This is a ‘Funeral for the Fish’ – A mourning for our dying seas and oceans. A combination of overfishing, plastic pollution and bio-diversity loss due to climate change are threatening our seas. The marine environment is struggling to sustain viable populations of all fish, stocks are depleted and many species are facing extinction. Coral reefs are dying due to rising sea temperatures and micro plastics have entered our food chain.
Fishing fleets are two to three times larger than our oceans can sustainably support. The use of modern techniques to facilitate harvesting, transport and storage have accelerated this trend and many marine species have been decimated to the point of extinction.
“We are in a climate crisis and facing ecological collapse- the time for denial and inaction is over. Today in Weymouth Extinction Rebellion are acting for the future of every single person here at the Seafood Festival, in Dorset, the UK and the world. We are here to ‘Tell the Truth’ about marine exploitation and species extinction, a huge part of a wider global emergency”
Emma Smart, Marine Biologist and Extinction Rebellion activist.
The exponential growth in human population has led to an overexploitation of the marine environment to meet growing demand for food. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) nearly 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks are now fully exploited, overexploited, depleted or in a state of collapse. We shouldn’t be celebrating, we should be mourning.
“We are not here to spoil people’s fun, criticise their lifestyles or threaten their livelihoods, quite the opposite. Extinction Rebellion are acting to protect the future for friends and families to enjoy festivals and to safeguard the diminishing resources that local and global fishing communities rely on”
Etienne Stott, Olympic Gold Medalist and Extinction Rebellion Member
Placards containing hard hitting scientific fact prompted festival goers to contemplate the impact of where their food comes from and how it is sourced.
- Nearly 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks are now fully exploited, overexploited, depleted or in a state of collapse.
- Every year, 640,000 tonnes of abandoned ‘ghost fishing gear’ damages and kills millions of marine animals.
- In the UK small fishing boats, like we have in Weymouth, make up 79% of the fleet but are only entitled to 2% of the overall catch.
Extinction Rebellion would like to see a just transition from exploitative and destructive fishing industries here in our UK waters that would ensure our local fishermen can continue with more sustainable fishing practice and keep historic traditions alive. Sadly, the impact of larger, more destructive practice has pushed fish populations to the brink of extinction and now the only answer is to simply stop fishing.
“We’re aware that Weymouth has a historical link with the sea but it’s time to see the oceans in a new light: to treat fish not as seafood but as wildlife; not as stocks but as populations; and marine food webs not as fisheries but as ecosystems. Ecosystems that we’re also part of – the whole system needs to radically change. If the seas die, we die – that’s undeniable science”
Andy Smith, Extinction Rebellion activist
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