Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 12, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba S la n i it a y mtg Czine focus editor Brian Cole / 697-7044 h Winnipeg october 12,1997 sunday free press a dead fish shot can cause guilt anglers aware of conservation two Hundred Kilometres North of Vancouver the Strait of Georgia gets so narrow that tides sometimes run at 29 pm hand create rapids that look More like wild Mountain Rivers than Back channels of the Pacific Ocean. Today we re boating through one of those channels. With Mustang Floater suits buttoned to our chins my fishing buddy Paul Quarrington and i lean Back in our chairs while our fishing guide Keith Dreger drives the boat through bouncing rapids. We re being lashed by a Squall and while the rain rattles against the Back of my Hood i watch Keith a face clench up As he runs head first into the thick of it. We re going fishing for Salmon one of the finest fishes in the world. So despite the weather its a perfect Day. When we get to our fishing spot which is a Valhalla like stretch of fjord surrounded by misty mountains the rain quits and a biblical rent appears in the Clouds. As we stand up to Rig our fishing rods the Sun pours Down like the chord from a pipe Organ. A this is All a bit too glorious a Paul mutters suspiciously. A do you think that our plane crashed on the Way up Here and we re actually in heaven a Keith doctors a couple of herring so that spin seductively on the Hooks then Paul and i lower our lines into the mysterious Ocean. Twenty minutes later Paul stands up and sets the Hook. The Salmon vaults a metre into the sunlight shiny As Chrome we enjoy releasing our next two Salmon As much As we enjoy catching them. Lots of anglers practise a catch and release fishing nowadays because fish populations everywhere Are in decline. This is particularly True on the West coast. But British Columbia Salmon anglers Haven to yet accepted catch and release fishing. Some Lodge managers and guides become so caught up in the squabble that they actually oppose catch and release because it implies that anglers Are the cause of declining Salmon. They prefer to blame commercial fishermen who in turn blame the alaskans who in turn blame the dam builders who in turn blame the loggers. But surveys show that about one third of the approximate 660,000 Chinook Salmon taken in a recent year in British Columbia were killed by anglers so Dreger and the other guides who work around Sonora Island Are making sure that they Arentt part of the problem. As we cruise Back Home under the shaggy skies and narrowing sunlight of late afternoon Keith slows the boat and Points out a fish hatchery that produces several Hundred thousand Coho Salmon per year far More fish than anglers take out of the system. He explains that the hatchery was created in part with Cash donations from anglers and guides. A we local guides raised 10,000 Bucks for the hatchery a Keith says. A fishing guides All up and Down this coast Are beginning to realize that anglers and guides Are concerned about fish conservation. Their future is tied to the Salmon. If the Salmon go Down we guides Are going Down with in the morning while Paul and Keith go off in search of More Salmon i hitch a ride on a Light helicopter to get an Aerial View of the surrounding country. Around the Middle of october bears move Down to the Rivers to feed on migrating Salmon so the grizzlies should show up any Day now. But As we go Rotor slapping our Way up the Canyon Only a few eagles and a thin patient looking Black Bear occupy the Early fishing spots along the gravel bars. At the head of the Canyon the Pilot takes us soaring like a lost balloon up the Granite Cathedral slope of the Mountain and when we reach the top Drifting up into a sudden Wash of sunlight this seems to be As close As you could Ever come to floating in a soap Bubble. We re 1,525 metres above Bute Inlet and up Here you can see it All a the Sun plated Straits the Snow capped coastal mountains and the Rivers braiding Down into the sea. For a few Long moments we just hang there surrounded by plexiglass Drifting above a scene of such heart skipping Beauty that its heard to imagine anything could be wrong with its totem creature the Salmon. Slice of life is a weekly column featuring Manitoba writers. Jake Macdonald is a Winnipeg writer whose novel Juliana and the Medicine fish has recently been published by great Plains fiction. Macdonald then races towards the boat so abruptly that Paul a hands Blue comically As he tries to keep up with it. He a no sooner managed to regain the Slack when the Salmon abruptly changes direction and Burns line off the reel again jumps twice swaps directions sprints towards the boat and so on. Paul manages All of this without letting the fish snap the line and eventually Keith scoops it up with the net. Its a gorgeous 12-Pound Coho and it thrashes wildly until Keith knocks it on the head with his club and hands it Over to Paul for the photo. This is what editors Call the a dead fish shot a and what it does no to show is the mixed emotions an Angler feels when a fish is dying in his hands. When it becomes my turn to catch a Salmon in a Happy to feel its Power to watch it jump and dive and finally come to net. But after holding it up for a photo i do feel a familiar twinge of regret when the time comes to Lay it in the Bottom of the boat one More Beautiful Coho that wont be completing its journey to the River of its birth. Part of the Appeal of Angling is keeping a fish or two for dinner. And now that our meal is taken care of letters to the editor keep to subjects of know Best i t investigative reporter Paul i Wiecek has again done a thorough a a Job on a much needed journal for the largely uniformed Public. As a financial planner i regularly discuss wills and funerals As part of the planning process. Here or. Wiecek has shed Light on a topic that most abhor but that is a reality of life and death a there Are substantial costs in leaving this world. While i found the article quite interesting and informative and hopeful it will Aid those who would rather not contemplate funerals and their related costs there was a suggestion that concerned me. At the end of the report a piece called a one final Point advised against prepaid funerals in favour of an investment . A Mutual fund or Gic. From my perspective As a financial planner a lot of credibility was lost with this comment. My colleagues and i would rather suggest that if insurable the individual have adequate life insurance coverage to offset these final costs. As for the investments and i counsel for these also there is firstly no guarantee of returns for the funds and secondly if the individual buys the funds today and Dies tomorrow. Well you do the figuring on whether there is enough Money. While i do respect or. Wiecek a reporting having discussed a past report personally with him i believed he would have fared far better to refer his readers to their financial planners rather than postulate advice in an area he is not qualified. Al Shell Winnipeg How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from readers. Letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed name address and Telephone number. Names will be published but not addresses. All letters May be edited for style and length. Short letters Are less Likely to be condensed. Please address letters to letters to the editor Winnipeg free press 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Letters can be sent to our fax number 697-7412. Letters maybe submitted through the internet at letters @ free press. My. Ca. Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be signed but must include Home address and Telephone Book wonderful first a Short Story. I pre ordered your Book a red sea rising the flood of the Century several months ago. Yesterday it was delivered around supper time so i put it aside. When i arrived Home from work around la p.m., i thought i might look at a few pictures before bed. I done to know whether to congratulate everyone involved in making this Book or criticize them for keeping me awake until 2 . The Colour pictures expertly highlight the Battle against the red and the text recreates the feeling of being there. As in a Reading i recall forgotten details about that april May period. In a using the ample White space that surrounds the narrative to record my own feelings and views. Usually i would never Mark a Book yet once again in a finding things associated Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 a Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher email . Ca Nicholas Hirst editor Brian Cole i editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown / circulation sales and marketing Perry Nixdorf / technology Laurie Finley advertising Verne Kalichuk / human resources Glenn Williams i finance and administration a 1997 Winnipeg free press a division of . Newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council vol 125 no 274 v k a it free press staff members celebrate the launch of a red sea rising the flood of the Century. With the flood Are rarely Normal. This is a great commemorative Book that ill have no trouble recommending to my friends. Thank you for making this wonderful Book possible. Bonita Misener Winnipeg done to blame the poor this letter is written in response to Johnnie Gat Schufft a oct. 7 letter to the editor. Blaming the victim is a popular pastime when discussing poverty today As it was 20 years ago. Often we tend to dismiss the troubles of others As a consequence of their own failings rather than looking for larger structural reasons for social injustices. Such victim blaming is rooted in the belief that Success and achievement in North american society Are attributable to the hard work and ability of the individual. A anyone can make it if they want to a reflects an unrealistic View of the current economic system and holds poor people responsible for their own misfortune. Canada is a stratified society in which certain groups Are treated less equal than others and tend to be More vulnerable to poverty. However economic hardships affect All social classes including the Middle class and the a working structural factors such As social reproduction and discrimination Are the general causes of poverty in Canada today. Poverty is very deep and widespread in Canada. Particularly vulnerable groups include women children Lone Parent families the elderly persons with disabilities and first nations people. As More and More canadians experience unemployment first hand it is imperative that As a society we begin to lift the social stigma placed on individuals and families when the Economy does not favour them and begin to look at larger structural reasons for individual hardship. The Days in which it was Safe to blame the victim Are fading fast As we begin to realize that few Are truly secure in their jobs. So please or. Gat Schuff and anyone else who shares his opinion take a look at our society and statistics today. They Tell us that there is deep and extensive family poverty in Canadian society and that the situation seems to be getting worse not better. Janice Vandersteen Fisher Branc responsibility plea right please allow me this Opportunity to applaud the president of Canadian mining company Noranda. Recently Courtney Pratt made some comments at a luncheon meeting that caused his speech to get coverage on the Csc morning news. The news commented that what he said was a not your Ordinary luncheon speech. The extraordinary things that or. Pratt said had to do with corporate leaders responsibility to society being parallel to or perhaps above their responsibility to the shareholders of their corporations. He mentioned that corporations need to rethink their responsibilities in the Light of a changing society where there is an increasing number of people in need. He implied that this results from the fact that Many Large corporations look out for the needs of their shareholders ahead of everything else and this is not the direction that Large corporations should be talking. He indicated that Large corporations a Nave a responsibility to the Environ ment and to the society in which they exist because without these being looked after the corporation cannot remain healthy for Long. The message was that corporate leaders need to be thinking about their responsibility to even the lowest Levels of society and he made a Call for these leaders to do so. I am thrilled to hear news like this at the same time i am disturbed by its implications. The disturbing part is that a Call for responsibility like this should be the Norm not something extraordinary. David c. Milton flin Flo Stop special treatment i am airing my beef with the Media a coverage and our Justice systems poor attempt at serving Justice to a rash of charged police officers. Statistically All but a very few become acquitted in spite of obvious wrongdoing and Strong evidence of guilt regarding the Laws of our land. Cops lawyers even judges offer daily examples of unethical immoral and nowadays regular rank and file members of our finest Are flaunting the Law in a Brazen fashion. Why is this is it because every member of our precious police Force knows full Well that he or she will enjoy special treatment in most of our courts i feel that the Public is entitled to hear the reasons for and against the Justice systems rulings and when it comes to police officers getting off a Scot free a then Are receiving dismal results in our present Day courts of Law. Charles Nicol Winnipeg a ;