noes INSIDE SPORTS MENU Ge. __ ROB BROWN Necessary flies ODAY’S riddle: What does Bulk- ley River line slime have to do with a scientific study of aquatic insects on lakes in the interior of BC? Give up? If you do, it’s understandable, for the answer is complex. Apparently a biologist studying midges from some of the Jakes near Kamloops accidentally Ieft the top off one of his sample jars. When he retumed he discovered the midge larvae in the covered jar were still vigorous, while the unfortunate little fellows in the open container were dead as door knockers. Further investi- gations, I’m told, revealed that the chironomids sans roof were done violence by high levels of ultra-violet light — at least, higher levels than their species can tolerate. It appears —— and this is bad news for the lakes and our lake-headed anglers in those parts — there has been a large die-off of chironomidae in the interior of this province, Some. scientists believe that the UV light streaming through our tattered ozone layer is the culprit. Enter Gerry Wintle, that old fishing wizard, ‘with a bottle of Bulkley river schnoo, which he plunks on the desk of Bob Hooton. Gerry, you sce, has scen much on the Bulkley River during the last three decades, He has suffered the results of over fishing by. the market fisheries and has had the river go out around. ‘him thanks to heavy fali rains, but this foul looking crud, plugging the interstices between the rocks, colouring the river, making wading more difficult, — making a gencral nuisance ‘of itself — is an ‘impediment he’s not scen be- fore. '*What is it?”’ he demands. Regional bio Bob, thorough scientist and conscientious bureaucrat that be is, dutifully sends the glop off to the people whose job it is to analyze and identify. such phenomena. Their conclusion: though the stuff looks for all the world like used toilet tissue, it is indeed a living thing, an alga. It lives in the Morice/Bulkley and many other cold water, freestone streams. . Another question then came begging: why was it growing in such abundance that many anglers complained it was ruining the fishing? Why indeed? Plausible explanations were advanced. Some people claimed that the De- partment of Fisheries and Oceans has been conducting a jake fertilization program in hopes of sockeye salmon enhancement. DFO and: surplus fertilizer are closely connected, proponents of this theory argued. [sn’t it likely that our friends at Fed Fish have over fertiliz- ed the lake and increased the nutricnt level of the whole system and in the process stimu- lated the algac bloom? Other speculators suggested the fur may be related to the unusually low run off this spring. This toa seemed reasonable. The bot- toms of the Irecstone rivers in this country get a serious scrubbing during breakup. No such scouring took place this spring, Perhaps this anomaly allowed the free and easy growth of the algal irritant . And what about water temperature?’’ said subscribers to. the global greenhouse theory. The summer of '94 was unusually hot for an unusually long time. Temperatures of 60 de- grees Fahrenheit may not be unusual in sunny Califomia and olher southerly climes, but on the Moricc/Bulklcy they are non-resident aliens. The arithmetically minded, after bearing all these theories, did the sum and advanced the notion that the cumulative effect of all the above was clearly responsible for the. un- wanted mung, Case closed, they said smugly, Things are just never that simple when na- ture runs wild. The cause of the goo thal has made the river slippery underfoot, inhibited the emergence of stoncflies, and screwed up the fishin’ may be a much more insidious pro- cess than first thought. Scicntists are now worticd that high levels of UV light clobbered Bulkley Valley midges, just as it did the midges in the BC intcrior. The alga is to chironomidae what grass is to goals: with no goals the grass grows green and wild, with few midges grazing upon it the dreaded algae does too. When you want to describe a midge the ad- jective ‘‘abundant’’ springs immediately to mind. If an angler looks care filly be will find they are on the sircam in every season. As small as they are these minuscule bi-winged insects —- true flies, so-called — are a staple dict for all species of fish. Midges may not be in basement of the food chain, but they popu- jate one of the lower floors. A big drop in their numbers bodes fll. for the. upstairs tenants, and we live on the top Hoor of. this particular highrise, Gogh. Sle - SECTION C MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283. _ Martial art balances energy A GROWING NUMBER of local people are leaming the ‘‘internal martial art’’ of Tai Chi. A group of 20-30 students led by Peter Dickson, a local artist who has been teaching Tai Chi since 1987, are learning this an- cient art based on the cycles of nature and the Chinese philoso- phy of Yin and Yaag. These students gather twice a week in the Clarence Michiel gym for