The global trade in tuna is worth billions of dollars and provides much needed income for developing nations but the new documentary Fatal Watch, questions the human and environmental cost.
Several fisheries observers, contracted to monitor vessels for illegal fishing, have died or disappeared, presumed dead.
Environmentalists say the volume of fish being removed from the sea every year, is more than it can replenish at a sustainable rate.
Drawing on CCTV video, crime scene photos and insider interviews, Fatal Watch, screening at the Doc Edge film festival is an exposé of an industry that more often than not operates out of sight and out of the public mind.
Conservationist Alfred "Bubba" Cook and high-profile New Zealand investigator, Tim McKinnel talk to Paddy Gower about the dark underbelly of the international fishing industry and the need for greater transparency, accountability and change.
Photo: Fatal Watch
