a oo SKEENA ANGLER ff i) B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 16, 2005. : _ROB BROWN _ What's up down there? the last stages of pernicious myopia, "you can’t miss the environmental conse- "quences of Big Box Agribiz. - Nobody ~ not even a well known farmer like our _ controversial, Minister of Fish and Food, John Van Dongen — would. be fool enough to ‘deny the well ‘documented depredations onthe land that result |. from pork production and chicken factories. ‘And when it comes-to cattle, enviros have a well-founded beef. Hooves and big, slobbering cow “‘niouths have plowed under and eaten more of the formerly. great prairies of North. America than any other single force. | - Choir of ‘Big ‘Food to the thunderous applause of the. right-wing, we’ re-open-for-big-bizness politi- - cians who Promote and adore the ethic of unfet- * tered growth, * “that’s the price we have to pay for ~ Chicken McNuggets and Bigger Macs.” * Meanwhile, the impacts of sea-based farming -go on in isolated inlets, subaqueously,.out of sight, _ Most part:. _- Last December, Scottish diver Graeme Bruce saw a television commercial featuring TV chef Ja- _mie Oliver. Bruce became more and more irritated * salmon obtainable at'a Scotch grocery chain.’ a farm owned by accompany called Marine Harvest. The farm was a model of environmental excellence, clean and: sea-friendly. . The union of the words “clean” and “farmed. salmon” in one sentence struck Bruce as particu- larly irksome and oxymoronic. “IT had assumed everyone knew farmed salmon are fed fish meal and live in their own excrement,” - he writes in the latest issue of. The Salmon Farm Monitor, 9 Giving Oliver and Marine Harvest the benefit of the doubt, Bruce made inquiries and was assured by reps from the Scottish Executive that the farm was environmentally benign. — ‘a group of friends to brave the strong winter winds and cold seas with him. ; “Bruce and his friends bounced across strong seas toward their first experience of Loch Hourn. Once there they scanned its wind-furrowed sur- .face then followed the rugged contours of steep - mountainsides to the. grey sky filled with clouds scudding past. “The fish farm was very easy to locate: a wart nestled in a small sort of bay, a true industrial en- clave noisy and defiant in the middle of this beauti- ful tranquil scenery. “We found three rows of blue fixed buoys run- ning parallel to the shore, the western end with fish cages between the rows of buoys, the feeder barge, like a-giant octopus, black tentacles stretching’ to each cage intermittently spraying pellets. The wa- ter boiled briefly as the captive fish rose to feed,” writes Bruce, rolled into the clear, cold sea. . “The deeper we went the darker it became. On the seabed we could see a litter of white shells, all that remained of the creatures that once lived there. A couple ‘of crabs scurried away into the gloom, the only sign of life,” Bruce writes. _ ‘As they pressed on, the team came upon indus- - trial litter: five litre containers sticking out of the ‘ ooze, bags that once contained a ton of feed. “Something else was odd however, and it took a ‘while to sink in: there was no life, absolutely noth- ing, the whole area was inert. As we pressed on down we came to a small rocky reef, a vertical wall a meter or so high, but, again, no life. We cruised - the wall, left and right, searching for pockets of life; nothing, absolutely nothing.” . . The divers cruised the reef parallel to the shore. “As we headed west we found the rocky outcrops had life, nestled on the flat surfaces. More and more became evident. Large patches spread from the bot- tom of the wall into the darkness.” The patches turned out to be beggiatoa, a fila- pollution. Where it occurs, the underlying sediment _is irnpoverished and the environment has become anoxic, starved of oxygen, suffocated. a vast bacterial mat laid down by Jamie Oliver’s “clean” fish farm, a mat that had killed all sea life over a large area once filled with sea creatures. The death of the ocean floor, the wellspring of all life, is ineffably sad. When it’s done knowingly, with no concern for others, present or future, it’s a serious crime. to nationals . niess you’ ve come down with anose-dis- ; ‘abling head cold'while suffering through -. “Hey,” «sings the Multinational Mouthpiece , _.such wholesome products as baloney sandwiches, ~ largely ‘unmeasured, and little understood for the , as Chef Oliver extolled the excellence of farmed . =<"-The salmon, Oliver intoned, had been grown in ° TERRACE STANDARD —- were ee ee eee eee 638-7283 Skaters bring home the medals LOCAL SKATERS scooped up a handful of. medals and three triathlon skaters scored the chance to continue on during Star Skate Provincials ° Campbell River Feb. 25 to | 27 . vo ¢ Kelsey Wilcox, Jamie Penner and Kelsey Minhinn-. ick scored silver medals and - qualified as first alternates for the Star Skate Nationals in PEI at the'end of March. Ten Terrace Skating Club members brought home two o " gold and five silver medals: » Joanne Homeniuk | Silver Triathlon: 6th 7 Jacqueline Lenuik | Jr. Silver Skills: Gold . Julianne Lenuik - _ Ir. Bronze Skills: 11th’ Bronze Interpretive: Gold. Hayley Lessard Sr. Silver Skills: 5th Bronze Triathlon: 7th Janet Lewis — Jr. Silver Freeskate: 10th * Bronze Interpretive: 10th Amy Mattern . Gold Interpretive: 10th : Kelsey Minhinnick Jr. Silver Freeskate: 14th - Gold Interpretive: Silver Gold Triathlon: Silver Jenna Payao =.’ Sr. Bronze Skills: 8th Introductory Interpretive: 68th 8 Jamie Penner os - Sr. Bronze Freeskate: 6th Silver Interpretive: 4th Sr. Silver Skills: Silver Silver Triathlon: Silver ‘Kelsey Wilcox Sr. Bronze Freeskate: Sth on Bronze Triathlon: Silver t the TEN Terrace Skating club girls brought home seven medals from the Star Skate Provincials in Campbell River last month. Standing from left, our star‘skaters are Janet Lewis, Hayley Lessard, Jamie Penner, Kelsey Wil- _ Lenuik. Missing from the photo is Joanne’ Homeniuk. Bantams face tough teams in provincials THE BANTAM AA Championships will challenge our local team to beat the province’s best for the right to be called victors at the end of spring break. And there’s some serious competition - coming to town. Provincial too,” more.” Amos said, referring to the Victoria team’s goalie. “Tt used to be a boys game but not’ any- Terrace has z a good chance to finish near .the top, Amos believes. cox, Amy Mattern and Kelsey Minhinnick. Kneeling from left are Julianne Lenuik, Jenna Pavao and’ Jacqueline ~ _ CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Sports Scope _ Bruce decided to have a look see. He persuaded . “They’re all going to be good, teams. com-.. . ing in. It’s tough to win the zones and come up here,” said Terrace bantam rep coach ~ John Amos. “Just from past experience, I would think ‘the Seafair team out of Richmond [will be our biggest competition.] “They -get tons of ice time, play in the AAA league and being in Vancouver, they can drive 45 mins and have about five teams : to play. “We have to drive 45 mins to find our first “We're not going in there for fun. We’re going in there to win,” he said. __ To help the team prepare, Amos brought in Trevor Hendry, whose name they recog- nized, and not just from ‘his role as River - Kings coach.. “They turned around and looked on the board and said ‘hey his name’s on .there;° cool,’” Amos said, referring to his players seeing Hendry’s name on a bantams provin- _ cial champion banner in the Terrace arena. < After anchoring a buoy, the team suited up and . mentous bacterium that occurs at sites of organic The team members found themselves looking at ~ team to play.” Amos. said his whole team is ready and - defensive player Alexa Grant may not be the only girl in the tourney. “| think Peninsula has a girl on their team" Jr. curlers claim bonspiel THE HIRSCH Creek Golf &- Winter Club rocked over the . . Mar. 4 weekend as 12 Junior curling teams from Terrace and Kitimat competed in the Kitimat Junior Bonspiel and Curling Skills Competition. . This year featured the in- » troduction of a Mini Division where Youth Curlers aged ' 10 and 11 could join the fun’ playing modified games. At the Skills Competition on Sunday, Kitimat’s Ala-. nis Marleau placed first in the Leads Group, Stephanie - Haddad, Terrace,.topped the Seconds, Emily Wright, Ter- _ race,.was top third and Ki- eran Griffith, Terrace, won in the skips division. The viewing gallery was packed on Sunday as six teams took to the ice for the A, B and C event finals. The A Event Final was an