World Day for the End of Fishing and Fish Farming – why fish matter and what we can do to help

Our global oceans are being devastated by our appetite for fish. Many species, that were once abundant, have been brought to the verge of collapse by the fishing industry.

The enormous scale of loss, numbering in the trillions each year, systematically destroys ecosystems – the suffering seemingly out of control.

Many fish, if they survive the catching process, are gutted alive or left to suffocate on deck. As sentient animals, their suffering is immense.

The policing of the industry, especially across the vast expanses of ocean has proven to be ineffective with illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities, that disregard national, regional and global fisheries regulations compounding the threats.

Alongside the targeted fish, the industry’s bycatch also wreaks a devastating toll on whales, dolphins, porpoises, sharks, turtles, seabirds and a myriad other unsuspecting marine animals. Mostly perishing in nets or on hooks, those animals still alive, after being dragged onboard and thrown back into the sea, are often mortally wounded – doomed to suffer a slow, painful fate.