MM
"LilLHr mi_____1 '■■»*<?;
oft.
• South Korean factory and is expected back this boats.
ship Shin Hung operated in year accompanied by much
high enlarged
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries photo
salmon fishery off Alaska in 1969 fleet of gillnet equipped catcher
South Plans
The fleet with which South Korea evidently plans to exploit this years predicted record run of Bristol bay salmon in a high seas fishery oft' Alaska will be several times larger than the one which initiated tne operation last year.
Only five gillnetters comprised the South ivorean fleet which took several hundred tons ot Bristol Bay salmon in 196S). The fleet will be boosted this year to 35 vessels, according io the Seattle based Association of .eacihc Fisheries.
As reported earlier, the gill-net equipped vessels will be based on the o,uoo ton factory and canning ship anin Hung, a 1,UoO ton freezer vessel also will be employed. The fleet is slated to leave Pusan about April li>.
CONTINUED FRQM~PAGE 1
C RE B E R
in an industry which pays poor prices to producers and relatively low wages to workers, he enlarges on what he considers to be inadequate profit margins.
"Now we all know the problems of inflation and the desire of the government to hold it back," he continues, "but this is a real concern of mine that we can't continue with inadequate profit margins."
Asked what current profit margins are and what he would consider a fair margin, he replied, "Our profit margin in 1969 was 1.7 percent. A proper figure should be four percent."
Annual sales of all Weston subsidiaries, comprising the third largest retailing organization in North America now total some S3 billion.
PROFITS UP
While Creber harped on his favorite theme of profitability, president R. I. Nelson of B.C. Packers this week reported that his Weston-controlled company, by plant closures and centralization of operations which wiped out hundreds of jobs, had eased his anxiety by increasing its profit from $1,586,764 in 1968 to
$1,706,888 in 1969.
And, said Nelson, the "outlook for the company in 1970 is promising," with above average salmon landings anticipated in British Columbia and a record sock-eye run to Bristol Bay expected to increase B.C. Packers' profits.
Reliance on salmon runs for "profit contribution", however, is too uncertain in Creber's opinion, so B.C. Packers plans more diversifications in this province, particularly in increased production of frozen seafoods, according to Nelson.
Korea
f
Bristol
Threat
to
Bay Pact
Although the South Korean government alleges it has licensed the gillnetters to fish herring north of Port Moller, Alaska, the vessels will be equipped with
4V2 inch mesh salmon gillnets, Association president J. R. Gilbert said recently.
"In addition, canning equipment aboard the Shin Hung, as described by first hand inspection of the vessel, can be used only in a salmon canning operation (and) is not suitable for any other type of fish," he said.
INVASION' CHARGED
The actions of "friendly" South Korea could "lead one of our greatest and most carefully conserved fishery resources . . . down the path of destruction," Gilbert declared.
If the South Korean "invasion" goes unchecked, he added, the International North Pacific Fisheries Treaty could be destroyed, resulting in salmon fishing off the North American coast "from California to the Arctic Ocean" by vessels from several countries.
Gilbert urged Washington to make the "strongest protests possible (to South Korea) to forestall this salmon fishing invasion."
In this province, the Fisheries Association took up the same theme, asserting the Canadian and U.S. governments "must raise tangible opposition to a Korean salmon fishery and receive tangible guarantees from Korea that such a fishery will not take place in 1970 or at any other time."
Nowhere in statements by company associations have practical proposals been advanced for a ban on high seas salmon fishing and for negotiation of an all
inclusive North Pacific fisheries treaty.
JAPAN INVOLVED
As The Fisherman pointed out editorially several months ago, although concern now centres on South Korea, "tomorow it may well be China and the day after it could be any of the southeast Asian and Lc.tin American countries."
Appeals or "tangible guarantees" likely will be given short shrift by che Seoul regime, particularly since there is ample evidence to suggest that the South Korean high seas operation is being organized and financed by fishing interests in Japan, a member of the existing tripartite North Pacific treaty.
Additional details of Japanese involvement in the South Korean venture were reported last month by the Kodiak Mirror which quoted Alaska's Sen. Mike Gravel as saying that the Bristol Bay
expedition is "being bankrolled by Japanese interests."
