All language subtitles for Fatal.Watch.2025.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.GG - YTS.BZ]

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[seagulls keowing]

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[faint breeze]

[waves crashing]

[water splashing and bubbles]

Marked by grief,

excruciating pain,

following the sudden
loss of Samuel Abayateye.

[helicopter blades churning]

The 38 year old’s body
was found in Ada

after he went missing
aboard a tuna vessel,

Marine 707,

stationed at the Tema Harbor.

[boat motors rumbling]

I found a body without head,
without arms, without legs.

Is that him?

We don't know.

The Fisheries Commission
are not telling anybody

anything about it.

There is nothing
about the disappearance

of these observers.

So, do we sit on the fence

for more observers
to go missing?

It defies belief
that so many observers

slip and fall into the sea.

[waves crashing]

And these are not
just one-off cases.

They are happening over
and over and over again.

It is chaos on the high seas.

The same people

who are murdering observers
and making them disappear

are the people
killing the ocean.

[Main Title music]

[faint underwater bubbles]

[underwater bubbles]

[atmospheric electronic score]

Well, observers go out on
commercial fishing vessels

right alongside
of the fishermen.

Their role is to document
illegal fishing practices.

The observer is the witness
to what's going on out there.

They're the ones
helping us understand

if our oceans are healthy.

How pollution or overfishing
are harming marine life.

Some of the data
on plastics pollution

comes from observers.

Observers are not part
of the crew, but

it almost feels like you are
because you're

sleeping in the same
bunk rooms,

you're eating the same food,

you're working the same hours.
You're out on the deck

in your foul weather gear
like all the other fishermen.

You're out there with
everybody else. You're in it.

It's difficult
to get observers to speak.

If it is known that
they talked to a journalist,

then they
can be fired on the spot.

A lot of the observers
will do this as a job

right out of college
for a couple of years,

you know,
and then go on to a career

in a lab or an office
somewhere.

But, some of these people
like, they get the bug, right?

And, you know, working
in an office is always

going to seem a little tepid.

And so they keep
going back out.

The song, I like to play,

originally wrote
it out at sea here,

it’s called up with the sun.

[ukulele strumming]

Some say he’s lost.

Maybe he's been found.

He listened on the breeze.

Keith found a life
that he really loved,

that allowed him to...

to travel the world.

He was this marine biologist,

an idealist drawn to
the romance of the high seas.

He wanted to make a difference

and help conserve the oceans.

[tense music]

Well, Keith Davis, I'm doing
a comparison of marlin here.

This is a...

a blue marlin here.

This observer
job became Keith's whole life.

For everyone
that goes down to this sea...

Returns back to the sea.

And then... Keith went
missing.

[typing on keyboard]

I'm a reporter
based in the dusty high

desert of West Texas.
Eight hours from any ocean.

I've written about crime and
fires and motorcycles,

and I've learned that
when you dig into a story,

you can find yourself in
some pretty unexpected places.

[ocean waves]

I think when you’re an observer,

you get to see things

that most of the world
will never get to see.

You get to travel to places

that most people
will never get to travel to.

I heard observers
talk about being on a ship

that far out to sea,
and it's incredibly still.

The stars are reflected
in the stillness of the ocean,

just sort of in this, like,
never ending swirl of stars.

Just these
encounters with whales

and with marine life up
close and personal.

I think all of that
is really entrancing.

And for a certain person
like Keith,

you know,
you get addicted to it.

Oh yeah,
he loved to play his music,

and play the Grateful Dead.
Dance.

He never wore shoes.

He was such a little hippie.

And then he disappeared.

[waves crashing]
[tense music]

Out at sea here,

on a Transshipment vessel.

The last boat that
Keith was on

that we know of,
was the Victoria 168.

It was part of a
tuna fishing fleet

operating out of Panama.

The transshipment vessels
are essentially

a refrigerated cargo vessel

decked out with freezers
that freeze to -60.

And that's the
preserved sashimi grade fish.

And then towards
the back of the vessel,

you have the supplies
that are going

to get transferred
onto the fishing vessels.

You know,
it gives them the fuel,

gives them the bait,
gives them the food,

so that they can stay
long enough for up to a year.

And I think, the longest
I've heard of, is a vessel

staying continuously at sea
for ten years.

The transshipment thing did
kind of blow my mind in a way.

Just the idea of being at sea
for years,

Without coming in to shore.

Transshipment
is how we have cheap fish.

You don't have boats,
you know,

going back and forth to port,
which takes time.

It takes money. There's
an environmental cost to that.

We have this
brutally efficient system,

often without any communication,

without any oversight.

And horrific abuses
can exist out there

because nobody's
really watching.

Seems to be an oil slick.

I’m not sure where,
where it’s originating.

That video of Keith

is the last known
recording of his voice

days after he filmed it,

He disappeared.

There's an email from the ship

addressed to Keith's employer,
and it includes

a timeline of what happened
the day before.

They commenced the transfer
work at 0835 that morning,

and lunch is served at 1130.

But then at 1450,
there's a note saying that

Keith was seen going back
to his cabin.

One hour and 15 minutes later,

when the fish transfer
is complete

and the chief officer
needs a signature from Keith,

he can't be found.

An entry 15 minutes later says

all vessels search again
and again could not be found.

According to this email,

the search on board continues
until 2225 that evening.

Then at 2230,

they contact
the Peruvian Coast Guard

but receive no answer.

The searches
didn't turn up anything.

If Keith was alive
when he went overboard,

he could have survived
for a day, maybe two.

[waves crashing]

Ten days later,
the Victoria 168,

arrived back in Panama.

[canal locks churning]

I wanted to know more about

what might have happened
on board the Victoria 168.

So I spoke to Keith Davis’
friend, Bubba Cook.

You know how in a crisis

there's always one person
who's like the hub,

connecting everyone and relaying
all the information?

Well, here it was, Bubba.

You know, he had reported
seeing what he thought was,

you know,
the transfer of a blue fin tuna

from a long,
long line vessel

that wasn't licensed to
to catch blue fin tuna.

There was also a report
that he had thought

he had seen trunks
that were transferred

that appeared to be great
white sharks,

which is a prohibited species.

Could Keith have witnessed
some kind of smuggling?

Is it possible
that he walked in on something

he wasn't meant to see?

[brooding music)

I also know that he sent a

communication to his father,
and in the days prior

that he was concerned

about his situation
on board the vessel.

And he felt concerned enough
to feel somewhat threatened.

Then he went missing
just a few days later.

Who killed Keith Davis?

How do you even begin

to investigate when someone
disappears at sea?

