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RIBUNE

702 -<BEoS

FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1957

. This. picture of a Hiroshima victim remains as a warn-
ing that the only effective security against atomic
weapons is to prohibit them by international agreement.

Fishermen

win after

8-day halibut strike

By a 94 percent majority, members of United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union voted on Wednesday this week to accept
a package settlement submitted by their negotiating committee

ond
ana

end their eight-day halibut strike. Issues in dispute were.

deductions for echo sounders, with fishermen demanding that

vessel owners pay a’ greater
share, and pay for extra work
boats

done .on beyond one

eight-hour day before opening
and again after closing of the

The settlement. negotiated
with the Vessel Owners Asso-
ciation contains concessions
to both these union, demands.

“The terms of the settlement
are essentially the same as
terms suggested by the union
committee to the vessel own-
ers on April 24,” says the un-
ion statement.

The statement points out
that the deadlock arose when
vessel owners rejected union
demands and countered with
a proposal to arbitrate “ev-
erything including the coat
share percentage,” although
no such proposal had been ad-
vanced in two months of bar-
gaining.

“We regret the loss of fish-
ing time, but we feel the ves-
sel owners were fully respon-
sible for what happened,”
said UFAWU secretary Homer
Stevens.

UNION VIEW

Can tests harm
salmon runs?

The question is still an open one, but highly disturbing. Should nuclear bomb
teSts continue in the Pacific, will the famed British Columbia salmon runs become

radioactive?

The first real evidence that they are or may be can ruin a $50 million industry,
bring death and disease to countless citizens old and young, destroy an unborn

generation and pollute the

health of a nation.

A British member of parlia-
ment, Hector Hughes, thinks
this danger is very real. In
his protests against nuclear
tests Hughes claims’ that
marine life accumulates radio-
activity much more rapidly
than land life, and consequent-
ly presents the much greater
danger.

Whether or not the British
MP’s fears are well founded,
the fact remains that the B.C.
salmon runs coming from the
far waters of the Pacific are
perilously close to the U.S.
and British testing areas,
since these “danger zones”
measure their radius in thou-
sands of miles.

Those “experts” and other
apologists for continued nu-
clear tests who pooh-pooh
these dangers have much less
grounds for their denials of
danger than has Hector
Hughes, MP, for claiming that
such a danger exists.

Japanese fishermen are now
under the necessity of going
over their catch with geiger
counters to~ detect radioactiv-
ity. Following the first U.S.
H-bomb tests at Bikini, aside
from injuries to fishermen
hundreds’ of miles from the
bomb centre, Japanese fish-
ermen were compelled to des-
troy hundreds of tons of tuna
and other species because of
radioactivity. Does the same
problem await British Colum-
bia fishermen because of con-
tinued nuclear tests in the
Pacific?

This week United Fishermen
and Allied Workers Union
here issued this statement rei-
terating its demand for an
end to all nuclear tests.

The genera] executive board
of the United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union is con-
cerned over the proposed nu-
clear. tests on Christmas Is-
land in the Pacific.

We realize that, generally
speaking, salmon are not found
south of the 48th parallel.
However, the contamination
from such tests may spread

more widely in the high seas

than can be anticipated.

We are especially worried
about the effect on plankton
and other forms of life which
form the basic food of all
fish in the sea.

Our annual convention three
ago protested against
tests by the U.S. in mid-
Pacific. It was pointed out
then that such tests endanger
the lives of deepsea fishermen
and have harmful effects on
the fish population over a wide
area.

years

We do not think our salmon
have suffered from radioactiv-
ity nor can we state that this
will be the result of the pro-
posed Christmas Island tests.
Nevertheless, we believe that
all test explosions of nuclear
weapons should be stopped
immediately. We can see no
point in continuing to risk
the future of humanity by
such reckless activities.

Furthermore, we contend

that no nation has’ the right to

€

These Japanese fishing boats were rendered radioactive

pollute the high seas or to: de-
prive other nations of the free-
dom of the seas in tha manner
proposed by Britain.

First, they will attempt to
order other nations’ vessels to
keep out of a wide area of the
high seas with what amounts
to a threat of annihilation.
Then, if they succeed in getting
away with this, they will poi-
son a terrific body of water,
making it unfit for use as
fishing grounds for many
months to come.

Finally, they will -drastical-
ly reduce the total food supply
for a lengthy period.

Our general executive is
urging all union locals to write
their MPs and the depart-
ment of external affairs urg-
ing that Canada make strenu-
ous efforts to: i

e Assist in bringing an end
to all test explosions of nu-
clear weapons by all countries.

e Have Britain cancel the
Christmas Island tests.

a

by the U.S. H-bomb blast at Bikini and their catches of
tuna made several people ill before precautions were taken.

MAY 3, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 16

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