An open letter to:
Premier Gordon Cainpbell

Dear Sir:
This is about the Great North-

~ erm Salmon Classic derby taking

place until Sept. 15 in the waters
surrounding Prince Rupert.

The various prizes for the der-
by total more than $170,000'plus
a Dodge Dakota pickup truck for
the largest coho salmon caught
before Aug. 19. in total, the priz-

- eS have a value greater than the

Operating budget for the Ministry
of Environment’s Skeena Region
fisheries and habitat sections.

It is unconscionable’ for your
government to fund a tourism

.. promotion that encourages people

to kill fish by offering large cash |

prizes and a pickup truck when
your government fisheries and
habitat sections’ small operational’
budgets prevent them from carry-

ing out a high ‘proportion of their

_ British Columbia by the DFO.

mandated responsibilities in this

_ large part of British Columbia.

I understand that tourism is
suffering in Prince Rupert due to
the tragic sinking of B.C. Ferries
“Queen of North.” We do sym-’
pathize with those who are in the —

_tourism industry. in Prince Rupert

who may be suffering a loss in
business because of the sinking of
this ferry.

The killing of e excessive num-

bers of coho and chinook salmon

is the wrong way to solve this ap-
parent tourism dilemma. It is an’
ill conceived promotion that takes
advantage of a rebuilding popula-
tion of salmon that in 1997 were
in such serious low numbers that a
complete closure of all wild coho
salmon fisheries was instituted in

, Contrary to the opinion of
many, there are some coho stocks
in the Skeena watershed that need
more time to recover, and not go

through an increased harvest as

a result of a large salmon derby.. -

The latest DFO. test fishery data
is showing a weak return of early
‘coho salmon to the Skeena River.
It is too early to determine if this
trend will continue with later ar-
riving Skeena coho.

One of the management direc-
.tives implemented as a result of
the 1997 coho closure has been
a continued: none retention of
Skeena coho salmon by the com-
mercial net fishery in Area 4 off
of Prince Rupert/Skeena River

. approach waters. Commercial gill

and seine net fishers must con-
tinue to release coho in Area 4 as
their contribution to the rebuild-
ing. of coho stocks. This salmon
“derby flies in the: face of the com-

* mercial coho salmon conservation

initiative,
As so often happens, promot-
ers, in this Case of a salmon derby,

Jim Culp _
with those who have a stake in
the resource being effected. [am

snot aware of the Sport Fishing |
Advisory Board, your provincial

Sport Fishing Advisory Commit-

tee for the Skeena Region, along:

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 23, 2006 - AS

tions, conservation groups and the
public at large being asked their
opinion on whether the derby v was

-good idea or not.

During the 1970s and 1980s
the B.C. Wildlife Federation and
the Steelhead Society. of B.C:
were «instrumental in convine-
ing promoters, sponsors and the
DFO and environment ministry
that fishing derbies were not good
for fish. They create an angling
fraternity 4vith an attitude that
focused more on winning a prize
(with cheating not being uncom-
mon). ‘eatehing the largest fish,
the most fish and quite often were
not interested in conservation or

good angling ethics. The derby in

Prince Rupert will do nothing for
angling, but will continue all the
bad aspects associated with tish-
ing derbies from the past ,
We are going a full circle with

fishing derbies big) and small:

Middle East war

is simply i insane

Dear Sir:
It looks like it’s up to me. Rob Brown, the fisherman, is

" into catch and release, and will never take a prisoner of war.

“ will be easy.for me, the ranting socialist that no one ever

Claudette, the lady from Saskatchewan, is the best writer «
you got, but her focus is a little narrow. Char Toews has

focus much smaller than that, daisies and kittens. .
So it is up to.me to walk where no one has gone before.

Me. The old guy, who long ago gave up being politically ~.

‘correct, and some time ago, gave up being correct, even: It

~ believes.:

This ‘war’ about Israel, Lebanon, - and the Gaza. We a are

told it started this time with the ‘kidnapping’ of the Israeli, .

soldier. Really, it started when all the Israeli settlements in

_ ‘Gaza were removed, because then, with all the friends gone,

all that was needed was a good excuse or.a bad one, don’t
matter, to say “Step aside, George. I’m going to level the

, place.”

im

: + at, humbled by. the top sergeant, harpooned, posted to some |
_-desert, bombed, humiliated by some top sergeant, dig holes ..

And a:soldier was ‘kidnapped.’ Well, boo hoo. It’s their
job. When they sign up. they soon find out they will.be shot

" in the desert, have the enemy use you for bayonet practice,

and finally, be left on the desert to die.:No one ever goes

: back to pick up the stragglers on. a route march. “Tes s only .

‘one pawn.”
' This was the excuse to: be used to unleash a “torrent of

military might against the citizens of the Gaza. Oh, yes, the ©

outlaws in Gaza had their mobile artillery, a daisy air rifle
mounted ona Moped with a sling shot i ina back pocket for
- weapons of mass destruction, but one of them has flat tires.

. Insane.

Then there were two soldiers captured near Lebanon, and
are. now held somewhere.

That makes three POWs or whatever they would be
called. Enemy combatants, maybe. There is a good Donald

- Rumsfeld’ word. The US of whatever has 300 or 400 of these

held hostage at Guantonamo Bay in Cuba, mostly civilians,

:, not soldiers, supposed to be bad people, but, well we don’t

know that because they have been held for three years with-
out even charges laid, or trials held.
Insane. The: relatives of these prisoners should launch

"’ their two canoes, take the twelve gauge, and perform a light-
’ ning night raid’ on Florida, just to stir up the slumbering

United Nations.

Uncle George, the weasel, stands in his place and says the
three soldiers must be released, when asked about the Guan-
‘tonamo Bay situation his response is “Where’s Cuba?”

The press (American) in their effort to be supportive and

to drag Iran, the bad boys, into this fray, claim to have evi-:

dence that some of the armament (the air rifle) was made i in
Tran.
No mention of the fact that the F-18 is American made
and financed, and the Israeli Airforce has.hundreds of them.
When the first bomb landed in Lebanon, the price of crude

_ rose as if made of helium. And the local price at the pump

went up three cents a litre. Just waiting for another excuse.

I wonder when the major oil finds were made in Lebanon, »

- The Gaza or Israel, because last week they produced r no gas

at all.

Insane.

-The world sits by and lets this insane slaughter continue.

Putin, the mad Russian, commie, semi dictator (Ameri-
can press) who bears his.own sins in Chetnia, has a grasp of
the situation.

“T don’t care who’ started it, let’s end it, now.”

’ It makes much more sense to write about daisies and kit-

tens than to write about this stupid war.
Les Watmough,

Terrace, B.C. |

' did not take the time to consult |

a

with other sport fishing-organiza-

again becoming common, . while,’

: _CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD |

Fish derbies harm conservation goals

salmon and freshwater trout and
char fisheries face for a ivariety
of reasons an uncertain future.
This is not thé time to be holding
a large salmon derby to promote
the tourism industry.

The money allocated to the.
derby through the Northern Fund

. Management. Committee could .
have ‘beén used to expand the ‘

promotion of .the attributes of
Prince Rupert and area, the sports
fishery and the other things that:
tourists ‘are attracted too, as well
as explaining that the loss of the
“Queen of the North” altered tray-

‘el but it did not kill it.

While it may be too late to can-

cel the derby, it is not too late:to
amend the rules. | would urge you .. .

to.ask the promoters of the derby
to change the focus of the derby
from a.“kill the largest fish’ to
promoting the release of the larg-
est fish. |

Jim Culp, Terrace, B.C.

It’ S left.

o “8

ALCAN’S OLD aluminum smelter at Kitimat is due to be replaced with @ $2 billion technological ad-

- vanced plant with construction to start as soon as possible.

Kitimat council and MLA
damaging northwestern. B.C.

