Fishlove – Famous People Posing With Fish

Fishlove is a series of striking and iconic photographs of famous people with fish which has uniquely succeeded in getting the subject of over-fishing and the need for marine conservation onto the front covers of the global media.

Fishlove wants to end to over-fishing in Europe by 2015 so that fish stocks can recover to above levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield by 2020.

Frank Grimes – Whelks © Alan Gelati / Fishlove

A new collection of FISHLOVE images – the radical and iconic photographic project which is spearheading the campaign to end over-fishing in Europe – are to be premiered at the baudoin lebon gallery in Paris on the 28th May 2013.

A photograph of French actress Melanie Laurent will be among those shown.

The photographs, taken by Italian fashion photographer Alan Gelati, join those of British fashion photographer Rankin which have caused a media sensation across the globe.

Anna Skellern – Pollock © Alan Gelati / Fishlove

Emilia Fox – Cuttle Fish © Rankin / Fishlove

As part of the campaign, renowned French portraitist Denis Rouvre will be photographing French celebrities on 30th May in Paris.

French actress Melanie Laurent’s photograph will be shown for the first time alongside celebrities from the world of film, stage, sport and business, all of whom have had their portraits taken with fish. Melanie will be attending the launch on the 29th.

“The striking photographs are acting as a wake-up call to the world: end over-fishing, or our seas will be without fish within a generation,” says Nicholas Röhl, co-owner of Moshimo restaurant in Brighton, England, who founded the project with actress Greta Scacchi in 2009 in response to the crisis of collapsing fish stocks in our seas.

Tom Aikens – Wolf Fish © Rankin / Fishlove

Single-handedly, Fishlove has managed to do what nothing else has: to put the issue of fish conservation on the front covers of newspapers and magazines across the world.

In one week alone, the Fishlove website, www.fishlove.co.uk, attracted 1.6 million hits.“The images are so unusual because we’re not used to seeing fish as creatures that need our love, as creatures that we need to protect; we’re more used to seeing fish as food,” Nicholas says.

Giovanni Soldini – Blue Shark © Alan Gelati / Fishlove

Jerry Hall & Lizzy Jagger – Scorpion Fish © Rankin / Fishlove

Melanie Laurent explains why she agreed to have her portrait taken: “The fishing crisis is quite complex and difficult for people to understand, but this was so simple: it said everything that anyone needed to know about the fishing crisis: if we don’t start protecting fish, they will die out,” she says.

Melanie Laurent – Brown Crab © Alan Gelati / Fishlove

Fishlove is now working urgently to aid campaign groups such as OCEAN2012 to persuade the European governments to support the reforms of the Common Fisheries Policy voted by the European Parliament in December, which seek to end end overfishing by 2015, with a view to recovering and maintaining European fish stocks above levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by 2020. France is considered instrumental in the negotiations to secure a better future for fish.

“Fishlove is campaigning for sustainable fishing so that fishing communities will be able to fish for generations to come,” says Röhl.

Many of the fish used in the Fishlove images were supplied by Direct Seafoods Colchester. “Our aim at Direct Seafoods is to meet the needs of our customers today whilst protecting our natural resources for tomorrow,” says Iain Webb

Fishlove is produced by Nicholas Röhl, co-owner of Brighton Japanese Restaurant MOSHIMO and actress Greta Scacchi.

Steve McRae – Ling © Rankin / Fishlove

Simon Callow – Brill © Alan Gelati / Fishlove

FISH FACTS

Over 25 years, short-term economic interest and political expediency has landed European fisheries in deep crisis.

Continuous overfishing has resulted in less-productive fisheries with a gradual loss of jobs and livelihoods.

Fewer and smaller fish are being caught, with greater effort required to find them, which often results in the targeting of other, sometimes even more vulnerable, species.

North Sea cod reach spawning age at around four years old. The average age of cod caught in the North Sea is 1.6 years.

Scientific estimates suggest that 93 percent of North Sea cod are caught before they can reproduce.

Currently, 63 percent of fish stocks in the Atlantic are over fished.

82 percent of fish stocks in the Mediterranean are over fished.

Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the biggest and fastest ocean predators is facing the threat of commercial extinction through overfishing.

The North Sea has been one of the richest fishing grounds in the world but catches have fallen from 3.5 million tonnes a year in 1995 to less than 1.5 million tonnes in 2007.

The EU fleet is estimated to have the capacity to fish two to three times the sustainable level.

The EU has enormous influence on global fisheries management and with this comes considerable responsibility. Its fleet is the third biggest globally and operates in every ocean of the world.

The EU is the largest importer of fisheries products, importing almost 50 percent of its fish.

The EU could be championing sustainable practice at home and abroad. Instead, it is exporting overfishing, frequently to distant coastal communities that rely on fish for food and income.

The 2012 Common Fisheries Policy reform provides an opportunity to make European fisheries economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

There is a need to finally end overfishing and destructive fishing practices in order to deliver fair and equitable use of resources for future generations.

Dakota Blue Richards Conger Eel  © Rankin / Fishlove

All Images © Fishlove