At 11:15 a.m., the activists entered the store, filled a grocery cart with canned Redlist fish, chainedand locked the handles of a seafood freezer and then locked the cart to the handles. Yellow cautiontape reading “Oceans Crime Scene” was strung across the fresh seafood counter and around the cart.

The activists — one man and three women all in their 20s — held banners and handed out pamphlets aboutthe campaign. When approached by the store manager, the activists explained why they were there andrefused to leave. The Victoria Police Department was called and four officers arrived at about noon.Two female activists had to be carried out by police, while the other two walked out. All four arefacing trespassing charges.

Outside, more activists — including two in fish costumes — distributed information leaflets to customersand raised two banners reading “Safeway: The Way to Extinction” and “Don’t Buy, Don’t Sell RedlistFish.” The outdoor demonstration ended peacefully at 12:40 p.m.

“Greenpeace is at Safeway today to let consumers know that Canada’s supermarkets are major accomplicesin ocean destruction,” said Sarah King, a Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner. “We want Safeway to stop sellingRedlist fish and begin implementing policies that promote the sale of sustainable seafood.”

The Redlist was developed by Greenpeace and includes 15 species that are unsustainably fished andfarmed.

The action at Safeway follows the release of a new Greenpeace report entitled Out of Stock, Out ofExcuses: Ranking retailers on seafood sustainability. The report ranks Canada’s major grocery chainson their sustainability efforts under seven criteria, including the quality of their seafood policiesand the number of Redlist species sold. The Safeway chain received the second lowest ranking in partbecause it has no sustainable seafood policy.

Upon release of the report, Greenpeace said it would confront grocery stores in
19 cities in five provinces over the next few weeks to underline the importance of protecting seafoodstocks. Today activists also visited a Metro grocery store in North Bay, Ont.

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Editor’s Note:

A backgrounder and the full Out of Stock, Out of Excuses report are available at the end of the newsrelease “Ranking fails all Canadian supermarkets on supporting sustainable seafood” on the Greenpeacepress centre: www.greenpeace.ca/press

The Redlist species are: Arctic surf clams, Atlantic cod, Atlantic haddock, Atlantic halibut, Atlanticsalmon, Atlantic sea scallops, Chilean seabass, Greenland halibut, New Zealand hoki, orange roughy,sharks, skates and rays, tropical shrimp and prawns, and tuna. More information on the Redlist speciesis in the report.

Photos of the action are available upon request.

For more information please contact:
Raina Delisle, Media Officer, (250) 891-7246