YEARS OF research by Alois Schillinger sits stacked upona

table. He says the information indicates ail sectors of the fishing
industry are in trouble unless action is taken, And his group, the

Plan needed to preserve

By ALOIS
SCHILLINGER

“Alois Schillinger is the presi-

dent und spokesman for the Brit-

.. Ek Columbia Coast Marine Life
“ Protection Society.

~:First, I want to emphasize that
the context of this article is not
done: with any political. motiva-
tion. Nor is it meant to be mis-
“. leading, distorted, discriminatory
OF exaggerated, ot

This. study addresses facts and
issues,-All statements, claims and

comments-made in relation to re-'.-

Search are ‘supported and sub-

stantiated by federal and provin-

cial scientific documents.
: Three. years ago, prior to the

- founding’ of our society, I tried to ~

make the public aware of the
‘decline in. salmon stock within.
our B.C. waters: by writing; a

ne ipa per ante “te

By our: society’s: constitution, °°

. we have an obligation to protect
“the - environment and human
health.-In view of the seriousness

of. the troubles within our com-—

mercial fishing industry, we felt it
was necessary to do research. We
do wish that our efforts are bene-
ficial to all parties involved.

There are too many related ele-

ments in-the study to allow each
one to be addressed.

I will focus on the most impar-
tant issue only — the destruction
of our ecosystem in our. inland
and ocean waters.

The ecosystem in our water
sources is the livelihood for guar-
anteeing the reproduction for all

. fish species, It’s vital for the sur-
vival of our commercial, sport

- fishing, native food fishing and

tourism fish industry.

For several decades this inland
and. oceart ecosystem has been
choked to death by clearcutting of
the forest, natural disasters creat-
ed by flood or drought, runoff
water from street and bush roads,
human effluent, fish farm ef-
i tang paper, mil] pollution, mine

* mon

Bo Mesinees
: Fish Farining ay

British Columbia Marine Lifa Protection ‘Society, says an

endangered ecosystem is at the root of declining salmon stocks.

ecosystem in salmon reproducing
water sources, a total elimination
of our commercial, nalive food
fishing, sport fishing and tourism
fishing industry is imminent.
Overfishing and native com-
mercial inland fishing can be con-

trolled by negotiation. The
ecosystem destruction can’t be
negotiated.

Producing up to one billion sal-
mon fry or smolts annually. by
private enhancement organiza-
tions and government hatcheries
to replace the dwindling salmon

stock~has not worked, Salmon.

stocks continue to decline.

Prior to the decline the wild sal-
stocks was sufficiently
‘capable of reproducing enough
salmon to support a viable and
sustainable fishing industry.

Now, we have that additional

one billion fish produced annual-
ly in support of the wild salmon

stock ,and there bas. been,

[alae IO OFS anyone

cré isa simple explanation
— no ecosystem equals no fish-
ing industry. Period.

Unless immediate and drastic-

action. is taken to preverit further
pollution and destruction to the

: Dont impair resource use

change,, The. salmgn, nF
decline. .-

Our society supports the exist:

ing, privately-operated enhance-
ment hatcheries. Without them
‘we would have: faced years ago
the dilemma of dwindling salmon

To share and share

By TOM WATERLAND

~ We seldom hear of the need for
various, interest groups to share
the use of the.land with one’ an-
other and to really try to under-
. Stand the other's point of view.
“British Columbia‘is a large pro-
“yince but with today’s rather
‘Small population, it is not large-
enough so-that we can satisfy
everyone’s needs and desires by
‘zoning much of the province for
“exclusive use by one sector or an-
other.
"AS our "population grows the
“need to share ‘arid -practice in-
--tegrated land use policics will be-

; come even more acute.
- . Except in-the “unyielding mind

_ set’? of some individuals, the use
_ Of land by one interest group necd
_:* not-seriously. detract from use by
other interests.

“It is true that really ‘ ‘special”

“places - should be preserved but |

=the establishment of vast tracts of
“unaccessed: Jand as wilderness
“preserves simply robs you and I

~af the use of much of the land and
_ preserves. it for the exclusive use
of elitists who can afford the time
and’ cost needed to access and en-
joy their ‘‘private”’ preserves.

