Fata tate’ Afew comments on the oil pipeline issue. Last week the First Secretary to the U.S: Ambassador to Canada, Mr, Ed Ness, visited our area to et the views of residents in itimat and Terrace, on the proposed Kitimat to Ed- monton oil pipeline. Unfortunately, the general public had no op- portunity to express an opinion to him because of e timing of the meeting (which I] believe was 4 p.m. Friday, November 5) and very little advance warning was given on him coming to our community. I wonder if the lack of publicity was the intent? [ somehow doubt if he would have been in- terested in the views of an environmentalist who would he against the pipeline being wilt! To me it is disappointing ‘ and discouraging that business people anc media people essentially represented yours and my . interests in the discussions with Mr, Ness. F do not really believe Mr. Ness left Terrace with a cross section of views from the general public. it is my understanding that Mr, Ness told the Terrace meeting that “Canadians would have te hustle to get such a good thing as a pipeline”. In whose view is it a good thing? I believe that to an American citizen it is certainly the best route for the pipeline to ship Alaskan crude oil, In the view of a Canadian citizen, is ita good thing, with environmental implications and only a smail number of ' jobs being created, and limited tax benefits to a few communities (Terrace not included). Are we being conned into something that, over the long term, really is not all that great for Canadians. HATCHERY PROGRAMS FOR STEELHEAD With the Salmonid Enhancement Public Meeting taking place at the Terrace Hotel on Thursday, November 18 from 5:30 to 10:30, I thought that an open letter to Mike Crammond of the Vancouver Province from Mr. Bill McMillan of Washougal, Washington, would make for some in- teresting reading. This letter was published in the last edition of the Steelhead Society of B.C. Newsletter: Mike Carmond, c-o The Province Dear Mike: The Wild vs Hatchery Steelhead Controversy Recently I met Ed Fleming of Sardis, B.C. while he was fishing on the Washougal River in the State of Washington. Ed was visiting a brother who lives in the area and we had a most enjoyable morning of conversation mixed with a little fishing, as so often sebatetalatetetatetatateletanetetecatetetetatatetet its immense © PAGE Al2, THE HERALD, Wednesday, November 17, 1974 aletatetalet ete! happens among anglers when sport is slow. Most of our conversation focused around the wild, or native, vs hatchery steelhead controversy. So far, British Columbia has been able to maintain most steelhead fisheries without the introduction of hatchery programs, and still has the uxury of making the decision regarding setting up of angling regulations toward preserving, miain- taining, or enhancing native stocks; or to do as the State of Washington has done and let native stocks fend for themselves with total fish resource concentration focused toward the flooding of most fisheries with an intensive hatchery program, at the mear elimination of wild runs. Ed and I were both of the opinion that wild fisheries are a much more valuable angler resource than are hatchery fisheries. Ed then showed me your July 13, 1976 angling column in “The Province’ that was crumpled in his wallet. I decided to write to you at Ed’s encouragement and explain the view of an angler who has lived with two intensive hatchery fisheries for twenty years. Your column focuses on the heavy percentage of U.S. hatchery salmon that actually make up the Georgia Strait sport salmon eatch and the fact that little complaint is heard as regards their quality. You then make jest of the steelhead “lawyers” inland who claim that hatchery steelhead are inferior to the wild fish as regards vigor on hook and line. , Perhaps I can shed a little light on the problem as I’ve lived on or near the Washougal River all but the first two years of my life, and, since their initial construction around 1956, have had the opportunity to watch a most prolific summer steelhead hatchery ‘and an equally. successful fall chinock and echo hat- chery blossom, develop and mature into veritable fish factories of almost no equal. As regards table quality, I don't think there’s a knowledgeable angler anywhere in the northwest who would claim to be able ta tell a hatchery fish from a wild fish (as regards flesh color and flavor) once it's been to sea and has spent oz: W toa ananaaamameememnearms Serva nigh atataterata one to four years eating exactly the same feed. I don’t think table quality is much in