Former Nottingham resident Wietse Van Der Werf, co-founder of 'The Black Fish', visited Nottingham tell us more about the threats facing the world's oceans and inspire us to join the growing movement of people taking action for its conservation.

Former Nottingham resident Wietse Vad Der Werf, co-founder of 'The Black Fish', an international marine conservation organisation which campaigns to end the industrial overfishing of our oceans, visited Nottingham as part of a national speaking tour to tell us more about their work, to learn about the threats facing the world's oceans and to be inspired to join the growing movement of people taking action for its conservation.

The presentation began with a screening of 'Losing Nemo', a six-minute, 3D-animated film about the state of the oceans. You can watch the film at http://vimeo.com/66514539

After finding that that illegally caught fish can be realised from illegal fishing quite close to the shore, Wietse realised that global organisations were not the only ones that could take action - there was a missing role for grass roots individuals.

This lead to the formation of The Black Fish, to empower ordinary citizens to take action, from documenting the activities of fishing ships at ports, to photographing illegally caught species or tracking ships with solar powered spy drones.

Their 'Marine Activist Training' enables regular people to take direct action on the seas, with fund raising planned to enable more people to take part.

Half of all fish caught worldwide feeds farmed animals - the most prolific marine predator is the pig, followed by chicken. Cats and dogs eat more fish than all the sharks and seals worldwide. Bluefin tuna have become so valuable - an individual can be sold for 3/4 million Euros - that major global corporations catch all they can - half of it illegally - not to sell to feed anyone, but to deep freeze and store as a future investment.

If land animals were threatened as species, or caused suc suffering as individuals there would be a huge outcry. The oceans as seen to be distant and bottomless, but many species are on the brink of extinction. The root cause of this devastation is over consumption. Even the promotion of 'sustainable' fish leads to increased sales of all fish and increased pressure on threatened species by generating a false sense that all is well.

The talk was held at The Corner, 8 Stoney Street, Nottingham, NG1 1LH