Aggregate ship locked into port
Save Our Seas | 12.11.2004 11:57 | Ecology
Ecologists last night used cycle locks to lock shut the Newhaven Swing Bridge on the A259 in East Sussex, blocking the exit of the Hanson ship the ARCO Dart at High Tide. The bridge was due to open at 9pm but the ships crew struggled for two hours to remove the locks before calling the fire services. The action was part of a growing campaign to dissuade companies planning the future destruction of the East Channel eco-systems by marine quarrying.
It follows an action last week at Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. On Monday 24th October workers at Hanson Aggregates in Shoreham arrived in the morning to find compound gates closed and locked with chains. Past actions by a variety of groups have targeted the offices of RMC in Leeds, Huddersfield and Norwich, the office of United Marine Aggregate in Chichester and the Dredging International office in East Grinstead. These companies have all been pushing for the opening up to marine quarrying of a huge new swathe of the East Channel.
Carol Gillard - involved in today’s action stated:
“Today’s action is a warning of things to come. If the government allows the destruction of the East Channels diverse sea life we pledge to make it a costly mistake - economically and politically. The companies will see daily direct action on land, at harbour and at sea.”
“With anti-quarry victories by environmental communities from Hampshire to Harris, industry is increasingly turning to the sea for base aggregates. The aggregate extracted from the ruined seabed will be spread over green fields across the south East – as the governments planned 200,000 new homes.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is expected to announce whether it will allow aggregate dredging in the East Channel fish spawning ground in the next few months.
A website detailing the ecological damage the quarrying will cause is due to be launched soon: www.eco-action.org/sos
The Independent on Sunday 14/3/2004
Channel bed to be stripped to build 200,000 new homes.
Richard Sadler & Geoffrey Lean
Ministers are planning to strip clean a vitally important area of the seabed in the English Channel to satisfy the house-building boom on the Southeast.
They are expected to authorise the mining of nearly 200 million tonnes of gravel from the Median Deep – a crucial nursery for fish, halfway between the Sussex coast and northern France.
An investigation by BBC1’s Country file and the Independent on Sunday revealed that the government – which plans to make tens of millions in royalties - has already given its approval in principle to opening up new areas of the seabed.
The plans have caused outrage among fishermen on both sides of the Channel and among environmentalists, who say the government risk breaking EU laws designed to protect fragile seabed habitats.
Carol Gillard - involved in today’s action stated:
“Today’s action is a warning of things to come. If the government allows the destruction of the East Channels diverse sea life we pledge to make it a costly mistake - economically and politically. The companies will see daily direct action on land, at harbour and at sea.”
“With anti-quarry victories by environmental communities from Hampshire to Harris, industry is increasingly turning to the sea for base aggregates. The aggregate extracted from the ruined seabed will be spread over green fields across the south East – as the governments planned 200,000 new homes.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is expected to announce whether it will allow aggregate dredging in the East Channel fish spawning ground in the next few months.
A website detailing the ecological damage the quarrying will cause is due to be launched soon: www.eco-action.org/sos
The Independent on Sunday 14/3/2004
Channel bed to be stripped to build 200,000 new homes.
Richard Sadler & Geoffrey Lean
Ministers are planning to strip clean a vitally important area of the seabed in the English Channel to satisfy the house-building boom on the Southeast.
They are expected to authorise the mining of nearly 200 million tonnes of gravel from the Median Deep – a crucial nursery for fish, halfway between the Sussex coast and northern France.
An investigation by BBC1’s Country file and the Independent on Sunday revealed that the government – which plans to make tens of millions in royalties - has already given its approval in principle to opening up new areas of the seabed.
The plans have caused outrage among fishermen on both sides of the Channel and among environmentalists, who say the government risk breaking EU laws designed to protect fragile seabed habitats.
Save Our Seas
e-mail:
sos@eco-action.org
Homepage:
http://www.eco-action.org/sos