question. Even as regards salt water vigor, again I doubt whether there ig a great amount of measurable difference between the fighting quality of a hatchery vs a wild salmon or Steelhead. However, once these fish enter fresh water, definite characteristics become noticeable that make a wild fish a vastly superior sport quarry over the hatchery steelhead. First, some qualifying is in order as regards salmon. Once one begins fishing for salmon, the ‘‘sport" of fishing seems secondary to having meat on the bank, and quite possibly the loss of snort’? quality, 50 noticeable in freshwater with hatchery steelhead, is not as great a detraction in salmon fisheries. However, the mere presence of a salmon hatchery can be a very rea] threat to a wild steelhead fishery if its construction is allowed in steelhead spawning areas and the excess salmon are allowed to spawn naturally in the same area of river. The competition between the emerging fry of both species becomes fierce and e limited feed will support much fewer steelhead when it likewise has to support a new population of youn salmon. Misplaced an mismanaged salmon_hat- cheries have completely destroyed much of our wild steelhead fisheries in Washington and their loss than requires expensive steelhead plants for com- pensation. A vicious circle evolves that angers and frustrates even the most’ stoic fisherman: due to the . senseless destruction of wild fish runs. The’ ‘‘innovative’’ remedies attempted to limit natural spawning in the river have, in instances, been more detrimental than he)pful. For instance, on the Washougal a_i ‘‘sport” snaggery has heen fien- dishly used as a remedy far harvesting excess salmon and we now have snagging throughout the river rather than in the assigned area. Much of the snagging has contributed to the rapid drop in holding wild sum- mer steelhead that once frequented the area. hy SPchereierrarice ater wo words for smc Special Old Ss vs SRR ae a ti Ona Precisely why is a hat- chery steelhead a less valuable sport fish as compared to his wild counterpart? There is one basic characteristic dominant in hatchery reared steelhead that does indeed make them a less valuable sport fish — rapid upriver ascendance rate. Once hatchery reared steelhead enter fresh water they travel with surprising haste directly to their release site, or to the hat- chery, with very little lingering in the many pools and riffles along the way. This rapid ascendance rate exposes the fish to the angler for a relatively short period of time which, of course, means that the hatchery steelhead offers less angling opportunity than the slower, more deliberate ascendance rate of wild steelhead that ex- poses them to the angler over a broader period of time. It's precisely for this reason that rivers must be virtually flooded with returning hatchery steelhead before yielding good = angling while relatively small stocks of wild steelhead are. capable of supporting very famous and fine fisheries. Likewise, a responsibility becomes. apparent in that restrictive angling regulations become necessary to protect wild steelhead from their own inherent vulnerability to anglers. Directly related to_ this. rapid upriver ascendance rate is the often heard complaint that hatchery steelhead do not generally fight with as much vigor as their wild counterparts. Hatchery steelhead are ‘continuously on the move in freshwater and schools’ of them can often be seen “nanting’’ with gaping white mouthsin the summer months as they hold briefly in a pool’s tail-out. These fish are often exhausted from several miles of travel and are incapable of vigordus resistance once 00) The reason for this dif- ference in slow ascendance rate that characterizes wild steelhead from hatchery produced can only be in the wild steelhead’s familiarity with the river of his return due to two or three years of freshwater life from fry to smolt stage. The wild adult steelhead lingers in the for smoc enagnenetn nanan nad “pO erecenanictasananaeetes . # familiar environment — perhaps overwintering in many of the lower river pools one to four years. previous as a youngster of rea to seven inches. Hatchery steelhead in’ contrast have known only one year in concrete con- finement and the brief few weeks working downstream in their smolting to the sea. The river {s unfamiliar to them and home is simply back to the concrete en- closure. Why dally? In the tributaries of the Great Lakes experiments have been conducted to try to slow the rapid ascen- danee of a returning fish. Salmon and steelhead seem eapable of accurate