Why are marine conservation organisations encouraging people to eat ocean wildlife?
The Good Fish Guide, the Sustainable Seafood Guide, Seafood Watch, most well-known marine conservation organisations have a site dedicated to promoting the consumption of the very animals they purport to conserve. Think of it like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) having a Good/Sustainable (to eat) Bird Guide, and you’ll start to envisage why this is a problem.
Fish are so inextricably associated with food that even the people charged with their protection can’t separate their exploitation from their conservation.
Blue Planet Society recognised this problem years ago. We ran a campaign on social media called #Wildlife4Sale and started the hashtag #FishAreWildlifeToo.
In the UK, cod, haddock, mackerel and tuna are the only wild animals most people will ever eat. We catch so many of these fish that we’re pushing them to the brink of extinction with disastrous consequences for the marine environment.
If we’re to properly protect the world’s ocean it’s time to think differently. We must start recognising fish as marine wildlife, not food.
That’s why we’ve launched the #FishAreWildlife campaign featuring these four iconic but overexploited fish species. Please support our campaign and spread awareness with this ‘Fish Are Wildlife’ print, available on certified organic cotton https://blueplanetsociety.teemill.com/
