Soviets, Poles take hake as 1982 co-op fishery begins
The fisheries department's offshore division has set this year's total allowable hake catch at a record 50,000 metric tons, but as fishing got under way July 6, less than half that amount had been spoken for.
Eighteen Canadian draggers will be delivering to at least six foreign processor-trawlers in the co-operative phase of the fishery, but fisheries spokesman Barry Ackerman says total catch may not exceed last year's landings of 25,009 tons.
For the first time this year the fishery began without government observers of any kind thanks to continuing budget cuts in the federal government.
UFAWU trawl fishermen have long demanded initiation of a properly-funded observer program to verify catch weights and to guard against high incidental catches.
Last year, the department managed to combine a fisheries officer training program with the hake fishery to ensure some government presence on the boats.
This year even that program has been eliminated, Ackerman said, and all biological and government observer functions have been turned over to the observers hired by the B.C. Hake Consortium.
The consortium is not receiving any additional funds for providing the service and consortium manager Jack Rosenberg said the arrangement "may not prove satisfactory."
Rosenberg would not disclose the settlement figure for this \ ear's fishery but said it is above last year's price of 7.5 cents a pound.
He said all Canadian vessels which applied to participate in the fishery have been accepted and are on the grounds.
Taking fish from the B.C. fishermen will be three processors from the USSR and three from Poland. The Soviet Union will take 8,000 tons in the cooperative fishery. Poland will take 7,500 tons from the B.C. vessels and will take a further li,500 tons directly in the so-called national fishery.
Japan has promised to take 2,500 tons in a national fishery. The Japanese landed only 181 tons of a 5,000-ton quota last year, but have pledged more than a token fishery in 1982. ■
Although 10,000 tons have been reserved for domestic
catches, Ackerman says there is no indication of a domestic harvest.
The freezer-tawler Callistra-tus is not scheduled to fish at this time. It has been tied up in Vancouver since it was idled by job action by processing workers last September.
No onshore processing is planned either. Pacific Lamprey Co., which trucked fish from Ucluelet to Nanaimo for processing last year into salt hake, is bankrupt. Also cancelled is processing in Barkley Sound by the Greek vessel Possidonia.
Ackerman said there is a possibility the co-operative fishery will be extended to a third nation later in the summer.
Northern locals protest 2,4-D spray proposals
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Two UFAWU locals have squared off with the provincial government over forest ministry plans to spray the controversial herbicide 2,4-D near the Skeena River in northern B.C.
Locals 31 and 37 are protesting the spraying because of the potential harm it could cause to salmon, and have written a letter to the Environmental Appeal Board demanding a hearing before spraying is allowed.
"We are very concerned about the high risk of entry of 2,4-D into the fish habitat with resulting injury and death to salmon," the May 27 letter stated. "Not only is 2,4-D dangerous and toxic in itself, dioxins present in 2,4-D in varying amounts are also proved to be fatal and remain persistent in the environment."
The forest ministry, which has already received permission to spray a 7-hectare area 2.7 kilometres east of Exchamisiks River between the Skeena River and Highway 16, will be spraying the 2,4-D on alder stumps after the trees have been cut.
The letter notes 2,4-D is particularly toxic to aquatic insects and crustaceans and thus can destroy an important food source for fish in the Skeena River.
At press time, a representative of the appeal board would not release the names of others protesting this and other permits in northern B.C., but suggested a hearing could be held in August.
The ministry of forests uses the herbicide to control the spread of alder trees on growing sites throughout the province and plan to spray it on six locations in northern B.C. this summer, including two on the Queen Charlotte Islands near Rennell Sound.
Critics argue the herbicide, which has been shown to cause cancer and genetic damage, should be banned completely because it will not pass present-day test procedures for safety.
As little as 0.5 parts per million of 2,4-D can be fatal to 50 percent of test coho fry according to the ministry, but it continues to be used, in part for economic reasons.
A statement issued several years ago by the ministry noted cutting alders is not cost-effective because almost all deciduous species sprout vigorously from the stump after they are cut. Some union and environmental groups dispute this.
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