Tuna protest in Taiwan – Fishupdate.com
Tuna protest in Taiwan Published: 27 January, 2011
A number of Greenpeace activists quarrelled with police this week while working to block a freight boat leaving a port in Taiwan to fish for tuna in the Pacific Ocean. One protester was arrested.
The demonstrators chained themselves to the anchor cable of the vessel Lung Yuin and held a banner reading, The Last Tuna? This was the green organisations first protest in Taiwan.
Activist Sari Tolvanen explained that the effort comprises part of a campaign to focus international attention on the overfishing of bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks, which Greenpeace argues are being depleted and therefore should not be harvested, ABC Radio Australia reports.
Thai citizen Tipsuda Atichakaro was arrested for having climbed onto the anchor cable, taking turns with another activist in a three-hour confrontation with police forces. She was arrested on charges of endangering public safety.
“She will be transferred to prosecutors,” said an officer of the Kaohsiung harbour police.
Weighing 3,431 tonnes and registered in Panama, Lung Yuin is a refrigerated ship that stores and carries tuna ensnared by Taiwanese trawlers.