a ‘The sports fisherman has been taking flak for something he played an extremely minor role in, and is now being asked to dig deep into his pocket to subsidize the culprits who did do bad course. Why? Because he’s a stuff, | At this juncture, I call foul. The facts show that Skeena chinook harvest has been _ hardest hit by commercial fishermen, who took 29 percent in southeast Alaska while the Canadian commercial fisheries have taken 36 percent over the gap between 1971 and 1980. Indian and sport fishermen took a paltry four percent each. The managers of the stocks — the Department of Fisheries and Oceans — only allowed 27 per- cent for escapement. The coho history during . 1971-1980 is similar. Southeast Alaska took 24 percent of the run of Skeena stocks, while Canadian commercial fishermen took 51 percent of the run. In- dian and sport fishermen took an even smaller two percent each. Escapement was a mere’23 percent. __ Commentary by Jorma Jyrkkanen | Who gets the bulk of the op- pression through management? The sports fisherman, of sucker and he’s handy and has.a conservation ethic, That’s why, Not only is he being asked to pay extra for the thrill of tagging Who gets the bulk of the oppression through management? The sports fisherman, of course. Why? Because he’s a sucker and he’s handy and has a.con- servation ethic... and releasing chinooks that somehow miraculously escaped the commercial fishery, he’s be- ing asked to pay Unemployment Insurance support for commer- cial fishermen who have been depleting the stocks. He's also being asked to pay for managers who somehow Budget unchanged for Home Support Services Although the B.C. govern- ment believes community-based programs are ‘‘the way to go’, especially when they can replace expensive institutional treat- ment, the provincial budget estimates give home support ser- vices an increase of only .001 percent. Home support services in- clude house maintenance and personal care assistance to chronically ill and young dis- abled people in their own home. This is a cost-effective way to enable such individuals to delay or prevent admission to expen- sive facilities such as hospitals, the Home Support Association of British Columbia maintains. Terrace Home Support Ser- vices assist an average of 61 clients a month, for an average - of 12 hours per client per month, according to Supervisor Betty Stewart. This service has grown: since its establishment in the area in 1973, There are currently 12 home care workers employed by the agency, which contracts its services to the Ministry of Health. Community Services . head Lorna Copeland said everyone who needs service here in Terrace is receiving it. Gloria Lifton is the executive: - director of the B.C. Home Sup- port Association, which repre- sents 85 agencies employing 6,000 workers, and serving” 40,000 clients. She hopes the low increase is an error, or that other funding will be made available. “The cost averages $1! an hour for home support services, compared to $300 to $600 a day in hospital. Clients use home support services for as little as two hours a week, and as much as 24 hours a day for short periods of time,” she said. ‘‘It’s more cost effective than institu- tions 95 percent of the time.” In addition to the gradual decline of service hours available for clients over the past five years, Lifton is afraid this year’s tiny increase will lead to people using the more costly services in the health care system; such as physicians, physiotherapists, and emergency wards. Currently 77 percent of their clients don’t pay for the service because their incomes are assess- ed as being too low. The remain- ing 23 percent pay from one dollar to $25 a day. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health noted there had been much discussion and even con- troversy about increasing user fees in this area. He suggested waiting until after the budget is debated in the legislature to see if there will be changes to the proposed low increase for home continued on page 8 MAA regard 23 percent and 27 percent escapement as sufficient for con- servation, despite the fact that stocks are declining. In my opinion, even if the en- tire sports catch and Indian catch had been added to the escapement, it wouldn’t have been enough to conserve stocks. Thus, the commercial sector has to take primary responsibility for declines. I have trouble accepting that the sports fishermen and the In- dian fishermen have to take any responsibility ‘with regards to coho and chinook decimations because of the permission that our managers have given to the commercial fishermen to take such high numbers when they saw the stocks declining in the face of such low escapements. What makes all of this even more unfair for the sports fishermen is the fact that there are incredibly high over- escapements of pinks and sockeye to the Skeena system for Terrace musical theatre student Pam Kerr has been awarded a spot at Acadia University in Nova Scotia to study opera this sum- mer. The sixteen-year-old, who takes voice lessons here in town from Pam Saxon, sent an audition tape with songs In italian, German and English in competition with young singers around the world for the opportunity io study reper- toire, language phonetics, and classical concert techniques at the prestigious school. Terrace Review — Wednesday, June 1, 1988 7 the alleged purpose of conserva- tion of coho, chinooks and chum, and to a lesser extent, steelhead, and only the Natives are allowed to take pinks and sockeyes. The over-escapement is necessary because commercial gear is unselective and cannot distinguish between endangered stocks and enhanced ones. — The sports fisherman,who can distinguish perfectly because he fishes the natal streams and because he normally has a live fish at the end of his line which is releasable, is certainly part ‘owner of these over-escaped pinks and sockeye, and, as much as anyone if not more, is fore- going fishing of coho and chinook to conserve stocks with no compensation. My call is to immediately open the Skeena fishery to sport tak- ing of the entire over-escaped stocks of pinks and sockeye to sports fishermen and Indian fishermen, to compensate for the inequities they suffered due to overharvest.by the commer- cial sector in past years, and for the fishing they have foregone to conserve stocks of coho and chinook to support the commer- cial fishery, both Canadian and Sports fishermen get flogged again American. ve An example will make. the over-escapement picture clearer. A few years ago, there were probably over one million pink spawners in Lakelse River. The return run from this spawning was about 500,000 fish. However, 500,000 pinks can also be produced by 200,000 spawners, so it can be argued that 800,000 pink salmon were ‘allowed to escape into Lakelse River, in excess of that required to replace the stocks. The surplus amounted to 80 pink salmon per person in Ter- race, assuming 10,000 people in — our population. The river was a rotten cesspool when their bodies were decomposing and gas mask sales would have skyrocketed in Sep- tember on the Lakelse River. Why must it be so? I say let’s clean up these rotten cesspools and let the sports fishermen harvest those surplus pinks and sockeye. Perhaps it’s time to replace our fishery managers with those who will be fair to the people of Canada and who will be serious- ly concerned with putting con- servation efforts where they will really make a difference. students In the interior, an instilution, part = ae _ INTERIOR UNIVERSITY SOCIETY STATEMENT OF SUPPORT - My conlribution to tha Intorior University Sociely ts my Commilment of support for the oslablishmant of a university in Prince Geolge. 1 Dolleve that this ts necessary la ensura equal opportunity through oqual access lor t boliave thal the tulure of our towns and cities wil also be strangthened by this tun- damental Improvoment and | request that our Provincial Gavernmont approve such RECEIVED FROM MRJMRS“MS, nase vanes WE NEED A UNIVERSITY TO SERVE THE NORTH! The opportunity is. ... right now! The Interior University Society is driving forward to get a “yes” ty can do it with your help! All you have to do is get a Support m Petition. It will cost you $5.00 but eq Victoria knows if you'll pay for a pe- | tition, you mean it! . . . and you'll « help the Society in the cost of this @. campaign throughout the northern communities of our province. Mail to: 2666 S. Queensway Prince George, B.C. V2L 1N2 DIVEN NAMES ADDAESS cry POSTAL CODE TELEPHONE Supporter $5.00] NON-VOTING I declare lo be 19 years of age or ovar, and a resident of Brilish Columbia. 198__. Genature seme mete ves me sat ssl