[fog horn blaring]

[auctioneer on megaphone]

[auctioneer on megaphone]

There are these dark forces
within the fishing industry.

I'm an investigator.

I've been working on
the global tuna campaign

for the last two and
a half years.

Observers have gone missing

in circumstances
that look suspicious.

And our concern
is that they're,

that they're murder.

And like any homicide
or murder investigation,

you need to look at motive.

Some would say elements
of the fishing industry

are organized crime
in and of their own right.

These vessels are a long way
from anywhere important,

with complete freedom
and nobody watching.

[tense music]

Over the years,
we have seen seizures of arms,

money laundering, drugs
smuggled on fishing vessels.

[industrial ambiance]

Hey.

It is so nice to
finally meet you.

My role was to try
and gather evidence

and work with our team
to try and establish

exactly where the
issues might be.

So I was an observer,

started in 1983
to 2008 on and off.

What's the worst experience
you personally suffered?

[brooding music]

I was threatened
with being thrown overboard.

Who was making those threats?

The captain.

I basically hid in my room
for a few days.

I mean, I came out for meals,

but I didn't really feel safe.

What we're looking at now
is this investigation to begin

looking at these deaths.

- Yes.
- At sea.

What is your role?

It all started with my,

one of my colleagues, Keith
Davis, disappearing.

Liz is an incredible person.

And she's often
the first point of contact

when there is some sort of
observer tragedy,

disappearance, disaster.

People will reach out to her

through the Association
for Professionals Observers.

She's the point person.

Nobody

really knows about
what's going on out there

and what, what it takes
to get fish to your plate.

My primary reason

for coming to Spain

was to find out more
information, if I can,

about the circumstances
involved in the death of,

James Junior Numbaru.

But also these other observers
who have died.

We've had a lot of them die
in the last couple of years.

James, who was the
fourth observer

from PNG to disappear.

All suspicious cases.

[tense music]

It is my understanding that up
until July last year

for Papua New Guineans
were lost at sea

without a trace
and usually around 2AM

in the morning.

What is the PNG government
doing to protect our young men

on the front lines
doing this job?

Charlie Lasisi was an observer

serving on board
a Chinese vessel

that had a Filipino
crew on it.

There's very little question
that Charlie was murdered.

His body was found bound.

There were charges
that were brought,

and those Filipino crew members

were indicted
but ultimately released.

Usaia Masibalavu is a
Fijian observer.

Wesley Talia died on board
a vessel and didn't have to.

Larry Gavin was another example

of a tragedy in which
an observer was murdered

in the course of doing his job.

[brooding music]

That's tragic
and that shouldn't happen.

[traffic ambiance]

None of those agencies,
none of those governments

have been transparent

about the circumstances
of any of these observers.

Tell us what it is
you're going to show us, Liz.

All right. So, we've got,

a film from the CCTV footage

on the vessel
that was used as evidence.

James was a shy person.

He was a gentle person.

Three days after he was
on board, he went missing.

I think we should look at the,

the one in the hallway first.

Okay.

We see James
struggles to get up.

[groans]

I think the room is right there.

Knocks on the cabin.

You think that he'd
wake up and check it out?

He's very clearly impaired.

Impaired, yeah.

And then another crewman
emerging in that same hallway,

following him.

Seconds later,

he takes off his clothes.

He's in pretty bad shape.

Bad shape. Yeah.

And then he goes, look, he's
talking to someone.

He’s arguing. He's
covering his genitals.

You know, why would he cover
his genitals if he was alone?

The skiff is in the water.

And they said that
they were sleeping.

They don't leave their skiff
in the water.

It's brought up
when they're not using it.

[groans]

It's harrowing.

And it's, it's,
that's hard to watch.

He's in the middle
of the ocean and

him going over
the side was disgraceful.

That, that this has happened.

What is your feeling
about what happened?

I feel that he was drugged

and that he was coerced
into taking off his clothes

and going overboard.

We used to always joke
about it.

And say God, they could
just throw you overboard. But,

we never really

believed that

anybody would do that.

[tense score]

You're in a
vulnerable situation.

You're isolated.

As a matter of survival,
you try to get along

and then they invite you
to drink,

and next thing you know,
you're being drugged.

Drugging is definitely
a danger for observers.

So much can go wrong
if you let down your guard.

I've heard of observers

getting chased down the dock
with a butcher knife.

Men getting groped.

There was an attempted rape.
An observer getting drugged,

forcing an observer
to jump overboard and swim

until the captain
wants to take them back.

There's really nothing
you can do.

You have to tough it out
and do the best you can.

Observers sign
these nondisclosure agreements

that forbid them to share data
with anybody.

It's meant to shield
the companies.

This has happened
again and again with observers

who've disappeared.

They've just, there's
no consequence.

So the investigation
is not complete.

You know what happened
at sea stays at sea.

You know, the oceans are vast,
and the assumption

is that you can get away
with anything.

You know, if there's no body,
there's no crime.

This vessel,
it's a crime scene.

We can see
what happened to James.

That's clear. It's on camera.

And it's not often when
something like this happens,

you can see it on film.

[tense score]

I’ve been involved in
investigating

fisheries related issues
for a few years now.

Roadblocks appear to be
put up everywhere,

and there's
a real lack of transparency.

Secrecy is king in the fishing
industry.

Who's got what to hide
and why?

[radio announcer]

We're going to
visit Oswaldo Alaniz

who was the FBI agent

at the time of Keith
Davis' disappearance.

He's so terse.

I was like, I look forward to
seeing you soon.

We're, we’re heading over there.

And he said, okay.

If he was somebody
I was dating,

I would think that he was
about to break up with me.

But, you know,
maybe he's just an FBI agent.

He's just efficient.

He's retired from the FBI

so I had to kind of track him
down in the civilian world.

I was pleasantly surprised
that he agreed to talk

because as far as I know,
he hasn't

he hasn't talked about this
publicly at all.

So he's just,

you know, much closer
to this case

than pretty much anybody else

I've been able to speak with
so far. So...

- Hello.
- Hi!

- Rachel?
- Yes!

- Ozzie.
- Pleasure to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Do you remember where
and when you first heard

that an American
had gone missing offshore?

So, I remember that day.

We were notified that
there was an American missing.

That there was a ship
coming in to Vacamonte.

And that if we could
meet the ship.

What was key there was
it was a Panamanian flag ship.

So, that was going to be
a little bit of a hurdle,

how we were going to,
you know, work and address it.

What do you...
what do you mean by that?

Well, because it was
a Panamanian flag,

they ultimately had
jurisdiction on that.

