Canadian documentary brings attention to fisheries

 

As a celebration of World Water Day, the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup brought What Lies Below to Lakeshore Cinemas on Mar. 23.

The Canadian documentary What Lies Below is a six-year project that features and is written by Lawrence Gunther, a graduate from York University in environmental studies.

Gunther, who is blind, has made it his life’s mission to study what’s happening in underwater environments that has made us all “blind.”

He visited and interviewed people across Canada to learn about their concerns and hopes for their local fisheries.

“The goal of the movie is to inspire people to take responsibility for the rivers, the lakes and the oceans,” said Gunther. “And just say ‘hey, it’s my resource and I’m going to make sure it’s in good shape for not only my children but for seven generations down the road.’”

The documentary examines the future of Canada’s wild fish stocks and the habitats they occupy that are at risk from overharvesting, habitat loss and destruction.

It explores what local people are doing to ensure the future sustainability of Canada’s water and traditional fisheries.

Gunther draws on his perspective to explore and share what others are not able to see taking place beneath the waves.

“When I was a university student I had a job in the summer time on the East Coast of Canada.” Gunther said. “I was a cod fisherman and I fished cod with my hand line. I did that every summer and in 1992 all the cod fishing was stopped because we caught them all. It’s been 25 years and they still haven’t come back.”

“I thought to myself, how could we have caught all the fish? What happened to the fish? Where did the fish go? How could this happen? I wanted find out more about that. I started realizing that the people live by the water and depend on the water, depend on the fish. They were destroyed by the loss of those fish.”

The documentary was screened twice on World Water Day, first to students in the morning then to the general public.

Joan Affleck was in the audience at Lakeshore Cinemas.

“I expected to hear something has changed, maybe improvements to water quality or overall health of the Great Lakes systems,” Affleck said.

What Lies Below has been selected to compete in the Canadian Feature Film category at the 2016 Planet in Focus Film Festival.

Claire Sanders is the remedial action plan coordinator for the DRCC.

“We are working towards restoring healthy fish populations,” Sanders said. “We are doing things like building fish spawning reefs for fish to come.”

The documentary will be part of the International Eco Hero Awards ceremony honoring Alexandra Cousteau, a filmmaker and an environmental activist.