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SKEENA ANGLER |

ROB BROWN — 7

Of lice and men

here "have been
ticles’ in the. Vancouver .- dailies.
on the fish farming controversy.

Most of them discuss the latest develop-

menits alongside a graphic showing how many mil-
lions ofbucks fish farming generatesin BCevery year.
The figures for these graphics are generated
with the kind of short term accounting ‘that fails
to take in the immediate costs to other industries
and enormous long-term costs to the environment.
The same papers wouldn’t think of running a
feature on, say, the illicit drug trade next to a table
showing the billions of dollars and thousands of

_ jobs that industry generates in BC each year.

The most'recent articles to appear in the Van- .

couver Sun and its ugly step sister, the Vancouver
Province, have been about the ongoing“argument
between the hacks-and.apologists for the fish farm-
ing industry and independent fisheries scientists
and friends of wild fish over the effect of sea lice
on our wild salmon.
The debate heated up with the recent publication,
in the UK of a report in The Journal of the Royal
- Society that has clearly linked the transmission of
lethal sea lice from farmed to wild salmon.
The report; conclusive and unambiguous accord-

. ing to one of the participating scientists, Dr. John

Volpe, shows how one salmon farm on the B.C.
coast caused an explosion of sea lice that spread

to,juvenile salmon migrating past. it. The. lice then, .

multiplied on the wild fish, leading to a secondary
outbreak that spread to other salmon up to 30 kilo-
metres from the farm. __

The researchers’ methodology was simple: they
followed salmon smolts from the time they left their
natal streams, measuring the number of lice on them
along the way. As the wee salmon passed a salmon
farm, scientists discovered that the infestation rate
climbed dramatically. The farm, incidentally, was
operating well within provincial guidelines.

Before they encountered the salmon farm, be-
tween four to 25 per cent of the juvenile salmon had
sea lice, and most of those had picked up only one

lousy louse. After passing the farm, all of the wild —

salmon were infected and the number of lice per
fish had jumped to a lethal 10 to 25 per fish.
' This is not good thing. A pink salmon smolt is

' fragile thing about the size of a baby’s baby finger.

Three lice will suck the life out of it.
A few days later Fed Fish, who have been eva-,
sive and ambiguous to the point of irresponsibility

on the fish farming issue, acknowledged that the ©

findings of the report were compelling and, in the
words of Dr. Brian Riddell, the well-respected sci-
entist recently appointed to the position of division
head for DFO’s Salmon and Fresh Water Branch,

looking at salmon farms as the source of stock col- —

lapse. “would make common sense.”

Bingo! Common sense. It’s this simple: sea lice
are a parasite. Parasites look for hosts. When a fish
farm locks up its exotic salmon it creates a huge

~ biomass — a veritable host of hosts.

To nobody’s surprise the lice climb on board the

carcasses of the factory fish and multiply like mad. _

You can keep most of the salmon fenced in but the

_lice are another thing. —
If your kid has ever come home from. school

with head lice, you will know that it takes some —

pretty strong medicine to eradicate them. The fish
farmers use equally deadly pesticides in a vain at-
tempt to keep lice numbers down. It doesn’t work,

as proven by DFO fieldwork that confirms the lice «

numbers in the Broughton Archipelago grew “‘sub-
stantially in 2004 relative to 2003.” °

As if the source of lice wasn’t obvious enough,
the same DFO fieldworkers discovered that the
predominant species of louse sticking to Broughton
salmon in 2003 was Caligus Clemensi.

This didn’t alarm anyone since C. Clemensi is
the kind of louse associated with wild Pacific salm-
on. In 2004, the year of the louse, the species of

louse killing salmon smolts was Lepeophtheirus .

salmonis, the louse most commonly associated with
Atlantic salmon. oo

This bit of information comes from an internal
briefing memo used to brief Fisheries Minister,
Geoff Regan. 7

That’s right. Armed with this information, the .

report mentioned above, the findings of Norwegian
scientists who can’t believe we’ re debating whether
lice hurt wild salmon because they’ ve known it for
decades, Regan and his underlings waffle and say
it’s too early to draw conclusions.

- This leads me to the inescapable common sense

conclusion that Minister Regan is a lousy minister
. who’s either incompetent or conflicted, or both.
When the sponsorship scandal is behind him,
PM Paul Martin should sack his fisheries minister
then call David Anderson up from the minors, apol-
ogize to him, give him the portfolio and watch him
do the right thing.

numerous .- ar-_

mw TERRACE STANDARD.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - B7

638-7283

m@ Men with many medals

THESE NORTHERN Ju-uitsu Club members brought home over 10 medals from. :
the Tiger Balm competition in Vancouver. From the bottom left moving up the pyra-_
_|_ mid, the winners are black belt Kurt Biagioni who-won a silver in sport and bronzes
_ in weapons and grappling, brown belt Mark Biagioni who took golds in sport and
grappling, blue belt Shane Anderson who scored gold.in sport and silver in grap-
*: pling, blue belt Matthew Logan who brought home gold in sport and silver in weap-
.| Ons, orange belt Allan Marshall who won gold in weapons and brown belt Ryan
-|. Humle who garnered golds in weapons and sport. Missing from the photo is An- »
drew Johnstone, who won bronzes in sport and weapons: MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO ~f

Shames hill climb dares cyclists

By MARGARET SPEIRS
CYCLISTS SEARCHING for a challenge can
test their stamina against Shames: Mountain this
weekend.

