Playing Catch up with the July News (July 27)

We try to pick and choose the big stories of our sabbatical, to archive for future generations of Podunkians.

The July 27th recap

TRIO IN COURT FOLLOWING LONG ABALONE STAKE OUT
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Pages One and Seven

Three men accused of illegally harvesting more than 11,000 Northern abalone will have a month to prepare their defence.

Prince Rupert’s Michael (Stanley) McNeill along with Skidegate’s Daniel McNeill and Randall Graff appeared in Prince Rupert Provincial Court Monday on charges that carry fines of up to $500,000 and five years in prison if convicted in what Fisheries calls the largest seizure of Northern abalone in B. C.’s history.

“The operation was the result of a three-year investigation which stemmed mainly from public complaints,” said Trevor Gray, fisher officer, of the February arrests. “Fisheries Officers believe that the three accused are part of a larger group of abalone poachers and are continuing their investigation.”

All three are being charged with violating Section 63 of the Pacific Fishery Regulations (fish for abalone during a closure). Section 33 of the Fisheries Act (illegal possession of fish) and with Section 32 (2) of the Species at Risk Act (SARA) (possession of a threatened species).

Abalone were closed to commercial, sport and First Nations fishing in 1990 due to low stocks. In 1999 it was listed as threatened under SARA.

“What that basically means is that the species is likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed – i. e. poaching,” said Gray.

For four continuous days in February, Federal Fisheries Officers from Prince Rupert set up a surveillance operation in Port Edward.

Their targets were these three individuals on board a vessel who were believed to be out harvesting abalone on the weekend. The operation lasted four days and included two Canadian Coast Guard vessels and additional Fishery Officers from Terrace, Hazelton and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

“The officers waited in the bushes around the clock waiting for the vessel to steam into Port Edward,” said Gray. “During the early hours of Monday, February 20, their patience paid off.

“Fishery Officers stopped the suspects after they had loaded up the illegal abalone into a truck and were leaving town under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours.”

The suspects were arrested and taken to the Prince Rupert RCMP station. A 1993 Ford F150 truck and the Zomby Woof, a 35 foot aluminum super punt, were seized along with nearly 2,500 pounds of abalone. Officers then spent the following two days returning the mollusks to the ocean.

“This was a very time consuming job,” he said, because abalone have to be placed in specific rocky areas to increase their chance of survival.”

Fisheries believes the abalone, which can fetch $30-40 still in the shell for less than half a kilogram on the black market, believe the haul was likely headed offshore as part of a larger poaching operation.

Last year there were three Northern abalone cases, in which all individuals were convicted. Punishments included fines of $35,000 and $35,000 as well as a sentence to perform 80 hours of community service under the supervision of the Prince Rupert Restorative Justice Program. A research project, designed to educate the public about the detrimental effects of harvesting Northern abalone, was to be organized by the offenders at their expense.


FISH DERBY LIKELY TO HOOK SOME MASSIVE CROWDS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily news
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Pages One and Two

Fishermen are setting their reels as the largest non-invitational fishing derby in Western Canada gets underway Tuesday.

The Great Northern Salmon Classic starts at 12:01 a. m. Tuesday August 1 and fishermen will chase prizes of $100,000 and a Dodge Dakota until Sept. 15.

Margo Cullen of Vertigo Link Charters and chair of Tourism Prince Rupert has been contracted by the Northern Management Fund Committee to act as the derby manager on the ground.

“During the weigh-in staff and volunteers will be on the dock at Atlin Terminal,’ said Bruce Wishart, Northern Management Fund Committee member.

Weigh-ins will occur between 4 p. m. and 6 p/ m. each day with the exception of Thursday’s where weigh-ins will occur between 4:45 p. m. and 6:30 p. m.

All participants must arrive at the Atlin Dock by boat and once a fish has been weigh using a digital scale, the derby official, participant and an observer will agree to the weight of the fish.

There are many chances to try for a prize. The under 18 category, female category, and mystery weights provide opportunities for all anglers to become involved.

The event was designed following consultation with communities along Highway 16 and will hopefully draw traffic along the Highway to replace the tourists lost following the sinking of the Queen of the North off Gil Island March 22, said Wishart.

