The war on straws
Announcement posted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia 30 Jul 2018
Dear Editor,
The war on straws seems to be going well, with McDonald's announcing that they will phase out the use of plastic straws by 2020. But, if you are concerned with keeping animals in the ocean safe, don't just look to your drinking straw—look to your dinner plate. In fact, eating fish does far more harm to our oceans than sipping your drink through a straw ever will.
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear — otherwise known as 'ghost gear' — is a problem that spells catastrophe for marine life. At least 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear are added to our oceans every year, killing and mutilating millions of marine animals— including endangered whales, seals and turtles. Swallowing plastic remnants from ghost gear leads to malnutrition, digestive blockages and death.
In the Pacific Ocean, there is a floating patch of garbage twice the size of France and weighing roughly 88,000 tons. While this enormous area, like our oceans at large, is full of plastic, scientists estimate that 46 percent of the mass of the garbage patch comes from fishing nets alone. And other types of fishing gear account for much of the rest.
So, while many people are stocking up on cloth shopping bags and signing petitions to ban single-use plastic straws to save the oceans, those who fish (or eat fish) need to re-examine their personal choices too. It's simple: Less fishing means less fishing gear—abandoned or otherwise.
Clearly, fishing is hazardous to the environment. But it’s also horrifically cruel. Commercial fishing kills hundreds of billions of animals worldwide every year—far more than any other industry. Fish are intelligent, complex animals but, when caught, they are impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted, all while conscious.
You can't eat fish and call yourself an environmentalist.
Desmond Bellamy
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA Australia
PO Box 2352
Byron Bay NSW 2481
0411 577 416
DesmondB@PETA.org.au
The war on straws seems to be going well, with McDonald's announcing that they will phase out the use of plastic straws by 2020. But, if you are concerned with keeping animals in the ocean safe, don't just look to your drinking straw—look to your dinner plate. In fact, eating fish does far more harm to our oceans than sipping your drink through a straw ever will.
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear — otherwise known as 'ghost gear' — is a problem that spells catastrophe for marine life. At least 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear are added to our oceans every year, killing and mutilating millions of marine animals— including endangered whales, seals and turtles. Swallowing plastic remnants from ghost gear leads to malnutrition, digestive blockages and death.
In the Pacific Ocean, there is a floating patch of garbage twice the size of France and weighing roughly 88,000 tons. While this enormous area, like our oceans at large, is full of plastic, scientists estimate that 46 percent of the mass of the garbage patch comes from fishing nets alone. And other types of fishing gear account for much of the rest.
So, while many people are stocking up on cloth shopping bags and signing petitions to ban single-use plastic straws to save the oceans, those who fish (or eat fish) need to re-examine their personal choices too. It's simple: Less fishing means less fishing gear—abandoned or otherwise.
Clearly, fishing is hazardous to the environment. But it’s also horrifically cruel. Commercial fishing kills hundreds of billions of animals worldwide every year—far more than any other industry. Fish are intelligent, complex animals but, when caught, they are impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted, all while conscious.
You can't eat fish and call yourself an environmentalist.
Desmond Bellamy
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA Australia
PO Box 2352
Byron Bay NSW 2481
0411 577 416
DesmondB@PETA.org.au