. Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 13, 1990 — Page AS LETTERS _ _ TO THE TERRACE STAN DARD Nenehag Sate CO MR AR GD NY AD te Ay i ads - boost : fishery . TERRACE —. As. ‘some 200 coho fry slipped into the waters -of Herman Creek last week, a group of Centennial Christian school. students concluded a nine-! manth project the federal departmént of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) hopes will leave them with a greater knowledge and appreciation of the fisheries resource. Explaining the project was part of the department's Salmonid Enhancement Public Participation program, DFO community advisor Barry Peters’ said 11 schools in Teérrace-Thornhill took part this year. For all classes involved, the project. began last fall with a field trip to the Lakelse River — Herman Creek is one of its tributaries — to collect coho eggs and sperm. . '- That done, it was back to the school where Peters fertilized the eggs under the watchful eyes of the youngsters. ‘'They started right from step one,” he said, adding the eggs were then placed in a tank in the classroom allowing students to observe incubation, hatching and the early growth of the fry. While the Christian Centen- _ nial eggs/fry enjoyed a 90 per cent survival rate, Peters ". pointed out that wasn't ‘always the case. One school involved in .the program this year had suf- fered a die-off that left them with just four fry to be released. However, he added, “That just made those four all the more important to the kids.” Although the time of release is the last the students will see of ‘their!’ fish, they have. learned all. about. what. happens: after that point; :The fry will remain in the creek.and river until they reach the smolt stage when they will head for the ocean. Once there, they will begin the long migration up the coast of B.C. and Alaska before swinging westward on a circular route ‘ that could take them as far as A NINE MONTH \ VIGIL came to an end for a group Christain Centennial students with the release of coho fry they have watched hatch and grow in a classroom tank. Above, Department of Fisheries and Oceans worker Barry Peters carefully introduces the minnow-sized fish to their new home, Herman ‘Creek. Those surviving. the long migration that lies ahead will return in the fall of 1992, nba Japanese 'waters:The- cycle will be completed in the fall:of 1992 when the mature salmon return to the Lakelse to spawn. But the students are under no illusion about the = survival chances of the fry. Cataloguing the predators they face at every stage of their development, Peters told the Christian Students bring back Howe creek TERRACE — Coho salmon spawning in the heart of Ter- race. - That is the vision a class of Grade'.1] biology students at Caledonia Senior Secondary have for Howe Creek, / They?ve, spent the last month cleaning. up sections of the Stream,, which once held coho - and trout but now passes for lit-. tle more than a drainage ditch. The creek starts on Terrace — Mountain, winds its way along the backyards of Terrace homes before crossing thehighway and the railway tracks near Skeena Sawmills to empty into the Skeena River. - ’ «So far the students have haul- ed several truckloads of garbage ‘out of the creek,.and are prepar- . ing plans to turn the creek into a park to run the length of the ci- ty, and make it habitable for fish once more. ’ Biology teacher Glenn Grieve says the class has applied for a $38,000 federal grant to renew TERRACE _ Although the number of days angling guides -- Can take clients to local rivers are -to be reviewed later this year, the chairman of the local ~ angling’ guide association Says _ his members are generally . Satisfied with how the pro- cedure is working out. : “Limitations on the number of guides Operating and clients ~ they could take out on local _Tivers -were introduced by the -. - environment minlitry. The-fiew “regulations were . introduced _ «following ‘a sharp increase. In. . angling - guide apolications beat 7 - pngling that had’ taken, /place-o 1g ALA ai the stream. Most of the money is to go toward culverts, publishing a booklet about the creek, and building.a- fish lad- der. A 20-foot drop into the Skeena at the creek’s . outlet keeps fish from getting upstream, Grieve said the lad- der would help the fish past the drop, and setting the stage for a re-stocking of the creek. “The kids enjoy this ~- they're really enthusiastic,” he said. “Four years from now we want to see those coho come back upstream and spawn.” Log berms — logs placed i in the stream bed to create rifles - and artificial spawning grounds — are also part of the stlidents’ plans. Some of the plans are exten- ‘sive — such as the re-routing of the creek around the Skeena Sawmills yard. Grieve said the creek now flows under much of the mill through a culvert which is too long for fish to swim year which led to concerns about overcrowding, on those rivers, Guide association chairman Frank Thodt said he has heard of no cases of guides being told they couldn't work rivers on which they had operated before, This year’s allocations were: based on past’ use: but are preliminary pending the review ‘later this yearn ae It will examine the amount of MMAR fy. areas various - rivers, ' identify where’ there was. sfagenvg pressure, ‘On: the” filth Céntennial’ ‘students ‘dt average survival rate‘ of one’ per cent meant only two of their 200 fry were likely to complete the journey. It’sa fact of life they seem to accept easily enough, perhaps because they also now know a single returning female will lay _2-3,000 eggs, JUNE STREWN Howe Creek could someday be a nature park i i Explaining: Atha: yauionale” behind the program, Peters said, “The idea is they learn about the fish and gain an ap- preciation for them.” That was particularly important in the northwest where “fish seem to touch everybody's life in some way,’” he added. some Caledonia students get their wish. They see it as a ribbon of green running across the city, where coho salmon could spawn, as they once did. . upstream. ’ He said any re-routing is like- ly to mean.complex. discussions _with several. property owners and. government agencies to get approval, Grieve said: an even larger re- routing project is being. con- sidered: re-directing the creek to flow, as oldtimers say it once did, into - the Kitsumkalum River. This summer’ they want to start building paths near where determine what adjustments to the allocations were required, Guides must provide the en- vironment ministry with detail- ‘ed reports of their activities and | those, combined: with statistics from the sale of licences should give: @ clear‘ picture of fishing ‘patterns for both guides and non-guided,* non-resident anglers, ‘That's important 's. becauge’ we've" never had: that before,” Thodt emphasized. That, information would:also Dw: ‘accurate.evaluation of the nora ‘Value ‘of the angling soniet 1 not ‘Available up ul de dnelustry. to the communi- - the creek passes De Jong Cres- cent and Parkside School, Grieve added. Fhe students plan to set up route markers, and signs marking” _hative plant © species. “They want to encourage people to be aware of the creek area,’ Grieve said. “Twenty years it’s going to be in the mid- dle of big city — and by then this creek should be a linear park, which can be preserved.” uides happy with limits to now. Recalling local guides had been among the first to call for - controls, he said they had been necessary to ensure.the Skeena River continued to offer the ‘quality experience’* that drew so-many.-tourist anglers to the area. While accepting this fall's review would probably result in adjustments to allocations, Thodt said he hoped they would be the last for several years. Guides rieetied a lengthy period of stability If they were to effec- tively plan 1 theif business, he ex- plained. a 7 ae > says that”. céndoms ‘No’ to condom logic refuted. Dear Sir: This is in response to ‘the article titled “Love and faith are the answer’? by Doctor Pieter Van Herk. 1 really have a problem with some of the things he has to say. | also wonder if he ever read a dictionary, He says the promotion of the use of condoms to ‘help comBat' the spread of AIDS is a simplistic approach. He also says that this same logic teaches that abstinence is not possible and that sex is necessary in order to enjoy life, Well, perhaps advocating the use of condoms is a simplistic approach but then you have to learn to crawl before you start running marathons, There has to be a start made someplace and it seems that the proper agencies for this action are not interested enough right now to serious- ly be involved in solving this problem and forgetting their personal prejudices for the goed of everyone. Something like the good doctor is soun- ding. With his experience in the medical field he could be us- ing his knowledge instead of his ignorance to deal with this situation. As for abstaining from sex, that’s probably the best solution there is. However teenagers aren’t always able to control those raging hor- mones coarsing through their bodies. I know when | was young (and that was quite a few years ago) if someone had said that sex would make me go blind the only effect that would have had on me would have been the pur- chase of a white cane, He break, well so does will: “powel. SO" by his logic we should have a vulnerable teen totally at-the mercy of possible AIDS in- fection. as well as an -un- wanted (or needed) pregnan-. cy. He talks about the fact that we are addressing a _ group of unmarried people then moves right in to talking » about these people having to be encouraged not to commit adultery. Now that may bea ’ good idea but I think we should be more concerned with getting them through high school alive. f think we should be more concerned with getting them through high school alive. By my dictionary adultery is defined as ‘voluntary sex- ual intercourse of a married person with anyone except his or her spouse, Now unles Doctor Van Herk is aware of a whole lot of married folk out: there who are just waiting to pounce on these yongsters, then this adultery bit has nothing to do with the subject at the present time. Later when they are thinking of getting married would perhaps be a better time to stress that ‘until death do you part’ means just that, I closing I will agree that abstinence is the best protec- tion. However 1 also realize that emotions sometimes Overcome good sense. Because of this I feel that all the assistance that can be given these teens should be made readily available to them. \« At Gtawberg ” Fetrace, B.C. Students Skip Dear Sir: We would like to raise the point of substitute teachers within our school. We are grade 11 students in Caledonia Senior Secondary who are close to writing final exams for this semester, Lately we have been seeing a lot of replacement teachers in our classrooms. This is fine if our regular teachers are sick, but we feel that we should have adequate replacements who can teach the subject knowledgeably. The substitutes which we have had so far have been mostly inadequate; music majors for math, math teachers for computer studies, etc. From our past experience this year we have realized that a percentage of students skip because of inadequate substitutes, ; It is fine if a teacher has ta be absent, but we believe it is our school district’s respon- sibility to provide us with reasonably knowledgeable replacements. . Sylvie: Mageau, Shondell Myram, Terrace, B.C. It's worth it An open letter to school board 88, re: Condom machines in high schools, I am an_ internationally certified childbirth educator and I would like to speak in favour of condom machines in our high schools, ‘My reasons are simple: I am absolutely petrified of the AIDS virus; I believe many teenagers are having . sex whether we discourage them or not; I don’t believe a can- dom machine in and of itself has the power to make a chaste person promiscuous; and I am committed to trying to prevent as many cases of AIDS as possible. I am tired of hearing quotes from the Bible, of how chastity before marriage is the cornerstone of society, how ‘wrong’ it is to be gay (are gays maybe not the modern-time lepers Jesus befriended?), of how all you have to do is not have sex and you won’t be punished, That’s not our present reality. Our reality is that we have a high rate of teenage pregnancy, a high rate of sex- ual abuse (any AIDS cases found there yet?) including among numerous Christian religious groups, and our AIDS rate for teens is in- creasing. Those are our facts. ‘ Condoms may break, and the pregnancy rate may not - be zero per cent but if one condom saves one life, it’s worth it, I am getting the scary impression from what I ‘am reading that people in this town want to punish people who are having sex cont'd A6 About letters The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to the editor on all topics, .All letters must be signed and carry an ad- dress and ~ ‘local telephone number, Addresses or phone numbers won't be printed with the letter, but they are -hecessary for. confirmation “of ‘the. letter's ‘authenticity . The writer’s*name will be. equests for , names to be. ‘withheld may be granted in extraordinary cir- cumstances, . Thank you letters should be submitted to the “Card of Thanks' section of the classifieds, — Letters containing libelous or objectionable matter will be. edited or returned to the writer, All letters are run on a space available basis, with "shorter: ‘letters: ately to: be “¥ published soonest. whey