As one scientist in the film explains, the loss of a top-level predator like the bluefin could throw the entire web of marine life into chaos, leading to unpredictable cycles of boom and crash among many smaller organisms. Maybe the invisible hand of the market will slow the devastation of the bluefin – but with a taste for sushi now emerging among the newly affluent elites in Shanghai and Mumbai and other developing-world metropolises, it’s no good counting on that. Depending on where you are in the world and who’s doing the counting, bluefin populations are believed to have fallen by 60 to 80 percent, with no end in sight. Last year, one large fish was auctioned at Tsukiji for around $400,000, a new record. On this particular issue, there aren’t many deniers or skeptics: Fishermen and activists alike tell Hall that those big bluefin tuna are fewer and smaller than they’ve ever been, and the laws of supply and demand have responded accordingly. Only gradually does Hall shift his focus to the question of the startling supply chain behind the Hamachi or Tekka-maki you ate last night – which might easily involve a fish that has traveled around the world twice since being caught – and the bigger question of what this means for the future of the oceanic ecosystem. (The cucumber roll looks great, but the so-called California Roll contains a panoply of truly frightening ingredients.) We learn about the stroke of entrepreneurial evil genius that is Sushi Popper, pre-sliced sushi rolls served in a Pringles-type can with a push-up apparatus. (A YouTube trailer for the film is posted below.) In addition to interviewing Japanese fishermen, fish traders and high-end sushi chefs upholding a centuries-old tradition, Hall travels to a football game in suburban Texas and the Polish city of Lodz to demonstrate the global explosion of what was once (at least outside Tokyo) an eccentric and/or ethnic specialty cuisine. Hall’s “Sushi: The Global Catch” offers foodies and sushi buffs a refreshing palate-cleanser before the parade of experts and the dire news reports. Unlike most issue-oriented documentaries about the abundant idiocy of the human species and the imminent demise of our planet, Mark S. As the market’s expert buyers begin to inspect the fish – which may have been locally caught, but are just as likely to come from the oceans off Australia or Canada - for freshness, fat content and flavor, any sushi lover is likely to imagine how they will taste once sliced into delicate morsels and served with preserved rice, dried seaweed and blindingly hot wasabi. Ovoid carcasses the size of hogs and as hard as bowling balls come sliding out of trucks to hit the pavement with a satisfying, hollow thunk. When you see the enormous frozen bluefin tuna unloaded by the score at Tokyo’s historic Tsukiji Fish Market, it’s like an action scene, and not a bloodless one either.
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