Swords: How Television is Glorifying Ecological Destruction

I have an idea for a new show for the Discovery Channel.

Camera crews will follow a tough and weathered group of hunters through the rainforest, laying down tens of miles of traps to capture any unfortunate creature that happens to stumble across them. Once caught, the rough and tumble crew will decide which animals to keep and sell for profit, while the rest will be killed and thrown into the brush. These hardened men will fight against fatigue, malaria, and the fierce animals they wish to conquer.

I call it: The Deadliest Poach.

Strangely, I have a feeling this pitch would not go over very well with the network or with viewers, and yet this is the programming that Discovery is moving toward in a sure and steady march toward ecological ruin.

It seems shocking that the same television network that airs Life and Planet Earth, programs that aim to educate and inspire us to conserve the natural world, would also feature programming that glorifies the systematic destruction of the same planet.

Following the disappointment that was this year’s Shark Week, the same old stories about bloodthirsty sharks and horrific attacks, maybe it isn’t such a surprise after all that the Discovery Channel continues its venture into reckless hypocrisy for the sake of ratings and making a dollar.

For example, the show Swords: Life on the Line, is a show of the same format as other reality/documentary programs such as The Deadliest Catch, or Ice Road Truckers.

Swords: Life on the Line

Swords follows several longlining boats in the North Atlantic off the New England coast; the prize is the large, elusive swordfish.

A swordfish caught on Swords (Photo: Discovery)

The longlines used on these boats are made of hundreds of hooks attached to a 40-mile long fishing line, the type of line that is responsible for the indiscriminate killing of many pelagic marine species and seabirds.

A sea turtle caught by a longline. (Photo: Sea Turtle Restoration Project)

Longline fishing is a controversial commercial fishing technique, and throughout recent history has been banned or limited in many fisheries.

In Swords, little is shown of bycatch, though one incident of a blue shark being caught was shown because a researcher was on board the ship and tagged it.

It is not at all surprising that inevitable bycatch is mostly ignored in the program unless it can be portrayed in a more positive light, but some instances have been more disturbing.

In one episode, a Mako shark (classified as “vulnerable” according to the IUCN Red Species List) was caught and repeatedly stabbed with a gaff before being thrown back dead or dying, with the same fate befalling a juvenile swordfish that “wasn’t worth the space” to keep.

It shouldn’t need saying that the needless slaughter of juvenile swordfish that have not yet had the chance to reproduce is counter-intuitive and wasteful, though it seems that the editor of the show thought otherwise.

Why Discovery Channel thinks this type of programming is appropriate for a network that simultaneously tries to promote conservation comes down to one thing: profit.

The network has the audacity to claim at the beginning of each episode that it does not “necessarily” endorse the actions or commentary in the show, all while promoting and profiting off the spectacle.

Unfortunately, that is just what the commercial fishing industry has become: a spectacle, where “fishing” is no longer fishing, but instead a wasteful and unsustainable industry.

Recreational fishermen and conservationists together have expressed outrage toward the longline industry, and here it is being promoted and glorified by a prominent educational network.

Some viewers I have spoken to have defended the show, saying that it brings to light the issues of longline fishing and can open up a debate.

That is, of course, pure nonsense, as I highly doubt that the average viewer will watch an exciting program about the dangers out at sea and suddenly become interested in sustainable fishing legislation.

Instead, what I have seen is a number of people who know little of the industry being drawn in by the perceived glory of such professions, and in a few cases, even the desire to eat swordfish more regularly.

What we are witnessing is the decline of a once respectable network. Discovery used to be the channel for education; now, it has all the integrity of any bloated network that scrapes for ratings wherever they can be found.

So, instead of tuning in to Swords, I recommend watching The End of the Line, and telling others about the consequences of longline fishing. A difference can be made if we seek to educate ourselves.

Concerned viewers can express their disappointment to the Discovery Channel by contacting the network using their Viewer Relations form.