Charlene Eden

Last week, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) put forth its annual summary of the fishing season. The report, which covered the period between January 1^st and November 30^th, 2002, shows that the Gaspé region had a positive year in terms of total volume and the overall value of landings. But there are still major concerns with a number of fish species.

According to figures, almost 33 thousands tonnes of fish were landed by Gaspé fishermen in 2002, with the value of these catches totaling close to $76 million. This is a marked improvement over the previous year, in which 27 thousand tonnes of fish, worth $64 million, were landed.

Career Day 2003: a remarkable success

School Principal Donna Bisson would like to hold it annually

Gilles Gagné

BONAVENTURE - Learning about career opportunities can be useful and fun. That conclusion can be drawn from the Career Day 2003 held on January 30th at the Bonaventure Polyvalent.

About 180 students from Escuminac, Bonaventure, Chandler and Gaspé high schools, as well as from the New Richmond Adult Education Centre, attended the event, and close to 70 adults, notably teachers, guest speakers, human resource agents and parents joined the day of activities featuring presentations, kiosks and workshops.

Guest speaker Chris Webb, a motivator from Halifax, was a hit with his speech "Anything you Want", a captivating presentation about, among other subjects, the importance of identifying our passions before choosing a career. "This day is for you. You are not here for the person who sits besides you", he insisted, on a more serious note.

Women and community groups to hold peace demonstration Feb 15th.

Gilles Gagne

BONAVENTURE - The opposition to George W. Bush's desire to invade Iraq will also be expressed in rural areas, not only in major cities of the world, on the 15th of February, since women and community groups are actually organizing a peace demonstration that will take place in New Carlisle, in front of the office of Bonaventure-Gaspé-Magdalen Islands-Pabok Member of Parliament Georges Farrah.

The Second World-Wide Day of Opposition to the War in Iraq will find echoes in rural areas, promised Helene Morin, the spokesperson of Femmes en mouvement, a women group based in Bonaventure.

"After the first day of demonstration (on the 18th of January), some of our members came to our office saying that we should also say no (publicly) to the war. From that moment, things started to fall in place, and many groups joined us in order to organize a demonstration", explains Mrs. Morin.