Extinction Rebellion hold funeral for fish at Seafood Festival in Weymouth
Visitors to the Dorset Seafood Festival were met by funeral mourners with coffin shaped placards
Extinction Rebellion staged a protest on Weymouth seafront over the weekend.
It was aimed at visitors to the Dorset Seafood Festival.
Funeral mourners carrying coffin shaped placards were raising awareness of overfishing in our seas and the threat of plastic pollution.
Emma Smart, Marine Biologist and Extinction Rebellion activist said:
" We are in a climate crisis and facing ecological collapse, the time for denial and inaction is over. Today in Weymouth Extinction Rebellion are acting for the future of every single person here at the Seafood Festival, in Dorset, the UK and the world. We are here to ‘Tell the Truth’ about marine exploitation and species extinction, a huge part of a wider global emergency."
Etienne Stott, Olympic Gold Medalist and Extinction Rebellion Member said:
" We are not here to spoil people’s fun, criticise their lifestyles or threaten their livelihoods, quite the opposite. Extinction Rebellion are acting to protect the future for friends and families to enjoy festivals and to safeguard the diminishing resources that local and global fishing communities rely on.”
Extinction Rebellion say they would like to see a "just transition from exploitative and destructive fishing industries here in our UK waters that would ensure our local fishermen can continue with more sustainable fishing practice and keep historic traditions alive. They say the impact of larger, more destructive practice has pushed fish populations to the brink of extinction and now the only answer is to simply stop fishing.
Andy Smith, Extinction Rebellion activist said:
" We’re aware that Weymouth has a historical link with the sea but it’s time to see the oceans in a new light: to treat fish not as seafood but as wildlife; not as stocks but as populations; and marine food webs not as fisheries but as ecosystems. Ecosystems that we’re also part of - the whole system needs to radically change. If the seas die, we die - that’s undeniable science."