Vandalism, Complaints: New PETA Anti-Fishing Campaign Makes Waves

For Immediate Release:
June 14, 2023

Contact:
Brittney Williams 202-483-7382

Reality might bite a little too hard for some of Narragansett’s fishing apologists: A new PETA campaign featuring facts about the damage caused by the fishing industry was removed from a bus shelter, and another one was vandalized. The messages, which PETA placed near local seafood restaurants and beaches, inform passersby that fish aren’t the only victims of the fishing industry—millions of other animals also die on its hooks and in its nets every year.

“Dolphins, sea turtles, birds, sharks, and other animals are all collateral damage to fishers and big trawlers alike,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA urges conscientious consumers to leave all animals off their plates, for the sake of animals and the planet.”

PETA points out that “bycatch”—“nontarget” marine animals who are accidentally caught while fishing—is one of the biggest threats to marine biodiversity worldwide and has resulted in widespread species extinction, habitat destruction, and irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems.

The ads appear at the following bus shelters: Sand Hill Cove Road at Roger Wheeler State Beach near Champlin’s Seafood, Boston Neck Road at Penobscot Trail near The Coastal Cabin Restaurant, Boston Neck Road north of Conanicut Road in front of Linda’s Diner and steps away from Twin Willows, and Beach Street at the South Pavilion on Narragansett Town Beach near the Coast Guard House.

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 Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.