Dear Sir:

What wonderful news Alcan gave us in Kitimat on
Aug. 14. The $2 billion smelter rebuild will mean a se-
cure and stable future for our town and the wider north-
west, clean, well paid and secure employment for a large

‘part of the town and its youth, and it will signal loudly

and at long last to the province and the country that Kiti-
mat, with all of it’s new world class assets, is finally busi-
ness friendly and yearning for more.

For these reasons it'was all the more astonishing to

shear our municipal manager, presumably still with the

unconditional blessing and support of our lacklustre may-
or and council, espousing to the CBC the same damaging
and tired old rhetoric about Alcan power sales that he has
been spewing to the media for the last five years.

‘This point of view, and the poorly considered com-

ments of our NDP MLA on hearing the announcement,
have done more to damage Kitimat and delay growth in
the northwest than anything else they collectively could
have done. Not surprisingly the recent phenomenon of

rising house prices. has dramatically ¢ cut support for their,
’ unhappy position.

Just to put this announcement into perspective, it
should be realized that the money that will be invested

by the company in the rebuild of the Kitimat plant is

equivalent to three Vancouver Winter Olympic Games,
and is 50 per cent more than Alcan is spending on any
other project worldwide —'a most significant investment
by anyone’s yardstick, and a tribute to the hard work by

* everybody from the top to the bottom at the plant.

»Alcan has announced that it will be using all of the

guaranteed power for the smelter. This ‘firm power’ is —
80 per cent of the power: produced by its generators at -
Kemano. The remaining 20 per cent fluctuates from day

to day with. factors such as lake. levels and generator

‘maintenance and cannot therefore be reliably used at the
‘smelter, nor can it be stored. So it must be sold to B.C.

Hydro and will be used to light. and heat homes through-
out the northwest keeping everyone's electricity bills to «

a minimum. Alcan cannot do more, and this i isa win/win
for everyone if ever there was once...
Our now. discredited municipal leadership should

remove their unpopular RESA graffiti from around the -

town, stop spending municipal funds on expensive adver-

tising and spin doctors, and either decide to promote Kiti-

matyin the light of its undeniably bright-future, or move
over to allow a local election for a fresh team that can.
’ Dr. Howard Mills, Kitimat, B.C.

~ unsaid |

Dear Sir: i :
Make. no mistake. ‘that

"salmon farming is an indus- ..

try that is so tainted with well
» substantiated peer reviewed |
‘science documenting — the: .
‘many negative impacts that
it has on the marine environ-
ment, and most importantly.
wild salmon, that it requires

doctors such as Mary Ellen ©

of The Terrace Standard,
_ to whitewash the evidence

“itself. 4
_.. What is most notable is
what Walling, the executive. .
diréctor of the B.C. Salmon
: Farmers ~ Association, did
notsay.: . | °
There i is no science. . that
can support any example of.
open net pen salmon farming

- without ‘significant. impacts
= ‘on wild salmon anywhere in
_ the world. We all know that.
And yet the denial and
the absence -of.. commen-
., tary on,the, well- known and -
documented _ peer reviewed
science, - from Mary Ellen
Walling and her cohorts in
’ the association continues.
. What does it say about
this industry when the as-
sociation had to hire an in-
ternationally recognised
public relations ‘firm, Hill
and. Knowlton, one that has
. worked to put a positive spin
on several high profile inter-.

- Exxon Valdez ‘oil spill, the.
Tiannanmen “Square mas-
sacre and, of great. signifi-

_ cance, the Tobacco Institute

- to put a positive spin on
cigarette smoking, to. name
only a few.

There is always a good

_.professional «spin. . doctors

~ such as.this: you. know that
you have a messy and high-
ly problematic industry on —
your hands and it is very im-
portant to create a positive

* impression. on the public,

that impression is.
It really is as simple a as.
that.
_ When the: science is not’
“on your side, you: create im-
pressions, spin, and media
sound bites, to convince the

- bad after all.
So now let’s have aclos- _

. free draw? Don’t count on it

er look at some of the things

. that: Walling had to say, Or

more importantly, did not
say in her piece:

“Fish health is also of

paid apologists and spin” |

; Dear Sir:

I am writing to convey a warn-
ing about a “free” draw for a
week’s vacation and cruise for two

- in Florida to the Bahamas which
; was offered in George Little Park

during Riverboat Days.
One night recently a represen-

’ tative identifying herself as Holly
' Spring from Great Vacations Des-

tinations phoned me telling me I

‘ had won a free promotional trip!
. Glory be!