So we were not allowed
to do any interviews.

We were not allowed to do

any investigation
of the crime scene.

We did board the ship.

We were allowed to
participate, but they led it.

You realize once you start
writing about crime,

like jurisdiction is so key.

Who has jurisdiction
is such a fundamental part

of whether
a crime gets solved or not.

And I imagine,
you know, you're facing

some serious
investigative challenges

when you have a crime scene
that's

on a boat
and the boat is

hundreds of miles offshore,
and then it's like,

I think it was ten days for it
to come back in.

And the crime scene
was very concerning

because the longer you wait,

evidence has a
way to degrade

and there's time
for people to clean it up.

Yeah. You're like waiting for
the crime scene to come to you.

Yes.

Would forensics have been
useful even ten days afterwards?

- Sure.
- Really? What could you have...

We would have looked
for blood splatters.

I think in his room
or around the doorway.

There could have been
a lot of tests

or examinations
that could have been done.

That at least
would have been helpful

in trying to help
identify what had happened.

We had no reports
of a body being recovered.

Or a body hadn't washed ashore.

The parties
that were involved,

the ships

there was no interest by them
to provide

any more information
regarding Keith.

Again, this whole
case has been,

from the time
that I ran with it,

was very, very frustrating.
- Yeah.

I think there was
some foul play.

From what
I had read in his journal,

he had made some
comments that,

that were a little bit
concerning, but he didn't...

he wanted to wait until he was
on land to speak about them.

There were some things that
he wanted to bring light to,

regarding
maybe what he observed,

that I think he was going
to make that known.

When I think of
Keith's position,

I think of how
it makes you so vulnerable.

You put a person on a boat,

and that person is supposed

to be observing
and reporting back,

but you're living with the
people that you're reporting on.

There's nowhere to escape.

There's nowhere to get help.

Observers sometimes don't have
a secure way to communicate

with authorities on shore.

We know that
Keith could only send emails

through
the captain's equipment,

so nothing
private could be transmitted.

It's no wonder that
observers often stay silent.

He saw something.

Arms trafficking, human
trafficking.

There's a lot of things
that happen out there.

The ship did have frozen fish
in the bottom

that they had to unload.

Maybe he saw them over fish,

or maybe they were fishing
for a species

that they weren't
supposed to be fishing.

That could have been something

that he could have reported,
and that would have gotten

either of those ships
probably in trouble.

Perhaps a crew member
decided to

throw him overboard.
[underwater bubbles]

The railing was pretty high
all around the ship.

So you're just not going
to just lean over and fall.

You have to forcefully
push yourself over.

- Or be pushed over.
- Or be pushed over.

[dock worker ambiance]
[brooding score]

[truck beeping]

[wind flapping]

[conveyor thud]

I think it's a Chinese
government owned vessel.

There's about
1400 pieces of yellow fin.

And on this side is Albacore.

And there's about 4000 pieces.

This is what they would
consider as a typical catch.

Tuna. It's the oil of
the Pacific.

It basically drives

our lifeline for most Pacific
island countries.

This is our shared resource.

The Pacific has the last

remaining healthiest tuna
fishery, and it's declining.

And with the recent cases of

observers dying,
the human cost of what?

The can of tuna
that we're eating

and the sushi and sashimi
that we’re eating?

Like, is it worth it?

I am from Fiji.

I've spent most of my career
seeing firsthand

the corruption.

This is a multibillion
dollar industry,

and they would do anything
to retain

the open access
that they are so used to.

We want to
eradicate illegal fishing

and that requires us
to potentially go on board

and to look through their
paperwork.

Don't go anywhere
until we've spoken

to the captain on the bridge.

[dramatic music]

Dung 1212. Dung 1212.

This is Greenpeace.
Do you copy?

The ocean is a huge part
of our tradition.

My grandfather,
even my father,

were always reminding me

about the importance
of only catching enough.

But other fishing countries
are basically

trying to take as much
fish as they possibly can.

With observers
within their roles

and responsibilities on board,

they bear the truth

of the actual industry's face,

the reality
of their business model,

and what they have
been hiding from us.

This is a threat to
their maintaining

the multibillion dollar nature
of the industry

and their profit margin.

And because of that, dozens

and dozens of Pacific
Island observers have died.

We can't just

let this go by that it's
unrecorded or unreported.

No one knows what's going on.

[atmospheric music]

This is our Pacific Ocean.

It gives us all the riches.

It gives us our future.

Sometimes I wish

it can talk.

It can just tell us
what has happened in there.

Out there. See?

We can't see
beyond the horizon,

but even beyond the horizon.
There’s...

The sea wouldn't talk.

The ocean wouldn't talk.

Did they say where he died?

They said that he died
in Nauru waters.

They called him
a true, true observer.

Oh... They said that
he died on the 4th of March.

His journal stopped, recording
on the 27th of February.

If he wasn't recording
his log between the 28th

and the 4th of March,

I do not believe that
he died on the fourth.

Like a lot of young men
from Kiribas,

Eritara was drawn
to maritime life.

He took a job as a naval
seaman with a German company.

But when he got
married, he wanted to spend

less time at sea
and be closer to his family.

That's when he heard
about the observer program.

He was hardworking,
very honest.

He was ambitious.

[tense music]

Sometimes Eritara witnessed
things on board that the crew

and the captain would rather
he hadn't seen.

He told Nikora
that on one trip

the crew tried to bribe him

to overlook
illegal shark finning,

and he refused
to take the bribe.

That was very uncomfortable
for him, very unsafe for him.

He actually didn't

eat after that from the kitchen
or from the mess room.

He was feeding on his own
noodles and biscuits

because he had,
he actually had fear

following that incident.

He was very, very worried.

Eritara was concerned.

Was he getting
a reputation as a snitch?

He was the

the provider
for the family and

and that's what

made him go back to sea.

What happened?

He failed to turn up
for dinner.

And when the crew
or some people on the ship

went to check. Yeah,
they found his... door locked.

And when they opened it,
they found him on the floor...

dead.

The report of the top
forensic pathologist for Fiji:

The cause of death
was blunt force trauma.

There is a standing
court ruling basically saying

vessel, you're not allowed
to go out fishing.

Stay until the investigation
is done.

That’s right.

Seven and a half months later,

this company hired
a pathologist in New Zealand.

Cause of death was changed
from trauma to hypertension.

[atmospheric music]

Whatever transpired,

the police commissioner
in the Attorney General’s office

released the vessel.

Yes.

I've never seen anything
where you would have multiple

pathology reports

with such drastically
different conclusions.

