B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 7, 2005

,

' SKEENA ANGLER

“ROB BROWN

‘Wild steelhead 2005 5 (Int)

; Itimately DFO conceived a fishing plan
that involved: moving gillnetters out of

most likely at the peak migration times

for those fish: It was agreed, for example, that the _

~. most critical area:in this regard was the area known

as to the commercial fishery and DFO as the “Riv-

er/Gap/Sloiigh section of Area Four, a spot where |

fish passage is the narrowest and the concentration

~ of salmon (including.ste¢lhead) the greatest.

_ ° The centrepiece of the commercial fishing in-

dustry’ S argument was that the sport fish intercep-

tion issue was one of allocation not conservation.
In-retrospect it we can now see that it was an is-

* ‘sue of-conservation and allocation. The lion’s share

of the salmon resource had always gone to the fish-.
ing industry and its needs had driven the manage-
ment of the resource. .

’ Anew management regime sensitive to the bio-
logical: requirements of the stocks, the legitimate
demands of growing sport fishing industry and de-

mands of: First Nations, whose constitutional right -

‘of harvest had at that time recently been reaffirmed

by the Supreme | Court of Canada, and were actively .

engaged in the negotiation of treaties that included
fisheries agreements, meant a huge shift in realloca-

- tion under a new regime in which the commercial
fishermen would have to accept less.

“The fishermens’ union thought they could en-

hance their, way,.out of the problem,” environmen- |
tal campaigner and- Veteran of.the fish wars, Bruce ,

ae ea .

Hill! {points out. 1/5
“But, there was no.way that the: rest of the com-

\ mittee was buying that, especially considering that

the Babine enhancement project got us into trouble
_ in the first place.”

- The other sector representatives to the Water- .

shed Committee were not intractable when it came

the subject of coho and steelhead enhancement.
Hill recalls flying to Alaska with other com-

mittee members to witness the Americans’ ocean

_ ranching projects, in the hope that similar endeav- —

our in Kitimat or somewhere off the mouth of the

Skeena might alleviate fishing pressure on Skeena.

coho and steelhead. .

-: “The Alaskans pump billions of smolts into the

sea. I’m not sure what effect that-has on oceanic
. pastures, but from,what we saw, it was a successful

enterprise that was worth exploring. But, the fisher-

mens’. .union wasn’t having any of it. They saw as

privatizing the resource.”

Ultimately the difference of opinion surrounding
the enhancement issue, in Hill’s words, “blew up
the committee,” but not before precipitating a sig-
nificant change in DFO’s management paradigm,
as well as a widespread recognition of the problems
attending mixed stock fisheries and a heightened

~ awareness of the importance of Skeena River sport
fish, |

As best as the scientists could determine, Au-
gust was the peak month for steelhead migration. In
recognition of that fact, DFO closed the critical ap-
proaches to the Skeena to the gillnet flect, a practice
they held to until through the latter part of the last

- decade of the last century.

After the millennium, however, DFO began to
‘grant August opportunities to the gillnet fleet once
‘again. In 2001, just over 100 gill netters fished one
day. In 2002, about 210 boats had an opening. On

. the fourth and fifth of August 2003, about 200 boats

fished. And last year DFO provided two more open-
ings to a fleet of 200 gillnet boats.

-As Bruce Hill is quick to-point out, these incur-
sions into August would not have occurred had the
. Watershed Committee morphed into a nonprefit so-
ciety and continued to sit. With the disbanding of
the Northwest Branch of the Steelhead Society, a
-small resolute political arm of angling activism in
the Northwest, considerable political pressure was

_ removed from DFO.

The transfer of Bob Hooton to Vancouver Island
and years of cutbacks in staff and resources to what
had always been an underfunded and inadequately
resourced provincial fisheries staff has also re-
moved pressure from managers at federal fisheries.

Even more importantly, the current minister of -

fisheries appears to have little knowledge or ap-
preciation of the complexities of the Skeena fishery
and its importance to the peopie of the province and
its status as an international treasure.

Years ago ago the Pacific Salmon Assessment

and Review Committee, a federal body consisting -

of scientists and researchers who examine every-
thing from the lifestyle of geoducks to the girth of
whales to fulfill their mandate and provide scientifi-

- cally defensible estimates of fish stock abundance

-in the hope that those stocks can be preserved and
managed in a sustainable way, determined that a
minimum escapement of 23,000 steelhead was nec-
essary to ensure the survival of Skeena steelhead.

Continued next week.

areas where steelhead interceptions were =f,

By MARGARET SPEIRS |
BLUEBACKS returning to the pool
this year have the chance to learn
from a former teammate. :
~ Caitlin Scales will assist with
coaching the Dolphins alongside
coach Mike Carlyle. -
Scales, who started with the Blue-
backs at 10- -years- -old, completed her
competitive swimming last season
“and returns to pass on her experience:

: to future stars.

“She’s excited about doing the

program and. giving back .to the ’-

swimmers,” Carlyle said.

“It’s quite exciting to. see her
make the’ progression “(to coach- ..

-ing).””
Scales will help with individual

‘swimmers and lead the program —

when Carlyle’s on vacation.
_ Younger swimmers: look up to
. her thanks to her experience as a
sprovincial competitor...
“The kids feed off her enthusi-
asm,” Carlyle said.

_ Scales,-who volunteered for the :
position, hopes to learn more from ~

coaching others and to provide en-

couragement to her young protégés. —
“I just hope to make it a fun expe-

rience for them,” she said.
“Swimming was such a positive
experience for me. I want to contin-
ue to show other kids what an asset
it can be.”
_ She said the sport became a huge
part of her life and she enjoyed meet-
ing’ people and learning skills, such
as organization, time management,

stress’ management and healthy liv- -

ing, which can be applied to life out-
side the pool.

