B6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 4, 2006 7 i -SKEENA ANGLER | oa . ROB BROWN _ “Cleaning up the Act ing people, principally those people directly related to the exploitation of fish but have the potential to compromise the resource must also come with the ambit of those charged with its stew- ’ ardship. .Commercial fishers, indigenous aboriginal fish- ers, recreational. anglers fall in the former catego- ry. Their behaviour vis-a-vis. the fish: is modified through a body regulatory legislation. anaging a fisheries resource is manag- who. stand to profit by.the fishery eco- . nomically, culturally, and spiritually, _ but not only them. Those whose exertions are not , _The near impossibility of curbing the extractive | enthusiasm of such a diverse group of stakehold- ers is demonstrated in our salmon fisheries on both "coasts, where managerial success can be measured “in the decreasing numbers of Canadian, wild salm- on. - — ‘The actions of the latter group — which includes, ~ among others, real estate developers, industrial pol- . luters, miners, loggers, farmers and road builders. ~ are even harder to control since they come under ‘the two-tiered. supervision of other | ministries. Proof positive of this is spread all ‘over: this province: where water continues to be taken from “streams at the expense of spawning beds, where fish bearing. streams lie buried under pavement, where the acid bleeding from mines has poisoned fish bearing creeks, where stream beds have been * tumed: upside down in the quest for, gold, and in ‘the innumerable places where highway and railway construction has thrown insurmountable objects in front of anadromous fish. If we protect fish we protect our most vital re- source, water. Protecting fish and fish habitat is at .the very root of environmental health. It’s patently illogical to not protect it. Even where its progression is stridently illogi- cal, it’s hard to, stop what is euphemistically termed progress, but in the few cases where environmental degradation has been thwarted in favour of fish, the Federal Fisheries Act has been pivotal. With a government ‘that trips over itself in its "haste to open B.C. to business, and a federal coun- terpart that believes salvation and corporation are synonyms, it should surprise no one that a group of business groups have.seized the moment to join in ‘calling for thé Fisheries Act. Led by the BC Business Council and the Cham- ber of Commerce, and containing the Association _ of Mineral Exploration, the Council of Forest In- dustries, the Mining Association and the B.C. Ag- Ticultural Council, the coalition reads like a who’s who of habitat despoilers. ‘The enforcement of our Fisheries Act is lead- ing uncertainty, they opine. Alarmed that front line DFO personnel can make a decision in the field that: ~ is not subject to appeal or review, the privateers want to streamline it. “There are 25 mine development projects at vari- ous stages of the environmental review process and “in many of these, DFO is the lead or co-lead federal - ‘review agency. For the B.C. mining industry, fed- eral government regulatory processes are now the _ primary cause for project delays, These delays are resulting in significant’cost increases and are con- tributing to business uncertainty in the province,” they whine. The Fisheries Act. doesn’t need major change, it ~ needs to be invoked more often. The problem is that there is not enough staff in enforcement or habitat at both the federal and provincial fisheries agencies to enforce it expedi- tiously. a Why? Because our governments, who clearly view their operations as.an impediment to business, have cut their budgets to the bone and reduced staffs and the resources those staffs need to do their jobs. Curiously, the same business men-actively cham- pioned the economic policies that led to those cuts and applauded vigourously when they were made. The businessmen want approval quickly unless _the call by the man in the field goes against them, then an appeal process, no matter how protracted, is just. fine. ~The Fisheries Act is clear. In says people should not wreck fisheries habitat. To make it work you need more biologists, ecosys- _ tem specialists and fisheries officers with budgets commensurate with the enormous and important tasks they face. And once they’re up and running they need to know that they have been empowered and are free to do their jobs without the interference of politi- cians and corrupt bureaucrats who put personal ad- vancement ahead of public duty: When such a staff says a project will wreck fish habitat ~ the richest and most productive habitat there is, the resource extractors should be made to abide by it. "By MARGARET SPEIRS ‘TAKE A GUN, add some _ rush and the ‘result is the ‘race: and two from Prince: ‘Rupert on a 16-hour drive to ; in the seventh annual inte- ‘rior paintball league event at . - Club. : playing paintball fora couple Newbie division — the. class * for those newest to the sport. fourth place anda berth in colourful ammunition, mix in some strategy, five eager players, lots of competitive intensity -and an adrenalin formula for paintball. -. I's'a sport that’s growing . rapidly and took a team of . three. young mien from Ter- a tournament down south. Teens Sean McMurdo, Darren Huffman, Nicholas Gascon and. Rupertites Pat- rick Law-and Saul Brunelle, also known as Six Shootahs, garnered a fifth place finish the Kelowna Rod and Gur "MeMiurdo, who has been years now, and Huffman, who has been playing for about five years, and their teammates competed in the They won seven of their 10 matches during the two- . day “round robin,: finish- ing just eight points out of... TERRACE STANDARD the finals. “We were’ all a’ little dis- appointed,” McMurdo said. | “We were hoping to get into. the finals but we’re all still happy | with how we. did because there was