These companies
are under great pressure

to have as many vessels
fishing as much as possible,

because that's,
that's their business, right?

And they can't afford
to have a boat

sitting at the dock being,

you know,
part of an investigation.

And so I imagine

there is a desire
within the company

to get that boat
fishing again.

Are they just numbers
because they're making

a lot of money from,
tuna or from fishing?

It's okay that 1 or
2 or 3 or 20 or 30 or 40 died?

I mean, oh God.

It's totally not right.

It's just not...

It's, it's, it's a disgrace

on the Pacific Islanders.

I am well aware of the,

level of
corruption in this industry.

And it's the families that

needs the justice
that this deserves.

[rhythmic vibrant score]

I wanted to hear about Keith
Davis’ last days

on board the Victoria 168,

and the investigation
into his death.

Because it was flying
a Panamanian flag

that the Panamanians
had ultimate authority here,

and they requested
to have control over the case.

And so they got to be in
charge.

César Petti was the lead
investigator on this case.

He was the one who was there
on the ground.

When did you first hear that
an observer had gone missing?

In September the 17th,

the authorities got called
about a guy missing on a ship.

On September
the 20th, the vessel arrives

at a port in Panama,
Vacamonte.

And the authorities conducted
interviews with the whole crew.

One of the
vessels that the Victoria 168

met up with,
had just come from Port,

and so that broke the pattern

of what you would
normally expect.

Were you aware

of this unusual behavior
by the Chung Kuo 818

and was that investigated
at all?

About the Chung Kuo vessel,

we don't have
that much information.

We know that they were
doing the transshipping

with the Victoria
when Mr. Davis went missing.

It is quite anomalous

for one of these long liners
to go to port at all,

which his boat had done,

just days
before Keith disappeared.

We what we know
from Keith's notes is that,

at least the official
explanation was, that

they had a sick crew member,
so they had to rush to port to

get this guy to the hospital.

Some people have
theorized that maybe Keith,

saw something
that he shouldn't have seen.

Maybe there was some instance
of drug trafficking.

Arms trafficking,
human trafficking,

all sorts of things
we know happen out at sea.

Overseas,
are very, very plagued

with drug trafficking and

and situations
that maybe are not usual

on the Panamanian coasts,
but probably are

are usual in other,
in other countries.

He didn't just trip and fall
overboard.

To me, there's no question
that he was murdered.

When you look at the totality
of the circumstances,

the fact that he had 16 years
as an observer.

He wrote the book on observer
safety and security.

Keith helped pass the observer
bill of rights,

which was this big bill
that occurred

at the International Fisheries

and Observer
Monitoring Conference.

[tense music]

At this conference, Keith
shows a video of a long liner

that had a capacity
of like 20 people

and it had 65
people just packed in there,

super crowded,
super dangerous.

Keith was obviously horrified
by this and displayed it.

If observers get outed

as a snitch, that means that
they're even further at risk.

It wasn't safe for him.

He felt menaced.

And then two years later,
he went back out and

and then he died.

[waves crashing]
[tense music]

You have somebody

in a situation where we know
crime is rampant.

He had witnessed human rights
abuses,

environmental abuses
before he disappeared.

We know that
Keith was a person who was not

likely to see something wrong
and then be quiet about it.

He was a person who spoke out,

you know, sometimes
to his own detriment.

It was
more important to them to hide

whatever activity
they were involved in

onboard that vessel
and kill a human being.

Than... you know, it...

There's just no justice in it.

When it happened to him,
I remember sitting at my desk.

And my colleague
was sitting across from me.

And I said,

"God, I hope they killed him
before

they threw him overboard."

Because I couldn't
think of anything worse than

being set adrift at sea and
watching the vessel pull away,

knowing
that you're going to die.

[underwater bubbling]

[electronic music sting]

[Zoom call jingle]

Awesome.

Right?

So we're going.
So Lagi, go ahead.

I'm in desperate need of,

having another eye
on a lot of this.

Yeah, there's quite
a lot of unanswered questions.

We have been struggling
for quite a long time

in getting access
to official documentation.

Some things are not adding up.

There are obviously

gray areas around the official
logbook from Eritara.

He had noted that

there was 14 metric
tonnes of tuna

that he deemed
was disqualified.

The engagement of the second
pathologist.

What do we know about that?
How did that come about?

This was facilitated by the
company lawyer... in Kiribas.

So this would have to be

this would have been
a pathologist

that would be in the interest
of the company.

You know, I've also gotten
to the point

that I've got my own

conspiracy theory around this,

but I really want to be able
to be guided by facts.

There's enough information
that seems

for us to draw some better
conclusions, firmer

conclusions for the family
than what we have now.

Just make sure that I...

One of the Kiribas
fisheries observers,

had died at sea
during that period,

and they were transporting it
to Tarawa.

So we're trying to find out
just the last reporting.

So it stopped
reporting on the...

- On the 1st of March.
- 1st of March, huh?

So even the 31st, it
still wasn't reporting.

Yes.

- So
- There's a missing link here.

They were not reporting.
- Between?

From the Marshall’s to Nauru,

and then they pick up again
in the high seas

pocket here.

I have checked
with the track of the vessel.

We can establish that it was
in the high seas

between 27th, 28th.

It would have gone to Nauru
borders.

We know that there was
no reporting during that time.

It was recently revealed

that 75% of fishing
vessels are running dark.

Either they're fishing
where they shouldn't be

or they have something
to hide.

VMS is switched off.

There's dark areas
for the vessel.

There's gaps in the
evidence. There’s...

inconsistency
in time of death.

So in those circumstances,

you absolutely want to be able
to look at all the material

in a lot of detail,
rather than just

accept at face value.

Is he still shooting?

[atmospheric music]

[fog horn blaring]

I'm a very spiritual person.

Because of the pain
and the trauma

that this case involves,

I allow myself to apply the

emotions that is required.

Whatever
I do needs to be thoughtful.

[atmospheric music]

The system needs
to be questioned.

I feel I'm mentally prepared.

I'll do my best

to stay on point.

I'm tired, but I'm ready.

I know deep inside of me
that I will get some answers.

Bula, Doctor Patricia.

I'm meeting with Doctor
Patricia

to find the connection between

what's happening
in the political world

with what's actually happening
at sea.

[laughing]

Nice to see you.

Bula, nice to see you.

Come on in. Thank you.

James Junior Numbaru, observer,
fell or jumped overboard,

on the Feng Xiang 818
east of Nauru.

Chinese flagged.

Fell or jumped overboard.
Who knows?

Filipino fell overboard.

Fell overboard.

How do you know
they fell overboard?

That might have been hit
on the head.

Drowning, pneumonia, murder.

I think safety and security
is starting

to become the big question
that we're needing

to uncover now. Like,
what about the crew on board?

What about these observers?

How, how, who is responsible
for their safety and security?

The ones who decided to have
observers was the Commission.

So it's like in a big company,

the buck stops at the top.

What really disturbs me
when you talk to the men,

you hear all sorts of things.

We've had people telling us
about shark finning

and about a man
the captain didn't like,

and he was beaten.

The man ended up dying

and they washed his body
and put him in the freezer.

We hear all of those stories.

Observers are supposed
to keep the bastards honest.

You know, Bubba Cook is...
You know Bubba very well.

His position
is that if any observer dies,

the vessel should be banned
from fishing

for 2 or 3 months.

Just like that.
But no, nothing happens.

Just makes me really mad.

No one wants to do anything.

Why do you think
that's allowed to happen?

The thing that’s stopping,

in my view, that's stopping
a lot of these questions asking

is because of the access fees.

These companies
pay access fees to

all the countries
in the Pacific,

to Fiji, to Tuvalu, Samoa.

All these countries
in the Pacific

and many of them,
that is what makes up 50 percent

or more of their, their budget

is the access fees that come
from these countries.

So if you were gonna squeal
about it,

that's their fear,

that the vessels are gonna
say, well stuff you.

We're not gonna fish
in your waters any more.

[brooding score]

[car horn]

We're starting to uncover the...

the dark side
of this business.

We need to start
asking hard questions now.

Doctor Manu, explain to us
what exactly the FFA does.

FFA is an advisory body
to 17 member countries

to provide advice

on the management
and development

of our valuable tuna
resources.

The tuna industry,
the access fees

that we generate
from this resource,

it provides
over 460 million USD a year.

[brooding score]

Over 50 percent
of the world's tuna

comes from the western central
Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific
is the only region

in the world
where all four major

tuna stocks
are biologically healthy.

And that's not a responsibility
that we take lightly.

[industrial ambiance]

The mass market for cheap tuna,
that is mainly skipjack,

it's a fish that is supposed

to not be overfished,
but it is overfished.

The biggest change in
the ocean happened

40 years ago.

The massive industrialization

of fishing
throughout the world.

We are chasing the last
remnants of the big fish.

There's one side of the camp
that says everything's

okay with the tuna fisheries.

And there's the other side
of the camp that says

there's absolutely
something wrong.

[conveyor belt hum]

[atmospheric music]

You know, the whole notion
of a canned tuna

and the commodification
of a wild product,

that might be the problem.

Every year

we take 80 to 90 million
metric tonnes out of the ocean.

That's the equivalent
of the human weight of China.

The tuna are so valuable.

But when you catch tuna,

you catch the productivity
of a huge swath of the ocean.

It's the lion,
the tiger of the sea.

It doesn't make sense to have
that be

something that's cheap
for mass consumption.

Once you have canneries,
supply chains,

it’s very hard
to dial that back.

So all of the elements
are in place for a collapse.

We should close the
high seas to all fishing.

[waves crashing]

[gentle music]

The stock would recover,

and if they recovered,

they would also migrate
where they could be caught.

You would have no loss of
catch.

You may catch even more.

So that would bring equity
to the wealth of the ocean.

There's been a number of

recent cases of observers
that have died at sea.

And part of the work
that we've been doing

is trying to

investigate further what

what happens
in these sorts of incidents.

Observer safety and welfare

is a top priority
for our membership.

Though the death of observers,

it's something that tells us

that we still have
a lot of work to do.

And I think that

the FFA membership
are united in ensuring that.

So we have,

a high number of observers
that we employ, over 100.

How do we ensure their safety?

What are some of the measures

and provisions that you have?

We have a good system here

where every observer is
brought in.

They go through
rigorous training and,

the conditions are discussed
with them, with the company.

[brooding music]

Observers
are the most vulnerable people

out on these boats.

They're, they're being abused.
They're being killed.

[bubbling]

We've seen observers
as human rights defenders,

as they're defined by the UN.

They deserve

to have heightened protection
by the UN system.

And they're there to make sure
that our human right

to a healthy
environment is respected.

Tuna is known to be produced
with forced labor,

off of death of observers.

[atmospheric music]
[wind blowing]

At the end of the day, what
these companies want is money.

They don't care at what cost
they achieve the profits.

Even at the
cost of human lives.

Even at the cost of
human lives.

The seafood industry,

the fishing industry
promised to self-regulate.

The RFMO’s and
industry are very close.

There are some very powerful

players and interests
at the RFMO’s

that are blocking proposals
on observer protection.

They are wholly unfit for
the purpose of conservation.

[atmospheric music]

All of us in Ghana, for
generations upon generations,

we depend on the sea.

But I'm afraid that in days,
weeks, months, years to come.

There may be no fish
in the sea.

For our coastal communities,
there is no alternative

means of livelihood
that will satisfy them.

So if you take that one out,
they have virtually nothing.

Their hopes and aspirations
are tied to the ocean,

and we need to protect

the valuable resource
that we do have.

Emmanuel Essien

an employee of the Fisheries
Commission, was assigned

aboard a Chinese vessel
on the 5th of July, 2019.

The Meng Xin 15 had set sail

for operations,
but at about 7PM

on that fateful day,
crew members detected

that Essien was not on board,
forcing the crew

to suspend fishing
operations in search of him.

In the case of Essien,
the report that he did,

that this vessel ought to be
investigated by the police,

and then the next trip
he goes missing.

Some say Emmanuel Essien
was targeted

for a report he filed

to the Ghana Police.

He claimed he had witnessed
dumping

from the Chinese vessel
he worked on, the week before.

The report was ignored

and the Ghana Police
claimed the photos and videos

he provided
as evidence were lost.

I don’t know what actually
happened to him.

The rumors that
we’ve heard is that

he saw something
which was not good

and he complained.

They say he is missing.

But I think a human
being cannot just

disappear from
a vessel like that.

What came to my
mind is that they

had thrown my
colleague into the sea.

Essien was,
like a pain in the neck.

And then the last report
that was done,

"Hey, this vessel that I was in

perpetrated
a series of illegalities.

So we need to ask the official

that when that report
was given to them,

what did they do about them?"

I am struggling to find out
why nobody is being sanctioned

for the disappearance
of this guy.

One life
lost is a huge big deal.

[gentle score]

[urban ambience]

She does not know whether
the son is dead or not.

So the funeral
cannot be held now.

Because he only told me
that he was going to work.

He never came back.

The son was taking good
care of her.

