Greenpeace activists stopped a ship containing Icelandic whale meat from leaving port in Rotterdam for Japan. The ship has since been shut down by Dutch police and offloaded.
According to Greenpeace, activists chained themselves to the mooring ropes of the ship last Saturday, claiming there was meat from 13 fin whales on board. While the protesters were arrested, police investigated the matter further. “Following our protest this morning, Rottderdamport police have promised that a whale meat shipment en route to Japan from Iceland will remain at the port. The ship’s owner has decided to off load the Fin whale meat rather than become complicit in the trade in an endangered species,” they report. Dutch media sources confirm this.
The ship’s police seizure and subsequent offloading comes just days after the IFAW said Iceland had broken the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) by selling whale meat to Latvia and whale meal to Denmark.
Greenpeace is tweeting the progress of the Rotterdam seizure live from their site, which you can read in the first link of this article.
(Photo: Greenpeace)