Naked stars who love fish

Over 90 species fishes in European waters could become extinct, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Sharks, rays and other cartilaginous fish are at the most risk, about 40 percent of them facing extinction. Here, the "Withnail and I" actor Richard E. Grant takes to a hake.

The European conger eel starts and ends its life in the same place, the Sargasso Sea in a southwest corner of the north Atlantic. The eel's numbers have been falling for decades and the animal is now critically endangered.

Fishlove was set up in 2009 by Brighton restaurant owner Nicholas Röhl and US actress Greta Scacchi, with the aim "to raise awareness of the unsustainable fishing practices destroying the Earth’s marine ecosystem." Fishlove has released several series of naked-celebrities-with-fish portraits since then.

All of the fish in these photographs continue to fall prey to commercial fishing, even though some are regarded by scientists as overfished. European fleets are expected to continue to overfish until 2034, despite EU states agreeing that by 2020 all fish stocks should be caught sustainably.

"European countries have the power to end overfishing and with just two years left until the 2020 deadline, what's needed is political will," said Rebecca Hubbard of campaign group Our Fish. "Sustainable fishing means healthier fish stocks, more jobs and profit for fishers, and a healthier marine environment," she said.

The Monty Python cartoonist and film director Terry Gilliam is pictured here with a spider crab, another endangered species. The organizers say the use of these animals in this in the campaign is justified to highlight what could be lost if overfishing continues. None of the fish pictured were caught for the purpose of making these photographs.

"It breaks my heart to think about what we are doing to our seas through overfishing, especially when you realize how easy the solution is," British actress Imelda Staunton says. The Harry Potter star is seen here sporting a blonde ray, a species that is caught and discarded as bycatch.