SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

ROB BROWN

Searching for sockeye

n our return trip from Iskut and en-

virans, Karen and I] stopped on the

upper Skeena to fish the Ostrich

Run, a serious sockeye producer,

and the place where we caught en-
ough of them to fill over 60 jars by the second
week of August last year.

The river was a good height and a nice
colour: smoky gray turning to a faded glacial
blue, the kind of water that emboldens fish. We
quickly suited up and strode across the smooth
stones, eager to swim our Super Powerful Sock-
eye flies past the noses of salmon.

Karen caught a pink, Minutes later I fastened
onto a big, brilliant steelhead that burned up-
stream then down so fast that the belly of my
line couldn't keep up. Soon after that feisty fish
released itself, I hooked another, managing to
beach this one. But where were the sockeye?
Downstream, where we normally see them flip-
ping constantly, none flipped. Dave who lives
nearby came ambling out onto the bar carrying
his spinning rod, and told us that there had been
a wave of them two weeks ago but none since.

Over the next week I fished the Skeena daily,
talking to other anglers when I wasn't fishing.
Almost everyone reported that pinks were rare--
which is rare for the normally abundant pinks--
and that there were almost no sockeye, To find
out what was going on, I visited the local office
of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
|. to get Bruce Hill's take on_thisyear’s. fishery. ,,

Bruce is a doer. A dozen” yéars ago,’ when

Skeena steelhead were in real trouble after a
éentury of over fishing, Bruce and the late
Myron Kozak decided to do something about it,
The result was the Wild Steelhead Campaign, a
catalyst for change that led to the formation of
the Skeena Watershed Committee, drew inter-
national attention to the plight of Skeena steel-
head and coho and began a dramatic change in
fisheries management in Skeena. Bruce's focus
has always been conservation. He's still at it in
his busy job for CPAWS but he makes it a point
to remain informed on the Skeena fishery.

Yes, said Bruce, the steelhead escapement
into the Skeena is good, The index is almost
double the average of the last decade. The coho
runs appear to be good too, representing a big
improvement over the last decade. And the
.sockeye? Well, said Bruce, the early run of
sockeye was good with 1.3 million entering the
Skeena early. The problem, he added, was that
the run tapered off quickly. There is a good
chance that the first waves of sockeye were lar-
gely composed of wild sockeye. By allowing an
agpressive fishery early, FOC (alias DFO) may
have put those early stocks al risk.

When I mentioned the angry alliance of
sportsmen and lodge owners that has formed in
reaction to the news of back-to-back, week-long
gill net openings, Bruce bristled and reminded
me of the time, not so long ago, when over
1,000 gillnetters were fishing the approach wa-
ters to the Skeena along with 350 seine boats,

"Look Rob," he said, “This season there were
380 gillnetters fishing mid-July, and that tapered
off.to around 200. There were 50 seiners working
the outside and that number was down to 12.
What's more, the seiners can't keep coho; they
were using blue boxes. The gillnetters were
making short sets with half nets and trying their

best to let coho go. If this alliance of sportsmen _

‘and sportswomen want a cause they should fight
‘for healthy stocks of wild sockeye and against
northern fish farms. If they get all exercised
about steelhead when there is no conservation
issue, and when commercial fishermen have
lost income and livelihocds to save coho and
steelhead, they're going to look small and self
interested; they're beating on the wrong door."

Bruce was quick to add that problems still
beset the Skeena fish management. FOC, he
said, must be held to a conservation-based pre-
‘gautionary wild salmon policy that compels
fisheries managers to act in the best interest of
wild sockeye stocks. Employing more sensitive
gear like tangle tooth nets and ensuring that
there is proper funding for the transition to this
new technology and for adequate enforcement
to oversee the conservation techniques already
in place are the things we should be fighting for,
Bruce, emphasized,

“That's where the. win/win. lies." We need

‘more battlers-like Bruce; people with vision and
a powerful, unselfish drive to do good.

Rugg

By JOANNA WONG
ASK PAT Kirkaldy —- it’s never
too late to become an accom-
plished athlete.

