HopeDance FiLMs presents...

THE END OF THE LINE
Imagine a World without Fish

Tuesday, September 22, 7pm
SB Downtown Library
Suggested donation: $7

Fresh from its World Premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, THE END OF THE LINE is the first major documentary about the imminent peril facing the world’s oceans.

Narrated by Ted Danson and based on the book by Charles Clover, THE END OF THE LINE explores the devastating effect that overfishing is having on fish stocks and the health of our oceans. Scientists predict that if we continue fishing at the current rate, the planet will completely run out of fish by 2048.

Endorsed by and with major marketing support from National Geographic, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Fund (NRDC), THE END OF THE LINE is the definitive film of 2009 for those who care about the environment, the safety of our food supply, and the preservation of endangered species.

More than just a doomsday warning, THE END OF THE LINE offers real, practical solutions that are simple and doable, including advocating for controlled fishing of engendered species, protecting networks of marine reserves off-limits to fishing, and educating consumers that they have a choice by purchasing fish from sustainable fisheries.

“The inconvenient truth about the impact of overfishing on the world’s oceans.” —  The Economist

WATCH THE TRAILER: http://www.hopedance.org/videos/bobbanner/videos/trailers/final-cinema-trailer-for-the-end-of-the-line
or at their website, visit www.endoftheline.com

After the film, we will have some local fish experts on hand to lead the discussion and answer your questions:

Kim Selkoe is co-director of the Ty Warner Sea Center’s Sustainable Seafood Program, an outreach effort to assist chefs, markets and citizens in supporting local and sustainable seafood.

Michael Sheehy is Santa Barbara Channelkeeper's Marine Conservation Coordinator, his role is to communicate with and educate the public on marine conservation efforts and issues as they pertain to the Santa Barbara Channel, including engaging the public in the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative process in the South Coast region.

Juliana Shulman is a field organizer for GreenCorps, assigned to Food and Water Watch. She is launching a campaign called "Fair Fish", building a coalition to persuade Lois Capps to call for a congressional oversight hearing of the Magnusen-Stevens Act. Catch-share programs are being implemented up and down the east and west coast by regional fisheries management programs to consolidate fisheries/fisherman. Catch-share programs have already been implemented in the Gulf and have destroyed many small local fisherman businesses.

Hope to see you there!

- Shelly

P.S. Here's another important alert from Food and Water Watch. Take action to protect family fishermen, our oceans and consumer health.  You can help to by going to: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=2088.

Most of us have probably heard that there aren’t as many fish in our oceans as there once were. With high demand for seafood, our government is trying to figure out how to conserve and manage the fish we do have fairly. Unfortunately, the primary way our government wants to regulate fish is called “catch shares”. The government sets a limit on how many fish can be taken at a time, than tells each fisherman how much of that limit he/she is personally allowed to catch.

One big problem with catch shares is that every year, more historic fishermen are being forced out of business, because the government is favoring large enterprises and giving them more of the fish to catch.  Even though these big business operations are more likely to use destructive fishing practices, less likely to hire local fishermen, and tend to provide a mass-produced, often lower quality product for consumers, they are being trusted with our fish because it seems easier to oversee a couple big businesses rather than many small ones.   Traditional fishermen – and their crews – are being forced out of work, destroying coastal communities, putting our oceans at risk and bringing more industrially produced seafood to consumers plates.

The good news is that the system for deciding who gets to fish is not set in stone.  The agency in the government that regulates fishing is trying to set up more programs like this across the country – but we can ask Congress to step in and stop.  We can manage our fish in a way that ensures fair and equitable access for small-scale and traditional  fishermen and gives consumers access to fish products caught in a fair and more sustainable manner.