She looks forward to seeing the
young swimmers improve over the
season. She currently teaches swim-
ming lessons at the pool, where she
works with children for a few weeks

ata time.

Scales plans to continue to swim
as exercise but won’t compete any-
more.

| TERRACE STANDARD

New coach for Bluebacks

‘Former teammate hopes to pass ¢ on her knowledge and love of the sport

-CAITLIN SCALES, shown here in action at the Terrace Aquatic Centre last year, will have the opportunity
to pass on her experience to younger Bluebacks in her new role as assistant coach this season.
FILE PHOTO

638-7283

“I wouldn’t mind doing a few

things for fun like distance swims, -
but competing takes up a large chunk
of time, so much time and commit-

ment at the higher levels that it’s too -
~ hard to keep up.”

Scales is confident in her ability
to coach by herself when Carlyle’s
away.

“T think itll go over fine,” she
said, adding Carlyle wouldn’t choose
her to coach alone if he didn’t think

she could do it: 7
Carlyle said he expects a large

number of swimmers to sign up
in the six- to 10-year-old Dolphin
group, which can take a maximum
of 20 boys and girls.

“We're excited about the return-
ing swimmers to the Dolphins and

~ Biranhas,” he said, adding that some ||

swimmers coming back to the same
group will become leaders and help
new swimmers.

New and returning swimmers can
sign up for the Bluebacks at Club
Days in the Skeena Mail from 10.
a.m. to 3:p.m. on Sept. 10.

Skaters’ summer

* EVEN

spring to make way for summer
sports, local figure . skaters

‘continued to train hard to get a

jump start on this season.

They headed to Kitimat to skate
with the Snow Valley Skating
Club for a month and travelled to
Kamloops, Parksville and Prince

' George over July and August to get

extra ice time. —
- During that time, some of the
Terrace. skaters completed their

Gold level tests in certain disci-

plines.

Janet Lewis completed her Gold »

THOUGH the ice was
removed from the arena in the

Skills. Jamie Penner and Amy Mat-
tern completed their Gold Dances.

Once they returned, it. was
straight to the rink where they have
been on the ice here daily since
Aug. 23. :

Club - professionals Jennifer
Kuehne and Barb Kubik.are very
excited about the year ahead..

“We have a great group of kids
to work with, so that makes going
to the rink each day more fun than
it already is,” said Kuehne.

The pair return this year to in-
struct the Can Skate, Pre-Junior,
Adult Skate, Power Skating, and’

training pays off

_ Barb Lewis will return to in-
struct Figure Skating with Kuehne
and Kubik,

At the end of last season, some
skaters picked up awards.

Emma Graziano. won the
Caribou North Central Regional
(CNCR) Can Skater of the Year
Award for all of northern B.C.

Joanne. Homenuik won - the
CNCR Star Skate Bursary, which
provides money to’ help pay for
skating costs.

Heather Hanna won the CNCR -

Graduation Scholarship Award to
help pay for post-secondary educa-
tion.

. Provincial team.

»session with Can Skate and Adult

- people who want to learn basic

Kelsey Minhinnick won the
BC/YT Star Skate Athlete Award,
which provides money for skat-
ing for her spot on the BC / Yukon:

The skating fall session starts
this week, and the regular winter

Skate starts the week of Sept. 29.
The club will be hold Come
Skate With Us — a free skating ses- {> <
sion for children and adults Sept.
14 from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.-
Club pros and top level figure
skaters will be.on hand to assist

Synchronized Skating groups.

movement or stopping on the ice. -

Daredevils to take over track

By MARGARET SPEIRS
‘FLYING METAL, a big rig
race and better Bombers will
blow out the speedway on

* the last stock car racing day
. this season.

All the crowd favourites,
including the highlight of
Redneck Raceday, the -Ap-
pliance race, join the De-

molition Derby to rip. up the.

track rain or shine Sept. 11.
“We can still have every-

The basic: thing
is they can do
whatever they want
to make it faster...

Ny

thing because it just makes

-it more exciting really,”

said stock car association
member Debby Reinhardt,
about holding the events if
it rains.

“The Hit-to-pass are
supposed to be hitting each
other and the Bombers have
shown us they can race in
the rain.”

aa

For the first time, big
trucks will tackle the turns.

Joe Orango will race his
big rig cab. against .Dennis
Beaudette’s dump truck.

“I'm not. sure. who
brought it up first. I thought

- Beaudette brought it up and

Joe said ‘count me in, ”” said

Reinhardt. . _

Stock car driver and stunt

man Adam Waters said indi-
vidual practice runs proved
the heavy vehicles can move
pretty fast.

“Bombers
seconds and they were with-
in’30 seconds,” he said.

In the Rollover. event,
Waters will attempt to

achieve his goal of five rolls _

in his Toyota Micra.
“Basically I’m going to

redo or make a whole new —

rollover car,” he said.

Open day for the Bomber -

races allows drivers to “sup
up” their vehicles any way
they want as long as it’s
safe.

“The basic thing is they
can do whatever they want
to make it faster or more

average 23

GRANT STEWART gets some help 1 froma tow truck after crashing into a barrel in
the Barrel race.during the final day of racing at the Terrace Speedway last year.
DEBBY REINHARDT PHOTO |

powerful,” said Reinhardt.
“Spectators will also see
the Trophy dashes, Barrel
race, Bag race, Appliance
race and another Wall of
Fire.
The Demolition Derby

winner will nab a trophy and
$500.

The second place driver
nets $250 and $125 goes to
third place.

Some drivers, such as
Orango, will unveil new de-

molition cars for the event.
For more information or
rules on building a demoli-
tion derby car, phone. Dave
Reinhardt at 635-5984 or
check out www.kermode.
net/speedway.

en