A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 14, 2006

TERRACE

Ss TANDARD.

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

_ ‘PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G 5R2

SARD |
THe "RE IN CHARGE
OF PREPARING
our KIDS FOR THE .

THE TEACHERS
ARE STARTING
To SCARE ME

XPRESS

TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 » FAX: (250) 638-8432
“ WEB: www.terracestandard.com
_ EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com

“On the buses ©

WE ALL like to knock “the government” around.

‘How. come the city can’t fill a simple pothole?

“Why can’t the province fix the northwest econo-

my? That Stephen Harper — what’s he done, late-,

‘But a local. initiative shows us all how good
public policy can be when there is a meeting of*
_ ideas, minds and common interests.

_ Folks in Kitimat for several: years now have.
‘wanted a-bus service connecting themselves to
Terrace: It would be convenient for a whole num-—
_ ber of reasons — - shopping, recreation and the like.
The issue has always been cost in: ‘that bus. ser-
vices traditionally require subsidies. *

Enter the Northern Health Authority. Armed
with $4 million from the provincial government |
to create a regional bus service to connect people
in smaller. towns with medical services in other .
towns. —

- One of its objectives was to connect Terrace
to Kitimat. Terrace is a regional medical centre.
containing the majority of area’s specialists so it~
-would make sense. for a convenient and inexpen-
_Sive way. for people to get to appointments. And
Kitimat has one of the area’s two orthopedic sur-
_ geons, so there’s sa benefit to people from Terrace’
aswell.

“Using ‘that Northern Health Authority concept
asa ‘base, local governments . in the form of the
- Kitimat-Stikine fegional district, Terrace, Kiti-
‘mat and the three native governments of Kitsum-.
_-kalum, Kitselas and Kitamaat as well as the pro-
vincial crown corporation B.C. Transit have now
devised a bus system that will meet medical travel
as: well as travel for shopping and recreation.

“Beginning, ‘fingers. crossed, in late July there .
will be three times a day service from Monday to
‘Friday between Kitamaat Village and Kitimat to
Terrace. There’ll also be stops along the way be-
tween Terrace and Kitimat. And that service will
also connect east along Hwyl16 to the Kitselas
subdivision of Gitaus and west to Kitsumkalum

and New Remo. —

The bus will have space for four wheelchairs,
meeting the Northern Health Authority’ s medical
travel needs. . ©

Fares are ‘cheap — $3.50, for example, between
_ Kitamaat Village/Kitimat and Terrace.

All this will make things easier for folks who.
don’t have cars, for young people and for those

who want an. alternative to. driving themselves

when weather conditions are bad. .
At an estimated annual cost of $200,000 for the
- participating: governments seems a worthwhile
_ way to spend tax money.
It shows what is possible when there is consen-
_ sus and cooperation. And it can serve as a build-
ing block for other initiatives to draw us all closer
together. | Do

PUBLISHER/EDITOR:
Rod Link =
_ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach
. PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur
» NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman

COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada
NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs he
FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson

CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham °

a

“ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:
- ’ Bert Husband, Ellie Higginson . 2003 WIN WINNER
AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik NEWSPAPERS
- COMPETITION

~ PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur

: . SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL:
\ 7 $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year:
oe , Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55;
Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73
~ Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)= 167.89

. _ MEMBER OF : :
B.C. AND 'UKGN COMMAUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION,
- CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION
: AND ,

“ye BLE. PRESS COUNCIL (wwrerbcpresscouncil.org)
“_ 3

Serving the Terrace and Thomhi! area. Publishad on Wednesday of (a) }

each week at 3210 Clinton Sweet. Terrace, Briish Columbia. V8G SR2. Black Press
Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyies in the Terrace Standard are the prooerty of the. Soay-
right holders, including Biack Press Ltd., its illustration repro services eng advertising agencies.

Reproduction in whole or in part, without writen permission, is speciically prohibited:

Authorized as second-class mail pending the Past Ottce Dananment. tor payment of postage in ‘cash.

Special thanks to all our contributors and
correspondents for their time and talents

fi

EMS OR LESS

f°

0

| They are anything but a ‘farm’

"WHAT ARE “fish farms.”

