The activists, who were hanging from the mooring lines of the
vessel on the Saguenay River in Quebec and in life rafts tied to
freighter, were taken into custody by police nine hours after the
action started. All eight were charged with criminal mischief.
The blockade, launched from Greenpeace's ship the Arctic Sunrise
early this morning, prevented the freighter from being loaded with
pulp manufactured by SFK Pulp and from leaving port. The pulp,
worth approximately $2.5 million was destined for Europe.
"We were here today to prevent the export of Boreal Forest
destruction, and to shine a light on the companies here in Canada
and around the world that are fuelling it," said Greenpeace
campaigner Christy Ferguson. "Logging companies and their customers
need to accept responsibility for the crisis in Canada's forests
and start taking action."
The activists charged pulp manufacture, SFK Pulp, with
purchasing wood chips from destructive logging operations. Two of
the main suppliers of wood chips to SFK Pulp, Abitibi-Consolidated
and Bowater, log in the last remaining intact areas of the Boreal
Forest, in the habitat of threatened species as woodland caribou,
and in areas where industrial logging is opposed by local First
Nations.
"Logging companies like Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater
continue to deny that there's anything wrong in Canada's forests,"
said Ferguson. "But anyone who's seen the satellite images showing
massive fragmentation, the scientific reports showing species
extirpation, and the news reports describing closure after closure
of mills and towns knows different."
The Jaeger Arrow is a 170 metre trans-Atlantic freighter. More
than 8,000 tonnes of pulp were to be loaded on the ship today. The
pulp was destined for paper giant Stora Enso, which manufactures
paper for major magazine publishers throughout Europe. Quebec
exported forest products worth $684 million to Europe and $10
billion to the U.S. in 2005. Ontario exported $8 billion to the
U.S. and $92 million to Europe.
Less than nine per cent of the forests in Ontario and five per
cent in Quebec are protected from industrial development. Canada's
Boreal Forest represents a quarter of the world's remaining intact
ancient forests and stores 47.5 billion tonnes of carbon in its
soils and trees. An area three times the size of France has already
been degraded and fragmented by development in the Boreal Forest
region (175 million hectares).
Note to photo editors: High-resolution photos
of the action will be available online at www.greenpeace.ca/gallery.
Digital video is available upon request.
For more information, please contact:
Melissa Filion, Greenpeace forest campaigner,
514-581-8216 or 418-550-2482 (on ship)
Jocelyn Desjardins, Greenpeace communications officer,
514-212-5749 (on shore)
If you are unable to reach these numbers and your call is
urgent, you may call +87 43 2445 3810.