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THE FISHERMAN
July 12, 1963
THE FISHERMAN
138 East Cordova Street GEORGE NORTH, Editor
Vancouver 4, B.C.
Phone: MU. 3-9655
Ottawa
Authorised as second class mail by Post Office Department and for payment of postage In cash Published every Friday except the last Friday of the month
Rotten Deal in Halibut
A SIDE from poor catches in Area 2, halibut fishermen this season are taking a terrible economic beating from slumping halibut prices.
The 1963 season opened with first Vancouver trips fetching 24.1 to 24.4 cents medium and 25 to 27 cents large compared to opening prices last year of 32 and 35 cents, followed three days later by slightly lower prices.
The same situation applied in Prince Rupert. This year's first landings brought 24.1 to 24.2 cents medium and 26 cents large but in 1962, the early trips sold for 30.5 cents medium and 33 cents large.
Thus, both for Vancouver and Prince Rupert, prices went down sharply, a minimum of 7.6 cents for medium and eight cents large in Vancouver, and 6.3 and seven cents in Prince Rupert.
(We are leaving out chix as a factor since quantities landed are relatively insignificant and since the prices, which are well below those paid for other grades, have not fluctuated appreciably).
What has happened since the early season price cuts?
The answer is that the cuts have become deep slashes into the earnings of halibut fishermen.
Vancouver landings on July 11 this year sold for 24 to 24.2 cents medium and 24 to 24.1 cents large. Last year, on July 10 they sold for 34.5 cents medium and 37.2 cents large.
In Prince Rupert the prices were 21.2 to 21.6 this year and 33.1 to 36.5 cents in 1962 on similar dates.
Thus the fishermen selling in Vancouver this week received 12.3 cents less for medium and 13.1 cents less for large than they did a year ago. In Prince Rupert, the decline was just as drastic — 11.5 cents for medium and 13.9 cents for large.
The average drop in both cases was 12.7 cents per pound.
Thus a trip consisting of 50,000 medium and large this year brought $6,350 less than it would have a year ago.
Deducting the 20 percent boat share of $1,270 leaves a net cut to the crew of $5,080 — almost $650 per man.
The big fishing companies are not only in a position to manipulate fish exchange prices as they wish, but they're the people who have by and large imported halibut from Japan at cut rate prices. And in many cases, they're the people who sold out the eastern Bering Sea halibut fisheries to Japan.
Last year, an improvement in prices on the exchange softened up the halibut fleet at least to the point that talk of a minimum price agreement was temporarily shelved.
But discussions are once more taking place on this most important issue as halibut fishermen see they are mere pawns in the fishing game. They exert no bargaining strength so long as they put the product of their labor up for auction to a group of buyers dominated by the big few.
Collective strength is the only way of getting results — now and any other time.
Canadian and US halibut fishermen face a difficult situation, compounded by the halibut sellout to Japan.
But it must be faced and a minimum price agreement must be won if fishermen are to wrest anything more than a meagre livelihood from the tough halibut fishery.
All the lessons of the industry surely point to this conclusion.
They Fought for Us
IF EVER there was a demonstration the labor movement should support, it is the one due to take place early next Tuesday morning at the gates of Oakalla Prison Farm.
Dave West, an official of Seamen's Local 400, Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers, and Joe Hendsbee, a member, will walk to freedom after serving a six months' sentence resulting from their efforts to help win a strike.
It was the fateful day of Tuesday, November 6, that a score of police accompanied 'by a pair of vicious police dogs charged a peaceful citizens' picketline in Vancouver to escort a handful of scabs into the strikebound plant of Allied Engineering Ltd.
The citizens were there in support of the strikers who had been denied the right to picket by court injunction.
Five men were arrested during the morning police attack and seven later in the day when pickets attempted to stop a truckload of scab produced hot water tanks from being transported from the plant. .
It was in this set of circumstances that West and Hendsbee were charged and found guilty on evidence given by a Vancouver Province newspaper photographer and a strikebreaking truck driver.
The organised labor movement has had martyrs in its ranks. The trade union movement of this continent is built on the bodies of men and women who gave their lives in its cause.
West and Hendsbee are part of the tradition that has made organised labor a powerful force in advancing the standard of living of working people and protecting their economic and political interests. It has been a buttress against those who want no bounds on their exploitation of labor.
