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Why Stop at Atlantic?
TOECOMMENDATION of the International Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Commission, at its meeting in London last month, that its 14 member governments consider measures to prevent increased deepsea salmon fishing in the northwest Atlantic is of vital concern to Canadian fishermen on both coasts — to Atlantic coast salmon fishermen because it directly affects their livelihood and to Pacific coast salmon fishermen because of its bearing on Japanese salmon fishing in mid-Pacific.
The Commission coupled its recommendation with the proposal that its member governments "consider a high priority study program of the effects of such fishing on the resource," and although the official release did not say so, this recommendation presumably arose from the Commission's own studies.
Intensified deepsea fishing off the coast of Greenland on salmon stocks of British origin became an issue in the British parliament in 1965 when it was disclosed that the catch from these operations had increased 700 percent over the preceding eight years. During a debate in the House of Lords, as The Fisherman reported at the time, Lord Balfour charged that "depradations between Greenland and Baffin Island" by vessels of three European countries, in addition to offshore operations conducted by Greenland, were threatening all Atlantic salmon stocks.
Lord Hughes, for the government, reported that Denmark had already been asked, through its representatives on the Commission, to curb deepsea salmon operations until a survey could be conducted. The results of this survey, begun in 1965, presumably provide the basis for the Commission's recommendations.
In a manner reminiscent of their Japanese counterparts in discounting the effect of the mid-Pacific fishery, Danish scientists tended to dismiss British and Canadian fears as being exaggerated. Dr. Poul Hansen, head of the Greenland fish biology laboratory at Copenhagen, maintained that the large catches being taken off Greenland did not indicate that the permanent feeding ground of Atlantic salmon had been found. The feeding ground, he asserted, could change from year to year. In the meantime, the expanded fishery was "a great boost to Greenland's economy."
But, as Senator H. J. Robichaud, on one of his last official missions as minister of fisheries, told the Commission meeting, deepsea salmon operations off Greenland have been "the cause of serious concern to Canada for several years" — a concern accentuated by the presence of Canadian tagged salmon in the catches.
"This means that some of the salmon being exploited off Greenland had their origin in our rivers along the Atlantic seaboard," he declared. "... We have spent much money and energy in management of Atlantic salmon and we must continue to protect this resource."
All salmon fishermen will applaud these remarks, among the very few ever made by Robichaud they could endorse. And Pacific coast salmon men will point out to Hon. Jack Davis, as Robichaud's successor, that every word applies with equal force to Japanese depradations in the North Pacific, underlined this year by the second successive disastrous season in Bristol Bay.
If there is reason for serious concern over the effect of high seas fishing on Atlantic salmon, there is no less reason for concern over the effect of high seas fishing on Pacific salmon. As in Greenland, the taking of large quantities of immature fish is a waste of the resource, justifiable by no argument based on sound scientific or economic grounds.
Are we to wait until the entry of other countries into the North Pacific high seas salmon fishery precipitates the gathering crisis? Or will this new Liberal government demonstrate that in this respect, at least, it differs from its predecessor by taking the initiative to convene a conference of all countries fishing the North Pacific — a conference designed to regulate the maximum sustainable yield of all fisheries but recognizing the principle that salmon uniquely belong to the country in whose streams they are spawned and banning high seas salmon operations that ultimately must deny the resource to all.
THE FISHERMAN — JULY 19, 1968
• These pictures of salmon gillnetters on Chaleur Bay, New Brunswick, were taken by UFAWU welfare director Glenn McEachern during an organizational tour of duty in the Maritimes. Northwest Atlantic high seas fishing of Canadian salmon stocks threatens their livelihood, too.
FISH and SHIPS
RESEARCH being done in Scotland and other countries may enable fishermen of the future to identify fish by the sounds they make, according to Alan P. Major writing in Fishing News International.
Major points out that the majority of boned fishes have two flattened bones in the head responsive to vibrations by means of which they "hear" and "talk" through the water, to sound an alarm, intimidate predators or call the opposite sex.
Some members of the cod family produce sound by contracting striated drumming muscles against gas filled bladders. Other fish force air out of swim bladders, open and close their mouths rapidly, gnash their teeth or vibrate their gills to produce sounds.
To the human ear, Major writes, these sounds have been compared variously to a "soft shoe dancer performing on a sandy floor, a saw cutting through metal, lumps of coal rattling down a chute, and a motor boat engine stalling." Sounds made by haddock have been compared to the noise made by a stick being drawn along a fence.
One fact already disclosed by research at the marine labor-
atory in Aberdeen is that sounds produced by fish often change as they grow older. Sounds made by young haddock are high pitched but in mature fish the pitch is lower and in some almost inaudible to the human ear.
Dolphins and whales, of course, are mammals and their intelligence and the sounds they produce, as researchers at Vancouver Public Aquarium are now learning, are of an infinitely higher order.
"Dolphins have been heard making a laughing and whistling sound and in captivity learned to imitate the human voice of the person who regularly fed and spoke to them," Major reports.
