DOWN TO ZERO BOAT TOUR
Regular Updates from the Crew aboard the Ship, MV Greenpeace.

SEPTEMBER 8- HOOK OF HOLLAND

Today, Greenpeace activists targeted the dredging barge the 'Hein' with a full cargo of toxic sludge from Rotterdam harbour. Around 10.30 am, seven activists boarded the barge.

Two activists, wearing full protective clothing and breathing apparatus, lowered themselves into the sludge to prevent it from being dumped. The others are on deck and have placed a banner which reads ín Dutch 'No Poison in Our Sea''. Swimmers were placed in the water at intervals in front of the Hein to stop the vessel.

It has been been stopped at the dumping ground six miles off the coast near the port of Scheveningen. It is surrounded by five Greenpeace inflatables. The action is still continuing into Thursday 9th.

The sludge is heavily contaminated with TBT, a toxic biocide used as antifouling in ship paints. TBT is responsible for the disruption of the endocrine system of marine shellfish leading to the development of male sex characteristics. This indicates that TBT may well be widely dispersed in the marine environment.

As one of the largest harbours in the world with very intensive shipping traffic, the TBT levels in Rotterdam harbour are high, up to 500 times acceptable levels in the Netherlands in sediments (0,0007 mg/kg). Annually, approximately 20 million tons of sludge from Rotterdam is dredged, of which 16 million tons is dumped in the sea. Only 4 million tons, classified as heavily contaminated, is disposed of in a special depot. Greenpeace wants the Dutch government to stop this dumping and place all toxic sludge in the special designed deposit areas and take all appropriate (international) actions to prevent the contamination of the sediment in the first place.