- and why should you be wor-

_ ried? Although no farms have
yet moved north, Norwegian-

owned Pan Fish has received

approval for two'sites, at An-

ger Anchorage and Petrel Point »

south: of the Skeena River es-

tuary, anda third at Strout’s — |

- Point is pending. Se
Calling a floating net pen |
filled with domesticated salm- ~
is akin to ©
calling a commercial feedlot .
. for. cattle, a ranch. Crowded
unnaturally. together in cages

on.a fish “farm,”

suspended in coastal waters,

_ farmed salmon, are subject to
epidemic outbreaks of diseases.

and parasites that can impact

~ wild salmon and other fish. —

Unused food, fish faeces,
and a host of chemicals used
to protect the fish from the dis-
eases and parasites - -fall to: the
-sgea bed, creating a biological
“dead zone” beneath the net
pens, and polluting nearby
marine waters.

Open-pen farming of Atlan-
tic salmon began in Norway

. and spread to Scotland, Ireland.

Chile and finally, Canada. The

' spread of diseases like furun-

culosis and infectious salmon
anemia (ISA) and of parasites
like Gyrodactylus salaris soon
became a problem.

Hundreds of thousands

-of farm fish escaped in Nor- >
' way and spread the diseases
. and parasites to wild salmon.
Norway was forced to spend

hundreds of millions of dol-
lars dealing with the problems
‘caused by fish farms.

' In response to stricter regu-

lations, Norwegian companies |

took over the. BC aquaculture
industry in the mid-“80s. and

introduced the Atlantic salmon

IGUEST COMMENT

~ ANDREW WILLIAMS |

they had domesticated fora life

in floating sea pens and with it,
the same - problems which had
occurred elsewhere.

By the 1990s. the wild sea-
trout and Atlantic salmon of

“western Scotland and IJrelagg@,
-and the sport-fishing: industry.

that depended on them, were
devastated by sea lice infesta-
tions from fish farms.

British Columbia research-
er Alexandra Morton warned
the same thing would happen .
here when she discovered that
chum and pink salmon fry in

the Broughton Archipelago -

were covered with sea lice af-
ter passing the fish farms. The”

following year’s pink salmon

runs in nearby rivers were the
poorest returns in history.
Escaped. farm salmon have

been caught in many rivers ‘in

BC including the Skeena. and

their progeny has been dis- .

covered in several rivers on
Vancouver Island where they

* compete with wild salmon and

steelhead for food and spawn-
ing areas. and transmit diseas-
es “and parasites. .
Where fish farms already
exist in B.C.. various solu-

°

tions to these problems have

been proposed. The’ removal,

or “fallowing” of fish farms in °
the migration paths of salmon.
fry in the Broughton produced
‘near-normal runs of pinks the

following year. .
Another suggestion has
been that the open-pen fish

farms floating in our coastal ,

‘waters should be remoyed and
replaced with closed- contain-
ment systems, either on land
or in the water which would
prevent effluents,'diseases and
parasites ‘from being spread

and farmed salmon from es-

caping into the wild. -.
All such systems are eXx-

" perimental and expensive. } Nor

do they resolve the problem
that farmed salmon are fed.a
diet rich in protein from wild
sources such as anchovies, de-
 priving wild salmon of food.

Vincial government
issuing of fish farm licences,
British Columbia has been
trying to deal with the trou-
bling impacts of the floating
fish factories ,off our coasts

through: various commissions.

and the like.

In 2001, the provincial gov-
ernment lifted the moratorium
and began the process which

resulted in 18 potential sites.

being selected by late 2004
along the north coast.
After a decade of attempts,

there is still no clear cut deci-_

sion about the role of salmon
farming in this province, al-
though the federal and provin-
cial. governments continue to
promote aquaculture.

In the ‘latest effort to re-
solve the salmon farm debate,
the Provincial government

-imple- -
mented a moratorium on the’

has established the “Sustain-
able Aquaculture Committee
chaired by Skeena MLA Rob-
in Austin.

It’s here next week. ‘aS part
of a tour to listen to your con- ,
cerns about plans to move fish .
farms into northern coastal wa- ;:
ters and about the way salmon
aquaculture is - conducted in,

this province.
Citizens

tunity to let them know how

you feel about this important .
_issue..
First Nations leaders from
northern B.C. have. already ~

taken their concerns: to Nor-

way where they told Pan Fish
they have declared their ter-
ritorial waters in. the Skeena
watershed a “fish farm free
zqne.”