The labor movement — all sections of it — owe West and Hendsbee a debt that can be discharged at least in small measure next July 16 by a show of trade union solidarity.
The unity of the Allied Engineering picketline should be transferred to the gates of Oakalla at 8 o'clock Tuesday morning.
if
Behind the Headlines
Major Due
©he
TUESDAY, JULY 6, 1963
Guest Editorial
COMING OVER THE HORIZON
TXTOW that a Russian fishing vessel has been sighted close -*■ ^ to the three mile limit off Vancouver Island, apparently both fishing and reconnoitering the fishing grounds, even the most sceptical can hardly deny the necessity of taking this added competition to our fishing industry into account. Whether or not the Russians are gathering other information, their fishing fleets also fish and fish efficiently.
Until Canada's 12 mile territorial limit is established next year, they are at perfect liberty to operate up to the three mile limit. And they are under no obligation to observe our conservation measures.
The United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union wants negotiations begun to bring the Soviets into the Canadian-US-Japanese North Pacific fisheries agreement. In principle, the UFAWU is logical and right. This is the only alternative to unlimited competition in the fisheries, for surely the three nations now in the pact will refuse to abstain from fishing merely in order to allow the Russians to operate freely and without competition in the conservation areas.
Fisheries minister Robich;;ud says, "This is not the time to discuss such things."
It is possible he has in mind the negotiations now under way for renewal of the existing three nation convention. The Japanese are known to be insisting on major changes, including a much more liberal interpretation of the conservation rules. They contend the Canadian-US measures do not permit full exploitation of the potential production of the restricted fisheries.
Perhaps Mr. Robichaud's purpose is to secure renewal of the existing agreement on the best available terms before inviting Russia's adherence. It is quite possible the United States might be extremely reluctant to include Russia in the negotiations.
A four nation parley could open up large areas of disagreement which would make it most difficult to achieve any agreement at all.
These are legitimate reasons for caution. But caution can be overdone.
The mere presence of Russian fishing vessels operating off our coast makes it obvious the alternatives are a four nation conservation agreement or no conservation at all. The facts speak for themselves, whether Mr. Robichaud speaks or not.
Events in Italy
policy of neutrality in the cold war. It was the only party to make Italy's foreign policy a major issue and its strong stand for peace undoubtedly brought it many new votes.
The Christian Democrats were embarrassed (as were the Socialists aid Social Democrats) by the peace encyclical of the late Pope John XXIII. This encyclical condemned atomic weapons, whereas the Christian Democrats supported the establishment of a US controlled NATO nuclear force. No wonder the Christian Democrats had little to say about foreign affairs in this election!
Ancther significant aspect of the election was that the Communist Party made its gains de-spite an economic boom in Italy. This confounded many political experts who took for granted that Italys economic revival would lessen Communist support. But this economic boom, as the Communists pointed out, is unstable, temparary and slowing down.
There are still 1.5 million unemployed, even though two million Italians have emigrated since the war. Italy has the lowest wages of any member of the European Common Market.
Between 1948 and 1960, output doubled but wages went up only 30 percent. Living costs are rising and the housing crisis persists. ★ ★ * WHAT OF THE FUTURE? The Christian Democrats are again trying to form a "center-left" cofJition with the Social Democrats and Socialists. The Social Democrats agree and so does Socialist leader Nenni, but the Socialist Party will not again go along with him. A deep split has appeared in the Socialist Party. Ub central committee rejected Nenni's resignation but at the same time set up a five man committee to restrict his powers. The Socialist Party will have to choose between support for NATO, which Italians reject, and £n alliance with the Communists, which many of its members want.
At the moment, a minority government is in office. It could fall any day. Probably this had more than a little to do with President Kennedy's recent visit to Italy and the Vatican.
Obviously it will be difficult to form any government in Italy
KEEP your eyes on Italy. That country is on the verge of some important political changes. The people are moving to the left. Although it is now almost 2V2 months since the last general election, no majority government has yet been formed.
The significant change that took place in the April 28-29 election was the big increase in the vote of the Communist Party. More than 25 percent of Italy's 31 million voters, one out of every four, voted Communist.
