Defer Houston Pulp Mill Start, Smithers SPEC Urges
• The inner line on this map of Iceland shows the present 12-mile limit, enforced a decade ago only after a prolonged conflict with Britain, and the outer line, the 50-mile limit the new Progressive-Communist-Liberal Socialist coalition government has announced its intention of enforcing next September.
Emphasis on Groundfish
New Stern Trawlers Ordered by Iceland
REYKJAVIK — Iceland's decision to switch emphasis from a failing herring industry to trawling for groundfish is reflected in the placing of orders for 21 stern trawlers from foreign and domestic shipyards.
Ranging from 500 to 1,000 gross tons, the new vessels have been ordered from yards in Norway, Poland and Spain as well as Iceland.
Their construction is part of a fleet modernization program backed by the government Fisheries Fund, which makes loans of up to 75 percent of building costs for vessels ordered in Iceland and up to 66 percent for craft built abroad.
Declining herring catches in recent years have sparked renewed concentration on trawl fishing by the Icelandic fleet.
This may also be a major factor in the island republic's announced intention of extending fishing limits to 50 miles by September this year.
Heavy exploitation by foreign fleets, mainly British and West German, has aroused deep concern over the future of groundfish stocks on which Iceland itself is likely to become increasingly dependant.
Iceland claims that despite existing international conservation arrangements, foreign countries are intensifying their fishing effort off its coast, using sophisticated vessels including large stern trawlers.
About 100 foreign vessels fish
Canso Man Dies in B.C.
The death occurred suddenly in Vancouver January 4 of UFAW# member Francis (Bud) Home, a native of Canso, Nova Scotia, who had been fishing on the Pacific coast since 1965. He was only 33 years old.
In the past few years he had worked primarily as a halibut longliner and trawler and was out last on the Loyal 2.
He is survived by his father, Peter Home of Canso, three brothers, Richard in Halifax, Peter in Ottawa, and James in Canso, and two sisters, Bernadette in Ontario and Lois in Canso.
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regularly off Iceland's coast, the government says, adding that British and West German catches amount to approximately 137,000 metric tons and 125,000 metric tons respectively each year.
Discussions between the three governments already have begun but unless agreement is reached soon Iceland will likely give the required six months' notice on March 1 of its intention to terminate the fishing pact reached in 1961 and unilaterally extend the limits to 50 miles.
SMITHERS — The SPEC branch here is urging the provincial government to grant a forest company's request to extend the deadline for construction of a pulp mill project at Houston which federal environment minister Jack Davis has branded a serious threat to fisheries.
In a letter to provincial lands and forest minister Ray Williston last week, Smithers branch secretary Harry Kruisselbrink said a delay in the construction deadline would give more time to reflect "on the wisdom of building a pulp mill in such a questionable location."
Kruisselbrink said it was understood that officials of Bulkley Valley Forest Industries would be meeting the minister "in the near future" to discuss extending the deadline.
BVFI's intention to build a kraft and newsprint mill near the junction of the Bulkley and Morice rivers has drawn strong opposition from the UFAWU, SPEC and other groups.
The mill would use large quantities of water taken from the Morice River, a relatively low-supply stream, and discharge mill effluent into the same waterway. NANIKA DAM
The river's flow stands to be further reduced by one third if Aluminum Company of Canada exercises its rights under a conditional water licence to dam the Nanika River.
Kruisselbrink urged Williston to hold public hearings and release all facts about the environmental impact of the mill project "before a start is made on construction and before application is made for a pollution control permit.
"There should be a complete review of BVFI's pollution abate ment plans (and) effects of the proposed pulp mill on air and
water quality," Kruisselbrink said. "Time should be allowed for a public response to these facts and if this response shows a division of opinion, a referendum should be held on whether or not to proceed . . ."
Environment minister Davis said in 1970 the proposed mill is "in a bad location. There isn't enough water. The flow of the Bulkley River at Houston is only about one tenth of the Thompson River at
Kamloops, and the flow varies widely from one season to the next.
"A single failure in the treatment facilities could destroy incubating steelhead and salmon eggs in spawning areas downstream . . ."
In a subsequent statement Davis reiterated his concern, saying he was of the opinion "this is a poor place to locate a pulp mill, particularly from the fisheries point of
• As he has done for many years, UFAWU general executive board member Harry Allison played Santa Claus again with his customary success at Vancouver Women's Auxiliary's Christmas party for children in Fishermen's Hall on December 19.
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THE FISHERMAN — JANUARY 7, 1972