Natives cry foul over fish flap | TERRACE —— Tsimshian wa- lives are threatening to sue the federal Department of Fisheries and’ Oceans (DFO) for closing down their inland commercial fishery on the Skecna River Pri. day... Tsimshian: Tribal Council presi- ; dent Art Sterritt: claims natives : were allowed to fish for sockeye and pink salmon ‘until ‘at ‘least Monday; and perhaps’ longer. - “They shut us down just-when we were. starting to ¢atch sig: nificant numbers of fish,’’ he. has cost the. tribal much as $450,000. - “They'll sce us in court’ over this,”? Sterritt added, Tsimshian “fishermen _ Were given the go-ahead. early - last. month to selectively tuke up to 50,000 sockeye and: 0, 000 pink council - as -.Tsimshian-caught salmon, The more valuable sock- eye were to come from cnhanced rus originating near Babine Lake. They took’ roughly 10, 000 sock- eye and “22, 000. pinks, Sterritt - estimates. “He ‘said fi shories: officers .con- fiscated, “nearly, 9,000 pounds of fish - Friday, and ; ordered processors. to Sop buying: Ite Sterritt - éaid DFO. made. ihe Move: “afer. allegations tiatives - were gill- netting fish instead of said, estimating the edrly closure ” using selective methods, © He suid. 40 Kitsumkalum and Kitselis ‘band members are out of © “-work. now that the Kitsumkalum, band’s beach scine operation and the Kitselas fish wheel are shut down. ; Greg Taylor, manager of: Ocean ; Fisherics’ fish-packing plant at Prince Rupert, said the tribal council didn’t have enough con- trol over some of its native fishermen. “T know personally there’s fish coming out of there with all kinds of gillnet marks,’’ Taylor: said. themselves:.. : DFO regional manager Norm Lemmen ‘said Friday there was great confusion and: that it would take a few days to sort out. ‘'There’s some confusion over “which fish belongs where,” | “We consider all agreements with DFO to be null and void. They’ve broken their contract with us, so we won't be honouring any of our agreements with them.” . TRS ate fish going out on ‘trucks 16 Vancouver. There are all kinds of stories. I? 5. quite ram-_ pant,” He: blamed DFG for the confu- sion, saying the inland fishery. shouldn't have opened until an : effective enforcement system was in place, Under the déal native groups were supposed to’ police Lemmen says the Tsimshian - fishery was to close July 31, but . was extended to last Friday be-. cause the sockeye run came in late, “That. is -absolute bullshit,” : Tesponded Sterritt. “That's the biggest pile of bullshit "ve heard allday.” He said the fishery was to con- tinue until Monday, when it would be reviewed by a technical commitiee and a decision would be made then whether or not fish- ing would continue. **We consider all: agreements _ with DFO to be-nuli and void,’’. ‘Sterritt - said, their contract’ with us, SO. we - “They've broken won't be honouring any of our agreements wilh them.’? The native food fishery will be’ escalated, he said, adding it’s up to individual natives if they de- cide to illegally sell food fish. “Food fishing is now open in Tsimshian territory,’ he said, “It’s going: to be open for seven days a week, and it'll be un- limited quantity.’ ; “At this point: in time “our people are basically free to do as they see fit,’” He said the tribal council is also . coordinator halting its enforcement and fish- tagging programs that were being tun in conjunction with the fishery. Sterritt said Gitaus . Fishery Willie Mackenzie was conducting ‘‘an experimental __ gillnet selectivity. study” in Kit- . Selas canyon, : Fish : were, being caught by gillnet to: test ‘whether other species could be released success- fully if the net was monitored fre- quently, Stermlit:says fish caught there were being used as food fish —— not sold to pracessors, .* ‘Somehow. fisheries got wind that we were doing this,”” he said. “They heard that we were run- ning: this experimnent-and as- suined that we were catching all our homeland fishery fish by ‘gillnet, and they ‘just shut us down.” ERRACE STANDART) ~ Cassiar s exodus VOLUNTEERS PACK: up furnishings from Our Lady of _ Lourdes’ Catholic church in Cassiar, ending 37 years of ser- “vice to. the: . community: With jhe mine closed. and people moving out of the. town near the Yukon border, attention row - shilts.to a big auction.next month. See Page AS for a special. feature on the ‘péople of Cassiar, and their uncertain future, aa Firm gets Orenda’s nod TERRACE — A company owned by two ex-officials with the Kitsclas band has been: given a letter of intent to clear the land on which Orenda Forest Products . wants to build ils pulp and paper mill. B-Mac Enterprises Ltd., owned by ex-chief Mcl Bevan and_ex- economic development officer Wilfred McKenzic, submitted, the - Nisga’a lowest of six bids for the project. Bob Marsh of Commonwealth Construction, the company hired by Orenda to planned mill, said selected bids were requested from. companics and- preference given ta those from the area. Marsh said the choice of B-Mac “had nothing to do with any plan to devote a certain amount of the interim — deal imminent TERRACE — An agreement giving the Nisga’a an increased say over resource devclopment in their claim area could be released - next week. ; The document, containing what are called. measures, is. meant. as ..a temporary guideline for resource development leading ‘toa: final Nisga’a laid claims settlement, “Its in’ the process of . being signed off”? said provincial. . aboriginal affai airs ; spokesinan Jamie Kelley.’ Agreement on interim tieasurés is regarded as an. ‘important step” in the land claims negotiations. -Negotiations : onthe “measures | have been primarily, ‘betweei: the Nisga’a and’ the province: ‘bea lige. they concerti’ under Victoria's ju Resource activity toc come und Jer - interim - protection the measures include logging and mining, The interim measures: ‘are ‘ex- pected to set the tone for. the final - agreemeut outlining Nisga’a .con- tral over. land and. resources within the area contained in the setticment, The- Nisga’a have for years taken a‘stand against-clear cut logging on lands they claim. They. also opposed constriction of. the:-Orenda ° Forest Products pulp: mill in ‘the ‘claim: area be- - cause of pollution worries. Andes the: interim, protection | measures ” are awaited, the next “round of negotiations is set for Terrace next week:- “Negotiators: have been ineeling “on average for three‘or four.days ; “eonth © with? “specialized ae Broups gathering a as. Tes construct its work connected with the mill to — native-owned or controlled com- panies. “The price they submitted was the lowest price and they have the capability. lo do the work,’? he said. “Tf they had that same capabil- ity and the price was high, the oulcome may not have been (he same,’’ Marsh added, He said the Ictter of intent was a ‘win-win’ situation as a qualified company was found at the lowest price submitted. “That it’s a. controlled company: is an cxtra bonus,’ sald Marsh. He described site clearing: as work to clear the land of any foli- age leading to site preparation for Tsimshian- “construction work, : There's no start date for. site clearing because ‘Orenda is still negotiating purchase:of the Tand from the province. It must. also have other studies and plans ap- proved by the province. Bevan was voted out of office last June by Ralph Wright and McKenzie dismissed shortly thereafler. This is the third letter of intent to be issticd aver the project, One has already gone out to - Finnish-based ‘Tampella which will supply the paper making ma- chinery. | And another has gone to Carey Lid. to supply structural sicel for the paper mill building, Thal company operates in Al- berta aud in B.C. . ., sockeye being caught Hazeltons and Smithers last week. - Hungry seals muncn fish TERRACE — Unusual scars and damage to sockeye salmon this year is being caused by record Mumbers of hungry seals in the Skeena, say fisheries biologists. The large number of damaged in the led Gitksan fishermen to blame “the new Kitsclas fish wheel being ‘operated by Tsimshian . natives “just upstream of Terrace. The chewed-up fish have mystified natives and fisheries of- - ficers: alike. But Department of Fisheries and' Oceans | biologist Dave Peagack * says: samples of | the daithaped - fish have ‘been exain= ined, and afl of the samples have 50 far been Sousistent with Seal You can't do iat “kind of _ damage to fish with (native- operated) beach seines and . the fish wheels haven’t been catching maiy fish,’’ Peacock said Friday. He said the damage observed includes small holes in the fish, whole chunks missing, bitten off tails, and bile and. slash marks across the body. | “All of the fish that we had were fairly normal. sorts -of seal problems,’’ he said. ‘This has been happening for a couple of weeks now."?. “Peacock also rejected’ rumours that an unusual predatory fish bad been brought to.northern waters by the El Nino “effect, and was at tacking the salmon ‘offshore. - _ Fraser River sockeye are sothe- times attacked by a herd of deep: waler predator fish, he added, but thé, distinctive marks they leave haven't been scen on any § Skeena fish, .-:. - “The fish landed by commer- cial fishermen: don’t - have® this damage,”’ he said. _ The seal. populations, Paarack... added, have been steadily ising by more than ‘10° per cent a ‘year. over the last 15 years, a “We are seeing - extraordinary numbers of ‘seals this year,’? he said, ‘‘There’s. definitely more seals this year than last.” 7] A superdure? TERRACE — Local govern- ments in the area are going to in- vestigate the feasibility of creat- ing a super dump. | The idea comes from Kitimat council through a letter Crom its mayor, Rick Wozney,, to Terrace counterpart Jack - Talstra Kitimat-Slikine Regional District chairman Bob Cooper, Woanéy ‘said - the Terrace, Thornhill and Kitimat dumps now cost more than $300, 000 a year lo operate, °° : - “As new ‘(eavironment minis- - try) regulations become effective, we cCan‘expect costs to increase substantially,” he added, That being the case, Kitimat comicil thought it worth explor- ing the idea of creating a single dump to. serve all three com- munities. “One large sanitary landfill that captures wasle people may. have benefits over three independently operated landfills,’” Wozncy said. He also suggested a super dump might lead to the creation of a single. recycling ceutre for the enlire area. Terrace council has ‘instructed its officials to meet with Kilimat and regional district counterparts to work out how a feasibility study into the proposal would and - from 30,000 - work and what it would cost, The results of those discussions, will then be brought back’ to ‘council, | - - While describing - the idea’ “as, having ‘‘some merit”; Cooper: cautioned sits success would depend on whether *‘‘we - could find a.site that, was ‘acceptable, not that easy these days.’