Friends of the Chicago River Nab PETA’s First-Ever Award for…Fishing? For Trash, Of Course!

For Immediate Release:
May 16, 2025

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Friends of the Chicago River’s trash fishing expeditions have been tidying up the city’s waterways for over 33 years, leading to a legacy—and now, the kind endeavor has earned the group PETA’s inaugural Hooked on Clean Waters Award.

The group’s annual Chicago River Day cleanup, which first began in 1992, has become a cherished community event, bringing in a record-breaking 2,700 volunteers during this year’s gathering on May 10. Participants covered 92 sites along the Chicago and Calumet rivers and reported a decrease in large-scale trash dumping, healthier water, and a drastic boom in biodiversity—observing beavers, river otters, turtles, and more than 80 species of fish.

“Friends of the Chicago River’s efforts to rid the waterways of trash and debris have also made them a true friend to wildlife in the Windy City,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages everyone to follow their lead and get up to some good, clean fun that makes the world a better place for all of its inhabitants.”

Every year, millions of birds, fish, turtles, and other animals are sickened, injured, or killed due to trash in waterways—with discarded fishing gear posing a particularly grave threat, as wildlife can easily become ensnared in abandoned line or nets. Those looking to give aquatic animals a helping hand can get their own Trash Fishing Provisions Kit in the PETA Shop, while anyone ready to take the plunge and go vegan for the animals, the environment, or their own health can find a free vegan starter kit on PETA’s website.

Friends of the Chicago River will receive a framed certificate and a box of vegan chocolates from PETA.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.