Crown Zellerbach Denied Owikeno Tree Farm Licence
Gov't Ruling Eases Threat To Rivers Spawning Area
TfieTITherman
Vol. XXXI, No. 8
11 Point Program
VANCOUVER, B.C.
MARCH 8, 1968
Labor Launches Bill 33 Campaign
Unions affiliated to the B.C. Federation of Labor this week announced an 11 point program of opposition to Bill 33. The new legislation, hurriedly presented for debate on second reading in the legislature on March 6, will impose compulsory arbitration on unions whenever the cabinet considers it to be in "the public interest" to do so.
The New Democratic Party has branded the bill a "fundamental assault on civil liberties" and the independent Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada warned this week that labor will be the "pallbearer at its own funeral" unless it recognizes the need for direct economic action against the legislation.
Meeting at New Westminster on March 5, Federation members endorsed executive recommendations emphasizing the need for political action to defeat the Social Credit government.
The meeting voiced support for civil servants in their fight to win bargaining rights, urged union members to attend the legislature when the bill is being debated and agreed that the federal government should be asked to declare the bill "contrary to the conventions of the International Labor Office."
Although the meeting, closed to unaffiliated unions, endorsed the recommendations, there was debate as to whether the proposals were adequate. UNITED ACTION URGED
Some of the concern felt was voiced at the Vancouver Labor Council meeting on March 5 when several delegates pointed out that similar proposals were advanced when Bill 43 was introduced in 1959.
"There's no argument as to whether or not we want to throw out the Socreds and elect an NDP government," said Charles Stewart, Amalgamated Transit Union, "but we can't afford to sleep at the switch until election time."
Calling for united labor action against the legislation, Stewart said that "Bill 33 won't discriminate between affiliated and unaffiliated unions and we can't afford the luxury of divisions at this time."
PROPOSALS "ANAEMIC"
Alan Clarke, Plumbers Union, said the recommendations of the Federation were "anaemic." He said the labor movement appeared to be in the process of "locking the door after the horse has bolted — as in the case of Bill 43."
The recommendations reflect the Federation leadership's lack of faith in willingness of rank and file unionists to fight back, said Andrew Brogan, Marine Workers Union. "Yet, when the chips have been down as at Northland, Allied Engineering, Lenkurt Electric and the recent ferry strike, the workers haven't run away from the struggle," he said.
Ron Gomez, Letter Carriers Union of Canada, welcomed the recommendation to support efforts by civil servants to win bargaining rights. "But after looking over the other recommendations passed today I feel, as a civil servant, that it will take more than resolutions on political action to help us when we're on the picket line," he said.
Although proposals were reportedly advanced for a mass lobby to the legislature and for a
See BILL 33 — Page 8
Pollution Act Change Stifles Objections
Proposed amendments to the provincial Pollution Control Act would have the effect of muzzling objections from fishermen, sportsmen and recreational groups against applications for waste dumping permits, acting president T. (Buck) Suzuki said last week.
The present Act states that "any person whose rights would be affected by granting of a permit may . . . file an objection," Suzuki noted in a letter to provincial lands and forests minister R. G. Williston.
The proposed amendment, on the other hand, would limit consideration of objections to those received from "any person who has an interest in land or who is an applicant for or the holder of a permit or licence issued under (the) Act or the Water Act."
"In our view," Suzuki declared, "the original wording is clear and gives all interested parties the right to make representation where an application for a permit is sought which could have a deleterious affect on waters in question, (but) the amendment would require that an objector must have a direct or vested interest in the land or water in order to file an objection."
MUST HAVE RIGHT
Because the issue of clean water is one which directly involves environment of the resource on which fishermen de-
pend for a living, Suzuki said, "we feel we must continue to have this right to make protest where we believe the resource is threatened."
Urging that the proposed amendment to the Act be withdrawn, he said its only effect would be to curtail participation of the public who. "in the final analysis, must be the watchdogs where pollution occurs and must not be limited in its right of protest."
MANY PROTESTS
Protests against changes in the Act have been voiced also by the B.C. Wildlife Federation which charged last week that, if adopted, the amendment "will effectively block the democratic rights of individual citizens and groups to register objections."
And the Lower Mainland Wildlife Association pointed out that "granting of a permit to discharge wastes may very well affect a good many people besides those who have a direct legal interest in land or water rights in the immediate vicinity.
"Fisheries and recreational groups and all citizens with concern for the quality of their environment have a legitimate interest and should retain the right to be heard in these matters," the Association contended.
Copies of the UFAWU letter to Williston have been sent to all MLAs in the province.
