• UFAWU members at Trans Pacific Fisheries Ltd. in Ucluelet garnered a few days work on Nitinat chum salmon earlier this month as their season came to a close.
UFAWU, wood unions demand action on sapstain chemicals
Those responsible for the toxic chemical spill which threatened the Horsefly sockeye run must be charged, a coalition of labour and environmental groups demanded Sept. 25.
One month after the spill of chemical, used to control staining and fungus on new lumber, fisheries minister Tom Siddon had not laid charges even though those involved had readily conceded their responsibility.
"We*re calling on the government to ban the use of anti-sapstain chemicals and to take all possible steps to bring charges against the person responsible for the spill," said Calvin Sandborn, of the West Coast Environmental Law Association.
"We're also demanding aid to fishermen to enable them to bring private actions against those who caused that spill."
Sandborn told a news conference that it was incredible that the fisheries department had not yet laid charges in the incident, in which 9,000 litres of a chemical called TCMTB was spilled into the Fraser Aug. 18, forcing a 24-hour closure in the fishery.
That closure cost fishermen at least $16 million in lost earnings, UFAWU spokesman Dennis Brown told reporters.
"There were 1,600 gillnetters ready to fish after the highest test sets of the season and they lost about $10,000 per boat.
"The government is playing with fire and with the extermination of the run. Fishermen are tired of being blamed for the decline — fishermen are not the main cause of the crisis in the fishery."
The UFAWU agreed with the decision to close the fishery, Brown said, but fishermen be-
lieve someone must be accountable for the losses and, above all, for the threat to the environment.
"The minister of fisheries has work to do, he can't simply walk away," Brown said. "It was appalling to see the negligence at the spill site and the volume that spilled into the river, yet this is a site hailed by the owners as a 'cadillac facility.'"
Will Paulik, of the Fraser River Coalition, -recalled his efforts in 1982 to obtain charges against Whonnock Lumber for its dumping of chemicals into the Fraser.
Those who should be charged today include the Fraser River Harbour Commission, which owns the land on which the spill occurred and Johnson Terminals, which operates the dip tanks which were the source of the chemical.
The average mill on the Fraser is only in compliance with 60 percent of the chemical handling guidelines, Sandborn charged, and in many cases only one-third
of the safety procedures are observed.
For this reason, forest unions at the news conference endorsed elimination of the sapstain chemicals in favour of kiln-drying of all lumber.
"This is not only an environmental issue but one of safety to our members," said Clay Perry, of the International Woodworkers of America. "This chemical has worse immediate effects than the PCBs which it replaces. Mills should be kiln-drying their lumber."
This would make lumber more valuable, Perry said. Although kiln-drying is only effective for fairly small dimension lumber, the industry should be moving to eliminate direct export of logs
Endorsing the statement were the B.C. Federation of Labour, the UFAWU, the Fraser River Coalition, the IWA, the Canadian Paperworkers Union, the Pulp and Paperworkers of Canada and the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union.
Robertson Creek expecting bumper run of Chinook"
After a bumper harvest of 35,000 chinook in a series of Barkley Sound gillnet fisheries, Robertson Creek hatchery managers are forecasting exceptional escapement to the spawning beds.
Hatchery manager Don Law-seth said Sept. 29 he expects to fill the natural spawning area above and below the hatchery with returning fish before opening the gates to take the 9,000 fish he needs for hatchery purposes.
The crisis in the fish farming industry, combined with private production, has eliminated any demand for eggs by salmon farmers.
As a result, Lawseth hopes to increase production from the river. The first attempt to compel river-spawning met with limited success last year.
Large coho returns also are expected, possibly as a result of a special program in the brood year to delay release of the smolts until they achieved a larger size.
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