Six people were arrested Wednesday morning after performing a demonstration against fish farming at the Point Hope Shipyard in Vic West.

Representatives from Fish Farms Out Now and the Matriarch Camp snuck onto the shipyard property around 7 a.m. and boarded the Orca Chief vessel by climbing some nearby scaffolding. They hung banners that read B次元官网网址淔ish Farms Out!B次元官网网址� and spoke over the megaphone in protest of the vesselB次元官网网址檚 role in transporting farmed salmon through B.C. waters.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e always wanted to be on this ship, so it feels good!B次元官网网址� said matriarch grandmother Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas into the megaphone. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e just been told weB次元官网网址檙e trespassing, well what are they doing on our waters?B次元官网网址�

The groups are calling for an end to open-net fish farming.

One woman, Samantha Matthews, taped herself to the mast on top of the ship.

Supporter Noah Stewart reported that the people on board targeted the ship because of its role in fish farming.

B次元官网网址淭he ship is a well-known transporter of thousands of tonnes of diseased and poisonous farmed salmon and carries them every day to and from marine harvest fish farms on unceded First Nations territories,B次元官网网址� Stewart said. B次元官网网址淭his vessel cannot with any ethical sense be put back into the water for the purpose itB次元官网网址檚 been used. In addition the fish farms itB次元官网网址檚 been serving needs to be stopped immediately.B次元官网网址�

By 8:45 a.m. Victoria police spokesperson Const. Matt Rutherford said three protesters had been arrested; protest supporters stated that one of these people was UmbasB次元官网网址� son.

The ship is owned by Marine Harvest Canada, a company demonstrators said is destroying salmon by allowing diseases and parasites to be passed from farmed salmon to wild stock.

Marine Harvest spokesperson Jeremy Dunn said this is the first documented demonstration where protesters boarded a vessel.

One other woman has been arrested; Victoria Fire Department is using their truck to reach the top of the ship where demonstrators remain

B次元官网网址� Victoria B次元官网网址 (@VictoriaB次元官网网址)

B次元官网网址淧eople in Canada are entitled to their right to free protest, a right to democracy, and we respect peopleB次元官网网址檚 rights to protests,B次元官网网址� Dunn said. B次元官网网址淭hat vessel is an important part of our production process, it transports small fish from our hatcheries to our farmsB次元官网网址� All of our fish go through rigorous health checks and certified by Fisheries and Oceans Canada before they are transferred from our hatchery to our farm.B次元官网网址�

Riccardo Regoassa, general manager of Point Hope Maritime Ltd., the company operating the shipyard, was away in Germany. In an email his representative, Penny Wilde, released the following statement on his behalf:

B次元官网网址淭hese individuals trespassed and this type of behaviour will not be tolerated. The safety of our employees and the privacy of our clients are our priorities. While an incident such as this has never happened before, we are upgrading our site security to 24 hours,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淯ntil this morning, we had security on throughout the night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. with staff managing site access for the remainder of the day.B次元官网网址�

She noted that there appeared to be no damage done to the vessel.

Shortly before noon, all six protesters had been removed.

Another protester has been safely removed with the assistance of . We continue to work to remove the last protestor safely

B次元官网网址� Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada)