Jersey City Plastic Straw Debate Nets Vegan Plea from PETA: ‘Fishing Gear Kills Many More Turtles’

For Immediate Release:
June 4, 2025

Contact:
Allyson Spellman 202-483-7382

Ahead of World Ocean Day (June 8) and on the heels of Jersey City lawmakers’ 2024 proposal to ban the use of plastic straws, PETA is wading into the discourse with a new campaign proclaiming that, as President Trump recently pointed out, straw bans just don’t hold water when it comes to protecting the ocean—because discarded fishing gear poses a far greater threat to marine life. The inconvenient truth—placed on bus shelters near fish markets and restaurants that serve sea life throughout the city—reminds viewers that saving the turtles, whales, and all other aquatic animals is as simple as going vegan.

“The fishing industry has littered the ocean with nets, and marine animals will continue to suffer and die in droves so long as humans insist on eating fish,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages everyone sipping out of paper straws and snipping six-pack rings to stand up for all sea life by going vegan.”

Every year, the fishing industry leaves behind a trail of victims that includes millions of birds, turtles, and other animals who are killed or grievously injured after swallowing hooks or becoming entangled in nets or fishing line. Fishing is also abysmally cruel to its intended victims: More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. Fish feel pain as acutely as mammals do, have long-term memories, and sing underwater—yet they’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, or gutted on the decks of fishing boats, all while conscious.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals—including aquatic ones—every year, dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint, and avoids ingesting the many toxic chemicals found in the flesh of fish, including mercury, lead, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those looking to make the switch.

PETA’s ad appears on ten bus shelters throughout Jersey City near various fish markets and restaurants that serve sea life.

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