The documentary Seaspiracy visible on Netflix in every country, has extensively shown the global damage of industrial fishing, to which billions of people turn every day to sustain their appetite, not realizing the immense damage we are causing to our terrestrial globe. Damage often irreparable, when it involves the extinction of species or the desertification of entire coastal or pelagic areas.

In this context, also ‘artisan’ and sport fishing cause very serious damage to marine biodiversity even at the local level and even in the so-called “marine protected areas”, precisely because they add damage to the harm caused by industrial fishing. All this without considering the damage caused by the bycatch of millions of subjects, including sharks and marine mammals, the same ones that are being sought to protect in order to maintain the integrity of the food chain, whose main weakening factor is precisely the approximately 8.3 billion human beings currently living on Earth. It is estimated that every minute FIVE MILLION fish are taken from the oceans around the world, while now more than 50% of industrial fish products come from aquatic farms, improperly called “aquaculture”, as if they were algae.

In addition, many people who call themselves ‘vegetarians’ habitually consume fish, as if the fish, in fact, were not animals. Yet, all the most recent research on cognitive ethology applied to aquatic life shows how fish and many invertebrates are anything but mere ‘biological machines’. On the contrary, they are subjects with sophisticated mental and communication skills, as shown in Jonathan Balcombe’s book “What a fish knows”. Many people, for example, do not consume octopus because they consider them intelligent and sensitive animals but they consume many other types of marine animals not believing that they can be as intelligent and sensitive.

Many divers see no contradiction in going to the ocean depths to observe the incredible variety of species and then feed on them once they come out of the water. Many freedivers even consider fishing to be a sport – just like hunting – and in many parts of the world it is not even forbidden to fish with SCUBA (fortunately in Europe this has not been allowed for decades). We no longer realize that just a few decades ago, all the seas in the world were teeming with life as much and more than the current so-called ‘marine reserves’.

With a population of over 8 billion people, the only real and concrete way to protect planetary biodiversity is to turn more and more to a plant-based diet, which by the way is also the most important element of protection of human health.

With this project we are not asking people – obviously not even divers – to become vegan overnight, but to start thinking seriously about the impact of their lifestyles, precisely on that biodiversity they say they want to protect.

Often the big changes start with the small gestures we make every day and feeding ourselves is certainly one of the activities that have a very significant impact on ecosystems. Every year, we raise and kill about 50 billion large and medium-sized animals on the planet.

The number of fish and invertebrates that we kill to feed is calculated in millions of tons, these are numbers that touch about three trillion individuals, something that is also difficult to imagine.

We are literally devouring the Earth and its resources with our teeth, with a lifestyle that according to many researchers from many disciplines, is simply not sustainable in medium and long term. Industrial fishing is one of the most dangerous labor activities in the world and it’s claiming around 25.000-100.000 human lives every year, according to the FISH Safety Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts.

VEGAN DIVERS should take shape – initially in Italy – as a non-profit cultural association, and then develop – we hope – also in other countries, thanks to the Web and the contacts we are creating between various associative and cultural realities. The project is aimed at SCUBA divers as well as free divers and all those who want to take part in various capacities, even as simple sympathizers.

If you are interested in the project, fill out the form below specifying your field of interest and your possible willingness to collaborate. In this first phase we are looking for people who can deal with the development of the website, the connected social media (especially Instagram and Youtube), the collection of information and research in the biological, ecological, ethological and zooanthropological fields in reference to aquatic life. We are also looking for photographers and videographers to support cultural initiatives through the creation of audiovisual material to be made available for the Website, workshops and conferences, without forgetting the practical side of conducting diving activities and diving trips in the most fascinating places Earth, to increasingly document aquatic life, from which we all – let’s not forget it – descend.

Those who want, will can also participate as founders, supporters or activists of the Association (registration fees will be provided for these roles in the future). Those who want to participate as founders and supporters of the Association will naturally have to declare that they are vegan or vegetarian. Ordinary members or supporters will not be obliged to such a declaration.

Filling out this preliminary declaration of interest does not imply any formal commitment to join the association or to pay money. You will be contacted in the future, via Email, to be informed about the development of the project.