Fish Save chapters around the world hold vigils at aquaculture farms, fish markets, supermarkets and sites of marine life exploitation such as aquariums and zoos.

Fish are intelligent, sentient beings who want to live. They are individuals with unique personalities, family and friends. They are the most exploited animals on the planet, and with numbers running into the trillions, more fish are killed by humans each year than all other animals combined.

When fish are dragged from the oceans in giant nets, their eyes pop out of their heads due to the change in pressure and many suffocate as they are crushed amongst millions of others. Those who survive the nets are cut open while they are still alive and have their organs ripped from their bodies.

Meanwhile fish born on factory farms live a life of misery and suffering in filthy cramped conditions. They can suffer from such high levels of stress and depression that they essentially give up on life. Up to 25% will float lifelessly at the top of their tanks as they just can’t cope anymore. The only escape from their miserable lives is a violent painful death.

Myth Busting

• Fish are quick learners, with strong memories. Goldfish, who can live up to 40 years, can recall exact colors and locations of specific feeding tubes up to a year after exposure. In many areas their cognitive powers match or exceed those of non-human primates.
• Fish feel pain when a hook goes through their mouth in the same way that a human would. Once caught, fish usually suffocate to death which can take several minutes. Even if released, fish often die of infection to their mouths or emotional trauma.
• Fish have sophisticated social lives and communication methods, including vibrating their swim bladders, grinding their teeth, rubbing their bones together, jiggling their gill covers and even farting. Pheromones and visual signals also help fish convey messages to each other.  Electric fish are even able to emit personal identification wave signals to communicate, courting males and females synchronize their signals into a type of duet, while competing males take turns issuing their pulses, as though they are arguing.

What you can do

• Start a Fish Save chapter in your city.
• Take part in our Watch Seaspiracy campaign.
• Sign our petition and send an email to call on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the UK to stop the NHS prescribing fishing as an alternative to antidepressant and anxiety medication and instead adopt alternatives which are kind to others and the planet