The vital role that sustainable fishing has to play
Jenny Jefferies

The incomplete narrative of the documentary 'Seaspiracy'.  Thoughts from Jenny Jefferies, author of For the Love of the Sea.


Whatever diet you choose to live by; whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, carnivore, or pescatarian aren’t we so lucky to be living in a country where we have that luxury of choice? This choice of so much food and produce when so many other people are starving in the world.


One child in every ten seconds dies from hunger.  There are currently 830 million people malnourished in the world.  As a human race, we all have the same ultimate goal and that is to be sustainable.  To think about our future generations, to replenish the oceans and our land. We after all want to be sustainable in all industries; fishing, farming, transport, travel, clothing, the whole country; the whole world.  The governments objective is for the country to be net zero by 2050.  So when a film comes out about sustainability that really divides us rather unites us, I personally have a major problem with that.
 
‘Seaspiracy’ in my humble opinion is not a documentary; it is sensational propaganda which is misleading until grotesque. The film oversimplifies a very complicated issue that fails to represent good sustainable fishing practices.  Seaspiracy obviously pushed a very biased, and more importantly, an incomplete narrative.
 
There is indeed a crisis of overfishing in our oceans.  However, 3.3 billion people around the world rely on seafood for their main protein needs.  With the global population set to reach 10 billion by 2050, the need to harness our natural resources more responsibly is more urgent than ever, in ALL industries.  Sustainable fishing has a vital role to play in securing those resources.  The Marine Stewardship Council and Seafish, who are both in my book For The Love Of The Sea, are two fantastic resources of further information on fish sustainability.  You can go to their websites, and read my book For The Love Of The Sea for further information. The work that they do is exemplary and should be shared and celebrated.
 
Sustainable fishing is all about the future and means leaving enough fish in the ocean, to maintain breeding and thus sustaining fish stocks, respecting habitats and ensuring people who depend on fishing can maintain their livelihoods for future generations.
 
For The Love Of The Sea and For The Love Of The Land both champion sustainability and share and celebrate the 'other' side of the story. The beautiful, positive and progressive side. Our farmers and fishermen are the backbone of our country’s food and drink, so remember, buy locally, buy seasonally buy sustainably and above all, buy British.
 
For The Love Of The Sea is published by Meze Publishing and is available to order from my website
www.jennyjefferies.co.uk
 
A proportion of the profits from For The Love Of The Sea will be donated to the RNLI*.
 
*22% of the net profit will be paid in support of the RNLI. Payments are made to RNLI (Sales) Ltd (which pays all its taxable profits to the RNLI, a charity registered in England and Wales (209603), Scotland (SCO37736), the Republic of Ireland (20003326), the Bailiwick of Jersey (14), the Isle of Man and the Bailiwick of Guernsey and Alderney, of West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ).
 

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