BRUSSELS - 13 OCTOBER 2025 – On the first day of EU Ocean Week, which runs from 13 to 19 October 2025, a performer from Ocean Rebellion poses as a dead sailor outside the European Parliament in Brussels to highlight the combined threats industrial tuna fisheries pose to both human life and marine biodiversity, including juvenile yellowfin tuna, sharks, turtles and cetaceans.

According to Ocean Rebellion, other sailors nearby sang the popular French song ‘Il Était un Petit Navire’ as smartly dressed Ocean Rebellion performers wearing yellowfin tuna heads stared into space confusing and enchanting passersby and European Union bureaucrats.

Ocean Rebellion are calling on the European Parliament to adopt a resolution ‘on the role of social, economic and environmental standards in safeguarding fair competition for all aquatic food products and improving food security’, in which the rapporteur, Portuguese MEP Paulo Do Nascimento Cabral: “Emphasises the crucial role of labour rights, the employment of women and young people, fair wages and a safe working environment in ensuring fair and ethical practices in fisheries” and “Stresses that innovation is crucial to develop sustainable fishing practices and gear, minimising the environmental impact, reducing fuel consumption and bycatches”.

Sebastian Everding, a German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) said, “Industrial tuna fishing symbolizes a system that prioritizes profit over life - both the lives of people on board and the life in the ocean. If we truly want sustainable seas, we must end exploitation in all its forms! Our oceans are vital, complex ecosystems that harbor countless, some still undiscovered species. Protecting them means preserving the very foundation of all life on this planet.”