Skeena Angier

Rob
Brown

FEW DAYS ago I was
at a friend’s house. From
time to time J] looked up
from the morming paper

‘to watch the boats of sportfishermen
bobbing in of Howe Sound as captains

- fished for coho and chinook.

"The editorial in The Vancouver Sun |
was titled ‘The Scales of Justice’.
*“Ognnda’s ‘new fisheries minister,

. Ross Reid,’ it read, ‘‘ealled on the

United Nations this week to create a
new inlemational fishing regime that
would have powers to prevent over-

- fishing around the world,
|. “Overfishing is an outrageous act of
- aggression that damages fish stocks

and: ravages the social fabric of com-
‘munities relying on the resource.”

After criticizing foreign nations for
ravaging cod stocks on Canada’s cast
coast, the editors urged the minister to
contemplate surveillance and enforce-
ment actions if faced with continuing

_ Tesistance from alien pirates.

’ While I thought about this, a gentle-
man who had worked for the Federal
Deparment of Fisheries and Oceans

(DFO) monitoring the cast coast

fishery came on CBC Radio and pre-

sented an opposite insight. In his com-

mentary, he said the minister’s initia-
tive — so enthusiastically endorsed. by

.. the fishing industry — was ironic

since our own fishing industry was the

. major contributor to the demise of cod
| stocks, and bears the lion’s share of

responsibility for the desiruction of
" the east coast cod fishery.

“The Spanish, Portuguese, Koreans,

. Hondurans and Panamantans acted ir-
| responsibly, to be sure; their fishing

“probably hastened the collapse of
4 giocks, But our own fishermen, over-
Seen by. gavernment agencies, mined

‘the oceans unti] cod stocks were

-peyond salvation “OC
: " Draggers scoured the bottom of the

Atlantic ‘for yeats, destroying the

” habitat while dredging up millions of

tonnes of sea creatures other than the
target species: the so-called bycatch.

. Destructive technologies like drag-
_ ging should never have been allowed.
Jo let dragging continue when its ef-

fects on the ocean habital became well

known was reprehensible; to point the
finger at fishing fleets of other nations
with our-own' fisheries in such dis-
array is hypocritical.

_’ Before prime minister Kim and min-

ister Reid saddle their white chargers,
shoulder their lances and gallop off to

do battle against overfishers, they

must realize their chances of success

. will be greatly eihanced if domestic
. fisheries behave in an environmental-
ly sensitive’ manner. At present they
_ 4re not. :

In fact, west coast salmon stocks
have been overfished for years, and
the practice continues. Anyone

~ yemotely involved in fisheries issues

‘knows that coho stocks are severely

. depressed. In the past 30 years, steel-

head numbers have declined drastical-
ly.: Almost every stock of Pacific sal-
mon is in decline.

This woes of the western salmon
stocks are attributable in part to for-
eign fishing and habitat destruction.

.. But, as on: the east! coast, our own
1 - fishing fleets are largely responsible
‘for ‘the coridition jof fish stocks.
| Despite commission recommenda-
~ tons: tb limit the nt

“- vessels through buyback programs
and area licensing, these have not

_ come to pass, . 7
Gill nets, like draggers, are an out-
moded, destructive technology. Seine -

ber of fishing

‘poals can fish: selectively with gear
alterations and the manipulation of
‘fishing time, Nothing has been done
to address cither issue.
' . Experimentation with selective har-
vesting methods like fish traps should
have begun decades ago. Such experi-
ments should have been generously

“funded and promoted by DFO, but _

this has nat happened.-

‘The yearly zoo fishery,at the mouth
-- Of the Skeena and Nass rivers is a fia-

grant example of overfishing; it is
ocean mining without consideration of
bio-diversity or sustainability or the
democratic allocation of resource use.
~The few steps DFO has taken. to ad-
dress overfishing have been as effec-

"tive as bandaging a melanoma.

It's all very well to-invelgh against

-. foreign brigands, but first the federal. |
» government must demonstrate its sin-
__cerity.by solving its overfishing prob-'
~lempathome,

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 2d, 1993 - Paga C1

~ against boxers from back east.

Mike Vandermuellen

BOXING 7

len a spot in the three-way playoff to

| CROWNING MOMENT. A birdie on the final hole snatched Mike Vandermuel-

decide the Skeena Valley Junior Open.

Above, he celebrates repeating the feat on the first playoff hole for the title,

Locals get invite to

ore-Games camp

“A real big eye opener!”’

That's what Terrace boxing club coach
Jeff Dilley says both Joey Losier and
himsélf are going to get next month.

Why? Because they’ve been invited lo
take part in the national senior boxing
team’s pre-Commonwealth Games train-
ing camp in Lodgepole, Alberta.