After all, Kirkaldy has taken on
the best and won more than 26
medals at provincial track and
field competitions - all since she
was 56,

“I’ve done more since I was 56
than when I was younger,” said
Kirkaldy, who dominates throwing
events such as discus, javelin and
shotput i in her age category.

‘la ° 1995+ “and: ‘1997, ‘Kirkaldy ©

even travelled ‘to the United
States for the senior nationals.

“T placed sixth but it was like
gold for me,” she said.

Amazingly enough, Kirkaldy is
almost entirely self-taught.

“I'd never done it before, but
you learn as you go,” said Kirkal-
dy, who added that a local high
school teacher showed her the ba-
sics.

This August 28, Kirkaldy and
her husband Bud will be heading
off to Prince George for the B.C.
Senior Games. ,

Bud Kirkaldy, who is the presi-
dent of the B.C. Senior Games for
Zone 10 (Kitimat, Terrace, Prince
Rupert) has won 11 medals in

throwing events at.the provincial '

level.
“I taught her everything she
knows,” Bud joked.

ed tide

KITIMAT'S RORY Stevens rocketed down the long course at Mc-'
Bike’s Wild Descent Ili last Sunday August 18. Stevens nabbed '

Discus stars take on B.C.’s best

638-7283

second in the Junior category with a time of 2:27:00. For more
results and information on upcoming bike competitions, see B12.

PAT AND Bud Kirkaldy show off their strong arms as they head to Prince George for the B.C.
Seniors Games this August 28-31. Both athletes specialize in discus. JOANNA WONG PHOTO

“No he didn’t teach me every-
thing I know,” Pat shot back. “He
likes to brag.”

The Kirkaldys say the secret of 2,500

nior games, Bud went to the very
first games in 1988 and has seen
it grow from 600 participants to

Zone 10 teammates is a highlight
of the pames.

“] would like to think we're the
friendliest bunch of peaple there,”
Pat smiled. “We call ourselves

their success is practice — five
times a week, rain, shine, or wind.
“If you do good you do good
and if you don’t you can’t blame
anyone else,” Pat said.
A longtime veteran of the se-

“A lot of the same people go
every year,” Bud said. “We're all
friends — it doesn’t matter where
you're from.”

Both Pat and Bud agree the
camaraderie among their fellow

‘the biggest little zone’.”

Neither Kirkaldy plans to retire
anytime soon.

“We'll do it until we drop,”
Pat said,

KYLE HOLTON, 11, and Sheldon Smaha,: 8, are ready, for. ‘action as re-
fferee Brain Bandstra prepares to drop the puck
over eighty young Terrace hockey hopefulls. who's spent:last-week at an
annual summer hockey camp learning from. ex eriénced Instructors, foe

Thé: boys: were two of

Sports Scope

Speedway sizzles

DRIVERS put the pedal to the metal August 17th and
18th as Speedway competitors went all out to score last
minute points for the upcoming championship race.

Kevin Pongracz starled off the day with a blistering
and record breaking time of 20. 80 seconds in Bomber
117.

Throughout the day, racing was furious on and off
the track. At one point, Sian Sweet in car 515 lost con-
trot and flew off corner two — twice. Several Bomber
cars received fatal damage while racing for the check-
ered flag.

In Hobby class there was lots of door to door racing
with Debby Reinhardt winning her very first two TACES
of the year.

Sunday was Kiddies day, and children got’a chance
to go for a ride in their favorite stock car. Also on Sun-
day was a sponsor’s race, won by Bruce Dumaine.

The final race of the season will be the Demolition
Derby on September 15.

‘At the courts

CLEAR SKIES and hot competition kicked off the Ten-
nis Club’s “Lakelse Classic” Mixed Doubles tennis tour-
nament last Saturday August 17, .

Proficient pair Grant Holkestad and Dixie Hailey
nabbed the A Flight Winners category, with Gary and
Shannon Peden as runners up. Chuck and Diane Cey [.
took the B Flight category, and Ken Gordon and Heather
Eckert won the C Flight division. :

The Terrace Tennis Club meets Tuesday and Thurs-
day evenings from 6:30 until dusk, and on Sunday after-
noons at 1:30.

New members are always welcome: The Club will
conclude the season with a team tournament in early
September. Cali Ada at 635-9695 for moré information. |