March 17, 2016
COWNOSE RAYS EXONERATED!
PLANT PROTEIN: THE WAY OF THE FUTURE
HUMAN HEALTH CONCERNS
FISH FEEL’S SOCIAL MEDIA ADVANCEMENTS
INTERVIEWS & EVENTS
COMPASSION IS THE FASHION
“THIS WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY”
COWNOSE RAYS EXONERATED!
 Cownose rays have long been scapegoated for decreases in oyster populations that are actually due to overcollection for human consumption, pollution, and disease. These gentle, graceful animals are the victims of vicious and ecologically reckless killing contests. Gliding along the water’s surface the rays, many of whom are pregnant, are easy targets for bowfishers who ride right up on them, shoot them with arrows, impale them, mercilessly beat them, and pile them up to suffocate. Afterwards their bodies are dumped back into the water.
The media attention and public outcry generated by the investigation we jointly conducted with SHARK of these massacres prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Chesapeake Bay office to organize a scientific workshop about the rays. The workshop report and a new scientific paper explain that oysters are, in fact, not a significant part of the rays’ diet. They also warn that, because cownose rays take years to reach maturity and females only have a single pup each year, their population is very vulnerable to predation. Please sign and share the petition demanding an end to the savagery against these gentle, Bay natives. A second petition has recently been initiated. Let’s keep the pressure on!
PLANT PROTEIN: THE WAY OF THE FUTURE
Food Navigator, a publication aimed at decision-makers in food and beverage industries, reports "American’s demand for protein...is evolving to focus more on plantbased options.” It cites a new report from the consumer research firm Packaged Facts, which also found that "half of Americans now believe plants are the best source of protein.” Attributing it to health, environmental, animal welfare, and economic concerns, the report concludes: “on a global basis, alternative protein sources will grow faster than meat and seafood, which currently dominate but will begin to wane in coming decades.” It can’t happen too soon!
HUMAN HEALTH CONCERNS
The Spring 2016 issue of Pathways, a quarterly journal and resource guide for the Washington [D.C.] area, features “Fish is a Health Hazard,” and “Health Concerns of Fish Oil & Omega-3” by Fish Feel’s Howard Edelstein and Cam MacQueen, in its Cultivating Compassion section. Our human health fact sheet is now available online.
FISH FEEL’S SOCIAL MEDIA ADVANCEMENTS
 Fish Feel is delighted to announce our newly redesigned website. We hope you will visit the site and avail yourself of its features, including ways to Take Action. If you’d like to share how you came to care about fishes, we welcome you to do so on Your Page. We are so grateful to the very talented Laura Moretti for redesigning the site, and to Gil Michaels’s Animal Guardians for sponsoring her work. Laura now joins the Fish Feel team as a contributor.
We’d like to take this opportunity to also thank Kelly Levenda for her phenomenal administration of Fish Feel’s Twitter account. Thank you, Kelly, for doing such terrific work! Our Facebook page is also very dynamic, and is now nearing 5,000 Likes.
Fish Feel is honored to have been invited to partner with our colleagues at Fins and Fluke, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to educating the public about ocean conservation, marine life and captive cetaceans.”
INTERVIEWS & EVENTS
Fish Feel founder, Mary Finelli, was again selected to participate in the second Live Vegan Vibrantly summit. Also in February, Mary was a guest on Stony Brook University’s radio (WUSB) program, Green Inside and Out, hosted by Beth Fiteni. You can now catch the interview online.
We are looking forward to again participating in the Veggie Pride Parade to be held on April 3 rd in New York City. Mary will be among the featured speakers of this joyful, affirming event. Fish Feel will also be tabling in April at the Frederick Vegout and the Baltimore Vegfest.
COMPASSION IS THE FASHION
 Wear your support: promote vegan seafood while helping support Fish Feel! Tofuna Fysh, maker of vegan ‘tuna’ salad and fysh sauce (a winner of Food & Wine Magazine's new vegan products taste test), is offering “Be nice, Fysh not fish” t-shirts, hoodies and tanks in various colors, with 15% of all proceeds donated to Fish Feel. Check `em out! Order by March 24 th.
A new clothing label, Fish are Friends features images of aquatic animals on fair trade organic cotton. A portion of every sale will be donated to an aquatic animal advocacy organization.
Bycatch by Hand is “an art/couture collaborative comment on bycatch and the fishing industry: [Dana] Ellyn and [Lucy] Tammam are using the concept of the inhabitants of the sea as their starting point to create their own pieces, focusing on the modern disastrous phenomenon of bycatch and its devastating effect on the planet." Two fashion shows will be held in April, one in D.C. and one in L.A.
“THIS WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY”
Enjoy this sublime video clip, a favorite on the Fish Feel Facebook page. “We thought [this] would prove that when it comes to communication, anything is possible.”
|
