Activists canvassed the area outside the store with a large
banner reading
"Don't Buy, Don't Sell Redlist Fish," handed out information
leaflets to
customers and set up a 10-foot tuna skeleton replica. Another
banner was raised to target the store directly, reading "Safeway:
The Way to Extinction."
"Greenpeace is at Safeway today to let consumers know that
Canada's supermarkets are major accomplices in ocean destruction,"
said Jessie Schwarz, a Greenpeace spokesperson. "We are asking
customers to help us convince Safeway to stop selling Redlist fish
and start selling sustainable seafood."
The Redlist was developed by Greenpeace and includes 15 species
that are
unsustainably fished and farmed.
The action follows the release of a new Greenpeace report
entitled Out of Stock, Out of Excuses: Ranking retailers on seafood
sustainability. The report ranks Canada's major grocery chains on
their sustainability efforts under seven
criteria, including the quality of their seafood policies and
the number of
Redlist species sold. The Safeway chain received the second
lowest ranking in
part because it has no sustainable seafood policy. Greenpeace
delivered a copy
of the ranking report to the store's manager.
"Safeway is low on the Greenpeace ranking because it refuses to
take action to
protect our fish stocks from commercial extinction," said
Schwarz. "We want
their customers to help us stop Safeway from fishing our oceans
to death."
Today, day five of the Greenpeace confrontation campaign against
major
supermarket chains, also included activities in Hamilton, Ont.,
and Chicoutimi,
Que. During the campaign, activists will challenge store
management at grocery
outlets in 19 cities in five provinces. So far, at least seven
Greenpeace
activists have been arrested. Successful activities have also
been conducted in
Victoria, Kelowna and Nelson, B.C.; North Bay, Peterborough and
Kingston, Ont.; and Trois-Rivières, Victoriaville and Rimouski,
Quebec.
- 30 -
Editor's Note:
A backgrounder and the full Out of Stock, Out of Excuses report
are available at the end of the news release on the Greenpeace
press centre: www.greenpeace.ca/press
The 15 Redlist species are: Arctic surf clams, Atlantic cod,
Atlantic haddock, Atlantic halibut, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sea
scallops, Chilean seabass, Greenland halibut, New Zealand hoki,
orange roughy, sharks, skates and rays, swordfish, tropical shrimp
and prawns, and tuna.
For more information, please
contact:
Raina Delisle, Media Relations Officer, (250) 891-7246 (on location in South Surrey)
Jessie Schwarz, Campaign Spokesperson, (778) 227-6458 (on location in South Surrey)