Mackerel festival should celebrate cabbage instead, say animal rights activists

Animal rights activists want a small seaside town to change its annual mackerel festival to celebrate the humble cabbage instead.

At the end of the fishing season in Aberaeron, the Ceredigion town hosts a mackerel fiesta, described as "a light-hearted funeral" dedicated to the fast-swimming fish.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) wants the popular event to be an "animal-friendly" and "kinder" cabbage fiesta instead.

In response, councillor Elizabeth Evans said fishing was "part of our heritage in Aberaeron", while the "growing of cabbages is not".

During the celebration, a large papier mache mackerel is carried by bearers through the town over to the yacht club, before it is blessed and then burned at sunset.

The animal welfare group sent a letter to Lloyd Thomas, president of Aberaeron Yacht Club, with the suggestion to "swap fish-focused festivities for an animal-friendly celebration of Welsh produce" by hosting an Aberaeron Cabbage Fiesta.

Peta also offered to provide organisers with a giant papier mache vegetable to replace the fiesta's traditional mackerel.

In the letter, the group urged Thomas to "let fish off the hook and transform the Aberaeron Mackerel Fiesta into a kinder event".

"Celebrating life-giving plant produce rather than fish slaughter would be more in line with the compassion and warmth Wales is known for," it added.

Peta pitched the idea as an opportunity to support local farmers who grow cabbage.

The group ended the letter saying they hope it inspired Aberaeron to "turn over a new leaf and let mackerel swim free".

In response, Evans said: "The Aberaeron Mackerel Festival is a celebration of a fish which has been in our local waters for generations. It is a festival of gratitude and respect.

"Whilst many may have a different view, fishing has reduced dramatically in the bay, as has fishing more generally."

Evans said the town did not have "a single fishing boat" anymore, which she said was a "matter of regret not celebration".

She added local boat owners that do fish the waters do so "sustainably".

Evans said she respected the views expressed in the letter, but that it did not reflect the town's "lived experience as a community", which is "one of respect not entitlement".

"The huge industrial trawlers which fish the waters around the UK are quite a different matter altogether," she added.

Aberaeron Yacht Club has been approached for a response to the cabbage fiesta proposal.