The sea is kidnapped, seafarers are mistreated. The most developed countries are taking over the seas. From Sri Lanka to Costa Rica, they dictate their policies, impose “conservationist” companies and NGOs. Coastal communities by resisting protect the ocean (WHO OWNS THE OCEANS? *). In Ghana, illegal fishing is accompanied by the violent exploitation of workers (SHINNING THE LIGHT) and ecological disaster! Do we know that slavery in Asia contributes to providing low-cost seafood (GHOST FLEET *)? However, the United States imports 91% of its consumption!
The fish, in plastic without specifying the origin, was frozen on board factory trawlers, shipped to China, thawed, processed, refrozen, transported, delivered to restaurants and supermarkets. We buy sticks, shrimp cocktails. But few make the link between the end of fishing communities, the globalization of products, and the carbon footprint. The tilapia-farmed fish, tasteless, is essential. What about health? Imported shrimp contain antibiotics, substances banned in the United States. Tuna, gassed with CO2 to keep its brilliant pink, releases very toxic histamine.
Take what the ocean has to offer. While the market is reduced to a few flagship species: cod, sea bass, salmon, halibut… excluding the inevitable “by-catches”. This logic implies waste, additional cost, reduction of resources. In the United States, the long-prized lobster has been used as fertilizer! “Our oceans are emptying” propaganda has turned customers away from fish. But today, stocks are rebuilding. Fishermen strive to preserve the ocean, it is their livelihood. Fishermen and scientists work together to assess and manage stocks. The consumer can therefore have fish caught in the United States again.
In Gloucester, “Dock to Dish” is a consumer-related fishery. At the market, the restaurateur no longer says what he wants, he turns to the fisherman who gives him his catch. Everyone is there: jobs, food, biodiversity. We use while creating suitable dishes, the “damaged” are used for a famous stew. Locally caught, locally processed fish are supplied to schools: pollack, hake, dogfish. We must demand the tracing of fish, because they have a history with values. We do not have to buy from someone who takes control of the quotas, who harms the neighbors! But “if the person acts responsibly, if it is artisanal fishing, someone who will pass on his knowledge and his values to his son, then yes. I believe that as much as we try to save the oceans, we also try to save those who allow us access to the oceans. So that fishermen can find a place in society which they have rightly won, a place of honor ”(FISH AND MEN *).
In Norway, the Sami share the herring fishery with the orcas (LA QUEST DE SAUVAGE *). Saving coastal communities is saving the oceans and vice versa.
The author quotes the names of the films that will be screened on the occasion of this festival.
(1) Jacques Chérel, President of the Fishermen of the World Film Festival in Lorient contact: [email protected]; Program :
www.pecheursdumonde.org
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