Fire destroys home lt’ll be fine” Back nine progress all\NEWS A10 A Nass Valley couple .are looking | for donations after blaze takes A federal minister re-affirms _| Monetary support for women’s | programs\COMMUNITY B1 Expansion to 18 holes of the golf course is proceeding with all - ‘systems go\SPORTS B5 WEDNESDAY JULY 31, 1996 " 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST 7 VOL. 9 NO:.16: Feds mess up local fish season By DAVID TAYLOR FEDERAL FISHERIES mismanagement of B.C. salmon stocks is destroying both the resource and tourism on the Skeena, according to a local businessman. Brian Patrick of Misty River Tackle says he’s tired of the doom and gloom that the Depariment of Fisheries and Oceans keeps feeding to the public. And he says it’s killing the local tourism in- dustry. “B.C, bas been stabbed in the back by the federal government,” Patrick says, “They’ve spent the last six months ad- verlising that there aren’t any fish up here, which simply isn’t true,”’ But Patrick says the fishing on the Skeena this year is doing just fine, “This is probably the best run in 40 DURING RIVERBOAT DAYS celebrations a number One place you're sure to see some old Lechasseur, taking a test drive on one of the old wagons at the park. A g this Sunday afternoon, when a number of events for the whole family are years,” says Patrick. ‘‘Even DFO fig- ures say that,'” Despite the great returns, Patrick says, there are far fewer tourists angling local waters, And he says this is due to nega- tive publicity, largely from the federal government, “ve had phone calls from as far away as Florida and Europe from people who think that fishing is either dead or closed here,”’ he says. “I keep telling them the fishing’s great, but it’s too late for most people to change their plans.. Maybe they've gone to Disneyland; maybe they’ve gone to Alaska. But they aren’t coming here.’’ 7 Patrick points out that while Alaskan hotels are overbooked, there are still lots of rooms and camping spots available in’ m@ Back in time Terrace this year. And he says you can’t blame this scason’s wet weather. “Fishermen don’t care about raia,’’ he says. But while Patrick claims that this is a banner year for fish, he’s worried about the future of the salmon under federal management. “'The East Coast is a fine example of DFO management,’ he says, ‘They Tape and pillage until there’s nothing left. Then they don’t have to worry about it anymore,”’ Patrick is especially concerned with the extension of last week's 48-hour commercial opening al the mouth of the Skeena. He points out that all the fish from an individual stock run ai the same time, and it doesn’t take long for that stock to pass through the Skeena’s mouth. So heavy fishing for prolonged periods puts the entire stack in jeopardy. “Right now the Bulkley and Kispiox steelhead are going big,”’ Patrick says, “And the commercial fleet is fishing hard. That doesn’t make sense.’’ According to Patrick, the whole atti- tude of the commercial fisheries and DFO is wrong. **They see a big run and they’re like, quick, catch them! We don’t want these fish to go to waste!” he says. ‘“Well, I hardly see it as a wasle to allow these fish to propagate,”’ Patrick argues that the commercial fisheries get their way because they are highly organized, even though THERE WASN’T much opposition Friday night at a public meeling held to discuss Repap B.C.'s planned take over of another forest company and its forest licence, Civic, business and_ labour organizers gave heir-support-to“Repap’s bid'‘to- buy ~ Orenda Forest Products’ and. with it, 342,000 cubic metres of a wood a year. Repap official Dan Tuomi told approxi- inatcly 50 people that the company needs Orenda’s wood as an added. security of supply for its Prince Rupert pulp miil. With that security would come stability for Repap’s other northwest operations, he continued, : The mecting was one of four held in the northwest over the weekend. Forests minister Dave Zirnhelt has to ap- prove of the wood licence transfer and will use opinions gathered at the meeting to help make his decision. Tuomi said Repap. already buys and depends upon Grenda pulp wood for its Prince Rupert mill and that getting the licence only continues a long time business relationship. Failure to get Orenda’s wood, he added, would place Repap in the position of hav- ing to compete for already expensive fibre. And he said the Orenda