New ‘Billboard Boat’ Ad Warns Against Fishing and Eating Fish

PETA’s Vegan Billboard to Ask Beachgoers Along Miami Shoreline to See Fish as Individuals

For Immediate Release:
August 13, 2020

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Miami beaches are crowded, so there will be lots of eyes on PETA’s edgy new ad featuring a fish and the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. Go Vegan,” which is set to cruise along the coast tomorrow, Friday, August 14, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on a “billboard boat.”

“It may be inconvenient to acknowledge it, but just like humans, fish feel pain—hooks hurt and nets suffocate—and these days, no one needs to kill to eat,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “The biggest predator in the sea is the one who steps out of it and into a seafood restaurant.”

Most fish commonly served in restaurants and sold in supermarkets are caught using huge—sometimes miles-long—commercial fishing nets that stretch across ocean floors and also trap animals the industry calls “trash catch,” such as dolphins, turtles, and seals. When hauled up from the ocean, fish—who are highly sensitive to pain—are often crushed to death and their eyeballs bulge out of their heads because of the pressure change caused by suddenly surfacing. Others are gutted alive.

And individual fishing is no better: Every year, millions of birds, turtles, and other animals sustain debilitating injuries after swallowing fish hooks or becoming entangled in fishing line. Wildlife rehabilitators say that discarded fishing tackle is one of the greatest threats to aquatic animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. The group offers free vegan starter kits and encourages everyone to try healthy, humane vegan meals such as Gardein’s delicious Golden Fishless Filets.

PETA’s ad will run on a two-minute loop along with eight other ads. 

For more information, please visit PETA.org.