Physios jammed up

On television

Waiting lists are long at Mills
Memorial Hospital’s rehabilitation
department\NEWS AZ

Brandon Armstrong is going to be
on a telethon and will visit
Disneyland\COMMUNITY B6

Trophy winner

Fighter Adam Tarsey picked Up é a
victory and hardware in
Victoria\SPORTS C1. |

WEDNESDAY .
MAY 27, 1998

TANDARD.

93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST
VOL. 11.NO. 7.

Cow, calf moose hunt banned

By ANITA DOLMAN
DECLINING MOOSE populations
means no more hunting of cows and
calves in the Skeena region for at least
the next three years.

That's the decision of provincial wild-
life biologists stemming from an en-
vironment ministry survey conducted in
1997.

The survey shows a significant cnough
decline in cow and calf numbers for the
ministry to shut down the limited entry
hunt draw for antlerless and calf moose.

Cow and calf guide outfitter quotas
have also been eliminated,

Hunting of bull moose will continue
and, for the limited entry hunt system,
will be increased.

A 1992 survey showed, for cxample,
roughly 14,000 moose living in the the

Bulkley Valley/Lakes District area. But
the 1997 survey showed a 20 per cent
drop in the overall population,

But it’s not the population numbers
that most concer Rick Marshall, a wild-
life biologist with the ministry’s wildlife
branch.

Marshall headed up the 1997 survey
and says the real problem is the cow-calf
ratio, which went from 40 calves per 100
cows in 1992 to 30 per 100 in the recent
tally. The fewer calves there are, the
fewer the eventual adult population will
be.

A licensed calf hunt was initialed at the
end of the 1980s, but Marshall says the
normal annual issue of 1000 standard
kills isa’t what has caused the declining
population.

He says, that despite the high number

‘nificant factor,’ says Marshall.

of licences, the actual number of calves
killed through the licenced hunt is only
125 to 150. About 400 licences are
issued for cows in the region, with a kill
of around 200 annually,

Marshall says there are a lot of olher
reasons for the declining populations.

The survey was done following the
region’s severe 1996/1997 winter,

“It could account (for the declining
ratio), since calves are the first to go,”
says Marshall of moose survival patterns
during barsher winters.

The numbers could also be due to
predation by wolves, black bears and
grizzlies, he says, but since this data has
not been added up, it is impossible to tell
what role predators have played.

_ “The native harvest could be a sig-
But

Mi Flower time
BEAUTIFICATION SOCIETY volunteers like Barry
Feener were out in force fate last week planting

numbers for this are also impossible to
come by, he says. First Nations people
do not require licences to hunt on their
tradilonal territory.

“We sent a leller to most local (First
Nations) groups requesting that they ad-
vise people to support conservation by
not shooting cows and calves,’ says
Marshal.

He says reactions ranged from total
support of the efforts to silence,

‘We have no way of pulting a cap on
native harvest,’’ says Marshall.

He says another important factor in
moose populations is the CN Rail kill.
“Roughly 200 adults are killed every
winter — the majority of them female,”
says Marshal,

Moose are drawn to railway tracks be-
cause they offer firm footing and a clear

pathway, especially in winters with
heavy snow packs.

CN and the wildlife branch recently
started working together to find solu-
tions, but Marshall says litte short of a
physical barrier to prevent moose from
getting on the tracks would be effective,
And the cost for fencing would be
prohibitive, at $80,000 dollars for five
kilometres of track.

Marshal] says another survey will be
done in 2000 or 2001 to decide whether
the hunt can be reopened.

In 1992, environment officials
eliminated the hunt on bull moose be-
cause of their declining numbers.

But Marshall says they are now fairly
content with the ratio between bulls and
cows, which tallies in at 35 bulls per 100
cows,

main downtown streets, Although many are still
green, the plants will saon be blooming providing a

Total Skeena fish
shutdown feared

BY JEFF NAGEL
EMERGENCY measutes to
save threalened = = upper
Skeena coho salmon could
gut the Jate summer sport
fishing industry in Terrace.

While it’s still far from
clear what kind of fishing
will be allowed this ycar,
federal fisheries officials
say it’s conceivable that no
angling whatsoever of any
species will be allowed once
coho salmon center the
Skeena River.

Those fish start to arrive
in July, bul the Department
of Fisheries and Occans
(DFO) has yet to set a date
when restrictions will begin.

