B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 22, 1997

DAVE TAYLOR

“SKEENA-ANGLER |
ROBBROWN
e a a

Whirling disease

hirling disease, has spread far and

wide, but even though it has been

in North American waterways for

over a century, it received almost

no attention in the main stream angling

pressways until it had the audacity to infect
some of Montana’s blue ribbon trout streams.

Whirling disease is the collective name for a
pack of symptoms brought on by a microscopic
— but in no way puny — parasite called
Myxolubus Cerebalis. Cerebalis — cerebrum —
cerebellum are all part of the vast tree of wards
thal grows from a Latin root coined by some
brainy Roman scholar, It’s an appropriate desig-
nation for the parasite under review here, for
soon after infecting a fish, Myxolubus chews its
way along. the soft skeletons of juvenile fish to
Nerve Central. Once there it causes a short in
the circuitry that ultimately has the victims
chasing after their tails like naive kittens until
they expire from exhaustion.

Myxolobus leads a complex life cycle, chang-
ing form so that it can spend some time with
two hosts, After its host fish has bit the mud,
Myxlobus cleverly turns into a spore, disperses
like shrimp larvae, then takes up residence in
tubifex worms that live at the bottom of
streams. An unsuspecting fish can run afoul of
the parasile by ingesting the worm, but more
often than not, it is the parasite that hunts the
fish, After maturing in the worm the parasites
cut themselves adrift once again then link to-
gether with their buddies to form an underwater
drift net that a small fish can’t escape.

Whirling disease was first detected in Europe
in 1893, but didn’t immigrate to ihe U.S, inside
processed fish from Denmark (or so it is
thought) until 1956. By 1965 the pathogen had
beaten a path to sunny California, Hatcheries
are wonderful breeding, graunds for disease, as
was proven in New York once again when
170,000 infected hatchery fish were destroyed
in 1988. Today the parasite has infiltrated wild
slocks in eleven of the United States and thrives
in the over-populated hatcherics of nine others.

Although it has been around the Western
States for some three decades, whirling disease
did not get a lot of attention until a few years
ago when a whopping 90 per cent of the blue
Tibbon, wild rainbow trout population of
Mantana’s Madison River died over a periad of
three years. A concern for anglers is the fact
that their beloved rainbow trout are particularly
vulnerable to the disease. Research scientists
came up wilh the following list, ordered in de-
grec of susceptibility: rainbow trout, sockeye
salmon, golden trout, cutthroat trout, brook
trout, steelhead, chinook salmon, Adantic sal-
mon, brown trout. coho salmon, lake trout and
splake.

Since they are vectors for the disease but seem
almost unaffected by it, brown trout pose a dif-
ficult problem. There's a lesson here. Brown

Our Kermode boys’ baskci-
ball team came back from a
prestigious Burnaby toumcy
last week having lost tvo of
three games, but having
won the respect of rival
players and coaches alike.

The Kermodes were
without senior starters
David Keliy and Carlo

Desierto, but the rest of the
squad played with such
heart and determination they
were rewarded with the
“Brother McIntyre” award
for the Most Sportsmanlike
Team,

The 16-team St. Thomas
More Collegiate Chancellor
Toumament January 8-11

TERRACE STANDARD

hosted top teams from all
over the province. Six of
this year’s groups were
ranked in the top-L5,

Cal’s first game put them
up against Pitt Meadows
and it was a close-one. Ex-
cellent team play put the Cal
squad over the top 68-67.

The team was led of-
fensively by Fraser de Walle
with 23 points and Chesley
Neufeld with 18 points.
deWalie was also named
Player of the Game.

The next match put Cal up
against tenth-ranked Ab-
botsford Christian Knights
and their three giant 69°’
forwards.

Cal was clearly daunted
by their opponents in the
first quarter, ending up
down 27-11. But they
rebounded in the second
quarter with strong
defensive pressure, especial-
ly from Neil Hailey, closing
the gap at half-time to 37-
34,

Cal came out strong in the
third, even taking the lead
with two minutes left in the
quarter after impressive
back-to-back —_ three-point
haskeis by Chesley Neufeld
and Dave Gardner.

Unfortunately the lead
was short-lived as Cal was
hit by three disqualifying

mg icy exams

TERRACE FIGURE skaters were busy this past weekend. They started with
some tough testing on Friday morning and they finished up with a precision team

exhibition on Monday evening.

Native tournament

Terrace Wildcats in the

finals.

KITSUMKALUM’S first
big basketball tournament

like Player and Squires Out-
standing Player.

two weekends ago al the
new community centre was
a big hit and organizers say
there’s more to come.

The two age-group tourna-
ment drew teams from
around the northwest for
some high-calibre hoop ac-
tion.

First place in the 13-and-
under category went to
Kispiox who beat out the

Meanwhile, in the 16-and-
under category it was the
Skeena Totems slipping past
the Canyon City Warriors
68-65 to take the
championships.

Leon Henry was the top
scorer for the champs wilb
33 points, while Jordan
Squires managed 29 points
for the Warriors. Henry was
also voted Most Sportsman-

“Tt turned out really
well, The kids devel-
oped a lot of rela-
tionships and made
lots of new friends.”’

-Larne Carmpbell-

In the 16-and-unders, the
Firewalkers were voted
Most Sportsmanlike Team,

fouls, allowing Abby Chris-
tian’s monster forwards just
the breathing recom they
needed to win game 87-78.
The Kermodes never fully
recovered from that battle
royal. Their fatigue was
noticeable in their final
game against Holy Cross.
Cal started out well, but
faded badly in the second
half to end up losing 74-62.
Coach Cam MacKay says
he was very impressed by
the play of his young team.
“On the whole, il was a
great boost to the team,’’ he
says, ‘“‘They proved that
with praclice they can play

__ 638-7283

al boys battle in Burnaby

with the ranked teams of the
proviice.”?

