Sky-High Alerts Point to Surprising Victims of Fishing Industry: Seals

For Immediate Release:
January 26, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Three seals entangled in fishing nets have dived into Halifax and Dartmouth to remind everyone that many seals—including the gray seals who live in Nova Scotia—get caught in abandoned fishing gear each year. The new PETA billboards suggest that going vegan can save seals and other nontarget species killed by the fishing industry—in addition, of course, to the millions of fish who are pulled out of their ocean homes and who suffocate or are gutted alive on the decks of fishing boats.

“Just like any other bluenoser, seals want to be free to enjoy ‘Canada’s Ocean Playground,’” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges everyone to honor aquatic animals, large and small, as even fish have feelings, by simply choosing delicious vegan seafood instead.”

Approximately 640,000 tons of fishing gear—some of which can take 600 years to break down—are left in the ocean every year, and these “ghost nets” can become death traps for animals who become entangled in them, including seals, turtles, dolphins, and whales. As levels of discarded fishing gear increase, hundreds of thousands more marine animals will be killed.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—points out that many faux-fish options are available, including Gardein’s f’sh filets, Good Catch’s plant-based tuna, New Wave Foods’ plant-based shrimp, and Sophie’s Kitchen’s Vegan Crab Cakes.

PETA’s billboards are located at 1138 Queen St. in Halifax and at 221 Waverley Rd. and 393 Nova Scotia Trunk 7 in Dartmouth.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.