Gravel said plans for this year's operation call for the South Korean vessels to put into a Japanese port to pick up salmon gill-nets after leaving Pusan. "Returning from the high seas, the boats would unload their salmon catch in Japan and return later to South Korea with some fish other than salmon," the report said.
It charged the Japanese and South Korean governments with being "involved in a deceitful bit of hanky-panky ... to fish for salmon on the high seas in violation pi the North Pacific fisheries treaty."
Earlier, an Alaska state legislator said in Seattle that Japan had supplied South Korea with a number of salmon fishing vessels as part of an agreement involving delivery of Bristol Bay sockeye to Japan.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
GRAB
stances finding an "adequate and dependable" source of supply is essential to America's "economy and security."
While Dale did not mention Canada by name there was no mistaking the thrust of his remarks. The Schultz report earlier labelled Canada as a politically docile and conveniently located storehouse for future U.S. industrial and military needs.
In a related development, a U.S. water resources consultant has suggested that studies already may be underway on wholesale water diversions from British Columbia to the U.S.
In an article published in the U.S. Congressional Record recently, consultant Lewis G. Smith of Colorado said "serious considerations are being made" on methods by which the Laird River in northern B.C., Yukon and Northwest Territories, and other northward flowing Canadian rivers, can be diverted to the western United States. Smith's article was submitted to the Congressional Record by Rep. Frank Moss (Utah).
"An initiative for this undertaking is being generated in Canada where there is growing awareness of the great economic self interest involved in Canada's selling a portion of this great renewable resource," the article said.
Questioned in the House of Commons by New Democratic Party leader T. C. Douglas on March 17, federal resources minister J. J. Greene said the article was "highly speculative" and denied that Ottawa is engaged in any water diversion studies.
'Royal Venture' Lands Tuna Trip
Emil Jensen's UFAWU crewed seiner Royal Venture left Vancouver March 21 for her second tuna trip of the year after delivering 200 tons of yellowfin to Canadian Fishing Company.
The 108 foot vessel was reported heading back for grounds off the Mexican coast where she found good fishing on her first voyage. Price obtained for the trip was not revealed. March prices for yellowfin delivered at San Pedro and San Diego were quoted at $346 to $350 a ton, up from a high of $321 a year earlier.
UFAWU
MEETINGS
HALIBUT FISHERMEN'S MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Wednesday, April 8
1:30 p.m.
FISHERMEN'S HALL 138 East Cordova Street
Regular business
NEW WESTMINSTER
LOCAL
Thursday, April 9
7:30 p.m.
QUEENSBOROUGH TOLL
* OFFICE
Election of officers General business
NANAIMO LOCAL Thursday, April 9
7:30 p.m. OCCIDENTAL HOTEL
STEVESTON SHOREWORKERS LOCAL
Tuesday, April
8 p.m.
14
STEVESTON COMMUNITY
CENTRE
Convention reports Regular business
VANCOUVER SHOREWORKERS LOCAL
Thursday, April 16
8 p.m. ? FISHERMEN'S HALL
138 East Cordova Street
Convention reports Reglar business
^MBHBi^■MM—HMMi^MMI^HMMI^V
VANCOUVER FISHERMEN'S LOCAL
Thursday, April 16
7:30 p.m.
FISHERMEN'S HALL 138 East Cordova Street
Regular business
FISHING SUPPLIES LTD.
Phone 277-3191 Box 159 340 A Moncton St., Steveston, B.C.
★
ACT NOW!
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STILL ACCEPTED
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BRAIDED FISHING LINES TO YOUR SPECIFICATIONS
RADARS
LORANS
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FM-21 (4 ranges)
D: 0-27; 25-52; 50-77; 75-102
E: 0-55; 50-105; 100-155; 150-205
F: 0-80; 75-155; 150-230, 225-305
Fathoms. Types "D" & "E" interchangeable.
FM-21/22 White Line
FREE DELIVERY ON ALL ORDERS
12
THE FISHERMAN — APRIL 3, 1970