For his part, Losier will get to work out
and spar with the older, more experi-
enced fighters who make up the senior
national squad, mo,

Still an intermediate, Losicr is a mem-
ber of the national ‘B’ team in the
category and that, says Dilley, is the rea-
son he’s been asked to take part.

It’s also just the opportunity the Ter-

race boxer has been looking for, he.

added./

: “He's always wanted to climb: be-
“tween the ropes with the best.”’ ,

"And, he adds, “‘the best’? will find out .
just how effective Terrace’s ting master

is. “I think he’s going to impress them,’’
Dilley predicted.
In part, that confidence is based on
Losier’s winning fight record to date
Dilley pointed out they were members
of the same clubs as the seniors and reg-

Overpowering. Dominant. Masterful.

These are.just a few apt terms that
could be used to describe the recent vic-
tories claimed by the Haisla Junior Girls
Basketball team. ,
"The team, representing B.C. in the 16

years and younger category, completely -

dominated. «play at ‘the Canada In-
digenous Games July 18-24 in Prince Al-

’ bert, Sask, ;

The girls played a total of six games: in

. their first game, they crushed the Quebec.
contingent. 78-15. Then “they beat -Sas-

Ni

JoeyLosicr _
ularly got to work out with them. me
But Losier’s not the only one who will
get a chance to Icarn something from the
Aug, 8-22 camp.
“It's a training camp for mie too,’’ Dil-
ley emphasized. Pointing out he would

get a chance to talk with and pick up tips. |. .
from the country’s best boxing coaches, .
he said the. trip represented ‘‘the op-

poriunily of a lifetime for a coach from
the north.”

Haisla juniors dominate

katchewan 61-47; Alberta 71-19; and the
Yukon 88-19. In the semi-final, they

again met Quebec, and handily won by a .

score of 88-15. And the gold medal was

theirs when they defeated Saskatchewan, .

74-47 in the final game, - |

According to coach Albert Robinson, a -
core group of eight girls have played to- .
gether on the Kitamaat Village team for -
the past four years. The tcam now. has |

the opportunity’ to travel to Minnesota 10
participaté.in the upcoming North Amer-
ican Tndigenous.Games.

rovide thriller finish

Junior golfers provided the most excit-
ing tournament finish of the season July
18, conjuring up a three-way playoff
which saw cach of the irlo have a shol at
victory.

Mike Vandermuellen, having watched
Allan Wilson and Colin Hamnen both
miss their birdie attempt on the first ex-
ira hole, calmly sank his to claim the '93
title.

The play-off hole was simply a con-
linvation of a riveting duel the trio had
fought most of the last day. -

Vandermuelien had emerged from Sat-
urday’s opening round with a 74 for a
two stroke lead over Hannen.

Wilson languished eight back after
slumping to an 84,

However, early problems on Sunday’s
concluding round saw Vandermuelicn
overhauled by Hannen who built up a
four stroke lead by the time the trio
turned for home.

Although he had matched Hannen’s 36
over the front nine and was breathing
down Vandermuelien’s -neck, Wilson
still needed to haul back six strokes to
catch the new leader.

And he did just that, continuing to play
the same stcady game while Hannen
slowly but surely came back to him.

With Vandermuelien having recovered
his touch, the tro teed off at 17 tied at
146, There Wilson completed his charge
with a birdle to take the lead,

It was shortlived, however. ,
_As Wilson faltered to bogey the final

"hole and Hannien parred, Vandermuclien
- produced a timely birdie to grab a place

in the playoff and set his spikes on the
road to victory.

Based on countback, Wilson took the
low gross top spot in the championship
flight and Hannen settled for best low
net in that flight.

Wilson’s Sunday round of 71 (36,35)
was the best of the lournament,

Tom Foley held on for second in the
championship low gross, Mark
Euverman’s late run falling just a stroke
short, .
No such luck for Scott Rigler in the *B’
flight low gross, where Kevin Cage
caught him with a’birdle at-17. and ‘then
got down one quicker on the lest,“

Other low gross results saw David
Kozier take ‘A’ flight, Brian Rigler the
Extended and Kara DeJong the girls’, all
by comfortable margins.

Overall low net winner was Craig

Lewis whose 127 left any challengers far
behind. _

Other low net winners were Steve Ven-
man in ‘A’, Tyler Thomas in 'B’, Willis

Sexton in the extended and ‘Tanya
MeWNee for the girls.

‘pasketball competition

~~. Reeeach!

STRIVING FOR: THE BASKET was the primary objective at.the 3-0n-3
hold July 24 at the TNJ Sound parking lot. Tha
avent featured 16 teams from various Northwest points;
Rupert, Kitimat, Hazelton, New Alyansh and Terrace. Above, the action
gets Intense as the Hi-Fives square off against the Rebels. . es

including Prince