of Skeena The fisheries branch of the B.C. Ministry of Environment has begun its annual assessment of the Strengih of the returning summer steelhead run up the Skeena River. The first tests indicate the total number is about the same as returns for the previous two years, but ministry officials note, “Another two weeks of information will be required before a clear picture of the steelhead run strength emerges." The ministry notes in a July 16 statement that the counting method has been altered this year, calculat- ing the steelhead numbers in accordance with the catch of sockeye, which come up the river at the same time. The ministry Says the system will be more accu- rate because, the data available on sockeye is more detailed. As of July 13 there had been four commercial fishing openings at the mouth of the Skeena for a fleet of more than 500 gillnetters. The total steelhead count going past Tyee was 1,052 fish, of which 412 were reported caught by the Officials begin count steelhead gillnet fleet. The report notes that a fleet of nearly 500 seine fishing vessels were fishing for sockeye in the waters immediately north of the Skeena estuary, but ‘the sockeye caught in that fishery were not included in the count. The number is believed to be substan- tial. -The coincidental run of sockeye and summer steelhead has created conservation problems for steelhead stock because the prized game fish are caught in commer- cial- sockeye fisheries in great numbers. In some years over 50 percent of the total steelhead run fall victim to the gillnets. A new type of gillnet is being tested in a project set up by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the Skeena fishery. Research has shown that the steelhead tend to swim nearer the. surface than sockeye as they go up the rivers. The experimental gill- nets have no mesh in the top metre of net, a design that was shown in the Dean Channel to-allow more hall” and ‘community centre” (P) zone. Lot 1300 as indicated on map. SLGCK @ LAKE NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Notice is hereby given that a Public Hearing will be held on Tuesday, July 30, 1991 at the offices of the Regional District - of Kitimat-Stikine commencing at 7:30 p.m. to receive representation from all persons who deem their interest to be affected by the proposed bylaw: “Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine Electoral Area C Lakesle Lake Zoning Bylaw No. §7, Amendment Bylaw No. 309, 1991.” In general terms, the purpose of this bylaw is to include “‘flre Although Bylaw No. 57 states that the purpose of the Park zone Is to “provide for the location and development of recreational and other related services and facilities that serve the community”, the list of permitted uses for the Park zone does not Include “fire hal!” and “community centre”. The Lakelse Community Association has made application to the Ministry of Lands and Parks for this purpose and they re- quire that the land be appropriately zoned. The fire hall and community centre are proposed to be located on the approximately one hectare portion of District D.L.| 3991 as permitted uses in the Park OLOCK A BLOCK A PROPOSED LOCATION Regional statutory holidays. f ite hall/community centre e D.L. S133 a 7. c r 8 J — Tw & Ine m . O (ert) Er + \ oeaerme S ae Ee x —| = —_ — | § § J wea [ey pmo] oa teen | -! - = ’ a A wo ae — oe ; = Scale! {"= 800" The proposed bylaw may be inspected at the offices of the District of Kitimat-Stikine, #300 - 4545 Lazelle Avenue, Terrace, B.C. between the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, except Terrace Review _ Wednesday, July 24, [991 A3 . Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine REGIMENTAL LEGACY. cpl. George Neeve delivered $3,961 to Terrace Health Care Society CEO Michael Leisinger July 17, the proceeds from the RCMP Regimental Ball held at the arena in May. The money goes into the R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation CT Scanner fund. Neeve said 415 people attended the ball and the cash take was boosted enormously by focal merchants wh provided goods and services free or at nominal cost to the detachment. 7 Re-negotiation order looms somadoncyeneiter fOr hard-won school contract TERRACE — The collective agreement between the Terrace District Teachers’ Association and the board of School District 88, signed after more than a year of bargaining and a brief strike in May, will probably have to be renegotiated.’ "My guess is that we will be sent back to the table about mid- August," said district secretary- treasurer Barry Piersdorff last week. Piersdorff said he is basing that expectation on the Compensa- tion Fairness .Commission’s treat- ment of other school district col- lective agreements in the province examined so far. "There have been 16 agreements sent back to date," he said. According to the Ministry of Finance public affairs department, the commission has reviewed a total of 113 agreements between pubic employers and unions of all sorts, rejecting 34 of them. Established under the Ministry of Finance at the end of January, the Compensation Fairness Commis- sion is empowered to review all public sector agreements in terms of “affordability” to taxpayers. If the commission determines that the agreement under examination does not meet its criteria, the agreement can be sent back to the parties for renegotiation. If that step fails, the commission can impose a settle- ment. The commission appears to be using private sector average settle- ments as a yardstick for evaluating the public sector agreements under review. This year the private sector average wage increase has been running in the area of 4.5 percent; the TDTA-Schoo! District 88 con- tract provides for about seven percent increases in each of two years. The agreement had to be sub- mitted to the commission with a series of complex accounting breakdowns. Piersdorif said the documentation has been sent in but there has been no response from the commission. Legislation was recently passed by Victoria to allow the commis- sion to review agreements that were signed before the commis- sion’s authority came into effect Jan. 30. Those agreements that are found to violate the commission’s guidelines will be allowed to stand, but the amount by which the settlements exceed the guidelines will be deducted from future agreements. School district offers $30,000 towards bench sewerage project | The $2 million Uplands Elemen- tary School addition will begin soon, but the city still can’t answer a very basic question affecting the project. Will the sewer connection between the Uplands area and the horseshoe be installed this year, or not? The city doesn’t know because they’re still waiting for an answer from Victoria on a joint funding request. The $160,000 sewer connection was listed as a capital project in the 1991 city budget and Victoria was asked for joint funding last spring. The best information avail- able from Victoria today is that it might be included in a list sewer projects in the province which will be released in mid-August. Or, it might be approved later... Or, perhaps not at all. Another unknown, even if Victoria does fund the project, is whether they will offer 25 or 50 percent fund- ing. The school district now has the completed working drawings and want to go to tender in August for the project, an addition to replace portable classrooms and renova- tions to the existing school build- ing. The district has set Sept. 1, 1992 as the completion date. "The lack of a sewer system," says Superintendent of Schools Frank Hamilton in a letter to coun- cil, "will result in the School Dis- trict having to construct a sewage disposal field estimated to cost $30,000." But more than the cost, says Hamilton, potential problems with a large septic system are a real concem. "The benefits of a sewer system to Uplands School in the short term are that the present inefficient and unsatisfactory sys- tem will not have to be replaced, part of the field is under the gym- nasium," says Hamilton. “The long term benefit of a sewer being available is the lack of the inevi- table maintenance costs and poss- ible environmental problems of a large sewage disposal field." The School District could prob- ably be put $30,000 to better use. It may through frustration with delays that Hamilton offers the city the $30,000 budgeted for a septic system to help cover the cost of the sewer project. He states that it would be advantageous if the connection were available this fall. At the July 22 council meeting, alderman Bob Cooper offered two motions; both were adopted. The first says the city will proceed with the connection (presumably, if the sewerage project goes ahead), and the second calls for a joint meeting of the Committee of the Whole, School District 88, and a represen- tative from the Ministry of Munici- pal Affairs. It may be decided at that meeting if the school district's offer of funding is required or not.