He was going to build a house

and then settle her in
whenever he had money.

In a lot of these cases,

these people who are working
as observers

are their families'
breadwinners.

Yeah, there's like a huge grief
there. It's just devastating.

You lose the person
and then you lose

the sense
that he'll have any justice.

[tense music]

[traffic ambience]

What have you investigated?

Because I knew that he had

been doing
a lot of work in this area.

What's your understanding
of the current arrangement

and what's happening
with the observer thing?

Waking up one morning to hear
that an observer,

someone that is representing

the country, representing us

with over 3 million people
who depend on fisheries

for their livelihood
and their income,

losing or going missing,

going missing
without a trace of him.

A lot needs to be done

as far
as this program is concerned,

and as far as the individuals

who are into it are concerned.

[waves crashing]

We tell them to go
and report on illegalities,

and when they do report
accurately,

their lives are in danger
and no one protects them.

Such was the life of Essien and
everybody

seems to have gone quiet

on this Essien case.

But we need to revive it.

If not for Essien,
for the dozens of observers

that are currently there.

Now, it puts them in fear.

But they can't also
stay at home and go hungry.

We need to find those that are
behind the disappearance

of Emmanuel Essien. In fact,
we need to know, otherwise,

the entire observer
thing is a charade.

[brooding music]

[distant fog horn]

[traffic ambience]

So we've come to Vigo
for this conference, of course.

And something that's come up
is the inaction

around these observer
incidents.

It is a general problem

of lack of consequences
for noncompliance.

We are talking about human
lives in danger.

I mean, Greenpeace,
for instance, has documented

absolutely horrendous
cases of modern day slavery

on board fishing vessels.

You know,
where are the consequences?

I mean,
this is still going on.

It goes beyond the problem
of observers.

There seems to be a real
institutional paralysis.

It's very difficult
to move governments to act

because they tend to
represent, first and foremost,

the interest of their fishing
industries.

Clearly, this has to change.

[seagulls keowing]

Now we're heading over
to the International Fisheries

Observer
and Monitoring Conference.

[conference ambience]

I feel it's important
to have representation

of observer rights.

I'm here to represent
the interests

of observer
safety and security,

and we've seen
a number of observer

injuries and fatalities
over recent years.

We have to be able
to set up systems

that protect the
interests of the observers.

[conference ambience]
[gentle score]

We're giving ourselves

an opportunity
by being here to talk

to the observer community

and some of the people
that are involved.

Government officials.

It will be fascinating
to get in

and have a look around and
see what the atmosphere is like

and see how they react

to having strangers
wandering around.

[conference ambience]

I work for a major
regulatory group

as an observer for NOAA.

And so I'm here to represent
the observer community.

We see a lot of issues in the
Pacific Ocean around China.

Some observers
deal with things like survival

on their boats
and dealing with very

major conflicts
with fishing crew.

Intimidation, coercion, sexual
and physical harassment.

I've even had an observer
friend who lost his life.

[waves crashing]

We're regulated
primarily by our government

or by the

the commissions
that we work for,

but we're employed
by contractors,

and that gets difficult for us

to know
who to turn to for support.

[gentle atmospheric score]

See what they have...

done.

This is the
"in memory of observers

lost in the line of duty."

They reserve this one seat
at this conference.

It started last year
after Keith died.

Keith was a big part
of this conference.

He was probably the moving
force behind

observer representation.

A Korean observer
died in the Antarctic

on the FV Inseong No. 1,
a Korean vessel.

Two unknown observers
disappeared in Angola.

We know that there’s

three additional observers
who've died in the last year.

Let me welcome everybody

to Vigo and to the
International Fisheries

Observer
and Monitoring Conference.

And in this opening
session, we'll...

We weren't able to come into

that session
with our cameras.

A number of suicides
have happened.

I have been sexually
harassed on a vessel.

A fire every day?
Is that acceptable?

So how did that go?

Oh. Oh, terrible.

Terrible?
Not as well as you'd hope.

Yeah.

We really didn't
hear much from the observers

this whole conference.

I, I can’t understand
this need for secrecy,

either broadly or even here
this week.

I can't either. I can't either,
you know, it's just it's,

all I can think of
is that they just don't

want the public to know,

that there's a problem.

Why not?

Because it would indicate

how incompetent they are
at protecting observers. And.

And, and if the public
knew that,

you know, we can't protect
the observers,

they would begin to wonder
about the data,

and rightly so.

There's no...

obligation to transparency.

It's not going to work,

because the whole problem is
that it's not transparent

and that the public is not
finding out about this stuff.

Who do you think's driving
driving this?

The industry, of course.

They can't, they can't
protect observers.

There's too many
millions of dollars

and you know, there's
too much money.

You know?

I don't know, I don't know
what's going to happen.

You know, instead
of addressing the issues

that we brought up

at this conference
20 years ago, 18 years ago,

they're just, you know,
on this trajectory

towards replacing observers.

This conference
has progressively gone towards

electronic monitoring
technology

as a means of monitoring
the fisheries.

It's one of the biggest
challenges in fisheries

management is

getting all the countries
on the same page and working

to improve the sustainability
of these fisheries.

[underwater bubbles]

There's a lot of talk
in the world of observers

about replacing
the actual humans

with some sort of camera
surveillance.

So I think the good news is
that we're starting

to see real momentum
with electronic monitoring.

Off the record, you
can hear that some observers

fear this technology
and believe that EM,

electronic monitoring,

is an industry ploy
to control fishing data

and cut out and ignore
human observer reports.

Electronic monitoring
can allow industry

to fake self-regulation

much better than with human
observers.

Just get rid of the human
witness totally.

Then there will be no need to
bribe observers or kill them.

Electronic monitoring,

in some sense,
is very sophisticated.

In another sense,
it's quite simple.

It's essentially putting
video cameras,

sensors and GPS aboard
fishing vessels.

We're investing heavily
in machine learning

and artificial intelligence

to differentiate

between tunas and turtles,
and ultimately to flag

when when sharks are getting
finned.

It's an opt in system.
They're just guidelines.

So what is the power

of having video cameras
on fishing vessels?

And we've got to create value

for all the stakeholders
involved.

That action has got to be
not just around management,

but around creating
private sector value.

[seagulls keowing]

Moving from

a few thousand vessels
globally today

to tens and hundreds
of thousands

of vessels over the
coming years.

You know, that certainly would
be safer for the observers.

If there's no observer
on board,

then the observer
can't be pushed overboard.

But of course,
that kind of surveillance

is very easily manipulated.

So whether it would actually
do as good a job as,

the human observers, I think
is a really big question.

