Going down to the sea in ships: the calm and catastrophe in RTD’s fishing documentaries
The once-fertile Atlantic fishing grounds off West Africa have become a battleground. Rival trawlers fight over what fish are left, while governments exert more control pushing the fishermen further into deep water. The documentary Fishing Wars uncovers piracy on the high seas in an effort to put fish on the table. One West African country has teamed up with the militant conservation group Sea Shepherd to protect its dwindling fishing stocks. In Sea Life Savers we join the crew of the Bob Barker along with the military of Gabon to patrol the seas looking for illegal trawlers. European ships have begun to encroach on the country’s waters after over-fishing closer to home. A world away is the more peaceful waters of the Russian Pacific coast. Here one woman makes a life and a living for herself fishing with rod and line from the shore. Anna is profiled in an extraordinary epic documentary called Fishing for Herself. The icy water off Sakhalin Island is her home, which she jealously guards.
