Written by Michelle Kretzer
Sometimes, even compassionate people seem to disregard fish. I know: I was one of them. Years after I stopped eating meat, I identified as a vegetarian but would still have a little sushi. It was a long time before I realized—thanks to PETA—that fish are sentient beings who feel pain acutely and struggle against death. Perhaps a few other people are having their own "aha" moment right now, thanks to PETA Germany's recent victory for fish.
Acting on a tip, two PETA Germany investigators joined some tourists on a crab fishing boat operating along the northern coast. The crab fishing itself wasn't illegal, but the way the anglers were tormenting their "bycatch," fish, certainly was. Under German law, fish must be instantly killed or placed in water after being caught. But these anglers were catching several fish in their crab traps and leaving the unwanted animals to asphyxiate to death on the boat. They even laughed about the animals' struggle to breathe before they died.
The investigators shot video evidence and began throwing suffering fish back into the water. Then they filed a complaint with the Hamburg District Attorney's Office, and the court slapped the owner of the boat with a fine of 400 euros (about $540). He and his crew will likely be taking fish protection laws more seriously now.
If you know someone who claims, "I'm a vegetarian, but I still eat fish," perhaps you can mention this story as a way of illustrating that fish feel pain and, like every other animal, deserve to be free from suffering.
Written by Jeff Mackey
A trio of PETA mermaids came ashore at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf to remind everyone that "seafood" comes from animals who feel pain and suffer when they're netted or impaled and pulled into an environment in which they can't breathe. After all, who would know better than these hybrid lovelies that fish, lobsters, and other sea-dwellers feel pain and want to live—just as the rest of us do.
What You Can Do
Cut the line on cruel seafood and make vegan fare the catch of the day instead!
It's not a fish tale—PETA's persuasive Freeda Fish paraded down a Pensacola pier asking hookers to quit the business.
While the hooking they were doing might not have been illegal, it certainly wasn't very nice to fish, so Freeda made sure that the fresh catch of this day was the insight that fish are friends, not food.
The Miami Marlins swing into the regular season in a new ballpark, opening tonight, featuring engraved pavement stones in the East Plaza, one of which reads:
As you may have detected, the first letters of the words in this message spell out "FishingHurts.com," a Web address that brings up a page on PETA's website about the cruelty involved in fishing and the reasons to give fish a break. Yep, it's a hidden message placed by PETA—after all, when animals' lives are on the line (pun intended), why limit attention-getting pranks about fish to April Fools' Day?
Marlins are a species of fish. And they, like all fish, are much more beautiful alive and swimming in the ocean than on a menu.
Fish (including marlins) feel pain, and they suffer when they're caught on a hook or in a net and dragged into an environment in which they can't breathe. It's much better to choose cruelty-free activities instead—like, say, watching a baseball game.
Written by PETA
The following was first published on the Huffington Post:
Catholic bishops in the U.K. want to reinstate year-round meatless Fridays, which sounds great to us, except for one thing: They still seem to be hung up on the idea that fish are swimming vegetables.
Like all other animals killed for food, fish are sentient beings who value their lives. Research on fish intelligence abounds, revealing that fish use tools, tell time, sing, and have impressive long-term memories and complex social structures. Fish also create cognitive maps that allow them to navigate through vast expanses of water.
More importantly, like other animals, fish feel pain. Renowned scientist Victoria Braithwaite noted, "[T]here is as much evidence that fish feel pain and suffer as there is for birds and mammals." Fish used for food are hooked, suffocated, crushed, impaled, cut open, and gutted, all while still conscious, and they feel every agonizing second.
Not eating animals is a smart, compassionate decision, regardless of whether those animals are furred, feathered, or finned.What better time than World Week for the Abolition of Meat to let fish off the hook?
Remember the scene from Finding Nemo when the shark is reminding himself, "Fish are friends, not food?" He was right, of course, but sometimes people forget that, which is why a PETA mermaid took to the streets of Providence, Rhode Island to remind people that giving up meat for Lent includes fish too.
Fish are intelligent, sensitive animals who have impressive long-term memories. They enjoy gentle contact and brush up against each other like cats who rub against people's legs. And they don't have to be covered in fur to experience pain and fear while being killed.
If you wouldn't hook a kitten, don't hook a fish. Instead, take a peek at our cuddly sea kittens, design a fin ball of your own, and let fish stay under the sea.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
You won't catch a male ninespine stickleback asking that question, according to a recent study conducted at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Researchers Dr. Mike Webster and Professor Kevin Laland found that while ninespine sticklebacks are known to be capable of sophisticated social learning behavior, including communicating with each other about where to find the best food sources, males who are preparing to breed will stop "asking for directions," so to speak, and go out foraging for food on their own.
The researchers believe that the fish do this because they need to find new food reserves that they can easily return to once their babies hatch, after which they will need to spend more time guarding and caring for them.
Says Dr. Webster, "Over the last few years, we have learned the surprising extent of the cognitive capabilities of many species of fish, and recent research has shown that rather than blindly copying others, fish are selective in when they copy and even who they learn from."
Sound like someone you know? No word on whether male ninespine sticklebacks also monopolize the remote and leave the toilet seat up.
Written by Alisa Mullins
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is the first of several colleges whose president has been asked by PETA to eliminate the school's fishing team. We know what you're asking yourself: "There are actually enough boys on several college campuses trying to compensate for their below-the-belt shortcomings to start fishing teams?" Of course, they must be compensating for something. After all, why else would they participate in a "sport" in which you handle a long rod and take out your aggressions on animals who are about a hundredth of your size—in this case by tearing through their mouths with hooks and watching them thrash about and slowly suffocate, just as you would if you were in their element?
Wondering how you measure up when it comes to rod vs. rod? Take this 10-second online poll to find out.
Written by Joe Taksel
Over the weekend, all the contestants in Milwaukee's Brew City Salmon Tournament got a little something to take home with them—even if they didn't manage to hook, suffocate, and kill any sea kittens.
PETA took to the skies over Lake Michigan with an airplane banner urging tournament participants to look at angling from a different angle by imagining if the shoe were on the other foot (fin?).
So maybe the message isn't about shoes and feet so much as about turning the other cheek? Of course, if it had been up to me, I'd have gone with a banner asking the question on everyone's mind: Do anglers have small rods?
To show the world that you have a big heart (among other organs) when it comes to fish, start here.
Just in time for the Discovery Channel's Shark Week comes news reminding us that sharks are not just predators but also often prey—for humans.
Brazil's Environmental Justice Institute has claimed that one seafood exporter has illegally killed nearly 300,000 sharks—just let that number sink in for a moment—in response to growing demand from an increasingly affluent middle class in China, where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy.
While sharks aren't particularly cuddly, that's beside the point. All animals feel fear and pain, and what kind of justification can there be for the hideous cruelty involved in pulling sharks from the water, cutting off their fins, and then throwing them back into the sea to spin to the bottom while they slowly bleed to death? While sharks' predatory nature may give nightmares to anyone who's watched Jaws, humans beat them by far when it comes to the number of victims each species kills for food. And killing sharks in huge numbers threatens the balance of the marine ecosystem.
To its credit, Discovery devotes resources during Shark Week to raising awareness of finning. In light of Hawaii's recent ban on the possession, sale, trade, and distribution of shark fins, perhaps the tide is turning (geddit?) in their favor, but sharks and other threatened aquatic animals still need help.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
Follow PETA on Twitter!