[triumphant music]

Port of Majuro is the most
active transfer port

in the world.

There are vessels
from all of the top

distant water fishing
countries,

China, Taiwan, Japan, South
Korea, the EU and the US.

Francisco Blaha ensures
that the catches

are legitimate
with license fees

from all Pacific
Island states.

Since I came to the Pacific
27 years ago,

tuna has
been central to my life.

[underwater bubbles]

Look, the future
of fisheries is the future of

of us as a society,
you know?

We decide what
we're going to do with it.

The main area
that is of concern for us

in the Pacific is the issue of,

un-reporting or reporting
the wrong species.

I was told many years ago
that lying is easy,

lying consistently is very hard.

And part of what I do
is working

with the fisheries officers

to see if there was any lying,

how to gather evidence
to prove it.

In this case, we have a vessel
arriving tomorrow.

So this is a system of control
on what happens in our port.

We're meeting up
with government officials

from the Marshall Islands,
and we are going to board

a tuna purse seine vessel
that's coming into port.

[boat motor]
[stern music]

We've got our permit.

We go on board
with information

and we go on board to verify
this information.

Prove us you did
something right.

This vessel,

we have information
on the system

that he has a license
for two countries, yet

it has operated in three.

So we will board the vessel
with this information

and verify
that the licenses on board

relate to the operations
that they have.

[loudspeaker announcement]

We have the intelligence
file of the vessel.

And this is just a
zoom of where

they were fishing in Kiribas.
- Yes.

This is consistent
with fishing operation.

We need to do our job now.
So we need to go to the bridge.

Okay.

[wind flapping]

[crew chatter]

Hey Cap, how’re you doing?
- Morning, gentlemen.

Good morning. Thank
you for allowing us on board.

Oh, no problem.

Anyway, Captain, we'll need
your log book,

log sheets and those...

I keep my logbooks
in my room.

If you can bring the log book
here, that’s appreciated.

Pardon me?

If you could bring the log book
here, then that’s appreciated.

Why do you need to go through
my log book?

Shit, are we on film
right now?

No, no, just take it,
take it off.

[wrenching]

[loudspeaker announcement]

There are no easy solutions.

There are no silver bullets.

But, why not get mad

at the subsidies that
maintain fishing companies?

Instead of getting mad

at the fishermen
that are just doing their job.

[mechanical sounds]

[crew chatter]

This is the log book.
It’s the Bible on board.

And that's where they caught,
how much they caught.

So it's a lot of fish. I mean,
that's 20 tonnes in one set,

hundred tons in one set.

Yeah, that’s nothing.

80 tonnes in one set.

Yeah, there’s 140...
tonnes in one set.

So from 6 to 9.

So three hours of fishing and
they caught 80 tonnes of fish.

It's incredible.

That's...
[Blaha laughing]

A lot of the perceptions
about the complete catastrophe

of the fisheries, etc etc...

They may be right
for other parts of the world,

but in the Pacific
it's pretty well managed.

My position is not saying
that things are perfect.

No at all.

There's a lot of work
to be done,

there's a lot of work
being done.

But when you

put those volumes in context,
they're massive.

If you were to put
all the skipjack

caught in the Pacific head
to tail, it will go from Earth

to the moon

plus 100,000 km further.

That's a staggering
volume of fish.

[fins flapping]

[helicopter blades]

We can consume
these fish out of the ocean

more than any other
animal on earth.

[rattling]

[underwater splashing]

Fishing for skipjack
and other species is legal.

They have these giant legal
super purse seiners out there,

and the scale at which they
operate is so clearly immoral.

You look and you say,

no other animal on the planet

could take this many fish out
at this moment in time.

We are a super-predator.

[fin flapping]

3 percent of the ocean
is actually protected today.

We're an order of magnitude

away from actually having
a sustainable ocean,

when it comes to protections.

If you thought of the ocean
as a giant game of Jenga,

you have to ask how many times
you can take away a piece

before the whole thing
collapses.

And overfishing is
constantly taking away pieces.

And so how long do we
have before we’re at game over?

[ambient music]

China is the biggest
distant water fishing nation.

They have over 200 purse seiners

but, thousand
nine-hundred long liners.

Who's going to try to put a
finger up the ass of a giant,

you know?

[tense music]

Could you just position

tuna, the industry,
the fisheries in itself,

in the Pacific, in the whole
geopolitical dynamics

and how to see it
a bit more with perspective?

The issue of the tuna fisheries
has always been high up

on the leaders' agenda.

It's geopolitical
and it's about,

exerting influence
in the Pacific.

And it's because the US
fishes here. EU fishes here.

For a long time
China has been there.

This has been an
interesting week

with the forum leaders meeting.

The US treaty was endorsed.

Why now?

What is the... hype all about?

Well, to be very frank,

I think a lot
of it is because of China.

[wind flapping]

I'm very pleased to

welcome the vice president of
the United States of America,

Kamala Harris.

The United States is a proud
Pacific nation.

America, has come together
to try and be a counter

to China's moves.

Should the Pacific
be scared of China?

I think so.

The US had not been paying
much attention to the Pacific

as much as they are now,
and I think that

Vice President Kamala Harris
opening up the

leaders meeting
was quite symbolic.

[applause]

How does China show up?

Like, where are the footprints?

There's a lot of tentacles
of how China is here.

There's the official
and unofficial.

When you scratch the surface,

we don't know how many
Chinese vessels,

are licensed to
fish in our waters.

We've had a horrific
beheading in the Fiji waters

on a Chinese long liner where

till now, no one knows
what happened.

There was a beheading
of a crew member.

People are being killed

because they've seen things,
or they know things

that affect that money.

Our enforcement measures
are pretty pitiful.

They have just come into
a sovereign state

and surpassed
all our sovereignty.

China is a predator
and we are the prey.

Its influence over

some of the Pacific island
governments is rife.

Bribes, payments, corruption.

There are arrangements
where they get a reduced rate

as a result of their
investment in the region.

It builds their schools.
It pays for their roads.

To quote The Godfather, it's
an offer you can't refuse.

[tense music]

Tuna is rather remarkable.

They go from east to west
and west to east.

And when you look
at their tracks,

they’re following
the great current and warmth.

There's basically a huge oval
across the Pacific.

But through it
there are high seas pockets

and there are a
number in the South Pacific.

But most tellingly, I think

there is one between Fiji
and Vanuatu.

It's not a large area,

but it's a relatively
lucrative area.

[tense music]

And what is happening
is that the Chinese

have vacuumed it.

[tense music]

And they now
need big new fisheries.