She was very thoughtful and ex-

_ cited, and so was I. I thought Lhad

finally won something in my life.

I had beaten the odds! Of course, .
‘reality soon came crashing in, as

I was informed that both myself

_ and whoever I took with me would

_ have to pay a $150 excise tax per
“ person ($300) to the Bahamian

government, pay for our own trans-
* portation to Florida (including any

incidentals along the way like ho-

tels), and pay $400 each ($800) to.

the company as a promotional fee
which I would have to pay before
hanging up the phone, a mere 20

per cent of what the regular asking.

price was.

I would also need to pay an un-
known “hotel tax,” and pay for the
vehicle insurance on a “free” rented
vehicle. Oh, and one of the vaca-
‘tion days would be spent listening
to a time share presentation.

A conservative estimate of one
person flying to Florida would be
around $1,000 ($2,000 for two),
and of course, anyone who has
ever been on a cruise before knows
you have to tip everyone who
crosses your path on a cruise, and
pay a fee every time you get on or
off the boat.

This promotional trip for two
would cost at least $3100 for.two.

I told her I wasn’t interested, and

-she tried to talk me into paying the -
' promotional fee, keeping the tick-

ets and selling them on eBay.

I told her I was very impressed .

with her sales pitch, and liked her
a lot, and let her know that she had
just.won my car!

All she had to do was pay me
$100,000, which is a great deal,
because to me it’s worth a lot more

than that! ©

She would need to > find away -

to Terrace in order to claim it, and
would also have to pay me a tour-
ism fee of $1000 when she arrived,

which is out of my control. She

wouldn’ t go for it, » for some rea-

_ son.

Frankly, I was kind of hurt by.

‘her rejection, I really felt we had
‘some kind of connection. I’m sure

everyone else who entered this
draw received similar announce-

ment of winning.

My biggest concern is how

this “free” vacation draw ended up
in our beloved town’s Riverboat
Days festivities in the first place.
To me, it’s given the festival a.very
black eye. , -

Lisa Larous,
Terrace, B.C.

Highway grooves not needed

Dear Sir: .
This is in reference to a series

of grooves cut crossways into the

pavement to alert traffic approach-
ing the intersection of Highways
16 and 37 near the weigh scales in
Thornhill.

Not only are these little ditches
unnecessary but are a severe nui-

sance.

Obviously the brain wave of the
local Ministry of Highways.

There is already a flashing red
light plus several signs to signify
to even a driver that is half asleep
that he is to slow down and then
come to a full stop.

Nowhere have I seen these “rat-

‘

tle devices”
B.C.

I request that these insane ditch-
es.be removed or at lest modified
to the point were they do not shake
a cars wheel bearings apart - or a
driver’s brains. '

Walter Boser,
Thornhill, B.C.

_in my travels across

critical importance to farm-

ers. All smolts are checked
by a veterinarian before en-
tering the ocean water and
vets play an important role
ongoing role on: fish farms,
monitoring fish health. .

. What fish health? She.
talks alot about the health of
the farmed Atlantic salmon
— an exotic species here
on the BC coast — that are’
crowded unnaturally into

_ these pens.

What about the health of
the wild Pacific salmon and”
the juveniles that have to
migrate through huge clouds.
of sea lice produced by the.
intense’ concentrations of
these exotic salmon in the.
open net pens?

Todd Stockner,
Kispiox Valley, B.C.

Walling, in a recent issue

and paint a‘pretty picture of...

, andwild salmon co-existing —_.

national ‘events such as the - -

reason’ to go out and hire...

- however warped and twisted

“public that you are not so .—