‘Did Your Lobster Kill a Whale?’ Local Ferry Carries PETA’s Wake-Up Call for Day-Trippers

For Immediate Release:
May 8, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Martha’s Vineyard –

In time for peak whale-watching season, PETA has blanketed the ferry between Martha’s Vineyard and Woods Hole with a pointed message reminding everyone of the inconvenient truth about who’s responsible for the plummeting numbers of North Atlantic right whales: anyone who eats crustaceans or other sea animals. The ferry blitz follows reports of a right whale spotted off New England entangled in rope in April as well as the death of a 3-year-old right whale who had washed up on Joseph Sylvia State Beach in January with a rope deeply embedded in her tail that federal officials determined came from gear traced to Maine’s lobster industry. She is believed to have been the eighth member of her family to have become entangled in fishing gear.

Color poster with images of a whale and a lobster. Text reads "Did your lobster kill a whale? North Atlantic right whales are dying in lobster gear. Go Vegan"

“The lobsters and fish who are boiled or broiled alive aren’t the only victims of the environmentally disastrous fishing industry,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges anyone disturbed by the thought of whales dying in lobster gear to choose vegan and has free vegan starter kits to make the transition easy.”

North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered, with an estimated 360 individuals remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females—and more than 85% of the population is estimated to have become entangled in fishing gear at least once. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, entanglements in gear and vessel strikes are the primary causes of premature deaths in the species. PETA notes that death due to gear entanglement is also one of the biggest threats to more than 90 of the world’s cetacean species and that abandoned fishing gear kills 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises annually.

PETA’s message will appear in six locations on the second deck of the ferry between Martha’s Vineyard and Woods Hole through July 30.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.