Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Breach -- a DVD on declining salmon populations

The Breach
DVD -- 82 minutes
August Island Pictures
2015, Kino Lorber Inc., New York


My husband and I watched this DVD documentary recently, and I felt compelled to tell others about it. The film chronicles the disappearance of salmon from the Atlantic, and now whole populations are disappearing from the Pacific Ocean. Commercial over-fishing, extractive industries like oil, copper, and coal, and farm fisheries threaten Pacific salmon.  Indigenous people, as always, stand to suffer the most, as salmon is an important food source for them. Compelling in the story was how the life cycle of salmon benefits everyone, even the trees in the watersheds where the salmon spawn and die.  Farm fisheries threaten Pacific salmon in Alaska where farm Atlantic salmon are raised in the same watersheds where wild salmon swim. The farms pollute the waterways and produce lice that attack and kill young wild, salmon.  Boycott farm-raised salmon!  The focus in the last part of the film was Briscoe Bay, Alaska, an important sock-eye salmon habitat and the impact that the proposed, humongous Pebble Copper Mine will have on the salmon, the environment, and the people.  Block development of Pebble Mine in Alaska!  Overall, the film is beautifully done.  A captivating woman's voice over with an Irish accent speaks as a salmon, sometimes lecturing the viewer.  The script delivers the message well.  Artistic animation helps move the story.  You really must see this documentary if you care at all about our environment and our food sources. It's available online or at your local library. 

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