Ocean misinformation has the power to do more harm than good. There are many people working hard every day to restore ocean health and sustainably manage the ocean. We believe in recognising and rewarding good practices to incentivise change on a global scale. We're combatting ocean misinformation by supporting ocean literacy efforts. By taking a fact and evidence-based approach to learning, we can empower and inspire young minds to take positive action to protect our ocean.
This information will help you to...
- Critically assess the Netlfix film Seaspiracy and its impact on ocean conservation?
- Provide a two side overview of the issues facing the world’s oceans?
- Evaluate the claim ‘sustainable fishing doesn’t exist’
- Assess the socio-economic and environmental impact if the world stopped eating fish.
- Explore what extent has Seaspiracy has been successful at improving ocean health?
- Critically evaluate if the sustainable seafood movement is doing enough to improve ocean health? And ... what more could it do?
Responses to Seaspiracy
Fact checking Netflix's Seaspiracy (MSC)
Sustainable fishing does exist and helps protect our oceans. The Seaspiracy film on Netflix raises a wide range of issues relating to our oceans, including questioning the credibility of the sustainable seafood movement and, in particular, our organisation, the Marine Stewardship Council. While we agree more attention needs to be given to the crisis of overfishing, we do want to set the record straight on some of the misleading claims in the film...
The Science of Seaspiracy (University of Washington)
The talk of the ocean world is Seaspiracy, a Netflix Original film produced by the same team responsible for Cowspiracy and What the Health. Like those two previous films, Seaspiracy is full of misinformation and has been panned by actual experts. This post is from a group of University of Washington funded scientists and focuses on addressing the misinformation presented in the film.
Seaspiracy: Marine organisations and experts react to hit Netflix documentary
Seaspiracy, a documentary exposing the impact of pollution and over-fishing on marine life released on Netflix, has drawn criticism from marine organisations and experts all over the world.
The oceans will not be empty by 2048
The 'empty ocean by 2048' scientific study was withdrawn
Seaspiracy claims the oceans will be empty by 2048: the author of the 2006 research that this claim was based on refuted this claim in 2009, and published a follow-up report in the respected scientific journal Science making clear that his initial claim and findings were incorrect.
New hope for fisheries - published in the journal 'Science'
The importance of this report (published in the journal 'Science' is two fold. It highlights broad fishery management issues and quashes a distorted statistic that did not ad to responsible discussions about sustainability but rather encouraged distortions and sensationalism amongst activist and the media. One of the main authors of this report was Boris Worm, the marine ecologist who had made the original erroneous claim that the oceans would be empty by 2048.
Fisheries in 2048
Explore the history and refutation of the 2048 projection.
Eating fish can be a good choice for the planet
Eating wild seafood can be good for the planet
A selective diet of seafood could have a lower environmental impact than a vegetarian or vegan diet. Recent studies found that a plant-based diet has lower impact relative to a standard diet that includes lots of animal protein, but a diet that includes fish can have as low, or even lower impact.
What does the world eat?
Understanding how seafood consumption fits into global food systems and conservation is important for understanding why fish is often the best animal protein to eat in order to combat deforestation, water scarcity, and climate change—the largest threat humanity faces.
What is sustainable fishing
More than a third of global fisheries have been fished beyond sustainable limits and world demand for seafood continues to grow. Sustainable fishing can reverse this decline and ensure that there are enough fish left in the sea so that fishing can take place indefinitely into the future.
Bycatch does not equate to 40% of the catch
Is 40% of the catch really bycatch?
A paper from 2009 put forward a broader definition of bycatch, which has not been adopted. The report cited on screen, by Oceana, included a correction to say it had updated the figure from 40% to 10% bycatch to reflect the widely adopted definition.
Research indicates 10% of the global catch is bycatch
The most recent research showed that about 10% of fish have been discarded at sea over the past decade. So how did 10% get inflated to 40%?
What is bycatch and how can it be managed
Bycatch is essentially 'unwanted catch'. Unwanted catch includes undersized or surplus fish that fisheries do not have a quota for, as well as endangered, threatened and protected species, and other unwanted marine species. As long as the amount of unwanted catch is well-managed and affected fish populations remain healthy, fishing activity can be deemed sustainable.
Find out more
What is the MSC
The Marine Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organisation. We recognise and reward efforts to protect oceans and safeguard seafood supplies for the future.
History of the MSC
We’ve been working with our partners for 20 years to protect the oceans and make it simple for you to choose sustainable seafood. Our story goes back a little further though…
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