a 1-2 hour session. Dickson also travels to Kitimat once every two wecks to guide its 30-40 member club. He said there has been a tesurgence of interest in Tai Chi in the past two years a5 more people look for ways of relaxing. After giving up Karate, Dickson said he was in search of some- thing new when he began to leam Tai Chi in 1984. "I found the whole emphasis on the internal aspect of ourselves very interesting,”’ said Dickson. “Ii’s basically a combination of meditation and movement,”’ Dickson studied under Van- couver sift (teacher) Ta Tchen Tchoung, a Tai Chi master who teaches the art of Tai Chi Chuan. “Tai chi is like polishing mirror after it's become clouded with all the stresses of our day,’’ he said. “You take this cloth called Tai Chi and polish the mirror back into its pristine form so we can see ourselves more clearly.”’ Each session is divided into two parts: Chi kung and the supreme ultimate dance known as the form. Chi Jang, the first half, begins to work the c/u or the energy in preparation for the form. ‘Tt allows you to gain flexibility, strength and stamina, while also bringing breathing into harmony with the body’s move- ments,’” Dickson explains. ‘‘This all allaws the chf to Dow.” He usually devotes one hour of his class to chi kung, followed by another haur of the form. The supreme dance or the form is made up of individual move- meats also called forms. ‘The dance expresses the inter- play between yin and yang,” Dickson said. ‘“You don't have to in one or the other but you have LEADING a group of 20-30 Terracites through the ancient art of Tai Chi Chuan is local Instructor Peter Dickson. Twice a week Dickson takes his students through a two-hour workout of what he calls an “internal martial art.” to work to find a middleground —- that middleground called intui- tion.”” Because the moves can be adapted to every person’s abilily, Dickson said anyone can take I & Finning to win THE’ TERRACE Sluebacks swim team worked the pool to a second-place team finish in the October 22-23 McDonald's Invitational held at the Terrace Aquatic Centre. Winning Indl- vidual medals were swimmers (in back row) David Vanderiee, Chris Kerman, Garth Coxford, Tristan Brawn, (in front row) part. His youngest student is 16 while he also taught seniors at the Happy Gang Centre last year. ‘People wilhoul some natural athletic ability may take a little bit longer but that’s not what it’s all about,’’ said Dickson. “The: philosophy i is to reach a harmony of-body, mind and spirit — it’s a” matter of how you deal with your. negative and positive energy.” me YES Audrey Erb, Dylan Evans and > Liam Murphy. Missing from the picture is Kevin Andolfatto. Sea Scoreboard on C4 for full team and individual results of the meet. Coach of the year deadline nears THE TERRACE soccer com- munity answered the call by recognizing long-time coach Blaine Kluss with two nomina- tions for the Terrace Standard- 3M Coaches of the Year Award. Kluss has been coaching soccer for eight ycars, not including the two years he coached teams while also playing for them. While he’s coach to. the Caledonia boys soccer team this . year, Kluss has spent six years coaching girls soccer and this summer coached the under-19 girls to the provincials where they won the Maybelle. Manficld Award for sportsmanship. One of Kluss’ strengths is his ability to motivate players to do thelr best, said Luis Teixeira, who has been coached by Kluss and now co-coaches with him. “Like every other coach he likes to win but he really tries to wotk individually with - bis players and improve their skills,” Teixeira said. The first nomination for Kluss came from Teixeira and Caledonia boys soccer team players Matt Ball, Pat Phillips, Jon Lafontaine, Scott Springer and Andrew Brown. Kluss was also nominated by Sam and Tori MacKenzie for his coaching in the Terrace Youth Soccer League. They credit him with teaching sportsmanship and fairness along with skills and slrategy. te tet de Players and parents have just over one week left to nominate deserving coaches, The deadline is 5:00 p.m, on Thursday, November 10. So far four coaches, Shannon Murdoch, Jorge Silva, Cam™ McKay and Blaine Kluss, have been nominated, But there are still a fot of un- sung heroes out there in the numerous sports groups who deserve recognition as well, To make sure they gel it, just” cut out the nomination fon on page C3 and send or bring it in. Coaches can be from winler or summer sports, schools or out- side, To recap, the judges will be looking at the following: * respect for officials, op- ponents and parents and espous- ing the philosophy of fair play; * concern for the all-round de- velopment of the athletes and in- stilling guidelines for responsible conduct off the playing ficld or surface; * setting an example of positive coaching; and * demonstraling the ability to improve the athletic performance of a team of individual, - - The winners will-be announced Wednesday; November 30 Blaine Kluss