Metal Straws, Now What?
7기 김유진
In 2016, a team of marine biologists from Texas A&M University discovered a male olive ridley sea turtle amid their research in Costa Rica. It had a 10-12 cm long plastic straw stuck up in his nostril. The team shared a video of extraction, and the vividness of the turtle suffering catalyzed rampant anti-plastic straw movements all around the world. Not only civil campaigns like “Save the Turtles,” “One Less Straw,” “빨대이제는뺄때” have been actively calling for action but also the government, such as of South Korea (Kim, 2018) and the United Kingdom (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs [DEFR], 2020), seem to have been hopping on the trend by banning plastic straw usage.
By this point, one
may believe their trendy metal straws are setting innocent sea turtles free
from plastic debris, but this is far from the truth. The much-anticipated
feel-good ending instead slaps you in the face with bleak reality.
Seaspiracy, a recently
released Netflix original documentary film, unveils the ugly truth of the
large-scale commercial fishing industry and its environmental harm. It reminds
us how our undivided attention and villainization of such a trivial matter of
plastic straws let massive ecosystem-decimating vessels go unnoticed. By now,
more than half of the ocean surface
is covered by industrial fishing supplying tons of fish to people all around
the world (Gibbens, 2021). According to the film, the commercial fishing
industry is detrimental to the environment due to its fishing gear, fishing
method, and systematic deceit (Seaspiracy, 2021).
Fishing gear,
especially fishing nets, are the major contributor to marine debris and
microplastic. They take up more than half of all the litter in the ocean while
plastic straws account for only 0.03% (Seaspiracy, 2021). Not to mention the
fishing gear making up 70% of the world’s microplastic, it shows that even with
the best-case scenario of cutting back all the plastic straws, there is only so
much contribution that can do. This is not by any means to discourage the
action. Of course, the world gets an “A for effort,” but there needs to
be much more impactful actions done.
Now on to the
heartbreaking part: the commercial fishing method destroys a significant
portion of the marine ecosystem. The most popular fishing method called “bottom
trawling” bulldozes and scrapes off everything in the ocean, from the seafloor
to the water surface.
The method,
therefore, causes overfishing which drives the fish population to
extinction.
If we go on with
the current fishing rate, staple fish like tuna and cod are soon to be extinct.
In fact, 90 percent of the overall fish population has already disappeared
(Seaspiracy, 2021). This is due to bycatch or unintended catch that is a
byproduct of bottom trawling. The most unfortunate fact is that these bycaught
organisms are not even consumed by humans. They are caught in a fishing net,
injured or killed, and dumped back into the sea at the end. Around 40% of
commercial fishing vessels’ catch are bycatch, including 50 million sharks, and
300,000 whales and dolphins annually (Seaspiracy, 2020). Eliminating a large
portion of these primary and secondary predators out of the marine food web
interrupts the balance of the ecosystem, catalyzing its destruction.
At the same time,
the primary producers like coral reefs and algae are also rooted out by
trawling nets. Every year, around 4 billion acres of the seafloor is desolated (Seaspiracy,
2021), the size equivalent to 160 South Korean peninsulas combined. Coral reefs
and algae are some of the most important, if not the most important, organisms
on Earth since they absorb and sequester atmospheric greenhouse gas 20 times
more effectively than regular forests, and around 93% of Earth's carbon is
being stored in them (Seaspiracy, 2021). The fact that such precious organism
is driven to extinction highlights commercial fishing industry’s extreme
ignorance.
https://www.msc.org/en-au/what-we-are-doing/our-approach/the-msc-blue-fish-tick/39
https://seafoodisthenewblack.com/2018/07/25/the-truth-about-dolphin-safe-labeling/
There should be a
glimmer of hope though, wouldn’t sustainably caught fish be fine?
Unfortunately, Seaspiracy (2021) exposes the corrupted system in which
greenwashing (advertising products as environmentally sustainable while they
are not) and bluewashing (advertising products as conforming to the UN’s
sustainable vision while they are not) prevail. Marine Stewardship Council
(MSC), an NGO that issues the renowned “Certified Sustainable Seafood” label
was accused of overissuing the label without a thorough inspection to gain
massive profit. According to their website, they collaborate with “the UN
Environment Programme and other intergovernmental organizations to track
progress towards international goals to end overfishing and protect
biodiversity” (Marine Stewardship Council [MSC], n.d.) while they paradoxically
continue to overfish and decrease biodiversity.
Now, it might seem
like the ships have already crossed the Rubicon. However, marine life is
profoundly resilient which means it is not too late to take actions
(Seaspiracy, 2021). People do not need to overthink and simply can continue not
using plastic straws and other plastic industrial products. It is one of the
easiest ways to help the planet, and although its impact might be trivial, it
is still way better than nothing. Next, Seaspiracy (2021) recommends
cutting fish consumption and eat plant-based. This does not mean
everyone should cut fish though. Rather, it specifically asks people like us,
for example, Korean college students who have access to a wide variety of food sources at relatively affordable prices,
to give up fish so that other people who rely solely on fish as their main diet
can sustain their lives. 97% of commercial fishing is dominated by high-income nations
while 78% of their fishing site is on low-income countries’ ocean. This shows
how wealthy nations are essentially exploiting resources from countries in need
(McCauley et al., 2018).
Eliminating fish from our diet does not harm our health. In fact, it is proven
to be healthier since we can get important nutrients such as Omega 3 fatty
acids directly from the main source (algae) without the middle man (fish) and
harmful byproducts such mercury, antibiotics, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
and more (Seaspiracy, 2021). Lastly, it is important to critically analyze and self-directedly
accept or reject information we encounter. Unconditional trust and support for
“eco-friendly” marks and labels may or may not deceive us and push us down their rabbit
hole of confirmation bias. Of course, this goes the same with Seaspiracy
itself. In the
end, the film itself is also profit-driven, and some criticize that the film cherry-picks
data, exaggerates information, and misleads audiences
(McVeigh, 2021).
Nevertheless, Seaspiracy
effectively brings up the neglected issue which in itself is worth the
applause. It is unarguable that the ocean is being decimated rapidly, and urgent actions are in
need. Hopefully, this friendly reminder will help resurrect the ocean step by
step, fish by fish.
References
Anderson, K. (Director). (2021). Seaspiracy [Film].
Netflix.
Department for Environment, Food & Rural
Affairs. (2020, September 30). Start of ban on plastic straws, stirrers and
cotton buds. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/start-of-ban-on-plastic-straws-stirrers-and-cotton-buds.
Gibbens, S.
(2021, February 10). Industrial fishing industry covers more than half the
world's oceans, study finds. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/global-industrial-fishing-footprint-spd.
Kim ,
J.-heun. (2018, September 5). Korea to ban disposable cups, plastic straws
by 2027. koreatimes. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/09/371_255022.html.
Marine Stewardship
Council. (n.d.). The MSC and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
Retrieved April 07, 2021, from https://www.msc.org/about-the-msc/the-mscs-sustainability-goals
McCauley, D.
J., Jablonicky, C., Allison, E. H., Golden, C. D., Joyce, F. H., Mayorga, J.,
& Kroodsma, D. (2018, August 1). Wealthy countries dominate industrial
fishing. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/8/eaau2161.
McVeigh, K.
(2021, March 31). Seaspiracy: Netflix Documentary accused of misrepresentation
by participants. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/31/seaspiracy-netflix-documentary-accused-of-misrepresentation-by-participants#:~:text=In%20response%20to%20the%20film,benefit%20the%20global%20fisheries%20industries.&text=In%20a%20statement%2C%20Phillips%20said,tuna%20fishing%20vessels%20in%20history.
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