a lot of other strong teams out there.” . The . squad received a boost of confidence from a more-experienced player who refereed some of the games. Vancouver amateur play- er Eric Wong told the Squad it had potential. That a boost helped _the team decide to train harder for next year’s event. “Our plan is to go Rook- ” says Huffman, referring to the category he hopes. the -: group will compete in next. time around. “We think we can go big- ger than that (Newbie).” While some may believe that paintball just involves a lot of shooting, the pair says it’s a competitive game of Strategy similar to chess. “{People] think whoever plays the fastest wins but it’s ‘openers Nov. 4 and 5. East CIHL teams start the season THE SPLITTING of the Central Interior Hockey League (CIHL) into Eastern and Western divisions will. make travel easier and less expensive and will clearly create new opportunities for the east when the cross-over playoffs begin. The Terrace River Kings will play the Mackenzie Moose twice — once at home and.once away — Smithers will travel to 100 Mile and will also host the Bears. Houston will also travel to Vanderhoof and host the Ice. Ha- zelton will travel to Williams Lake and host the Stampeders. . The schedule will not see Kitimat playing against Wil- liams Lake or 100 Mile House, — 16 or more travel hours away — but the Demons will see the Omineca Jce four times, all in November, with games in Vanderhoof, Nov. 4 and 5, and at Tamitik, Nov. 1] and 12. The Ice will travel to Houston fora double- header against the Luckies Oct. 28 and 29. Vanderhoof fans will get to see their new team meet the Kitimat Ice. Demons in its home The schedule, while difficult to complete, may give a bit of an edge to Eastern division teams, but that remains to be seen. Below is a preview of the four Eastern division teams. “© Omineca Ice Another CIHL newcomer, the Omineca Ice began unof- ficially playing games last year but not in time to join the . league. The Ice will feature players from the Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof and Fort St. James areas and will, play home games in Fort Fraser and Vanderhoof. The team begins its inaugural season with an away game _. Oct. 7 against the Mackenzie Moose. * 100 Mile House Bears After making it to the Coy Cup finals i in three of their previous four seasons, the Bears dropped to fifth place in the regular season standings with a five win, 13 loss, two tie record and failed to make it into the playoffs. . The team left the CIHL to operate independently during the 2002 and 2003 seasons but re-joined the CIHL in 2004. The Bears play their first home games of the season Oct. 7 and 8 against the Smithers Steelheads. * Mackenzie Moose One of the two remaining original CIHL franchises, the Moose have a checkered past including missing two seasons from 1999-2001 and one league championship during the 2003-2004 season. Mackenzie finished last season sixth out of the seven teams, skating to a five win, 14 loss, one tie record. Mackenzie’s Cole Atkinson finished second in league penalty minutes last season with 105 over 13 games. The Moose play their first home games Oct. 7 and 8 against the Omineca Ice. * Williams Lake Stampeders The Stampeders have finished in last position in the CIHL for the past two seasons. Last season, the team won only four games while losing 16. Williams Lake travels to 100 Mile House for its first away game of the season Oct. 7. N |: in doubleheaders. « very strategic especially. at. the higher levels,” Murdo. The team chose its strat- says Mc- egy and made adjustments © while, playing in Kelowna’: by calling out to each ‘other. a The teens watched the fi- nals and McMurdo believes they could have finished in second or third place. ~ Next year, he believes his team could win the Rookie division and hopes to top the interior paintball league if it can attend and win all six league events around B.C. seating, ravany oa and adrenalin is_ game in paintball DARREN HUFFMAN, left, and'Sean McMurdo travelled for 16 hours i ina vehicle to compete ata paintball tour- nament in Kelowna recently. The duo and their three teammates finished just. eight points out of the finals. — MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO Sha y SAUL BRUNELLE, a member of the ® paintball team Six Shootahs, takes aim at his opponents in Kelowna. DAVE MCMURDO PHOTO \ ™ Last chance BANTAM REP hockey hopefuls took to this ice for a series of tryout ses- sions last month. Coach John.Amos said he pretty much knew who he would choose at the final tryout Sept. 23, shown above. The bantams play host to Smithers at the Terrace Arena Oct. 13 and 74. MARGARET. SPEIRS PHOTO Sports Scope Bouncing off the walls Northwest Community College invites athletes and teams to a game that takes ball sports to new heights. Wallyball, a fast-paced game similar to volleyball but including the walls and ceil- "ing as within bounds, is quickly becoming THE KIVA ‘at a big hit. Elaine Sanchez from the college says the less-competitive team sport is growing by leaps and bounds. The wallyball league plays Mondays and Thursdays. Drop-in wallyball, which can be more competitive, goes on Friday nights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call Elaine at 638- 5457. Support the peewees COME OUT to help the Peewee.rep hockey team raise money to finance its travel to tournaments this season. The team holds a garage sale and barbe- cue at the parking lot behind the Ford dealer- ship building along. Keith Ave from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Friday Oct. 6. i And just in time for Thanksgiving, the pecwees will hold a bake sale at the Farmers | 638-7283 hs '4 Market from-9 a.m. to | p.m. this Saturday, . Oct 7. Look for the peewee rep sign to buy yum- floral arrangements. For more details, call Lisa Stella at 635- ‘1622. _ my baked goods and beautiful Thanksgiving ~ \S