Seaspiracy director Ali Tabrizi on its viral impact and his message for Cop28

The filmmaker says ocean protection is key to saving our environment

Ali Tabrizi is the director and central character of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy. Photo: Ali Tabrizi

The director behind the viral Netflix documentary Seaspiracy urged world leaders attending Cop28 in Dubai later this year to address the crisis facing the world's oceans.

Speaking to The National at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, British-Iranian filmmaker Ali Tabrizi blames the rapacious fishing industry for being at the heart of the ocean's woes – from decreased marine life to the spread of plastic pollution.

“The oceans are the secret to protecting the environment,” he says.

“The oceans produce something in the excess of 18 per cent of the world's oxygen that we breathe and the idea that we are not discussing this enough is pure insanity.”

Tabrizi certainly got more people talking about the matter, including leading conservationists and celebrities.

Released in 2021, Seaspiracy is a powerful and at times shocking look at the environmental and human toll of industrial fishing.

It presents the case, through interviews with experts and industry insiders, that commercial fishing is the biggest threat to marine life.

The response was immediate with Seaspiracy reportedly trending globally on Twitter.

Singers Paul McCartney and Bryan Adams urged their social media followers to watch the film, while Kourtney Kardashian tweeted her desire to stop eating fish in response to the work.

Tabrizi – a vegan – hopes we all reconsider our fish consumption.

“We also have a role to play because at the end of the day there are market forces involved,” he says.

“The more we know about the industry’s practices, we can get to a stage where it can make it not viable for them to not continue doing what they are doing.”

The Outsider

It is an ambitious aim, but Tabrizi is not the only documentarian taking the good fight against a powerful industry.

Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me (2004) is credited for fast food chain McDonald's decision to discontinue its supersize portions, while Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine exposed the political influence of America's gun lobby.

Seaspiracy follows that tradition in that it’s made by an outsider.

Tabrizi is both narrator and central character as we follow his globetrotting mission, from murky Thai fish markets to the “floating slaughterhouses” of whale trawlers in the Faroe Islands, to uncover the ripple effects of industrial fishing.

Such a barrelling narrative device allows the viewer to discover the information at the same time and at the edge of their seats as Tabrizi dodges security officials and crosses check points to land the next big interview.

Tabrizi credits Sir David Attenborough for instilling his love of nature.

“I grew up watching Attenborough documentaries with my father and that really got me interested in the environment,” he says.

“And as I grew I began to be attuned to how there is less greenery and fishes around. It made me really look at the world around me and learn more about what’s going on.”

Shot on a shoestring budget Seaspiracy became a viral sensation upon its release. Photo: Netflix

That self-education also extended to filmmaking.

“I learnt how to make videos from YouTube,” Tabrizi recalls. “I would shoot, edit and create content about the environment. I would use existing footage from online – these were all fair use, by the way – and add my voice over them.

“A lot of them I have taken down because I am kind of embarrassed about the quality. I look at them as the early scrapbooks of an artist.”

One of these early projects was a 2015 short film about the deteriorating state of the oceans, which found its way to Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, directors and producers of the 2014 successful Netflix documentary Cowspiracy, which explored the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment.

“Their film did well and Netflix asked them if they were working on anything else,” Tabrizi says.

“They said, well there is this kid who is working on an ocean movie and Netflix were immediately interested.”

A love story

While Tabrizi describes Seaspiracy’s production costs as smaller than a “Netflix drama’s catering budget”, he credits the limited funds for the film’s kinetic visuals and use of handheld camera footage.

It also tightened his bond with Lucy Manning, the other member of his “two-man production team.”

By the time the film was released the couple had married and now have two children.

“That is the hidden love story within Seaspiracy,” he beams. “We ended up travelling around the world together making a movie about how to save the ocean while sort of kindling our own relationship.

“As anyone that works with their partner knows, there will be times of conflict and struggle but you work through it and you come out on the other side stronger.”

Tabrizi says the couple are enjoying family life and are wary of undertaking another risky film adventure.

“I would love to make a sequel to Seaspiracy but not in the way we made the first one. It wouldn’t be good for safety and our relationship,” he says.

“I would definitely never do it on such a small budget and my filmmaking skills have grown considerably since then.”