all-Terrace affair as the Jody Kucharyshen rink with Jor-_ dan Johnson throwing skips rocks, Kucharyshen at third, Scott Rosentreter second and, lead Stacey Sheasby took on Kieran Griffith, Craig Mills, Grand Dusdale and Aidan Griffith. ‘Hendry taught the team some pointers on faceoffs and offered some tips for centres. The Kucharyshen quar- - tet had been the class of the field. in their games on Sat- urday and their high level of _ play continued in the final. Kucharyshen took four in the first and fourth with Griffith taking” singles: in ends two and three. Griffith showed some spunk grabbing a deuce ‘in the fifth to make it 8-4, but Kucharyshen closed out with a three in the sixth end to take the A Event title. - The B Event featured two - all-girls teams from Kitimat. The Sarah MclIssac rink took on Brianne Muzylows- ki and treated the crowd to a close game that came down to the last rocks. With her last rock Mcls- sac was facing a rock buried behind cover, a second shot in the open and two biters. She made a nice bump back of the open stone to sit second shot. ' Muzylowski — removed second shot, making the takeout under pressure to score four and secure the win. The C event final featured Practices also consist of helping to get the squad mentally prepared, Amos said. The Terrace bantams debut in the tourna- ment at 8 p.m. this Sunday.’ Kitimat’s Nic McIssac (Eun- nel Chang, Ashley Francis and Kaitlyn Hartmann) and Terrace’s. Emily Wright (Doug Swank _ throwing skip rocks, Wright, Stepha- nie Haddad and Michael . - Kurisu). Mclssac opened with a single in the first only to have Wright answer with singles _ in each of the next two. Mclssac retook the lead with two in the fourth end only to have Wright respond in kind in the fifth. © Down one with the ham- — mer going in the last end MclIssac found himself fac- ing three opposition coun- ters but witha chance to. win if he could pull. off a tricky draw to the eight foot. Mclssac came up wide on the draw and the C event was Wright’s. ‘Organizers and coaches were impressed with the high level of play and sports- manship, considering several teams had players competing in their first bonspiel. All games were played without any on-ice coach- ing. Uplands controls | the court , UPLANDS . ELEMENTARY _ basketball: School Sports Association tournament at Caledonia on Mar. 5. - The school’s Grade 6 and 7 teams came into the _ event having won all their regular season games. __ | Uplands played undefeated throughout the round _ robin and won the Grade 6 tourney 12-10 in a defen- sive game over Clarence Michiel. Cassie. Hall took third place after defeating Thornhill. Veritas won the sportsmanship trophy. . In the Grade 7 tourney, Uplands won all their , round robin games and reigned victorious in the final _ with a 44-14 thrashing of Thornhill. Centennial Christian beat Cassie Hall to take third. Thornhill was awarded the sportsmanship trophy. Vote for your favourite River Kings TO CELEBRATE their fourth place finish and thank fans for the overwhelming support during their first CIHL season, the River Kings are throwing an awards banquet in the Terrace Inn basement on April 9, Fans can choose the award winners by voting for their favourite player on the River Kings website (www.terraceriverkings.net). As of Friday Mar. 11, banquet organizer Burny Calrsen said tickets were already half sold out even though they haven’t been printed yet. For tickets, call Burny at 631-9005. Thornhill finishes fourth in zones THORNHILL GRADE 8 girls finished fourth at zones in Hazelton to end their season. They won one and lost two, defeating Smithers and losing to Prince Rupert and their hosts. Camellia Brown was selected as an all star. Women’s indoor soccer success THE FIRST annual Indoor Women’s Soccer Tourney showed fast action and hard hitting play between eight teams, four from Terrace. Kitimat’s Club Sporting won the event, the North- west Weekly followed in second and All Seasons tied up third spot. The most sportsmanlike team honour went to Mol- son, the only team who didn’t receive a card during the tourney. Organizers are planning a summer outdoor tour- ney. For now, teams are practising for a second in- door tourney in Kitimat next month. players | claimed the top spots in the Terrace. Elementary