Four Greenpeace activists were arrested in a Victoria Safeway yesterday after locking a freezer of seafood to protest the grocery store’s selling of what Greenpeace calls Redlist seafood.
The protesters also filled a shopping cart with canned Redlist fish, locked the cart to the freezer and cordoned off the area with a banner reading: Don’t Buy, Don’t Sell Redlist Fish.
When the activists refused to leave they were arrested and now face charges of trespassing and mischief.
The protest followed the release of a Greenpeace report Out of Stock, Out of Excuses, ranking Canada’s grocery stores on their sustainability efforts under seven criteria, including the number of Redlist species sold.
Safeway received the second-lowest ranking.
“Canada’s supermarkets are major accomplices in ocean destruction,” said Sarah King, a Greenpeace oceans campaigner.
“Safeway is low on the Greenpeace ranking because it refuses to take action to protect our fish stocks from commercial extinction.”
“We want Safeway to stop selling Redlist 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 and farmed, including tropical shrimp and prawns, shark, and Atlantic cod.
A representative from Safeway did not return calls by press time.
