Tampa Nets Vegan Fish Giveaway and a Whale of a Warning From PETA

For Immediate Release:
October 2, 2023

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

As the fishing industry seeks to promote October as National Seafood Month, PETA supporters will hand out free Loving Hut vegan fish fillets just down the road from a new message that’s making waves by compelling commuters to consider the leviathan-sized hidden costs of their fish dinners. The image points out that fish aren’t the only victims of the fishing industry, as millions of other animals, including whales, turtles, seals, and dolphins—euphemistically known as “bycatch”—also die on its hooks, in its nets, and in its abandoned and discarded gear every year.

When:    Wednesday, October 4, 4:30 p.m.

Where:    Outside Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, 3501 W. San Jose St., Tampa

“Dolphins, turtles, sea birds, sharks, whales, and other animals are simply viewed as collateral damage to fishing trawlers and even anglers,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges conscientious consumers who care about animals to leave fish off their plates, for everyone’s sake.”

PETA notes that the fishing industry’s unintentional kills are one of the biggest threats to marine biodiversity worldwide and have resulted in widespread species extinction, habitat destruction, and irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems. The fishing industry is also terribly cruel to its intended victims: More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. Fish feel pain as acutely as mammals do, have long-term memories, and sing underwater—yet they’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, dropped into pots of boiling water, or cut open and gutted, all while conscious.

PETA’s message appears on bus shelters in Tampa on S. Dale Mabry Highway (U.S. 92) near Inman Avenue and on W. Kennedy Boulevard at Church Avenue and in Brandon on Causeway Boulevard at Marsh Harbor Way and on Providence Road near Windingwood Avenue. Each location is just a stone’s throw from a Bonefish Grill restaurant, whose headquarters is in Tampa.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a free vegan starter kit to help people get hooked on vegan food. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.