"Dr. John Lilly, an American biologist, has stated that dolphins have a highly developed 'language' and their voice boxes can make 20 basic sounds into thousands of different 'words' and sounds.
"At a communications research institute in the Virgin Islands, Dr. Lilly kept a male dolphin that had a vocabulary of about 200 words which the dolphin used in the correct situations to call the researchers by name, count up to 10, ask for
HARRY RANKIN
False Approach to Regional Planning
MUNICIPAL affairs minister Dan Campbell is mad at Vancouver City Council.
We tabled his letter proposing that the Greater Vancouver Regional District take over (from Vancouver and other municipalities in the lower mainland) such functions as water supply, sewage and garbage, air pollution, health services, debenture and debt management.
And while we endorsed a regional a p-proach to housing, council also tabled a proposal to
provide 3,000 public housing units in the lower mainland at an estimated cost of $500,000 a year to Vancouver. (I voted with a minority of aldermen for this proposal, although with serious reservations about the minister's intent.)
Campbell claims his regional government schemes will bring many benefits to taxpayers in efficiency and economy. He denies that he's trying to shift additional financial responsibilities from the provincial government to these regional bodies and the taxpayers.
But the facts belie his claims. ★ * ★
WE NOW HAVE A REGION-al hospital board, but instead of hospital facilities expanding to meet the needs, hospital expansion has been frozen at $12 million a year for the next four years. That is Campbell's way of saving money for the provincial government, which pays 60 percent of the cost.
It's quite true that pollution can't be satisfactorily dealt with by any one municipality alone.
It needs to be tackled on a provincial scale by provincial laws with teeth in them. Yet this is precisely what Campbell refuses to do.
He doesn't want to compel the installation of pollution control devices by the big industries responsible for our pollution today. So his plan is to pass the buck to regional forms of government where he knows it won't be done either.
Or take the question of public housing. Suppose the regional board undertakes a big project in one of the municipalities. Ottawa and Victoria will pay the cost of construction and 87% percent of the rent subsidies. But who will pay the additional costs for health services, police and fire protection, roads, recreation and, most important of all, additional school costs?
Campbell refuses to give us any guarantees in writing that regional government won't increase our taxes. He can't, because that's exactly what they're intended to do.
★ ★ ★
IF CAMPBELL GETS AWAY with his proposals, we will have a fourth level of government far removed from public control, and over whose actions the provincial government maintains a tight rein.
Regional planning is necessary and can be a very good thing, but not the kind that Campbell is trying to impose on us.
If Campbell continues to insist that we are wrong and he is right, I suggest he call a meeting of lower mainland municipalities and tell us exactly where he stands on the basic question of the costs and responsibilities of regional government.
'more fish', among other things."
Present equipment for picking up fish sounds is described as complicated and difficult to use, but the advantage of identifying fish by sound may be expected to impel development of a practical commercial device.
There was considerable concern among the many friends of Joe (Hard Hat) Babcock this week when they heard that the 93 year old longline veteran had been taken to hospital again— he had a cancerous right eye removed in March. But they were relieved to hear from Aag Kop-perud, manager of Vancouver Fishermen's Settlement Service, who visited him in the Centen-ial Pavilion at Vancouver General Hospital, that he was only undergoing treatment of a hernia condition and expected to be back in his room at the Balmoral Hotel this weekend.
★ ★ ★ Another longline veteran who
has been discharged from St. Paul's Hospital, where he underwent major surgery, is Sigurd Snellman. We assume he'll be as happy to see his friends at home as he would have been to see them in hospital, the request originally made by his wife when this note was passed along to us.
★ ★ ★
Since we are short of space this week, we'll include here two announcements that otherwise would have been run elsewhere in this issue.
The first is that preparations are now being made for holding of the Hiroshima Day rally at Peace Arch Park at 1 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 4. Among those who will speak are Mrs. Betsy Mac-Donald, past chairman of Vancouver School Board; U.S. Rear Admiral Arnold True and Dr. David Suzuki of University of British Columbia.
The second is that Jack and Hilda Pattern, who spent six months touring Latin America, will relate their experiences at a slide showing to be held in Fisherman's Hall at 8 p.m., Saturday, July 27. They have appeared both on the CBC Seven O'Clock Show and Mark Raines' show on Channel 8.
★ ★ ★
We're glad to report that Charles Lincoln of Prince Rupert, who underwent an eye operation on July 17, is making a good recovery in the Centen-ial Pavilion at Vancouver General Hospital, although he won't be able to have visitors for a few days. His wife accompanied him to Vancouver and will remain here until he is discharged.
★ * ★ Members of Steveston Shore-workers' and Fishermen's locals organized a "paint in" to spruce up the new Steveston UFAWU office at 352 Moncton Street on July 17. Initially the office will be open each Tuesday and Friday between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m.
★ ★ ★
Easthope Bros, of 1225 No. 1 Road in Steveston told us this week they are offering fishermen a 10 percent discount on all purchases of new McElhin-ney gurdies during the months of August through November this year. "Delivery can be made at any time and at customer's convenience," they added.