“a 2 steam TERRACE — Mayor Jack Tal. stra walked out-of a. private in- formation session on the Nisga’a land claim last week, saying he | couldi’t abide by a: request. to keep ils contents a secret. The Aug. 20 meeting was held by federal and provincial land, claims negotiators to give details on a deal to give Nisga’a a say in resource development. That’s called an interim ‘pro- lection measures agreement and is to remain in place until a final claims settlement is reached. It’s expected the agreement will form the: basis for the final settle- ment. Release of that interim agree- ment was expected last week but negotiators now say it’s coming “very soon,” “One of the people there, one; - of the provincial negoliators, sug: ' gested that before going any. fur- ther’ it: should be uiiderstood that. the iiiformation be ‘kept confiden-*. ’ lial. He said, ‘Does anybody ave: - . any probléms. with that,” ” said. Talstra. ity as mayor of this town,’ ."" ‘the. mayor continued. . “Tt couldn’t see what the prob- lem was if the agreement was all '_ but signed, sealed and delivered. I could’ sec ‘their request if the _telease was waiting for an ap- : propriate time, the next day or 48 hours,’’ he said.’ /S'They said the agreement was -still’in the hands of the province and they still weren’t sure when it ‘would be released, It‘ might be . " ‘four weeks or.so. So I applied the- “So I thought, ‘Gee. I thought Ly was here to deliver 'some-inpul to... the local population in my capac-~ . _ usual province time standard and _it could be eight weeks.”’ ““That didn’t make me happy. = So'] thought what's the use of “sof castin ad sietthow 1 Kelly got hooked} on fishing when he was te8,8 and mastered the knack Be nplast year. Here, he enjoys a sunny if nat successful. afternoon on the Skeena river o Fort more stories on ather. anglers who prow! the banks, of the Skeena s see BA and A3. Ee But it’s rained, too TERRACE. — ‘Despite the seemingly endless sunshine the area has enjoyed this summer, it’s been wetter than you think. . --Lacal weather specialist Robin Lines said-67.2mm of: precipita- tion were. recorded ‘at the airport weather office during July. That was actually higher than the normal 956.6mm for the month. And dry as this month has been so far, it’s not going to be-a record breaker. Lines said August precipitation as of last.Friday stood at 7.6mm, already higher than~ the 1974 record low of 7.2mm and close to the 86mm recorded in the second-driest August. back in 1963. But it’s still way below the. normal figure of 63.6mm for the month, The fine weather has wiped ait the effect of the dark ee of Jan-, orn.” On average, be said, Terrace receives 1,129.2 hours of sunshine by the end of August. By sunset on Aug. 20, the 1992 figure had already — reached 1,155.6 hours. That’ S quite a turnaround con- sidering the area got precisely 72 minutes of sun in January and 20 hours Jess than normal in Febru- ary. Not surprisingly, temperatures for the summer are all. above normal, June's mean temperature was 15.5 degrees Celsius com- pared to the Usual 13.7 degrees, July: bit 17.7 (16. 1) and August 18,1. (15.8). As to why ‘the northwest is going through a golden summer while Ontario is having one of its worst ever, Listes said that's herd, to pin down, There's always ‘x’ amount of sunshine-and rain to go round,” Lines said; ‘so if ont place really nice weather, someone. else sut- ” While’ the warn ocean current known as Ef Nino might have had something to do with this region’s weather, he pointed out that had died away earlier in the summer. In the end, he said, “It’s just the luck of the draw.,’’ being here. You probably couldn't keep anything a secret anyway and T wouldn’t want to be accused of releasing that informa- tion so Ilefi,’’ said Talstra. The mayor repeated earlier statements that the city should have a representative’ on the provincial negotiating: team be- cause of the implications: of a claims settlement on the city and surrounding area. Also at the meeting were feder- al and provincial government of- ficials, forest compatly represen- tatives and chamber of commerce representatives, Biolog Out al steelr TERRACE — Deceit. That’s how provincial fisheries biologist Bob Hooton : describes many ‘commercial . fishboat’s reports of the number of summer run steethead being caught in their nets. “On a flect-wide scale we're still facing the same old prob- lems,”’ said Hooton although he did emphasize © that. some fishermen are . conscientiously tagging, releasing and accurately reporting the numbers of stecl- head they catch. Steelhead, prized as a sports fish,. are few in numbers when compared _ Ae Skeeiia, z= salmon... stocks. But they retum upriver ‘to spawn at the same time as sal- mon, making them vulnerable during the commercial fishery. . Recreational ariglers and others for years have been worried that steelhead numbers are on the decline because of the commer- cial catch. Attempts to have commercial fishermen report, tag and release numbers of steclhead they catch. have met with mixed results, None of those people left the room when the confidentiality Te- quest was made. Federal and provincial negotia- tors said later they were dis- appointed that Talstra left. : “Twas alitde taken aback, I had hoped to have an opportunity to’ meet him,’’ said the new provincial chicf negotiator, Jack Ebbels. “‘He strikes me as a “pretty” key individual in the cam- munity.’