Whoever thought that our heart-healthy, low-cal, doctor-approved trips to the supermarket fish counter would become fraught with moral choices?
That's exactly the case being made by "The End of the Line," the disturbing new documentary on what overfishing is doing to the world's oceans. (It opens in Los Angeles next Friday.) The film from director Rupert Murray and investigative journalist Charles Clover was screened Monday at UCLA to mark World Oceans Day. Producer Lawrence Bender and longtime environmental activist Kelly Meyer (wife of Universal Pictures President Ron Meyer) hosted a crowd that included Rosario Dawson, Saffron Burrows and Kimberly Estrada.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, June 13, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 26 words Type of Material: Correction
'Food, Inc.': The Cause Celebre column in Friday's Calendar section said the documentary "Food, Inc." was made by Participant Productions. The production company is Participant Media.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
Cause Celebre: The Cause Celebre column in Friday's Calendar said that actor Morgan Freeman attended a benefit for the marine conservation group Oceana with his model girlfriend. The woman was Freeman's longtime producing partner, Lori McCreary.
Afterward, the serious-minded group stayed to hear scientific experts discuss what the last few decades of factory-style overfishing have done to the global marine environment.
There's a new optimism stirring among activists in this community because after eight years of outright hostility emanating from the Bush White House toward environmental issues, the Obama administration is more willing to engage questions that involve complex international questions.
"The End of the Line," based on Clover's groundbreaking book of the same title, is the first feature-length documentary to take on the overfishing crisis.
According to the filmmakers, failure to take quick action will mean the end of most commercial fishing within less than half a century with dire consequences both in terms of depleting the food supply and the loss of jobs.
To make their case, Murray and Clover not only traveled to fishing grounds all over the world, but also confronted politicians and celebrity restaurateurs on camera.
As examples of what's in store for other popularly consumed species, Murray and Clover examine in detail the near extinction of commercial cod stocks and the impending collapse of bluefin tuna populations around the world, much of the latter caused by the West's newly aroused appetite for sushi and sashimi.
(Add that happy thought to your deliberations the next time you're trying to decide whether to spring for the toro at the local sushi bar.)
George Duffield, who co-produced the film with Claire Lewis, argues that "Overfishing is the great environmental disaster that people haven't heard about. We hope this film really sounds the alarm. We can fix this problem starting right now."
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$100,000 to help save the oceans