spawning returns. thro @ sense of smell. The fry and smolts have been ex- perimentally raised in ponds impregnated with anise oil. As the fish return to the river, anise oil secreting stations have been set up at intervals along the river, The fish tend to linger at each station where oil Is secreted and the ascen- dance rate is thus con- trolled. ; You seem to doubt the artificiality of hatchery fisheries, but can you ac- tually see yourself in the B.C. wilds, pushing a button at an anise oil station in order to get the fish to school up and become vulnerable to “sport”? methods? I sincerely hope that ] never lower my own personal sport code to the po t where: I would actually take part in such a fishery, but it remains as a successful remedy to the hatchery ascendance problem and will probably become a useful tool in the mid-west fisheries. Finally comes the most serious transition an angler must make in the change froma stable, but small wild fishery to an intense and fluctuating hatchery fishery; the tremendous increases in angler pressure - per given area of stream. The transition on the Washougal has been in- credible — from a handful of local anglers fishing in solitude with a strict but unwritten honor’ -code .of leaving one pool for another if already occupied, to a massive tangle of fishermen from far and wide jostling, on some days shoulder shoulder, in the lower mile of river especially. It’s a simple equation: more fish equal more fishermen, and the hours of fishing time required to catch a TSU, MOUNTA - AG “TERRACE : " JOS KONST, manager of Kitsumkalum Ski Hill, (centre} hands Ken Coverdale {left} and Pat Boyle thelr seasons passes for winning in the Name the Ski Runs Contest. Tracy Tyndail won for “Mom’‘s Choice”, Boyle won for “‘Kalum Kut’ and Coverdale won for “Stump Alley”. Presentations were made at the First Annual Ski Show held af the Odd- fellows Hall Friday. Seven top ski movies were shown and there were displays by Kitsumkalum Mountain, Taylor's Men’s Wear, Atl Season’s Sporting Goods, Mickey Johnson Pro Shop and Ski School, Ski Patrol, Hudson Bay Mountain and Ski Marmot from Jasper. About 300 people attended the show. steelhead actually increases due to the hatchery steelhead's rapid river ascendance and due to constant heavy fishin pressure that keeps the fis in a state of wary ner- vousness. almost beyond com- rehension. It has been a agic and, to some of us, a disgusting transition from a clean, pure aesthetic sport that brought out the best in a man tog com ; that stimulates anger name-calling an sometimes worse. _ . In Washington the wild fisheries are nearly gone, and hatchery fisheries are to be lived with and endured unless one channels his interests toward new outlets — perhaps photography or hiking. I’ve purposely It isa phenomenon that is titive frenzy ignored the biological a proach toward the dangers of hatchery fisheries with their hi, ispase incidence and dangerous genetic altering potential to wild stocks, and have simply dealt ‘with problems t directly affect the angler in his quest for sport. The biological problems often seem remote to the angler and perhaps even unin- teresting. In British Columbia, you still have an enviable’ choice, and fisheries undérstandably taking a good hard look before leaping toward the easy rogram of iilling fisheries . with. hatchery reared ersonnel are. salmon and steelhead. Believe me, ponder the alternatives carefully! Sincerely, Bil McMillan ore Mr. MecMillan’s letter voices one man’s opinion which may or may not reflect the feelings of the majority of anglers in Washington State. What he says shocked me and I have not been one who favours fish hatcheries, Ifyou feel that - hatcheries for steelhead or coho would be a good thing for the Terrace area, give his letter some “ * serious thought before you commit yourself. on Fight the lung crippiers... Emphysema, Asthma, Tuberculosis, Chronic Bronchitis, Air Pollutian Tonight, old friends new. Call any night between 5 and 11 p.m. and save 35% off the regular day rate to most places in B.C. What's more, it’s even cheaper after 11 p.m. till 8 a.m. So call soon, And have a good night. BCTH @ _ Longdistance yets cheaper and cheaper at night. cail some of your and find out what’s Long distance discounts within B.C.on most station-to-station calls you dial yourself (112). Minimum charge 20¢ per call. Monday - Friday 3:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. Saturday - Sunday. 8:00 a.m.- 11:00 p.m, SOL OF regular day rate, - Every night 11:00 p.m.-8:00a.m. 60%off | regular day rate.