MacKay says the grade
lis in his lineup showed
great improvement on the
courts, especially Chesley
Neufeld, who was recog-
nized for his strong play by
being placed on the
“honourable mention’
team.

Both boys and girls
Kermode teams will be back
in action tonight at
Caledonia against Ruperl’s
Charles Hays. The
Kermodes will also bost the
Rainmakers this weekend.

No ice time
for younger
players

A SEVERE shortage of ice
time for more than 200
youth hockey players over
the next month has at least
one father wondering if Ter-
race can really afford to host
events like the Northen BC
Winter Games.

About 219 Terrace Minor
Hockey players in the Tyke,
Novice and Atom divisions
will lose all of their ice time
for four of the next five
weeks because of tourma-
ments at the arena.

That raises the ire of Steve

Cullis, who’s own: children -
“ate some of those that got ~

bumped.

“1 don’t understand why
they didn’t spread out these
tournaments more,’? Cullis
says. “‘A lot of kids are
going to miss out.””

Cullis says it’s bad enough
for some children to have
ice times before 5:00 a.m..
Now, he says, youths who

only gel ice time on (he
weekends are having their
sport literally taken away
from them.

“T don’t mind getting up
early,’’ ‘says Cullis. ‘It’s
not that they’re getting less
ice time — they’re getting
no ice time.”

Cullis says he even tried
to book some ice in Granisle
for the youths to play, but
that town’s arena is closed
for repairs.

Ironically, one of the
weeks those 200 youths will

‘be shut out of their sport is

Minor Hockey Week in
Canada. For the young
players affected, their only
participation in the week
will be watching a hockey
game on TY.

“We really need another
arena,’ says Cullis. ‘This
just goes to show how bad
the situation is.’”

a success

That honour went to Terrace
Two in the younger age
group,

Daniel Stephens and
Nicolas Tait were both
recognized for their hustle,
while Marvin Tait and
Jarma 5. Kispiox were
noted for their inspirational
play. James Davis also
received honours for his
sportsmauship and Jill
Squires was voled Ouistand-
ing Player.

Tournament organizer
Lorne Campbell says. the
tournament was a real. boost
for the youths involved,

“It turned out really
well,” he says. ‘‘The kids
developed a lot of rela-
tionships and made lots of
new friends,””

Organizers will meet Jan-
uary 27 at the First Nations
Educational Centre at
Clarence Michiel school to
plan future events.

trout have been in North America such a long
time it’s easy to forget that they originally came
from Europe to North America in barrels. They
are exotics and problems congregate around cx-
otic species,

The cxtent of the concern over the spread of
whirling disease was demonstrated in Denver
last February when 300 specialists attended an
intemational symposium devoted to the
pathogen. It is clear from the Proceedings of the
conference that nobody can say why the disease
affects some wild populations yet ignores
others. For the most parl, scientists are still
chasing their tails when it comes to Myxsoma
cerebratis,

WD, slippery parasite that it is, has slithered
down the Columbia system from the Grande
Roude and has been identified in steelhead in
Washington State. Anadromous fish are fish on
the move capable of spreading discase over
great distances, Some experts consider the
threat insignificant. Nick Gaycski,
guide/outfitter from the Evergreen State, thinks
it may well devastate both wild and tame Wash-
ington salmon.

WD is coming our way from another direction
too, Il’s not a long way from the infected
streams of Motitana and Colorado to Alberta.
Like Eurasian Millfoil, WD can be carried on
boats, waders anchors and tailers, and in fish
paris, Whirling disease has been identified in
some chinook salmon in Oregon. Chinook sal-
inon are known to stray into streams other than
those itt which they were spawned. It is entirely
possible thal a chinook or two could stray into a
stream in southern Washington. After
decomposing, the spores could infect the
species of that river, and ultimately roe from
one of those fish might then be transported to a
B.C. stream. ae

Last ditch
drive stops
cancellations

SPORTS WILL not have to be scratched from the lineup
of the Northen BC Winter Games due to a lack of sleep-
ing space for billeted athletes.

A last-minute push last week for volunteers to house the
950 athictes under the age of 18 resulted in a rush of com-
munity support.

“It was pretty crazy,’’ says games coordinator Diana
O'Brien. '‘Something like 300 people came through our
doar in one day.”’

Early last week organizers were faced wilh 500 albletes

‘%t was pretty crazy. Something like 300
people came through our door in one day.”
-Diana O’Brien-

without a place to slay. But advertising and media pushes,
along with telephone and door-to-door campaigning finally
paid off.

O’Brien says she’s comfortable with the number of beds
that have. been made available, although she says the office
isn’t tuming down any late-comers.

‘Some people might have to cancel at the last minute, so
it's nice to have back-ups,’’ she says.

O’Brien also points out that volunteers are still needed to
help with other ‘aspects of the games - from setting up and
taking down stages to security.

‘And score keepers — lots of them,’ she says. ‘“There
are going to be lots of events to keep track of. Hopefully

_ we'll get some more volunteers to make it all happen.”

mu Regional showdown
CURLERS FROM around the northwest met at the Terrace Curling Club last

weekend for the Men's Regional Playdowns. Some twenty teams participated,
with the top three heading to the Interior Playdowns later thls month. ,