‘Keep Hookers off the Pier!’ Proclaims PETA’s Flying Beach Banner

Manhattan Beach to Get Anti-Fishing Message as City Council Discusses Temporary Ban on Pier Fishing

For Immediate Release:
July 14, 2014

Contact:
Alexis Sadoti 202-483-7382

As the debate over pier fishing rages in the wake of an angler-provoked shark attack on a swimmer near Manhattan Beach’s pier, PETA will send beachgoers a message on Tuesday through a flying banner that reads, “Keep Hookers off the Pier! Ban Fishing.” The banner will cruise up and down the coast for four hours on Tuesday, just before the Manhattan Beach City Council meets to discuss whether to make the current 60-day ban on pier fishing permanent:

When:   Tuesday, July 15, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Where:  The plane will depart from Long Beach and make its way from Redondo Beach up to Zuma Beach. Call pilot Bob Dobry at 562-492-1018 for the plane’s current whereabouts.

“PETA’s banner will remind beach communities in Los Angeles County that the best way to protect coastal wildlife—and keep swimmers safe—is to ban pier fishing,” says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “People who live in a coastal community can and should call their city council representatives and demand that permanent bans be passed as soon as possible.”

PETA has called on the mayors of Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, Malibu, Redondo Beach, Port Hueneme, Avalon, and Long Beach to ban pier fishing permanently, pointing out that fishing can provoke shark attacks, as sharks who rarely attack without provocation can be attracted by blood and bait dangling in the water and hooked sharks naturally become agitated. Discarded fishing tackle also injures aquatic animals—and of course, all fish suffer when they’re impaled, pulled from the water, and left to suffocate in the open air.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.