The project coordinator of a proposed fish processing plant in northern Saskatchewan hopes commercial fishers will look to home-grown solutions when selling their fish.
Napoleon Gardiner is making the comments in response to Saskatchewan Commercial Fishers Limited’s announcement of a new buyer setting up in Regina. SCFL says the buyer will be building a processing plant in the city to sell Saskatchewan fish to China.
Gardiner says there has been significant development at the processing plant in the Northern Village of Ile a la Crosse. But he says there still needs to be more meetings with commercial fishers over potential buyers.
“To see exactly what it is this Chinese buyer the SCFL is pushing is going to pay and what it is that they will leave behind to help prosper northern Saskatchewan First Nations and Metis people,” says Gardiner.
He says the SCFL needs to look at the income already generated by the Ile a la Crosse Fish Company.
“We are moving forward to try and get resources to build a processing plant so we can quit exporting our fish to countries around the world,” said Gardiner. “(The processing plant) is a northern Saskatchewan initiative, this is a First Nations and Metis initiative and this is a made-in-Saskatchewan initiative and we are having difficulty getting support for what it is we are doing.”
The head of Saskatchewan Commercial Fishers says fishers have the right to sell to whoever they want and get the best price for their fish.
“Nobody is telling them where to sell their fish,” said Marie Hildebrandt. “It is up to them where they want to sell to and the big thing for the fishers is price . . . you pay and you will get the fish.”
Gardiner says they have been working on the processing plant for the past two years and need more funding in order to finish the project.