A number. of myths have,

Tom Waterland
through sheer repetition, become
accepted facts in the minds of
‘many people and are. used by
some to discourage the use of our
TCSOUTCES. -

Clear cut timber harvesting of

. Mature stands of timber is not in-
herently evil as some would have
us believe and this practice is as
appropriate as clear cutting a ficld
of mature wheat. Each crop when

harvested leaves an area’ of
denuded land and each can be and
is regenerated into a future
resource.

It would be a° ‘tragedy if we
were to abandon our most impor-
tant industry and its workers after
we have come so far and learned
so much, simply because an ir-
responsible few. would have us
believe we arc destroying our en-
vironment, =

There are those, too, who would.
have us believe that mining is an
environmentally destructive in-
dustry and that mineral extraction
cannon co-exist with other land
uses,

Because of the rarity of com-
mercially viable mineral depasils,

prospectors must have access to .

vast areas of the province in their
search for minerals. But, in fact,
all of the mineral extraction we
have ever done in B.C. has dis-
turbed less than one-tenth of one
per cent of our land base.

. It is a fact that today’s. mines
are truly compatible with most
other land uses and in many cases
the mines’ existence provides op-
portunities for our people to ac-
cess and enjoy more of British
Columbia,

_ been

recious salmon stocks

stocks. However, salmon enhan-
cement can have negative effects
to the wild fish stocks if not prap-
erly operated,

For the past few years our
society has conducted a fact find-
ing study related to the declining
salmon stock in our B,C. ocean
waters,

This study is supported by
scientific research and govern-
ment information literature, in-
cluding the combined 85 years of
experience in aquaculture, com-
mercial and sport fishing of our.
society’s executive members.

The results of the study identi-
fied another important cause for
the decline of salmon, not related
to the pollution in our ecosystem.

‘Applying the results of this
study to the ccosystem could im-
prove the reproduction of wild
fish stock. It would be beneficial
to the whole fishing industry by
increased salmon returns.

Tq.,protect the financial invests,»
ment occurred-in this fact fi inding ..

study, our society is unable ‘to
reveal the results of the study un-
til the validily of the cause has
verified by.
authorities.

It seems strange to me that we
accept use of vast lands for build-
ing communities, highways, rail-
ways and power lines, but often
object to the use of minuscule
areas of the our province for the
extraction of the many ‘mincral

commodities so essential to our:

modern civilization.
When’ a modem day mine.

reaches the end of its iife the site,

must be and is reclaimed. and
often the land is then capable of a
higher use that it was before min-
ing began.

Lasting damage caused by
society’s, past practices needs to
be, and must be, repaired. This is
true for our community and pub-
lic works structures and their im-
pacts as it is for industrial im-
pacts.

None of us can polnt a finger at
others without. collectively ac-
cepting the responsibility.

Tom Waterland is a former So-
cial Credit cabinet minister and
president of the Mining Associa-
tion of B.C.

He left the latter post March 1
to found an exploration compa-

ay and. says he'll become ta-

volved in Social Credit party ac-
tivities.

ane -

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 17, 1993 - Page AS

_ LETTERS

TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

Dear Sir:

I have lived in Thornhill 19
of the 23 years I have lived in
this province, due mainly to
the clean air and wonderful
water. I fecl sure that all of my
neighbors feel the same and,
like me, are horrified by the
Dairyland PCB threat that is
hanging over us.

Does Dairyland feel that
their decision to subject our
health and welfare to this
atrocity is the action of a good

think the storage of PCBs on
the same property they prepare
our dairy products will endear
them to us or do they plan to
forfeit their dairy business in
lieu of a more Jucrative busi-
ness?
Plastic lined ‘containers in-
side a fenced area, in my hum-
_ ble estimation, does not con-
* stitute asafe disposal dump for
this deadly waste product.

Why was this terrible deci-
sion made by Agrifoods Infer-
national Cooperative Ltd.
without first presenting ithe
facts to the people of this area?
Why did we not have an op-
portunity to tum thumbs-down
on a proposal we would never
have condoned?