For the Chamber of Deputies, the Communist vote went up from 6.7 million to 7.7 million, giving the party 166 seats out of 630. For the Senate, the Communist vote grew from 5.7 million to seven million and it now has 85 of the 316 seats.
The gain in the Communist vote was general throughout the country, among all sections of the population. In cities like Genoa and Florence, the Communist Party is now the strongest party. The election results make the Communist Party the second largest in the country.
★ ★ ★ THE SECOND BIG CHANGE
that took place in the election was the drop in the influence of the Christian Democratic Party. This is the party of the big corporations; it is heavily supported by the US state department. Its vote went down from 12.5 million to 11.8 million. Its seats in the Chamber of Deputies declined from 276 to 260, while its percentage of the popular vote decreased to 38 from 42 percent.
In addition to the Communist Party, Italy has two socialist parties, the Social Democratic Party led by Saragat and the Socialist Party led by Pietro Nenni.
In this election, Saragat's Social Democrats, a right wing grouping, increased their vote for the Chamber of Deputies from 1.3 million to 1.8 million. They now have 33 seats and six percent of the total vote.
Nenni's Socialists, who until a few years ago were in alliance with the Communist Party, kept their vote I at 4.2 million and have 87 seats in the Chamber and 14 percent of the popular vote.
* * * PRIOR TO THIS ELECTION,
the government had been a so-called "center-left" coalition
, r „, . ,. ~______/ that ignores the Communists. A
made up of Christian Democrats,! r . . . .
coalition of the left is the only
Social Democrats and Republicans. The Socialist Party was -pledged to support the government, thus giving it a working majority, This coalition carried out the policies dictated by big business interests and the US and as a result became increasingly unpopular.
The Communist Party campaigned in a clear cut program of nationalisation of big industries, land reform, trade union participation in government and the management of the economy, unity of the socialist forces and the trade union movement, withdrawal from NATO and for a
clear solution.
The Communist Party points to the fact that the combined vote of the Communist Party and Socialist Party was 40 percent of the popular vote, which is greater than the total vote of the Christian Democrats. It is organising huge public meetings throughout the country, demanding the toppling of the government and new elections. It is campaigning for a government of the left which will follow a policy of neutrality and take Italy out of the cold war.
The situation is fluid. Italy may yet get a left wing government.
THE OFFICE MANAGER Noticed that each time the young shipping clerk took a bunch of invoices to the typist's desk, he invariably whispered something to her and she whispered back.
After their latest exchange, the manager asked the typist: "And what do you say when the young swain whispers sweet little nothings into your ear?"
The typist answered: "I whisper back sweet little nothing doings."
* * *
A BRIGHT YOUNG LAD WAS
taking a test but seemed to be stumped on the second question, which read. "Give the number of tons of coal shipped out of Canada in any year."
After a- few minutes of thought, the lad wrote, "32 AD—none."
Report from Ottawa By Frank Howard, MP
ALASKA PANHANDLE SELLOUT
FISH and SHIPS
was cstab-
■OlG biz keeps calling for restric-" tive legislation on cc-ops and credit unions, which are people's businesses. But did you know that Dominion Stores alone had total sales of over $427 million in ir last fiscal year, considerably more than the figure for all retail co-ops in Canada? And Dominion is planning to open 20 new supermarkets this year!
* * *
We want news. Can you help us by sending in items of interest about people in the fishing industry?
* * +
Sidney's Jack Reid, seriously injured la,st month, is on the inrnd. He is still in St. George's Hospital at Alert Bay but expects to be up soon, after three weeks on his back. Jack writes 10 express his appreciation to the Ladies Auxxiliary of the United Church who have been very kind.
Jack says the ladies bake pics to help with the Auxiliary's expenses. "If any fisherman cares for pie. he can contact Mrs. May or Mrs. S. Sanborn by telephone," Jack writes. "Nobody need go without pie on these fishing grounds." We're going to make a note of this valuable information in case we* drop by on the Chiquita 3 some day. Home made pie . . . !
★ * * intriguing item in the July 3
Pioneer Journal of Alert Bay: "A middle aged woman stopped briefly at Sointula and Alert Bay Tuesday. She is rowing the BC coast from Prince Rupert in a 14 foot red skiff accompanied by a dog. This is the only information available at . . ."