TAI^IkJ^   cu ADC —John Rutka photo
immi>(vj onMrc One of the new fishing vessels under construction at Star Shipyard is this trawler, the Atlantic Harvester, for Robert Karliner. Keel for a second vessel, as yet unnamed, to be built for Fred Kohse, was laid this week. The busy Royal City yard is also building a 120 foot tug for Island Tug and Barge.
UFAWU Reports Talks with UPWU
• Following is the text of a statment released to The Fisherman this week by UFAWU acting president T. (Buck) Suzuki, acting secretary Glenn McEachern and business agent Jack Nichol.
TALKS were held this week with top officers of the United Packinghouse, Food and Allied Workers Union on the possibility of a merger as a means of the UFAWU entering the Canadian Labor Congress.
Both sides explored the question fully with the nine member UFAWU committee giving a full outline of the B.C. fishing industry and the role of our Union in it.
No conclusions can be drawn from the talks and it would be highly premature to report in the press the committee's findings, which are of a speculative and general nature. A detailed report will be prepared for locals.
The meeting resulted from application made by the UFAWU in October 1967 for affiliation to the Congress which was referred to Packinghouse as the . . . "existing CLC affiliate with appropriate jurisdiction." The Congress now pursues a policy of not accepting an applicant trade union when its jurisdiction conflicts with or overlaps that of an existing affiliate.
Apart from one or two small unions, UPWU is the organization with Congress "recognized" jurisdiction in the fishing industry. While Packinghouse has no established jurisdiction on the Pacific coast, it does have some shore plants organized on the Atlantic coast.
Located in Newfoundland, these plants were until recently direct chartered locals of the Congress. They were turned over to UPWU in recognition of its claim to juris-
See TALKS — page 4
Commercial salmon fishermen in B.C. can breathe a little easier following the announcement this week that an application by Crown Zellerbach Ltd. for a tree farm licence in the Owikeno Lake area has been rejected by the provincial
government.
The announcement was made by provincial lands and forests minister R. G. Williston and came two months after presentation to a public hearing in Victoria of a UFAWU submission which charged that granting of the application could mean "almost total destruction of the salmon resources in the area."
The Owikeno watershed is the most productive sockeye spawning area of its size in North America, the Union pointed out in its submission, and it is also the spawning ground for large stocks of coho, springs, pinks and chums.
Landed value of Owikeno sock-eye alone amounted to about $1 million in 1966, with approximately 1,000 gillnetters and a substantial troll and seine fleet exploiting Owikeno stocks each year, and several hundred shore plant workers depending for employment on the same Rivers Inlet production.
In view of the proven value of the Rivers Inlet fishery, the Union took a forceful position against wholesale logging in the area immediately after it became known that Crown Zellerbach was to make its application., FEDERAL STAND
Correspondence with federal fisheries minister H. J. Robichaud last November resulted in the Union receiving an assurance that "the department's officials in the Pacific region will take appropriate steps to ensure protection of salmon stocks (in the Owikeno) system."
On January 16, after the hearings had been held, Robichaud indicated what he considered to be "appropriate steps." He said that tree farm cutting permits include a stream protection clause and "we must assume that . . . salmon streams in the area will be provided with a satisfactory degree of protection."
"Liaison with the company concerned has been in effect since September 1965," Robichaud added. Union members considered this to be an interesting disclosure in view of the fact that they, and presumably other groups in the fishing industry, only learned of the Company's plans when the application was made last November.
The minister added that "studies of the area in question give less reason for concern  than many
See OWIKENO — Page 8
New Mesh Size Regulation
All salmon purse seine nets used in Area 20 in 1968 are required to have the top 200 meshes of the bunt of the seine made of mesh not less than VA inches extension measure between knots, the federal fisheries department has announced. Web currently in use in remainder of the bunt will be acceptable for this year, it stated.
The department said a study will be carried out this year to determine effects of the new regulation on immature salmon catches. Results of the study and decision on bunt mesh size in future seasons will be made known later this year, it said.
Fishermen Hear Royal
International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission director Loyd Royal met at Vancouver on March 7 with members of the UFAWU general executive board, Fraser River District Council and standing committee on fisheries to discuss various aspects of the Commission's work.
Answering criticism by fishermen of division of catches in convention waters, Royal asserted the overall record shows the Commission has been effective in dividing the catch equally.
"The Commission's record in fulfilling its terms of reference is a successful one," he affirmed, "despite the fact that the Fraser River fishery is the world's most complicated."
The Commission cannot be accused of favoring one country over another, he said, although it was recognized there had been a failure to equalize catches last year.
Royal expressed the opinion that the Commission had a moral responsibility — "but not a legal responsibility" — to make up for the sockeye catch deficit incurred by Canadian fishermen in 1967.