Sushi: The Global Catch Review
By David Kempler
Something's Fishy
I love sushi and have loved it ever since someone first introduced me to it. I have no idea who that person was or when it happened, but ever since then it has been among my favorite eats. Along comes Mark Hall's "Sushi: The Global Catch", a documentary that is at least partially intent on making me feel guilty for loving raw fish.
The idea of eating raw fish began in Japan, but at an ever-quickening pace, the rest of the world is catching up. In 2009, 44,000 tons of tuna were sold, just in Japan, primarily for sushi. It's big business here in America now, too, and it is no longer confined to the major metropolitan areas. Even high school football teams in Texas are now selling it at their games.
As a result, the world's supply of fish is being depleted, especially the Bluefin tuna. With sushi consumption about to explode in India and China, the chances of Bluefin tuna surviving has become unlikely. Considering that a single bluefin tuna has been sold for 1.7 million dollars, you get an idea what is at stake here.
Hall spends the first third of the film interviewing Japanese sushi chefs and other workers in the industry, with the focus of it all being on the history of sushi in Japan and how the business operates today, and especially how it has changed in recent years. It switches at that point to an examination of over-fishing that keeps escalating in order to keep up pace with the global demand.
Hall then introduces us to the people at the forefront of the movement to make our fishing a "sustainable" industry. Simply put, the message here is not that fishing is bad or that we all must become vegans in order to save the planet. Rather, if we become smarter about fishing we will be able to keep fish in the sea so that they can be eaten by later generations. Vegans will not find this to be a good solution to the problem.
"Sushi: The Global Catch" is a solid if not exciting bit of documentary filmmaking. It makes its point clearly and concisely and we meet some people who genuinely care, ranging from Greenpeace activists to the actual leaders of the sushi business in Tokyo. There are no surprises to be had here and you will probably never get very angry or exultant about any of it. There is one moving scene involving a gentleman who is leading the way to a healthy form of tuna farms, but aside from that it's purely straightforward stuff. Knowing what this is about will probably reveal to you whether or not this would be your cup of tuna.