wood would act as securily to borrow as much as $300 mil- lion for improvements to Repap’s Rupert mill. ‘Without it we would be in a very dif- ficult position to achieve financing,’’ said Tuomi. He also held out the promise of employ- ment stability in ihe Kitwanga area, just south of Orenda’s licence, where woods jobs have disappeared. There arc two small, old mills there now — the Hobenshield operation now owned by Repap and the Gitwangak band’s C Ged sportsfishing reccives a much higher dol- lar value per fish, “The commercial fishermen get press because they pull stupid stunts like wrap- ping DFO offices in nets,” he says. “Fisheries has to pay attention to them.” And Patrick says that the DFO’s exper- iments with different types of netting to prevent incidental catch aren’t likely to help. “The DFO writes the rulebook and ex- pects the fish to obey the rules,”’ he says, “But fish don’t work like that,’” For Patrick, the problem ultimately comes down to having salmon for the fu- ture, “I want to be able to take my grandson fishing,’’ he says. “I don’t want the Westcoast to end up like the East.’’ 1 Repap wood deal }gets thumbs up mill, Future plans might see only one modern and more efficient mill in that area. While that would reduce what mill jobs are there now, Repap has been meeting wilh native groups in the.area.in hopes-of adding. other kinds of forestry employment, said Tuomi: Terrace mayor Jack Talstra said the Repap acquisition plan made sense as it would stabilize the economy, of-the north- west, paws But he did say city council backs requests by Stewart for some kind of added value fa- cility there, And he said city council wants more forestry joint ventures with native groups. Joining the list of supporters was local IWA official Joc Mallia who said long term supply for Repap’s Rupert mill will benefit Terrace. “Certainty of fibre supply must be as- sured,’’ said past Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce president Barb Kerr. , One speaker said the public, taxpayers and northwest residents would be better served if Orenda’s licence was made avall- able instead to small operators who need long term supply. George Furmanik described Orenda as a “‘cut and run’’ operation since it began op- erating in 1985 and criticized it and the government for the failure of the company to meet its current licence requirement of connecting the wood to a processing facil- ity. He questioned how Orenda could be al- lowed to retain the licence let alone sell it. Norihwest Loggers Association president ’ John Nester criticized Repap for delays in ‘ making payments to contractors here while being prepared to spend up to $25 million Cont'd Page A2 ICBC takes aim here at fraudulent claims ICBC HOPES to stop fraud- courage fraudulent claims in ulent hit-and-run claims = many cases, said from being filed and to McNicholls. r of locals like to dress up In old fashioned costumes. -time styles Is at Heritage Park. That's Elaine Temple, and Hazel ood time to come up to the park Is planned. make its operations more ef- ficient. Begiuning Aug. 7 the in- surance Corporation and the RCMP are teaming up when hit and run claim informa- lion is laken at its offices. Right now anyone who wants to report a hit and run has to talk to the police. An investigation is started, then the person is referred to ICBC to start an insurance claim. It will help deter fraudu- Ient claims,” says Paul MeNicholis, manager of the Terrace ICBC office. That’s becatlse an RCMP officer will be present al ICBC offices when a person comes to make a claim, - And just the presence of the police is enough to dis- Last year in Terrace about $70,000 was paid out by ICBC for 103 claims. Staff at ICBC are expect- ing those numbers to decrease with the start of this new program. Terrace is one of the last communitics in B.C. to get this service. Across the pro- vince where the program has been instituted, claims have dropped by 25-50 per cent. . But McNicholls says the convenience of ‘one-stop shopping’’ will be the pri- ‘mary benefit for most people. The Terrace ICBC office ‘will offer this one-stop ser- vice on Wednesday morn- ings. The public is invited to call the claims centre at. Paul McNicholls 635-9111 to make an ap- pointment if they are struck by a hit and run driver. Stopping fraudulent claims is one of the targets of ICBC which wants to cut the amount of claim money being paid out.