Rainbow Warrior skipper arrested during blockade attempt

1.00pm

The New Zealand captain of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior was released on bail after he was arrested during a protest at a port south of Sydney today.

The ship was attempting to block the exit of a cargo ship carrying genetically engineered soy meal from Port Kembla, about an hour's drive south of Sydney.

The soy from the United States was destined for Melbourne, where it would have been unloaded and used as feed for poultry farms.

Greenpeace Australia GE campaigner Jeremy Tager told NZPA that the ship had anchored at the narrowest point of the channel leading out of Port Kembla's inner harbour about 6.30pm (NZT) yesterday.

The ship refused requests to leave the inner harbour.

About 1am (NZT) police boarded the ship and arrested the captain -- Derek Nicolls, of the Bay of Plenty.

A Greenpeace spokeswoman said that Nicolls, 53, had been charged with failing to comply with directions from the harbour master and entering a "pilotage port" without taking aboard one of the harbour's pilots to guide the ship in.

She said that Nicolls was bailed about 6am (NZT) today and is to appear in the local court at Port Kembla on June 24.

Nicolls was a contracted captain. All crew for the Rainbow Warrior were contracted by staff at Greenpeace headquarters in Holland, she said.

She did not know when Mr Nicolls' contract was due to finish, but added she did not believe the charges would prevent him from continuing to captain the ship.

Mr Tager said the arrest and police takeover of the Rainbow Warrior was peaceful and orderly.

Police arrested Nicolls and escorted him off the ship. The rest of the crew were confined to the ship while police used a tug to manouevre the ship into a berth.

He said Greenpeace were in the process of getting a relieving captain, so they could leave port and follow the ship carrying the GE soy, The Rhein, to Melbourne.

Mr Tager said the protest action aimed to highlight how GE was entering the food chain.

He said the soy meal was to be used by Ingams poultry farms as feed, yet there was no requirement in Australia or New Zealand for meat from animals that had been fed on GE to be labelled as such when it hit supermarket shelves.

"We believe this is a deception many people are not aware of."

He said more protest action was planned, but the Rainbow Warrior would probably not be involved as The Rhein would beat it to Melbourne and probably be unloaded by the time the Greenpeace ship arrived.

The Rhein and its shipment was at the centre of a protest action in Brisbane last week, when protesters painted a slogan "Stop GE Imports" on its hull.

None of the other 22 crew aboard Rainbow Warrior was arrested as a result of the protest.

New Zealand Greenpeace GE campaigner Steve Abel said Rainbow Warrior was due to arrive in New Zealand on May 12 for the local leg of its GE-Free trans-Tasman tour.

He said Greenpeace had just begun a campaign for McDonalds, who use Ingham chicken in New Zealand, to commit to a non-GE feed policy for all their poultry and animal products.

New Zealand's biggest poultry company, Tegel, established a non-GE soy feed policy in 2001 and continues to import up to 60,000 tonnes of certified non-GE soy annually.

- NZPA