Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion wore fake fish heads to demand the end of industrial fishing during the United Nations Ocean conference in Portugal. Protesters held dead fish and briefcases reading ‘war on fish’, ‘ecocide’ and ‘end overfishing’.
The Ocean conference takes place in Lisbon this week, with around 7,000 people attending, from heads of state to environmental activists.
“We need to end all industrial fishing, particularly boat controlling, but we need to end this now. The oceans are empty. The seas are dying and we need an appropriate urgency that we are not seeing from our leaders,” climate activist Rob Higgs said.
Seventy percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, which produces over half of the planet’s oxygen and absorbs 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. But climate change and plastic pollution are destroying oceans and killing animals.
“Since I was born, 50% of ocean life has died, and if we don’t, if the people who have the power to act now don’t, then that’s going to continue. We are losing coral at a ridiculous rate, ocean degradation is huge,” climate activist Sophie Miller told news agency Reuters.