About 20 members of Ocean Rebellion, an offshoot of the Extinction Rebellion movement, protested outside the European Commission headquarters on Sunday to highlight 2022 fishing quotas, expected to be set by European fishing ministers meeting on 12-13 December in Brussels.
During the staged action, men in suits, with their heads entirely covered by fake fishheads and carrying briefcases with messages such as “Ecocide” written on them, walked in a sea of false blood and dead fish. Activists wearing yellow oilskins surrounded them, carrying placards and banners with slogans such as “If the sea dies, we die with it” and “No more fish in the sea.”
The group cleaned up the area after their action.
The aim of the protest was to convey the idea that fishing quotas that go up each year are non-compliant with scientists’ recommendations.
Ocean Rebellion is particularly worried by overfishing in the Mediterranean and is calling for all subsidies given to industrial fishing to be scrapped and used to support fishermen in small local structures.
“Industrial fishing exhausts the oceans and destroys marine ecosystems, at a time when a large portion of the land animal population has already been destroyed,” one participant said. “It’s high time overfishing was stopped.”
