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Brain buckets
The Hawaii of China
Cycling columnist Brad Kilburn reveals how today’s bike helmet laws were based on a flawed study produced by the bike helmet industry.
Tropical beaches in Hainan are mostly deserted all day long, until the sun sets and Chinese tourist head out for sand and surf in droves.
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Microsoft moves out of Richmond Office vacancy rate rising to 26% BY NELSON BENNETT
nbennett@richmond-news.com
FISHERY
Want more fish? Kill more fish BY NELSON BENNETT
nbennett@richmond-news.com
If the Department of Fisheries and Oceans wants to increase wild salmon stocks, it should let fishermen harvest more fish, says a UBC fisheries expert. Dr. Carl Walters, who recently sat on the science panel advising the Cohen Commission, says DFO’s current escapement targets are too low. “The real big story here isn’t so much that it’s such a big run, it’s that it’s not being
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Aviation was the theme of the Minoru Seniors Centre’s Annual Garden Party at Minoru Gate Square where chef Ian Lai served up treats to Evelyn Sharpe (left) and Marion Hertzman. For more photos of the event look online at www. richmond-news. com.
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Not enough salmon being harvested: UBC professor
harvested at the rates it could be,” says Walters. It’s an argument Conservative MP John Cummins has made over the years: Allowing too many fish to return to spawn is actually bad management. However, it’s an argument that is hard to sell to the public or even DFO because it seems to defy common sense. But Walters, whose expertise is in fish population dynamics, said there is com-
pelling evidence that allowing too many fish to spawn has a deleterious rebound effect. “If you put too many fish on the spawning grounds, it will come back to haunt you,” said Walters, a professor at UBC’s Department of Zoology. The haunting comes in what Walters calls “delayed density dependence,” and he said there is now 15 years of evidence to support that the 30 per cent exploitation rates embraced by DFO is a failed
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experiment. “It doesn’t seem like anyone in government realizes it was an experiment in the first place,” Walters said. DFO used to allow fishermen to harvest up to 80 to 90 per cent of returning salmon. But in 1995, fisheries managers decided to lower the exploitation rate to 30 per cent. The assumption was that allowing more salmon to return to spawn would result see Fishery page 4
Just three years after Microsoft set up shop in Richmond, the software giant is leaving. Microsoft Canada Development Centre is relocating from Richmond to Vancouver, the News has learned. The move will add to Richmond’s growing vacancy rate for the office market, pushing it to a whopping 26 per cent, according to a recent report by CB Richard Ellis. Linda Reid, MLA for Richmond East, was surprised to hear of the relocation, but said it’s not surprising given the contraction that occurred in the recent recession. “Everybody is experiencing huge shell shock, economically,” she said. A company spokesperson could not be reached for comment by press time. However, in an e-mailed response, the company’s PR firm — High Road Communications — said: “Microsoft is relocating its MCDC employees to its offices in downtown Vancouver, in an effort to consolidate its various offices in the Greater Vancouver Area. Our investments in British Columbia continue to grow.” In an exit interview with the city’s economic development officer, the company said the relocation was simply a downsizing exercise. “Our city staff was told that this was nothing to do with being unhappy with Richmond,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “It was simply a matter that they were downsizing their operations significantly.” The company employs workers from all over the world. After it opened its Canada Development Centre in 2007, managing director Parminder Singh told the News that some employees were finding it tough to find a place to rent in Richmond, so many ended up renting in Vancouver. That posed a problem for some workers in getting to and from work in East Richmond at the Crestwood Corporate Centre off of No. 6 Road. And because some workers had learners’ licences, they weren’t allowed to drive at night. Neonila Lilova, the city’s economic development manager, said if transportation and the lack of rental housing were issues, Microsoft didn’t mention it in its June exit interview. see Vacancy page 4
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