Page 2, January 31, 1979 - North Shore News speckulations by Peter Speck a I can’t help feeling that there is something very _wrong with the herring roe fishery. I’m not saying the herring are in trouble - yet - but the idea of sacrificing tens of millions of herring in order to sell their eggs to the Japanese market seems wrong to me. This year it is expected that 3,500 fishermen and 6,000 shore personnel will be working the. herring fishery. ° ‘Last year B.C. seven of the 9,000 tons of roe that the Japanese imported, and in order to get 7,000 tons of eggs we caught about: 70,000 tons of herring. This is the roe fishery, conducted right on the spawning beds of the herring, as distinct from the deep-sea herring fishery which accounts for perhaps another hundred thousand tons. _ The pressure on herring is extremely strong right now and driven by the inflated Japanese yen, fishermen descend on schools like gtasshoppers on a _ grain ., field. The Japanese market, estimated to be $160 million last year, has raised the price of roe to $11 per pound in B.C. The herring are netted on spawning grounds by gill north shore news 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 OFFICE/JNEWS (604) 980-0511 CLASSIFIED 986-6222 ~ CIRCULATION - 986-1337 Gon SN" Pubilsher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Bob Graham Editor-in-Chief Money Wright sar t-te Editor News Editor ~ Chris Uoyd Photos Elisworth Dickson Advertising Director Eric Cardwett Trattic Manager Donna Champion Production Tim Francis Faye McCrae Classitied Berni Hilliard Circulation Director Sam Stewart Circutation Manager Yvonne Gourley Administration a Accounts Sytvia Sorenson North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent community newspaper and ualified under Schedule 111. art 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act.Js published each Wednosday and Sunday by the North Shore Free Preas Ltd and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 VERIFIED CIRCULATION 47 A51 Entire contents. 1979 North Shore Free Prana Ltd. All rights recerved supplied | ..hetters and purse seiners. Last year there was concern that the beds were being damaged by the fishing gear and pollution, and this year Wally Johnson, regional director of fisheries, says that fisheries officers will be monitoring. the beds much more closely. Johnson recently said he was going to reduce the size and number of nets that can be used by herring fisher- men, but was greeted by such a storm of protest that he reversed his ruling. ‘*‘Many fishermen had already purchased their gear for the season, and it would create hardship for them if they had to change now.”’ The roe is removed from the body of the female fish, and the rest of the carcass maybe made into protein feed additives or fish food for trout and salmon hatcheries. The eggs are removed from the body after five days of pickling in brine baths, cleaned and packed in 40 Ib. plastic buckets, and shipped to Japan.. There the roe’ passes through an average. of six middlemen, with shipments changing hands as often as thirty times when speculat- ors are active. It is eaten as a gourmet item at some restaurants and also forms part of a traditional Japanese New Year ritual. In 1978 B.C. supplied seven of the 9,000 tons that Japan imported, with the U.S. and China making up the difference. Fisheries officers, accord- ing to Johnson, monitor the spawning grounds on an on-going basis during the runs. They estimate the size of the spawning schools with echo sounders and, by experience, feel they can tell what amount of the run can be safely taken. Once that tonnage has been caught they close the grounds. ‘For instance, if we feel that a certain ground requires 15,000 tons of herring to successfully spawn, and we estimate the size of the run to be 40,000 tons, we allow 25,000 tons to be taken. On the other hand, if only 15,000 tons show up none are allowed to be netted. We certainly don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden cgg.”' Johnson went on to say that the herring fishery was overfished in the past. “During the forties, fifties and sixties the herring fishery was heavily worked. Catches in the sixties peaked at about 270 thousand tons, and then the fishery collap- sed from over-fishing We ‘seen an influx of Japanese — Personal portable sound system for skiing, ; cross country bike riding, jogging. don’t want that to happen again.”’ I feel the opportunity for disaster is high here. The inflated Japanese yen has - stereo cassette - injury proof headphones - comes complete with easy use strdps - nickel cadmium batter pack ms money into B.C. catching -recharger built-in and processing facilities. Japanese technicians sail with B.C. fleets and Japanese engineers work in offices of B.C. processing plants.’ Prevented from direct buy- outs of B.C. firms by the Foreign Investment Review Agency, the Japanese have circumvented this toothless monster by lending money to firms in the form of debentures. What will happen to the ownership of these firms if they are unable to repay the debentures is a moot point, as the FIRA reviews pur- chases, not debentures. And the pressure on the herring continues. The world is a complex place, and fisheries and wildlife Management is an inexact science, as I have said so many times. An oil spill here, a mistake by a fisheries officer there, a PCB spill at the head of a spawning inlet - all these things, or any of them, could wipe out our herring fishery forever. 1246 Lynn Valley Road North Vancouver 987 Herring is the basic food fish for many species of life including salmon. They furnish sustenance for many, many species of sea life, and were regarded as sacred by Indians of the Pacific North West. id Despite pressure on our fishery by Japanese money, and despite the ‘employ- ment’ the roe fishery creates, 1 still think it is morally wrong to sacrifice generat- ions of unborn herring to satisfy the exotic tastes of the Japanese market. 1977 CAMARO 228 tit stereo P_.S.P.B 6595 1975 DATSUN B2 10 Blue, Fast back 2295 Let the herring spawn. Let the fish hatch and grow and the great schools form, and food chain complete. Then is the time to fish the herring, not just before they come to the spawning grounds to lay their eggs. Let them alone to start the great cycle of life again, and there will be herring forever. 1974 CELICA Sporty clean car 2795 1978' Hatcr’ 6OM55 1976 HONDA Hatchback 2995 1977 HONDA Trunk, Red, 14,000 mi.. 3495 1975 HONDA Hatchback white 2595 Native indian Artists - D. Odjig, B. Chee-Chee, C. Wescoupe. No Downpayment on Approved Credit 984-0331 the OOUINSTAIRS Galler y 1424 Marine Ore West Vancouver Rear of the Village Square 926-3525