Since 1995, when the pro-@ = FSWe have’ Seen: the e devia
tion done to wild salmon stocks

in the Broughton. Archipelago
and other regions of the south*
ern British Columbia coast by
escapes and sea lice from the

salmon farms, and we don’t _

want the same thing to happen
in our area,” said Eugene Bry-
ant, of the nine Allied Tsimshi-
an Tribes of Lax Kw’alaams.

‘He said, “We have to appeal to.

Pan Fish shareholders and let

them know the environmental _ -

often “complain.
that, governments don’t listen, .
‘to them, but.here’s an oppor- ~

impact their company is-hav- -

ing on our coast” because the

provincial government is not
listening to their concerns. .
Bryant said his message is

that “the company is not wel- -

come to put farms in [our]

territory, at the mouth of the:

Skeena River.”
Terrace

of Wild Salmon.

A case if the m

UNTIL THIS May. our yard
never resembled an abandoned
prairie farmstead. waiting to be
grazed by. an Angus herd.

But with my. home- based
business gone this spring (I
retired last September). gone.

- too. was the pressure to shear

‘vegetation before it. reached
five inches.

As much as I admire a
clipped yard, I love grass. Tall

grass deters crow'’s and ravens: .

they must divide their me be-
tween craning for overhead
enemies and drilling moss for
a meal.

While my. husband threat-

ened to hire a teenager. or |

sink several grand in a ride-on
mower. [ dallied. I did go so
far as to top up the gas tank,
and test yank the cord. But I
forgot to prime the ignition:
despite a new spark plug my
reward was a spultering cough
from each of us.
Pressured to perform, I
called for backup. And while
I waited for someone younger
and stronger to start my ma-
chine for the first time this sea-
son, I faced the daily dilemma

_ CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

THROUGH BIFOCALS

of how to explain my so-so
yard maintenance to visitors,

‘many of whom cast a critical

eye over our double lot. before
teetering back on their heels to

- take my measure.

Was I too lazy to mow? In-

visibly handicapped? Overly

busy with in-house chores?
Or was our mower in need of
repair?

‘Should I pretend to be feed-
ing bees for a local apiarist? If
so. beheading my dandelions
would be equivalent to raiding

the bees’ pantry.
‘ No doubt passers-by en-

joyed a jolt of superiority as.

they glimpsed our unkempt

- property. grasses hula dancing
-in the breeze. Did those who

moved in during the winter
wonder what I might be hid-
ing? A rusting bathtub? A
skeletonized skidoo? .The en-

trance to a drug runner's tun-.
nel?

Scanning the expanse, I

considered ordering a pith hel-

met to wear while I flushed
out rhinos before: cutting the
perimeter swath. Its tan crown

' skimming the Timothy would

chart my course if my husband
chose to observe my dogged
progress. backing up, taking
a second mn at a tussock. re-
Starting the motor if it stalled.

Given the current poker
craze. chances are motorists
and bus drivers who frequent
our street bet their baseball
buddies which day — or month
- I would eventually plunge

my vibrating monster, full
throttle. into the stem barmi-
cade.

Who would bet on some-

ington,
“Hackett of Tolield,
placed second out of a starting -

ddle class blues

thing so ‘mundane, you sniff? -

Gamblers bet on the outcome
of the recent Scripps Interna-

tional Spelling Bee in Wash- .
where Finola
Alberta

D.C..

field of 275 contestants. They.
bet on whether the winning
word would have an “e™ in-it.
It did. The winning word was
ursprache.

Last Friday all betting on
my lawn mowing stopped, un-
less diehards went on to wa-
ger how many hours I'd need

‘to mangle a first cut.

resident. Andrew.
Williams is chair of the Friends -

Or how many times the mo- .

tor would die when the blade
encountered
combinations

ons. hairlike grass, clover, and
ground-hugging ferns thick as
soccer hooligans storming a

‘barrier.

The first cut took me four
hours, spaced over four days.
Only drought can delay the
second cut. So while I'm on
my knees scraping clean the
mower’s underside, I'm also
praying for sunshine.

impenetrable
of knee-high |
grass and mustard, dandeli- -