Transcript of Key Scene 2 - Technology

Voiceover (Ted Danson)
Today in every ocean of the world hi-tec industrial vessels are hunting down every known edible species of fish.

Professor Ray Hilborn, University of Washington
The basic problem is most fisheries that are in trouble is they have too many boats.

Charles Clover (Author)
Too much capacity chasing too few fish.

Voiceover
Global fishing capacity could catch the ‘world catch’ four times over. The world’s long lining industry sets 1.4 billion hooks every year. These are estimated to be set on enough line to encircle the globe more than 550 times. The mouth of the largest trawling net in the world is big enough to accommodate thirteen 747’s.

Professor Daniel Pauly, University of British Columbia
We are fighting a war against fish right… and we are throwing at them our industry and we are winning. And that’s how we perceive our interaction with them. It’s a fight.

Professor Jeffrey Hutchings, Dalhousie University
The thing is we’re too good right now. Technologically – not a single hunted animal on this earth has a chance.

Professor Daniel Pauly, University of British Columbia
These vessels are equipped with so much electronic equipment that they...the fish…have absolutely no chance of escaping. The skipper knows exactly where he is in relation to a rock where fish could hide. In relation to a wreck where fish would be attracted.

Professor Jeffrey Hutchings, Dalhousie University
It doesn’t take very long for us to have very serious consequences to what we’re doing. We keep pressing the button; we’re not willing to hold back.

Professor Callum Roberts, York University
The might of the fishing armoury has grown exponentially in the last fifty years. The amount of fishing power that we have at our command today far outweighs our ability to control ourselves. Fishing has transformed entire eco systems. In fact I would say one of the largest scale transformations of the planetary environment has been the impact of bottom trawlers. Nets that are dragged across the seabed and as they are pulled they cut down the animals that live on the surface things like corals, sea fans and sponges. The signs of destruction brought up on deck by the trawl would make an angel weep.

Charles Clover
If the fishing effort continues to increase – continues to be directed at the dwindling resource – you would of course catch most of it.