Sushi: The Global Catch Directed by Mark Hall (2011) film review by Lilah Orengo

Overall Concepts Sushi has become a global phenomenon Due to sushi’s popularity, there has been overfishing and Bluefin tuna populations are rapidly declining The film takes an environmental viewpoint How the overfishing of Bluefin tuna is having an environmental impact: decreased wildlife population, potential destruction of ocean’s ecosystem, etc.

Information/Plot Points Origins: Making Sushi Requires Skill & Craftsmanship Specific Info on The Bluefin Tuna “The Porsche of the Oceans”= 1. Correct Tool usage-Different knives have different purposes/hardness 2. Proper Technique- Try to reduce unnecessary movements 3. All elements-fish and rice- take years of practice to perfect the preparation (7 year apprenticeship) “The craftsmanship of a master is different than the elegance of an artist” 1. They are built for speed-have slots to pull their fins in and streamline their movements 2.Weigh up to 1500 lbs and cost more than $100,000 U.S. 3. Are apex predators- top of the food chain 4. Takes many years for them to grow

Information/Plot Points Now: Sushi has become a global business Endangered Bluefin Tuna 1. From Tsukiji, Japan, they send the tuna around the world-Australia, Guam, China, New Zealand 2. Demand for Fish around the world began in 1971, after the first successful transportation of sushi via airplane. Now we ship fish overnight. 3. There are sushi restaurants in many countries around the world. Seen as healthier option 1. Result of the rapid spike in sushi’s popularity 2. Population is now 20-30% of what it originally was in 1950. Our generation is doing this “Supply is falling internationally and the demand is growing” “There is no species that has fared worse in the hands of humans than the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna”

Information/Plot Points Solutions Individual Responsibility 1. ICAT: International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna-AKA “International Conspiracy to Catch all Tuna” 2. Greenpeace brings attention to the issue 3. San Francisco restaurant- Sustainable Sushi. 4. Hagen Stehr Research-Farm tuna. 15 lbs of other fish=1 lb of tuna “This is a case where consumers can actually do more than governments” 1. Don’t eat tuna/sushi as the whole meal 2.Diversify your seafood and sushi consumption 3. SeaFood Watch list- gives list of sustainable fish (advertised it at the end)

Communicative Strategies Music: Generic music throughout (like gentle taps on a xylophone) While listing solutions had angelic singing When showing baby Bluefin Tuna in the farm, played baby lullaby Ethos/Authentic feel Movie is filmed in various languages (Japanese, Polish, etc) with no voiceover Clever subtitle usage creates a sense of a global issue During scene transitions, do a shot of local scenery/city along with a subtitle of the location (Ex: Singapore) Interviewed and filmed in the moment

Film’s Value The film is valuable because it raises awareness of the ocean’s depleting fish populations and how our actions are directly contributing to it.

Critiques The film presents factory farming as a good solution However, they mentioned earlier that since the bluefin is an apex predator, destroying the bluefin tuna’s ocean population will destroy the ocean’s ecosystem It’s a good solution if we only care about eating bluefin tuna in the future NOT if we care about their value as wild life in the ecosystem The filming style was very straightforward- but that made it a little dry at times They barely touched upon the government’s failure to regulate overfishing