[wind flapping]

The entire operation has been
run out of Suva in Fiji,

and it's offering
China a keyhole

into plundering the tuna
because tuna is migratory.

And so if they're there
at the key times,

they get all the fish.

[waves crashing]

Waves of Chinese boats

are coming in
strip mining the Pacific.

[tense music]

[industrial ambience]

China is one of the states
that has spearheaded

the notion of state protected
illegal fishing.

The state uses
its own resources,

its own assets,
its own military

and law enforcement
infrastructure

to protect its
illegal fishing interests.

They are in the practice
of human rights violation.

They do illegal,
unregulated fishing.

And I've had a lot of visits
from China

to obtain licenses here,

and I've just basically
told them that

they can’t on my watch.

They unload here,

they will have to pay
450 dollars a tonne.

There are hundreds

of billions of dollars
a year in the fishing sector.

And we are seeing

a great increase
in large scale criminality.

[tense music]

And all too often,
those who understand the value

of the maritime domain the best,

are the criminals
that would do it harm.

[waves crashing]

This summer,
a fleet of more than

300 Chinese fishing boats
spent a month

raiding the waters around
the islands of Galapagos.

Hundreds of Chinese fishing
vessels were caught

pillaging a reported 200,000

tonnes of squid this
year from North Korean waters,

against U.N. sanctions.

[tense music]

You get some boat that’s been
subsidized by Beijing.

They load it up with people from
Indonesia at cheap, cheap wages.

They re-register it as a
Vanuatu flagged company.

You go to Vanuatu,

a Pacific state
that was founded in the 70s.

Now all their fishing
boats are Chinese.

Vanuatu seems to have a policy
based around

no control at all.

It's breathtaking.

[wind flapping]
[tense music]

So the whole thing is
just a mockery.

[tense music]

[boat motor]

[drum beats]

As natives and members
of fishing communities,

fishing is all our source
of livelihood.

Any activity that undermines
or deprives us of our catch,

is of concern to us.

Now, the dominance
of the industrial sector

by Chinese affiliates,
if I may put it that way,

it's a great source of worry.

[traffic ambience]

They are visible everywhere

in the construction space,

in schools,
building of schools,

in building hospitals,
in building stadia.

In all of that,
you find the Chinese.

And their dominance in
this country

is becoming more visible
and visible and visible.

And people
have even concluded that

if care is not taken,

China could take over
the entire country.

[brooding music]

[waves and seagulls]

Industrialized fishing nations

are stealing fish from the
waters of developing countries.

Because developing countries are

selling off their fishing rights

to the highest bidder,
and the highest bidder is often

coming in at a really low bid.

[bell ringing]

90 percent of these
vessels are foreign owned.

They have linkages
to other countries like China.

There are some bullies
out there in the ocean

that won't take
no for an answer.

[brooding music]

There's a lot of
incentive for

people to break the rules.

The enforcement has been weak

to the point
that money changes hands.

Foreign industrial fisheries
are mostly subsidized

by the countries
that sends them.

They have access
to the West African coast

through so-called access
agreements,

negotiated privately
with a fisheries minister.

And the money ends
up in Switzerland

in a private account.

Our oceans have been the victim
of a Ponzi scheme.

[brooding music]

[water splashing]

It's an extractive industry.

And like all extractive
industries,

there's a lot of
collateral damage.

[tense music]

If you are not careful
beyond a certain point now,

one day we’ll wake up

the fishermen will go
and then come back and say,

we didn't
catch any fish today.

Tomorrow
the story will be the same.

The next day to be the same
and that will be it.

We are getting close
to a point where

our stocks will collapse,

and then anybody
that is engaged

in fisheries
related activities,

2.7 million people will be
rendered completely jobless.

And we all know the risks.

If there are no fish to catch,
if there's no work to do,

there'll be all kinds
of criminal activities

and there will be spillovers
to other parts of the world.

If these able bodied
people of men

and women cannot catch fish,

they will take into
drug trafficking,

human trafficking.

They will migrate
to other parts of the world.

Some will become pirates.
Because they are

very good at sea,
they will become pirates.

Some may begin
to organize themselves

into militia groups and
fighting and kidnapping people.

It's not just a figment
of anyone's imagination.

These are realities.

Stocks have collapsed
elsewhere

and our stocks
are on the verge of collapse

if nothing is done.

[reflective music]

Three years on,
Essien is nowhere to be found.

That has to be solved.
Things seem to be in limbo.

The person is not dead.

The person is missing.
We can't find the person.

Do we pronounce the person
dead?

Should you organize a funeral
for the person?

I mean, who is responsible?
Whose company owns that vessel?

We need to find answers
to all of this.

Whatever it takes, I will get to
the bottom of the matter.

And that is our calling
as journalists.

If the right answers are not
coming, we'll keep pushing.

[crew chanting]

[reflective music]

Observers are there
to tell the truth.

There is little doubt
that the observers

are seeing illegal activity
all of the time.

[seagulls keowing]

And so it comes as no surprise
that these vulnerable

individuals
who are brave enough

to take these jobs
as observers, go missing.

[reflective music]

And there's no excuse for it.

Anybody who tries
to make the world better

in any capacity,

you realize,
like you're up against forces

that are way bigger
and more powerful than you.

It's incredibly admirable
to keep fighting.

What's the option otherwise?

You just get cynical?

We must all complement
the science we do,

with activism.

What motivates me to fight for
the ocean is the fear

of the generations to come.

That they will not
have or enjoy what we have.

Hello!

I have a very big family.

My parents have more than 30
grandchildren

and more than a dozen
great grandchildren.

It’s so lovely to be home.

Welcome home.

And as a Pacific Islander,
I have as much right

as any government

and as much right
as any industry,

and as much right
as any consumer.

This fish comes
from this region.

My people are
the ones that have died.

This is why I do what I do.

That's why I'm an activist.

I'm committed.

[reflective music]

Every time I look
at the ocean,

I see my brother,

I think of him.

I miss him.

[reflective music]

My brother has gone.

He may not get the justice
that he deserves, but there's

many of these similar stories.

[atmospheric music]

I know tuna
is very important.

But then, if we are
valuing money

more than the lives
of our citizens, then, then...

Please,

can somebody feel how I feel?

This has got to stop.

It's got to stop.

This world, this industry,
this thing that's like

trying to be invisible
and opaque and hidden.

[underwater whoosh]
[protest ambience]

Shedding light on it,
bringing it out into the open.

Making it something that
more people know about.

For the observers,
that's justice.

[atmospheric music]
[Indistinct vocals]

[ukulele strumming]