Fishing fray carrying on

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Some members of the B.C. Fishermen's Survival Coalition are upset that the federal government did not allow them to attend a meeting with Native representatives earlier this month.

Phillip Eibsvik, a spokesman for the coalition, said two members of the group showed up at the Feb. 5 meeting between Fisheries Minister John Crosbie and band chiefs of the Fraser River watershed area, but they were not allowed to enter.

The two FSC members spent about 30 minutes talking with ministry representative Colin Metcalfe before leaving.

"We're very, very disappointed with the attitude," Eibsvik said. "We want to defeat this policy."

The FSC said it was willing to negotiate a compromise over aboriginal fishing rights in the Fraser watershed if the group is permitted to sit in on talks between Native fisheries and the federal government.

A ministry spokesman said, however, that the Feb.4 meeting between Crosbie

and chiefs from the 97 bands in the Fraser watershed was not a negotiation session and was therefore not open to the public.

The FSC blames Native commercial fisheries for the disappearance of some salmon stocks in the Fraser River. Last fall, federal fisheries officials halted all fishing on the Fraser River after 100,000 prized sockeye salmon failed to reach spawning grounds

on schedule.

The disappearance set off a volley of blame, with non-Native fishermen accusing the new Native commercial fishery of over-fishing. Native organizations refused to accept blame and accused the federal government of mismanaging the resource.

A federal inquiry, headed by University of British Columbia resource specialist Peter Pearse, found that "unusually intensive" fishing was the culprit and did not site any group as responsible for the shortfall. The report did not, however, satisfy many commercial fishermen.

The issue of racism surfaced at the Commons committee hearings in Vancouver

in late January when Assembly of First Nations vice-chief Wendy Grant accused some commercial fishing groups of carrying racist signs during a demonstration.

Grant said she saw people with signs saying the fisheries dispute with Natives is

a race issue because the color of their skin gives them rights other fishermen don't have.

Commercial fishing groups insist that their opposition to the Native right to sell food fish has nothing to do with racism.

Meetings between Native fishing groups, commercial fisheries and the federal government continue.