A Kent film-maker is behind a hard-hitting and controversial new documentary about the global fishing industry which is in the top ten on Netflix.

Ali Tabrizi, 27, who grew up in Ramsgate and studied at Canterbury College, set out to expose the damage being done to fish populations and the oceans in his new documentary Seaspiracy.

The 90-minute film paints a grim picture of commercial fishing with secret filming exposing dark industry secrets and apparent high level corruption.

It has received widespread acclaim from environmentalists and celebrities across the world with many viewers saying they have been moved to tears after watching it.

But others, especially in the industry, have been critical, saying it presents a distorted picture driven by the vegan movement.

Ali grew up eating meat and fish with his siblings but his dad Saeed, who is a chef, and mum, Shaine Tabrizi, a carer, from Ramsgate now run a vegan cake business called Better Cakes by Shaine.

" I was eating everything and, of couse, living by the sea, that included fish and chips," said Ali.

"But I later converted to veganism when I learned more about farming and fishing practices."

Now living on the east Kent coast with his wife Lucy and their son, the couple founded Ikiru Media and Disrupt Studios to make their films.

His mum Shaine told KentOnline: "It's a very powerful film and we are incredibly proud of him. The success of it has been a bit mad and he's had superstars from around the world contacting him and messaging him."

Ali's passion for the environment began as a child, collecting plastic from Kent beaches.

But his research led him to discover that a huge amount of the most damaging material is actually discarded fishing nets.

His documentary takes him across the world, often with his cinematographer wife Lucy where in some areas of Asia there are implied threats to his life while trying to film.

He claims that commercial fishing is having a devastating effect on the health of sea with the stark prediction that, at the current rate, the oceans will be empty in less than 30 years.

He argues that one of the biggest problems is 'bycatch' - the fish that are caught up in nets but not the target species and therefore discarded, usually dead, back into the sea.

There are also heart-rending scenes of the slaughter of whales and sharks for shark fin soup, which is considered a delicacy in the Far East but destroying the species.

Ali also says he has uncovered false claims and cooperation between the industry and charities set up to protect species like dolphins.

In the documentary, he interviews several ocean environmentalists who paint a bleak picture of their future if fishing on such a huge scale is not curtailed and he even suggests that people should stop eating fish or reduce its consumption.

He says: "This film will radically transform the way we think and act on ocean conservation forever.

"It is time we focus our ecological and ethical concerns on our seas and its inhabitants.

"This is a new era for how we treat the most important habitat on earth."

At the time of writing, Seaspiracy was trending at number four on Netflix. The streaming service has more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.

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