★ * ★
From Compton. California, comes the following Associated Press episode that proves crime
doesn't pay all of the time; at least it didn't this once:
Some person or persons unknown captured a bobcat and conceived a dastardly scheme.
Somehow, they compressed it into a suitcase.
Then they placed the suitcase on the sidewalk in front of the bus station and, presumably, watched from an automobile to see the fun
Sure enough, a car with four men stopped. One dashed out, grabbed the suitcase, and the car roared off.
Three blocks away two men burst from the car and hit the street, running. The car careened into a curb and the other two sprinted out, shrieking.
Lastly emerged the wildcat, looking every inch a winner. He stalked away into the night.
Officers, who said they pieced together the story from sources they declined to name, said they aren't looking very hard for any of those involved.
LAST week in this column we dealt briefly with the Alaska Panhandle and the effect it has had in curtailing economic development in the northern part of British Columbia. It is a large subject and I would like to develop it in this and subsequent articles.
Even though controversy and disputes existed for many years involving Canada, Great Britain, the United States and Russia, the issue did not come to head until 1903. In that year a Commission met in London to determine the boundary.
The Commission lished by Great Britain and the US, each having three representatives. The Commission was supposed to consist of "impartial jurists of repute." The reason for this was that it was not to arbitrate or conciliate the problem but to interprete legally what the 1825 Treaty meant.
The first barrier to such a decision and interpretation came when the United States appointed, not three "impartial jurists of repute," but three politicians.
It is interesting to note that the public in the US had been convinced that there was nothing to arbitrate for this had been US government policy for some years.
Can you imagine any politician going to a foreign country, with such a feeling existing back home, to deal with his country's interests and doing anything else but support those interests to the full?
* * *
GREAT BRITAIN APPOINTED
two Canadians and Britain's Lord
Chief Justice Alverstone to the Commission. The two Canadians were Louis A. Jette and Allen B. Aylesworth, each reputable and respected members of the Canadian Bar. Lord Alverstone was the key figure in the hearings.
The Commission was required to determine what Articles 3 and 4 of the 1825 Treaty meant. This was a formidable if not impossible task, for that Treaty described an area the drafters thereof had never seen and was based upon suppositions as to the geography involved.
We can reduce the Treaty, for these purposes, to a few words. Briefly, the things involved were a channel called Portland Channel'and the summit of the mountains parallel to the coast but not more than 10 marine leagues from the coast.
One difficulty here was that there is no range of mountains parallel to the coast, but rather, a virtual sea of mountains ranging in all directions. Another difficulty was to determine just what was the coast. Did the Treaty mean the western extremities of all of the islands, ' the heads of the inlets, the convolutions of the mainland, or some arbitrary line in between.
THE POSITION OF THE
Canadians in the tribunal meetings in London was such that we would have the heads of various inlets as part of our territory. The position of the US was quite the contrary and would have placed the boundary well to the east of where it was finally placed.
The arguments on each side took up many days and are too elaborate to condense here. I don't think that it is necessary to refer to those arguments in
parently disregarded the sense of them and made his decision for other reasons.
There was, of course, the attitude of the US long before the Tribunal was established that there was nothing to arbitrate and that they would use force if necessary to establish the boundary where they wanted it.
Historians say that it was the almost indecent desire of the British foreign office to have cordial relations with the US that prompted the decision. In other words. Canada's interests were sacrificed because of Britain's foreign policy.
★ * * LORD CHARNWOOD GIVES some substantiation to this thought that US President "Tcd-dv" Roosevelt brought pressure on the tribunal. In his Theodore Roosevelt, Lord Charnwood
". .'. he (Roosevelt) wrote to a valued American friend of his own and of the British statesmen concerned, and asked to have his real determination made known to them . . ."
"If it (the tribunal) failed, he should take measures . . . and use troops ... to 'run the line as wc desire it, without any further regard to the attitude of England or Canada'."
Lord Alversione apparently agreed with the desire for friendliness with the US and sided with them upon the crucial votes in the tribunal. The decision was made on a four to two basis— four for the US. two for Canada.
The decision was so unpalatable to the two Canadians, Louis A. Jette and Allen B. Aylesworth. that they each refused to sign the report, thus expressing the
feeling of Canada over the dc
cision.
* ★ *■
Our next article will deal with t>e iollou ub etteds of the dtasion itd