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2 Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 3, 1986

Anglers grapple WITT GOVE ces iee nes

groups, commercial fishermen and native bands involved in. food fisheries, - continue depleting the resource at historically-established levels. Gordon stated at the beginning of the meeting that discussion in Smithers and . Houston had been dispropor- tionately directed toward questions ‘about the marine fishery, but despite his request for more sport fishing content the Ter- race discussion centered around a number of other factors affecting fish populations in the Skeena River system.

Steelhead trout and coho salmon were the center of attention for the anglers, and the fisheries representatives had to field a number of very pointed inquiries about protection of both species. The incidental catch of steelhead, a non-

commercial species, by the commercial fishing fleet at the mouth of the Skeena

‘appears to be a conflict

with no resolution. The steelhead begin their run to the spawning grounds at the same time the most valuable of commercial salmon, the sockeye, begin their run. Gordon said that of the estimated 53,000 steelhead returning to the Skeena in 1986, 19,000 were caught by gillnetters during the sockeye openings, 6,000 were netted or gaffed upriver by native Indian fishermen, between 3,000 and 4,000 were caught by sport fishermen, and as many as 6,000 may have ended up in the home freezers of commercial fleet crew members. He indicated that the total spawning escapement of 24,000 fish this year was exceptionally high due to short commercial open-

Terrace resident Tom Protheroe will be one of three sport ‘fishing representatives on ihe restructurad advisory board

for the Skeena River watershed.

ings on an unexpectedly

poor sockeye return. In —

other years, he concluded, the incidental take can ex- ceed 50 percent of the total steelhead return. The audience called for a number of alternate management schemes, in- cluding a selective trap fishery in the rivers, a clamp-down on commer- cial catch limits in the Skeena estuary and closer regulation of native fishing, but Gordon clear- ly felt that such measures were largely beyond his jurisdiction. ‘To put it bluntly, these are going to be political decisions. These are feasible options, but it’s going to take someone far above me to implement them.”’

Ocean survival of fish stocks was also addressed as an- important factor in return rates. Gordon stated that he is firmly convinced that a_ trend toward recovery in the numbers of chinook salmon is a direct result of the treaty between B.C. and Alaska regarding limitations to the open ocean fishery. One poten- tial problem that was rais- ed at the meeting was the increasingly intense herr- ing fishery. It was pointed out that herring are one of the primary sources of food for salmon during their marine growth stage.

The forest industry came under fire at the meeting for its role in fish habitat destruction. One member -of the Terrace Steelhead Society said, ‘This area has been total- ly overlogged. Herman Creek and Sockeye Creek are on the forestry board now; the forest industry is monolithic - what can we

Proposal to end forest strike appears doomed

Members of Interna- tional Woodworkers of America (IWA) locals throughout B.C. are voting this week on the latest in a series of efforts to end the acrimonious dispute between employees and manage- ment of the province’s forest industry.

by Michael Kelly

The report of the three- member Industrial Inquiry Commission was filed Nov. 21, and it received approval Nov. 27 from the Forest Industrial Rela- tions members represen- ting coastal forest com- panies. The IWA_ ex- ecutive, however, has

. recommended rejection of

the commission proposal, and reports indicate that union members are following the recommen- dation.

The report is the fourth attempt to end the strike, which is now in its fifth month. A ‘‘convenor’s’’ report from Justice Henry Hutcheon at the beginning of the strike was approved by the union but rejected by the FIR; mediation by Don Munroe and Premier Vander Zalm also failed. Government sources estimate that the B.C. economy is losing $10 million daily as a result of the partial shut-down.

The core of the dispute has been the [WA’s push for job security; the union perceives the trend toward contracting-out of logging work and _ technical changes in manufacturing processes as threats to members’ jobs. The In- dustrial Inquiry Commis- sion report, prepared by Stuart Hodgson, Peter Pearse and Mary Saunders, recommends,

‘*Employers should not be allowed to contract out logging work beyond past and current practices ex- cept in special cir- cumstances.’’ The report suggests the establishment of a four-member. joint committee to determine the specific circumstances under which contracting- out would be acceptable.

Union spokesmen have indicated there is no provi- sion to cover sawmill workers in the language and have rejected it on that basis.

The restrictions impos- ed on employers by the contracting-out section are compensated by a pro- posal to allow greater flex- ibility in work scheduling. The report says company investments in expensive high-tech equipment have created a situation in

which the traditional continued on page 5

Provinclal and federal government agencies recently sponsored an information meeting In

Terrace for sport fishermen. About 75 local anglers attended the session, chalred by (left to |

right}: Robert Hooton, recently appointed section manager for the provincial Skeena region fishery; flsherles officer Mike Law; Laurie Gordon from the Prince Rupert office of the Dapart- ment of Fishers and Oceans (DFO); and Jim Culp, the DFO's Terrace recreational fishing ad-

visor, |

do against this unintelligent use of land? Why clear cuts? You see

the Kitimat Valley, it

looks like it’s been hit with an atom bomb.”’ A local fisheries officer pointed out that policy trends toward intensive forest management will create additional problems with

. stepped-up activity in

forest thinning, slash bur-

ning, and the increased

use of pesticides and fer- tilizers.

-The idea of limited openings on some rivers for specific types of fishing gear, such as dry flies, was also debated. It was suggested that such openings would give anglers opportunities not otherwise available, but a vocal and democratically- inclined contingent main- tained that rivers should be open to all fishing techniques or none. Fishing closures, a certain indication that stocks are endangered in many areas, were never far from the center of discussion; one man indicated that a reduction in the available fishing areas does not reduce the number of fishermen, but that anglers fish the available rivers more heavily, put-

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ting added pressure on healthy stocks.

Recreational fishing ad- visor Jim Culp announced changes in the composi- tion of the DFO’s Skeena management advisory board. Culp said the board will be made up of 12 representatives: five commercial fishing members, three sport fishing members, three native Indian represen- tatives and one member from the provincial government. The previous board was more heavily weighted in favor of com- mercial interests.

In addressing the anglers’ concerns, Robert Hooton explained that the government machinery re- quired to alter fishing regulations moves with maddening slowness.

“The process is so

cumbersome that we never get changes in time to im- plement them against ex- isting problems,’’ Hooton said. Laurie Gordon remarked that in Ottawa alone proposed changes have to go through 23 separate procedures to gain approval.

Although the problems in the Skeena River fishery were set out clearly at the meeting, the solutions to

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those problems remain in

obscurity. Diminishing

~ numbers of fish in many

rivers and streams in the Skeena watershed ap-

. parently mean one thing

for recreational fishermen: a total catch- and-release program unless dramatic changes occur in government policies,

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