I want to see the permit ap-

Dear Sir:

editorial’ = ‘*The
Thing”, (March 3, 1993),

understatement.

mouth of the Skeena,

mega-sized super port. .

taxpayer sources,

the blue-blooded admiralty o

corporate neighbour? Do they :

l want to commend you upon
the insightful probing of the
share concept in our northwest
communities in your recent
Neighborly

+» To say ‘Mr. Lester: and ~his
| elitist: town? cronies of Piltice bbeing ‘the pod arial
Rupert are-not the most mag-
nanimous brethren for we to
have as close pals is a colossal

. Your editorial provides us
Kitimatians with an all too
"heart warmingly familiar echo
of the dual standards evinced
by. our buddies down at the

For there was a time when
the whole region jumped on-
board the 3.8. Rupert steamer
when it was thelr grandiosc
scheme, lavished with untold
public funding, to bring on a

Here at the head of Douglas
Channel, constricted by only
private facilities. We (prey for-
give us) got the sometimes
great notion, that we too would
seck support for a third party
user, multi-purpose intermodal
berth. One of much more
modest scale and demeanor,
principally funded by non-
capturing
new special niches in deepsea
trade and of provincial port

swashbuckling buccaneers by

their mayor, MLA Mr. Miller,
Prince Rupert port corporation

PCB storage
plan attacked

plication cancelled- and a
refusal by Dairyland to partici-
pate in this atrocity. A question
for. Agrifoods officials, and
their answer to it, “Would you
move here with a young faim-
ily, buy your dairy products
from Dairyland knowing the
children would be cating and
drinking foods prepared in this
environment, or will you come
in, set your poisonous plan in
gear, and get out?”
Yours truly,
Eileen Bruce.
Terrace, B.C,
kkk kk
Dear Sir: . .
In regards to the proposed
PCB storage situation atthe
pairyworld facility in Thom-
il
If other communities have al-
teady passed by-laws to pre-
vent this from happening,
maybe it is time that the City
of Terrace and the regional dis-
trict looked at updating their
by-laws to protect our region
from this type of proposal.
The Terrace area need not be
a dumping ground for the rest
of the province. Why not use
some of our abundant wilder-
ness area that B.C. offers.
Sharon Prinz,
Terrace, B.C,

A neighbourly
Kitimat letter

and the longshore clan. They
launched a smear campaign to
tar and feather us pirates.

Yes, it’s all too facetious,
that now when the fall downs
in harvesting AACs for forest
companies are imminent pro- ”
vinee -wide;’' that” instéad “of.-°

thought Lester ‘et‘él would! be)
when now it is we that are un-
der duress, instead of bathing
in their benevolence, we sce
Rupertites squealing like little
introspective piggies. Well
shiver me timbers, ladies and ©
gentlemen.

Well, we were instantly
branded as opportunistic
swashbuckling buc-
caneers.

Yes we.can sympathize with |
you at Eurocan, Skeena mills
and you Terracites being a
little down on your chips so to
speak, agericved at this tum-
coat smacking you’ve received
from these chameleons of the
outer coast, Deja Vu - brothers
and sisters.

My remedy, we form a posse
of wolf packs form our Hinter-
land Jocations and go bounty
hunting the litle red riding

status. hoods from. Rupert. Now
‘ Well, we were instantly everyone huff and puff and
branded © as = opportunistic blow Kaien Island .ever

seaward. Many howls to you
f all,

Gerry J. Bloomer
Kilimat B.C.

More on

letters are thrown away.

Friday.

Page A7

The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to the editor. that
they be signed and a phone number be included. Letters are sub-
ject to editing for reasons of length and for good taste, Unsigned

You can fax your letters in to 638-8432. The deadline is noon

© learning how to reads.’

AS “The ‘Start is for people

, Readers

Thomas Monteith,
Sabrina Dosanjh and
Chris Chapman go to
Parkside school.

They and other students

-tead'a lot of books.

Each time they did, they
made a paper link. The
links formed a chain.

And’ the chain went
around the whole school.
The school has 195 § stu-
dents.”

Going in.

There’s going to be a
new housing project.

It is being built by the
Muks-Kum-O] ~ Housing
‘Society. It is going in on.
the comer of Clinton and

Park.

The project will have 10
units. Five will be* for
people who are disabled.

Work has already begun :
on the project.

But some people ¢ aid not
want the project... oo

That’s because it will -
have . fewer parking
spaces than’normal..

The people said «there
would be problems with
parking... .
- They said people would
park on the street.

But the builders got the

_ OK from city hall.