3 Scale Star of India to Unfurl Banner
Three environmental activists participating in a protest Tuesday near the G Street Mole were questioned by police after scaling the rigging of the Star of India and unfurling a banner in protest of dolphin killing, authorities said.
The three men, who had been among several hundred people protesting in front of the American Tunaboat Assn. offices on the mole, climbed up the historic ship’s rigging about noon while the crew was at lunch. The sailing ship is anchored a few blocks north of the mole.
The men held up the banner for more than half an hour before climbing down to police officers waiting below, witnesses said.
The banner ordered the U. S. tuna industry to stop killing dolphins with its tuna-gathering methods. Dolphins are often captured in the huge tuna fishing nets, and drown in the process.
Todd Schulke of San Diego and Lee Desseaux and Mark Heitchue of Santa Cruz, all members of the environmental action groups EarthFirst!, the Earth Island Institute and the Sea Shepherd Society, were questioned by police and released.
Officials of the Maritime Museum, which operates the Star of India, did not press charges against the men. No damage was done to the ship or its rigging, authorities said.
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