#StopOverfishing
for Oceana Europe

Overfishing is one of the major environmental problems that humans face today. To set a focus on this global issue, an interactive online experience has been developed for ocean environmentalist organisation, Oceana, and launched on World Oceans Day (stopoverfishing.eu)

Based on the idea of replenishing the ocean through responsible fishing, and the urgency of creating and spreading awareness of depleting fish stocks, the aim was to create an engaging web experience sending a message, pushing the mass into taking action, and educating them about the endangered status of overfishing. In contrast to the serious tones most campaigns are based on, a playful approach was taken into the web-experience which prompts visitors to submit their message of support, and further influence the movement by talking about it on Twitter.


The commitment of the supporter is translated into an individual fish generated in real time: whether supporting the cause on social media using the official hashtag or submitting their message in the web-special, their contribution is added into the virtual, WebGL powered ocean, joining a swarm emulating natural fish behavior. In this way, each fish is a stored message from the growing community that can be rediscovered at any time by clicking on a fish and letting it go after. All this in parallel to learning about Overfishing through the websites interface.