes, leaving behind barren seafloors. The filmmakers installed cameras on the nets to capture the process, which was a significant technical challenge.
The images are shocking, and the documentary questions how this practice can be legal. Attenborough explains that governments encourage and subsidize it, with billions of dollars supporting overfishing annually. A significant portion of the catch, up to 75%, is discarded. This is unsustainable and unethical.
Enric Sala, a marine biologist and executive producer of the documentary, highlights that many people are unaware of the impact of bottom trawling. The film aims to expose how the ocean is treated as a resource, with industrial fishing being the only large-scale hunting operation still practiced.