Greenpeace activists arrested in blockade of freighter prevented export of Boreal Forest pulp

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.