The Parliament:To help fight climate change, Europe needs to end overfishing

Walking by the European Parliament building in Brussels recently, you may have passed a striking picture of actress Gillian Anderson posing nude, covered only by a conger eel. This photography exhibition brought together 20 celebrities – each posing with a different marine species — from across Europe and the United States in calling on the European Union to finally stop overfishing.Our organisations, Fishlove and Our Fish, are behind the exhibition. Since 2009, Fishlove portraits have exposed the naked truth on how overfishing continues in European waters; and since 2017, Our Fish has called on EU governments to cease overfishing.

By ending overfishing, Europe would have a better chance at mitigating global warming. Fish are proven carbon engineers, constantly at work capturing and moving excess carbon from the atmosphere towards the deep sea where it is stored for thousands of years. It is the responsibility of governments around the world to give fish the space and protection they need to perform their vital role in helping us fight climate change.