PRINCE RUPERT VOL. 8 NO. 32
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
FREE
Salmon fishermen back to work Non-union vote approves 28 cents on pink salmon
BY QUINN BENDER PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View
News Downtown Rupert, on the rebound? Page A3
Salmon fishermen have returned to their fishing grounds after accepting Canfisco’s offer for 28 cents per pound of pink salmon Saturday, according to the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union. The day prior, fishermen rejected an offer of 27 cents per pound with faint hope of further negotiations, causing sharp divisions on whether to turn around and accept the offer. “It sounds like we’re squabbling over pennies, but when you’re dealing with thousands of pounds of salmon, it means a lot,” one fisherman told The Northern View. The fishermen were originally demanding 32 cents per pound for their Prince Rupert deliveries. Captains and crews on all 36 Canfisco vessels tied up their boats and walked away from their jobs Wednesday afternoon.
“It sounds like we’re squabbling over pennies.”
Business Rupert A&W now scheduled for 2014 Page A6
Quinn Bender / The Northern View
Fishermen gather outside the Canfisco Oceanside Plant in Prince Rupert on July 24. The non-union action resulted in a vote to tie up their boats, giving the plant 48 hours to reinstate pink salmon prices after being lowered overnight.
See SALMON on Page A2
Sunken war vessel targeted for cleanup U.S. Second World War wreck leaking oil south of Prince Rupert Sports Prince Rupert FC soccer team rolling Page A9
Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii film makes debut Page B1
BY MARTINA PERRY PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View
The Canadian Coast Guard recently announced it will be watching over the removal of pollutants including oil from a sunken WWII U.S. Army vessel near Prince Rupert. The coast guard will oversee what it’s calling a “significant environmental protection operation,” with Public Works and Government Services Canada currently seeking proposals for a pair of third-party contractors. The first contractor will conduct the oil removal operation with the second group providing oil response services in case oil leaks from the vessel as the operation
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“...there’s people in the neighbourhood that depend on the fishery.” - Roger Girouard takes place. “The goal is to clean the vessel to the maximum degree possible with the understanding there’s people in the neighbourhood that depend on the fishery. We want to limit their exposure to these pollutants,” Roger Girouard, the Canadian Coast Guard’s assistant commissioner of the western region, said.
The U.S.S. Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski ran aground in 1946 during a storm and sank in the Grenville Channel, near Hartley Bay and approximately 100 kilometres south of Prince Rupert. The Zalinski came to rest upside down in 34 metres of water about 20 metres from the shore of Hartley Bay. While Gitga’at Nation Chief
Councillor Arnold Clifton could not be reached for comment, Hartley Bay Councillor Marven Robinson said the Gitga’at Nation will be watching over the operation with a close eye. “It’s only taken how many years of the Zalinski leaking before we’re finally able to do something...? We’re going to watch it close and see how it’s dealt with,” Robinson said, the nation wants to be as included as possible in the process. The Zalinski was first put on the coast guard’s radar in 2003 when Bunker C oil began surfacing in the area. Prior, the vessel’s location was unknown.
See ZALINSKI on Page A2
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