? Ebbels “said, the meeting also’ looked at, ways to give more pub- lic information ou the progress of :. negoliations., Hooton said that while steel- head returns for the first half of this year’s are double that of last year, the number reported by fishermen is, one- quarter that of DDL ks Describing the whole reporting exerciseas ‘a giant charade’’, he said ‘the provincial fisheries branch knew and canneries. Hooton. said he witnessed the problein first hand during a recent visit to a coastal - cannery, 'T probably saw ba. as many steellicad. delivered” as. were teported : ‘forthe. erilire season. for. the entire fleet for ihat ‘area,?” he said, a As to why commercial fishermen . would: make © catch claiins that-were-obviously so far. off the ‘mark; Hooton admitted, = “It mystifies me.”? While the efforts of those com-- mercial fishermen who were. co- operating was‘an important con- tribution to the future of Skeena steelhead, he warmed, ‘Until we have everybody being straightfor- ward and truthful, there’s no hope Health review — mandate grows TERRACE — The team review: ing northwest health care has had its mandate expanded. Originally established.to look at hospital services, it'll now took at all other health care services in - Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert, The review was ordered by health minister Elizabeth Cull this suminer following protests over bed closures and hospital layoffs. The teain {s visiting the north- west next week for a series: of mectings. (Details of that are on Page A3.) Layoffs and closures occurred when the provincial government froze northem hospital budgets at 1991 levels, forcing the facilities to absorb inflation and wage in- creases without aly new money. The seven health management and union representatives: doing the review included all other health care services at their first meeting Jast month. “The (health) minister has agreed to our revised terms of reference,” says team member Kathy MeLeunan of the Health Sciences Association. Team members will give the health ministry recommendations outlining appropriate service and utilization rales, which might be expected in the communities. That: has: Terrace’ Regional Health Cate Soviety chief execu- tive officer Michael Leisinger worried because those services and rates are lied to what the health ministry calls ‘‘current ‘availability of funds.”* - He fears that will be interpreted . as the money already allocated to the hospitals, shutting off-the pos- sibility of additional financing should the need for more services be established. But review team member ‘McLennan says the team takes “the phrase to mean money within the health ministry’s entire budget, not just that allocated ‘to the hospitals. steelhead were — being delivered to the packers © dng, ut. shiero,tt-herac sgeeiee'e ‘Hooton said the branch sént out: That promise was also made:in the spring when negotiators met. with local government and indus- try representatives. | Ebbels said he couldn't discuss terms of the interim. protection measures agreement or why. it can't be released because of a confidentiality clause. contained in an agreement setting out how the negotiations are conducted, He also declined to say if por- tions ‘of the. interim’ agreement ~ might '.be changed. depending . upon’ the Tesults of the ANE 20 meeting, ist lashes {and) to say otherwise: is: slp to proliferate the problemi: Hooton also expressed concern about the native in-river commer-* - cial fishery, polinting ‘out native: fishing .activity had reached’ an, “unparalleled: . maguitude’’ this year. posed to have targeted. surplus stocks of commercial .fish- only, with .a. catch: and . release : for: species such °- as- : steelhead; chinook. and coho, he maintained, the reality.was far different, - _'That’s. a huge. ei Af an f. its weekly steelhead retum update. to ‘every native ‘group. in. the Skeend draiiage a8. its plea: for. "conservation. pe Re “But it's a huge gap from. there’ to the: inidividual fi sheen he pointed out, 0) te Describing the branch as frus- trated: with the situation, Hooton’ added, ‘‘A lot of the promises: from podiums | and ‘board Toons. are ringing. pretty hallow these parere e A fish plant official in Prince: Rupert disagrees with Hooton’s. . comments, And he "s sent a letter of protest: to the” provincial government, , Youll find that story and the steelhead return figures on, Page AZ, Gitksan and Wet'suwet’en. leaders: started Joint stew: THE ‘HAZELTONS -— 8 While that fishery: was: “mop: