The End of the Line (2009/I)

Popularity:

Down 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Rupert Murray

Writer:

Charles Clover (based on the book by)

Release Date:

12 June 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Documentary filmmaker Rupert Murray examines the devastating effect that overfishing has had on the world's fish populations and argues that drastic action must be taken to reverse these trends. |

Plot Keywords:

Overfishing | Fish | Conservation | Repetition In Title

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Ben Bradshaw	...	Himself - UK Fisheries Minister 2003-2007
Roberto Mielgo Bragazzi	...	Himself - Former Tuna Farmer
Charles Clover	...	Himself - Author, 'The End of the Line'
John Crosbie	...	Himself - Fisheries Minister, Canada (archive footage)
Ted Danson	...	Narrator (voice)
Haidar El Ali	...	Himself - Diver, Senegal
Ray Hilborn	...	Himself - University of Washington
Jeffrey Hutchings	...	Himself - Dalhousie University, Canada
Mélanie Laurent	...	Narrator for France (voice)
Manolo Pacheco Luis	...	Himself - Fisherman, Straits of Gibraltar
Patricia Majluf	...	Herself - Cayetano Heredia University, Peru
John T. Maxwell	...	Himself - American Television Chef (archive footage)
Adama Mbergaul	...	Himself - Fisherman, Senegal
Hardy Mckinney	...	Himself - Fisherman, South Andros, Bahamas
Masanori Miyahara	...	Himself - Fisheries Agency of Japan
Matthew Moir	...	Himself - North Pacific Seafoods, Alaska
Brian Mulroney	...	Himself - Canadian Prime Minister 1984-1993 (archive footage)
Richie Nota	...	Himself - Managing Partner, Nobu Restaurants
Jamie Oliver	...	Himself - British Chef (archive footage)
Stephen R. Palumbi	...	Himself - Stanford University
Daniel Pauly	...	Himself - University of British Columbia
Pete Petersen	...	Himself - University of North Carolina
Callum Roberts	...	Himself - York University, UK
Yvonne Sadovy	...	Herself - University of Hong Kong
Ted Stevens	...	Himself - Senator, Alaska (archive footage)
Rashid Sumaila	...	Himself - University Of British Columbia
Serge Tudela	...	Himself - Bluefin Tuna Expert World Wildlife Foundation
Boris Worm	...	Himself - Dalhousie University Canada

Directed by
Rupert Murray

Writing credits
Charles Clover		(based on the book by)

Produced by
Chris Gorell Barnes	....	executive producer
George Duffield	....	producer
Jacqui Edwards	....	archive producer
Christopher Hird	....	executive producer
Erica Knie	....	executive producer
Sandra Leeming	....	line producer
Claire Lewis	....	producer
Paula Nightingale	....	assistant producer
Donald Rosenfeld	....	co-producer
Jess Search	....	executive producer
Ted Waitt	....	executive producer
Alexis Zoullas	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Srdjan Kurpjel
Marios Takoushis

Film Editing by
Claire Ferguson

Production Management
Kate George	....	post production manager

Sound Department
Claire Ellis	....	dialogue editor
George Foulgham	....	sound re-recording mixer
Carlos García	....	adr studio manager
Lisa-Marie McStay	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
David Groundwater	....	camera operator
David Groundwater	....	underwater camera operator
Kash Halford	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Mark Neale	....	assistant editor
Gareth Parry	....	on-line editor
Tim Waller	....	senior colourist

Other crew
Caitlin Boyle	....	outreach producer
Ana Garcia	....	researcher
Jack Knott	....	intern
Katrin Pors	....	production coordinator
Mickey Cottrell	....	publicist (uncredited)

Thanks
John Jencks	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Arcane Pictures
• Calm Productions
• Dartmouth Films
• Fish Film, The

Distributors

• Cinema Delicatessen (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Lug Cinéma (2012) (France) (theatrical)
• Dogwoof Pictures (2009) (UK) (DVD)
• Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore (2011) (Italy) (DVD)
• Roco Films (2009) (Non-USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Britdoc Foundation  funding
• Molinare Studio  post-production

Also Known As:

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Ireland:PG | USA:Unrated

Company:

Arcane Pictures

Quotes:

Himself - North Pacific Seafoods, Alaska:If you look at it from just a personal perspective, sometimes there's a personal sacrifice. But if you look at it from the big picture, you gotta take a cut in the harvest but you take that knowing that it gives you an opportunity to maybe have a better season two, three, four, five years from now. We just don't want to catch that fish this year, next year, we can't to catch it ten, fifteen, twenty years from now.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Grierson 2010: The British Documentary Awards (2010) (TV)

The last cod (and tuna, shark, eel...)

Free market fundamentalists tell us that there is no need to worry about diminishing natural resources; as they become scarcer, so the price rises, stimulating human abstinence and ingenuity. In the worst case, where we can't find a better solution, we at least take care of our final stocks (because they are increasingly expensive) and enjoy a gradual transition to the new world. The problem is, that economies are very short-termist. Price is determined, not just by the size of the total remaining stocks, but by the rate of their supply. And rising prices can stimulate more intensive exploitation methods that suppress the natural tendency for a scarce product to become more valued, while advancing the day that it runs out altogether. Some fear this is what man will face (and soon) with oil; as Rupert Marray's film shows, it's what we're already facing in many parts of the world with fish. The irony with fish is that the bounty of the oceans is actually a renewable resource, so long as it isn't over-exploited. But our capacity for self-restraint seems minimal: in the EU, for example, scientists recommended a quota for catches of 10 million tonnes for blue-fin tuna to allow the depressed population to recover, or 15 million to stop things getting worse; the politicians allowed 30 million, and the fishermen caught 60 million. If the film has a weakness, it's that it doesn't show us why politicians are so stupid, namely their fear of ruined fishing towns and starving people. I wish it let them make these arguments, mostly because they're plain wrong; the towns will have no jobs anyway if the oceans run out of fish, and the worst offenders when it comes to overfishing are people from the affluent west. As each year the planet's resources seem scarcer, our rape of the oceans seems increasingly stupid - whatever the sacrifices now required, the long-term cost of not making them will be higher. Meanwhile, that tuna you shouldn't really be eating may soon be your last, like it or not.