The Shames Mountain Hill Climb rides from »

the Shames Mountain turnoff on Hwy16 up the
road to the set of gates just shy of the first parking
lot to the ski hill on May 1.

“It's a pretty difficult’ race,”
Lucy Praught.

“It’s hard to talk people into doing it.”

Riders race for bragging rights in the hopes of

cracking the record time of under 40 minutes, set —

by Smithers’’ Peter Krause a few years ago.
But watch out for the headwind., :
. Praught says ‘riders will draft each.other, a per-

says organizer

Cyclists take turns riding i in front, then pulling
off towards the left and dropping to the back of

the line.

Everyone maintains the same speed t to allow
the rider time to tuck back in to the group.

Last year, Skye Jones of Hazelton raced to first
place five minutes ahead of the pack, riding alone
for most of the race.

He garnered the distinction of being the first
competitor.to win on a full suspension bike, one
with front and rear shocks.

- Riders usually. bring lighter bikes with less re- .

sistance for the gravel road ride, which eliminates
the need for front shocks or disc brakes.

In the past, the snow and cool weather have
been race spectators. “It’s a good idea if people

young tykes 12 and under.

fectly legal maneuver to avoid the wind.

Skating club hands out year

Contributed
THE TERRACE SKATING Club (TSC)
completed a very successful year.

_ It was the first-year for the “Come Skate
With Us”

promotional free skating day
where children from kindergarten to Grade
3 had the opportunity to win some free Can-
Skate lessons.

Skaters. attended a dance seminar in
Prince Rupert with World Champion ice
dancer Victor Kraatz.

_The competitive. skaters were very busy

with competitions from August 2004, to,

April 2005.
Many smiling faces arose from the award-

‘ing of multiple badges and successfully.

passed tests.
For the third year in a row, ‘the club won

the Caribou North Central Regional Team.
Aggregate for winning top spot at the north- »
em skate-off competition.

Twelve skaters qualified for Star Skate
Provincials.

Two skaters attended BC Sub- Sectionals:

and both qualified to move on to the Section-
al Competition (competitive Provincials).
Terrace held the Kla-How-Ya competi-

* tion this past March, the first time the club
has hosted a competition in seven years —

nonetheless, it was a huge success and TSC
took the Team Aggregate Trophy.

For the second year in arow, a TSC skater

attended Star Skate Nationals.
Kelsey Minhinnick competed in the Gold
Triathlon and placed seventh in Canada.
The TSC is proud of Heather Hanna, who
completed her Quadruple Gold Tests, the
highest level of testing in skating.
She is the first TSC skater in years to
achieve this level

’ Most Dedicated Senior — Jacqueline Lenuik

bring | warm clothes with them," Praught says.

Riders who heat up on-the climb will cool off
quickly once they’re enjoying the food and re-
treshments at the finish line. ,

Ten riders took up the challenge last year and
Praught hopes to double that number this year. _

The competition includes categories for every-
one: the men’s senior for those 19 and older, the ©
women’s open, juniors, cadets and mini-me: for

“| haven’t seen any competitors that young in’.
a couple of years but they have done it. and fin-
ished,” says Praught, adding that watching young "
riders compete was “totally impressive.” ,

While it’s great to claim the victory, complet
ing the ride is an accomplishment in itself. .

T ve ridden it before and it: definitely humbles
you,” she says.

end awards

The Club will be sending their best wish--
es to Amy Mattern and Heather Hanna, who
will be graduating in June. ,

The Club will be . experiencing other .
changes,

Kelsey Wilcox and her mother, ‘Donna, a
long time TSC board member, will be mov-
ing away.

Cathy Mills, who has been a. coach here
for the last seven years, will also be moving.
She plans to return to university in Regina.

All those ‘who are moving. on will be
greatly missed and are very much appreci-
ated for the great things they brought to the
skating club.

Terrace Skating Club’s Year End

Awards,

KidSkater of the Year ~- Emma DeCario
CanSkater of the Year — Emma Graziano
CanSkate Champion — male - Brixton Sand-
hals
CanSkate Champion — female — Shannon
Stone
Pre-Junior of the Year — Nicole Mann
CanPower Skater of the Year — Marc Shibli
Adult Skater of the Year— Megan Moi
Volunteer of the Year — Misty Wriglesworth
Most Dedicated Junior — Jenna Pavao

Best Sportsmanship Junior — Cynthia Moyer -
Best Sportsmanship Senior — Ashley Thandi
Most Improved Junior — Jorden Hendry
Most Improved Senior — Kelsey Wilcox

Ice Dance Award Junior — Kelsey Owen

Ice Dance Award Senior — Amy Mattern.
Artistic Award Junior — Jenna Pavao

Artistic Award Senior — Heather Hanna
Performance Award Junior — Rayven Algor
Performance Award Senior — Jamie Penner
Skater of the Year —- Heather Hanna

HEATHER HANNA won “the Terrace Skating Club’ Ss
skater of the year award recently. She also completed
her Quadruple Gold Tests, the highest level of testing
in all areas of skating.

‘CONTRIBUTED PHOTO