This Is How It Ends: Serving up the true cost of consumption to our most vulnerable creatures

Friday, 15 October 2021

Human activities are destroying the natural world, leading to the annihilation of animal and plant species at a terrifying rate. Stuff's This Is How It Ends is a documentary series investigating the critical decline of native species.

OPINION: Who doesn’t love a fish n’ chip supper? Fresh sushi. Or tuna steaks seared on the barbecue, and splashed with fresh lime juice.

The world loves fish. In 2019, we hauled 179 million metric tons of it from the oceans. Our appetite grows ever more voracious, with the market growing from US$125B (NZ $177B) in 2017 to an expected US$155.32B (NZ $219B) in 2023.

The country that catches the most fish is China, also home to the largest processing industry.

It has stripped its own coastal waters bare, and its Leviathan fishing fleet is now prowling the world’s oceans for a catch.

* Antipodean wandering albatross at risk of extinction - scientists

* Fishing industry under fire for killing endangered albatrosses

* A remote, wind-swept island is a time-warp to New Zealand's past

It was revealed last week that Foodstuffs North Island is to slash the amount of Sealord products sold in its supermarkets.

Newsroom reported the move will make more space in freezers for overseas catch, such as Alaskan pollock, processed in China.

Foodstuffs says the raw material source in the branded range of products is New Zealand Hoki and “only as a last resort would fish from outside New Zealand be used in these products when the supply of fish from New Zealand does not cover demand. This is no different to any seafood sourcing company.'

It’s bad news for Sealord, who said it will have a “detrimental impact” on operations. But it’s worse news for our oceans.

“Nature cannot keep giving, giving, giving, it will ultimately collapse,” says Livia Esterhazy, WWF-NZ chief executive.

WWF-New Zealand told me it is “disheartened” by Foodstuffs North Island’s decision. And that the domestic seafood industry has missed a trick: to persuade consumers they should be willing to pay more for New Zealand products by ensuring the catch is sustainable and traceable.

“Consumers will have access to a cheaper fish product, but it comes at a huge social and environmental cost,” chief executive Livia Esterhazy said.

Consumers can hold industry accountable through the power of their purse, but that's only effective if they know what they're buying.

A pair of Antipodean albatross in their nesting area on Antipodes Island.

“Most people don't want a helping of human rights violations and a huge carbon footprint with their chips. Alaska pollock is caught, processed, frozen, and transported thousands of kilometres from the coastline,” she explains.

“Only for it to be thawed and processed again, under potentially dubious food safety and labour conditions in China, before it’s loaded onto a container ship to travel thousands of kilometres to reach New Zealand's grocery stores.”

Greenpeace Aotearoa agrees Foodstuffs North Island “has potentially missed an opportunity to positively influence the way commercial fishing companies treat the ocean.”

Today Stuff reveals the true cost of the US$1.5billion canned tuna market. Our beautiful, endangered Antipodean albatross are dying in the nets of international longline vessels targeting albacore tuna.

US customers are picking up pouches and cans from multi-billion supermarket chains, completely unaware that their purchase is contributing to the massacre of species that is likely to vanish from the earth within 20-30 years.

I’ve been lucky enough to see the elaborate courting dance of these gentle, feathered giants on isolated Antipodes Island.

It is one of nature's most tragic love stories. They mate for life – living as long as 60 years – and nest only every two years. When a bird dies at sea, their mate will continue to wait for their return.

They are among the 40 or so unique New Zealand creatures photojournalist Iain McGregor and I spent time with for our This Is How It Ends series, which launches on Stuff on Monday and made with support from NZ on Air.

Our adventures took us to the Auckland Islands, a biodiversity hotspot.

Over a year, we travelled to the furtherest reaches of the country, from Rangatira/Hokorereoro Island in Chatham Islands group, south to desolate Campbell Island, and into the Hauraki Gulf.

I’ve been peed on by a longtailed bat, McGregor took a tīeke poop to the face, and we’ve both been bitten by kea.

We’ve seen some of the world’s rarest creatures: from the Chatham Island black robin, of which there were once only five left, to the jittery shore plover, population: 250.

And we marvelled at the jewel-green Archey's frog, which is so precious it is world-famous among herpetologists.

We are among the few humans on earth who have seen the rare snail powelliphanta augusta devour an earthworm.

Eastern rockhopper penguins are fiercely territorial.

The story we tell is a bleak one: at least 4000 of our 80,000 cherished endemic species are clinging to survival. They are at risk from us, the most dangerous creatures on the planet.

But we know the world is a grim place right now: climate change, Covid-19, inequality, and hunger. It was not enough to just serve up another crisis to a sapped audience .

Instead, we hope you enjoy learning about the beautiful and vulnerable creatures and landscapes in This Is How It Ends as much as we have.

So much the better, if you too come to believe they deserve greater protection.

Clarification: This column has been updated to include comment from Foodstuffs North Island.