“The response from Prince Rupert residents and across the region has been overwhelming,” he said. “We’d like to thank people for the outpouring of support.”

The Northern Fund Management Committee, which received $450,000 in one-time funding from the provincial government to come up with strategies to increase tourism this season, includes representatives from Prince Rupert, the Alaska Highway region, Haida Gwaii, Prince George and the Northern B. C. Tourism Association. They’ve committed $160,000 for the derby.

Other prizes include $10,000 for the largest eligible coho salmon caught by a female angler, $5,000 derby long mystery weight eligible coho, $5,000 largest eligible coho salmon caught by an angler under 18 years of age, $500 weekly for the largest eligible pink salmon caught by an angler under 18 years of age. $%00 weekly for the largest eligible Chinook salmon, getaway packages awarded to the largest eligible coho salmon caught weekly and daily mystery weight prizes valuing $100. Tickets for the derby are $35 and include three weigh ins.

All the rules and derby information are available on line by visiting http://www.tourismprincerupert.com/.


FEDS ‘REWRITING HISTORY’ OVER OIL TANKER MORATORIUM
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Page One

Any attempts by the federal and provincial governments to deny the existence of a crude oil tanker moratorium in the Queen Charlotte Basin is an effort to rewrite history, said Dr. Gerald Graham, oil spill expert and consultant.

He knows, he says, because he was around at the time and was thrown for a loop when he was recently told by government that it doesn’t exist.

“It’s a contentious issue. Up until about a year ago, it was generally assumed there was a crude oil tanker moratorium,” he said. “It came as a complete shock to me. Government is essentially rewriting history.”

The issue of the tanker moratorium has resurfaced because of a proposal by Enbridge, a Calgary based company, to build a billion dollar pipeline from Edmonton to Kitimat in order to export crude oil to China and the U. S.

Government and the company say the moratorium doesn’t exist, only a voluntary moratorium for U. S. tankers traveling from Alaska to the southern United States. But others, like Graham, say it does.

In fact, he said it pre-dates the offshore oil and gas exploration moratorium.

Graham said that in 1972, at the urging of David Anderson, the Federal Government imposed the moratorium on crude oil tankers traveling through Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and the Queen Charlotte Sound.

“Then someone said we have to be consistent and that’s when the offshore oil and gas moratorium was imposed,” he said. “In a nutshell, the original moratorium was a tanker moratorium.”

And any future changes to this policy require strategic environmental assessment as a result of a cabinet directive passed in 1996.

Graham says it’s ridiculous for government to try and ignore the existence of the moratorium given two of their own recent panels studying offshore oil and gas recognize it.

The terms of reference for the Priddle Panel, the most recent public panel exploring offshore oil and gas development in the Queen Charlotte Basin, expressly mentioned the moratorium.

And the Royal Society of Canada, which conducted the scientific review, only made two recommendations, he said, one of which was to keep the crude oil tanker moratorium.

Graham is a consultant of 33 years who used to work for the Canadian Offshore Oil and Gas Lands Administration. He also wrote about the tanker exclusion zone as a consultant for Canada’s Public Review Panel on Tanker and Safety and Marine Spills Response Capability, the so-called Brander-Smith Panel in the late 1980’s.

The panel was established following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska and the Nestucca barge spill in Oregon. The Panel’s Final Report led to a complete overhaul of Canada’s spill response regime.

Graham isn’t the only one claiming the current Conservative and former Liberal government are trying to re-write history.

Former Minister of Environment David Anderson, who pushed for the tanker moratorium, recently told the Victoria Times-Colonist that the policy exists.

“The idea that somehow you can pretend it doesn’t exist is stretching it a good deal,” he said.

And critics were recently outraged when, they say, the moratorium was violated.

In late June, a tanker carrying approximately 350,000 barrels of condensate – a mix of chemicals and petroleum derivatives used to dilute crude oil – entered B. C.’s inside passage bound for Methanex’s terminal in Kitimat. The tanker off-loaded its condensate into railcars for transport to Encana’s operations in Alberta.

Enbridge is also proposing to import condensate alongside its crude oil exports at its proposed Kitimat Terminal.

However, provincial Minister of Energy and Mines Richard Neufeld said the current government says the moratorium doesn’t exist.

“They agree with us,” he said. “There is no moratorium.”