Seaspiracy is a documentary film about the environmental impact of commercial fishing. Directed and narrated by Ali Tabrizi, the film has premiered on Netflix and reveals a devastating oceanic world.

Before going into the film, I was already aware of the destruction brought upon by the commercial fishing industry, as mentioned by the documentary series, “Planet Earth 2.” But what the film does differently is dive deeper into the problem that plagues the planet’s oceans that will eventually affect us.

I like how the film touches on the topics of water pollution, overfishing, and marine life genocide. It really breaks down the issues into parts and pieces that are easy to follow. Although the overall issue is complex and broad, it covers what it can in a reasonable length of time.

Water pollution is just one factor in destroying marine life. Everything from birds to whales is affected. There have been many reports on whales washing up on beaches with stomachs filled with trash and plastic waste. This reveals how we, as a species, have arrived at a point where we ran out of space and to meet the accommodations for our wasteful habits, we discard our trash into the oceans. Sadly, this does not fix the problem as it only returns as washed-up corpses off the shores of our beaches.

As a society, we don’t often consider the effects of our choices. We toss our plastic trash into the bin with an idea that our societal system knows best what to do with it. This could not be further from the truth. “Seaspiracy” does a good job with exposing labels, such as “sustainable seafood,” which means nothing, only to give the consumer the impression that the purchase is a smart eco-friendly choice. This can be seen with the 80% overall company income from sales. This might get one to wonder, “What else is a lie? How does the fisherman fish?”

Daytime television has hypnotized us with euphemisms and rose-colored commercial of a fisherman in a small tugboat innocently casting a line in the ocean for a few fish when, in reality, the fisher boats are more like floating death machines that quite literally rake in tons of fish per second while spilling gallons of blood back into the ocean. Things have gotten so bad that we have to literally compete with the natural habitat of the ocean for its resources, as demonstrated by Japan and the brutal murder of dolphins and sharks.

Overall, the message is as clear as it is urgent. Something must change. At this rate, by the year 2048, there will be no more life in the ocean. If there is no more life in the ocean then our ecosystem will be out of balance as carbon emissions will rise and our situation, as a species, will be hard-pressed to survive.