Fisheries minister David
Anderson May 22 laid out
his hardline requirement of
“zero fishing mortality”’ for
critically low runs of upper

Skeena and Thompson
coho.

Some guides and
fishermen are interpreting
that as meaning they'll
simply be tequired to
release any coho that are
caught accidentally,

But DFO northern

fisherics management chief
David Einarson said it may
go way beyond that depend-
ing on what happens in the
days ahead,

He said a catch-and-
release policy toward coho
is unacceptable because
some fish will die even if
they’re released,

"Zero mortality means no
fishing so those fish won't
be caught accidentally,”
Einarson said,

If so, that will have a
profound cffecl on recrea-
tional fishing, businesses
that depend on sport fishing,
and the northwest B.C.
tourism industry in general.

“Y don’t think the minister
realizes the ramifications of
what he’s done herc,’’ said

week at a three-day forum
of 150 stakeholders to ad-
vise DFO on how to deal
with the crisis.

Anderson has called for
proposais — for
fisheries where it can. be
proven the chance of coho
being killed accidentally are
minimal.

Culp said he’s looking for
clarification of what kind of
fishing — if any — will be
allowed once coho are in the
river.

“We're going to iry to
save some semblance of a
sport fishery,’? Culp said.
“Obviously we're not going
to be successful in saving a
lot of it.”’

He said he’s expecting no
‘bail fisheries will be al-
lowed in the Skeena_ but is
hoping that DFO might al-
low chinook fishing to con-
tinue if anglers use large
Jures that the smaller coho
wouldn't take.

“We don’t want to lose
our chinook fishery — it’s
really important to Ter-
_race,”’ he said.

Cont'd Page B4

City passes bylaw
banning slots, VLTs

A BYLAW banning slot machines and video lottery terminals
in Terrace was passed by city council at its Monday night
meeting.

It’s the city’s effort to bar any future efforts by the provincial
government to expand casino gambling here against local
wishes,

Councillor David Hull said the latest word is that the bylaw
may have no teeth, and that Victoria may be able to circumvent
any obstacles the city puts up.

“This may just end up being an official token of our wishes not
to have slot machines and video lottery terminals in our town,”
Hull said.

But councillors Linda Hawes and Rich McDaniel were
strongly in favour of going ahead with the bylaw.

“If they try to push it in at least we can say we said no,”
McDaniel said.

Jim Culp
Jim Culp, chair of the Sport
Fish Advisory Board’s north
coast comanagement com-
mittee.

“TI don’t want to get a
panic going, but right now
the way it stands we could
have a total angling
closure,’” be said. “It's un-
likely that we could have a
sport fishery of any kind on
the Skeena River after Aug,
1.”

Culp is in Vancouver this

_. Selective...

colourful flowers in the planters that line Tarrace’s

Mills pre

GET READY for another government expert te come
north to help out a local public sector body with a budget
deficit.

A health ministry official is expected within the week to
go over spending plans at Mills Memorial Hospital.

It closed off its fiscal year ending March 31 with a
$318,000 deficit and is staring at one for at least $150,000
for the new budget year which began April 1.

That gocs against a promise made by the hospital’s gov-
ering body, the Terrace Area Communily Health Council,
two years ago 10 have its budget balanced by the end of
this year.

Mills is the latest local al public sector body to come under

floral setting for downtown shopping.

icts new

provincial scrutiny. School District 82 is to have its opera-
tions probed by education ministry officials because of a
deficit of its own.

The $328,000 deficit for 1996-1997 at Mills is far more
than what was predicted — $178,000.

It did get a budget increase from the province this year of
$102,855 — or .9 per cent — for a iotal of $11.295 mil-
lion.

“Jt is a welcome amount given that in past years we’ve
either received very little or nothing,’’ said’ Michael
Leisinger, the chief executive officer of the health council.

But despite the budget increase, hospital officials are
predicting a best case deficit scenario of $150,000,

deficit

Should that happen, Mills would then have a combined
deficit of at least $468,000 from last year and this year in a
period when it promised to balance its budget.

Leisinger said that although the past year’s deficit was
higher than expected, when worked out a percentage basis,
it is not extreme.

“It would be in the order of one or two per cent,’’ said
Leisinger of the overall hospital budget, On top of the
$11.295 million from the province, Mills is anticipating
$2.5 million from other sources for a total budget of

$13,816 million.

Cont'd Page A8

Michael Leisinger