What is ‘Pisces Promo’?

In astrology, the sign of the fish prevails from February 19 to March 20—also known as Pisces season. Symbolized by two fishes swimming in opposite directions, Pisces represents empathy and intuition. This Pisces season, PETA invites everyone (regardless of their zodiac sign!) to celebrate ‘Pisces Promo‘. Empathize with fish by not eating them, supporting companies that test on animals (including fish), or buying them as “pets.”

Practicing active compassion is key while the sun is in Pisces. One simple, active way to help fish and other animals right now is by going vegan—and helping others do so as well.

Welcome New Habits

Have a vegan seafood date with friends. Most sushi restaurants already offer tasty vegan staples, like cucumber and avocado rolls, veggie tempura, edamame, and seaweed salad. Encourage your local sushi spots to spice it up by adding more vegan dishes to the menu. If there are any restaurants offering vegan seafood in your area, now is the time to try one out—it might even become your new go-to spot.

Dive In to Fish-Friendly Fare

Restaurants across the U.S. are celebrating Pisces season with special vegan seafood dishes. The Cider Press Café in St. Petersburg, Florida, offers General Tso’s Shrimp with veggie rice; Kale My Name in Chicago is serving up Smoked Jackfruit Lox; and at Dina’s Vegan Deli & Desserts in Riviera Beach, Florida, you can enjoy a tasty Toona Hoagie. Mama’s Cafe Baci in Hackettstown, New Jersey, is serving scallops made from mushrooms; Mama’s International Tamales in Los Angeles offers vegan ceviche and fish tacos; and at Manna Kitchen in Lisle, Illinois, you can stuff yourself with cruelty-free crab cakes!

Spread Compassion

Share the love for ethical food by asking local restaurants to add vegan seafood options to their menus: Vegan ZeaStar’s “salmon” sashimi, The Plant Based Seafood Co.’s scallops, BeLeaf’s vegan shrimp, and Sophie’s Kitchen’s plant-based crab cakes are just a few options that can be turned into unique menu favorites.

Try New Things

Embrace your creativity this season by veganizing classic dishes at home, from veggie tuna salad to tofu fish sticks, carrot lox, and more. If you haven’t tried store-bought vegan seafood products yet, it’s a great time to introduce yourself to new animal-friendly foods. Products like Gardein Mini Crispy Crabless Cakes, Ocean’s Halo Vegan Fish Soy-Free Sauce, Gardein Golden Fishless Filets, and Quorn Vegan Fishless Fingers can be found at most chain grocery stores.

Pisces season is a time to be thoughtful and intentional. Ask yourself important questions: Why eat an animal who suffers and feels pain, just as you do? It’s not just that they can suffer—fish also have highly complex inner lives. They communicate through low-frequency sounds, rhythms, and even “sign language.”

Some fish have been shown to plan ahead, demonstrating their use of logic and decision-making skills. Some use tools: Pearlfish, for example, use oyster shells as a “speaker” to amplify the volume of their communications. For Pisces season, consider that fish aren’t dishes—they’re individuals with unique interests of their own.

The meat industry kills more fish for food each year than all other animals combined. Without any legal protection from cruel treatment, fish are subjected to extremely painful slaughter methods: Workers may impale, crush, suffocate, or cut open and gut them, all while they’re fully conscious.

Nearly half the fish eaten worldwide each year come from aquafarms, where they are crammed by the tens of thousands (or more) into filthy tanks and many suffer from parasites, diseases, or debilitating injuries.

Commercial fishers—who catch and kill up to 2.7 trillion fish each year—trap fish in giant nets, where they may be crowded so tightly that their eyes bulge out of their heads. Then they drag them to the surface, cut out their gills, and leave them to bleed to death. The fishing industry is also horrible to the environment: The floating patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean is twice the size of France and weighs roughly 88,000 tons. Scientists estimate that 46% of it comes from fishing nets alone.

Laboratories and pet store suppliers abuse and kill fish as well. Experimenters have drilled holes into the skulls of goldfish, injected zebra fish with amphetamines and removed their brains, and poisoned rainbow trout with harmful chemicals in outdated toxicity tests.

Betta fish who are sold in pet stores are shipped around the world in tiny plastic bags and starved for days. Many do not survive the grueling journey. Those who make it to pet stores don’t fare much better: Retailers force bettas to live in small, featureless plastic containers, in which they often become sick, starve, or even die from neglect.

For fish and all other animals who are killed for food, go vegan. Order PETA’s free vegan starter kit for fish-free recipes and tips.

Join PETA in encouraging chains like Long John Silver’s and Captain D’s to offer vegan seafood options:

Help fish suffering in the pet industry by calling on Petco to stop selling betta fish: