Dore Lake Fisher Down on Fish Prices

Dore Lake Fisher Down on Fish Prices

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 15:18

 

 

A fisherman from Dore Lake says poor prices and a lack of action from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation are threatening his livelihood.

 

Howard Fonos has been fishing since the mid-70s and says he can remember a time when he received 94 cents a pound for whitefish pulled out of Dore Lake.

 

Those days are just a memory now, though.

 

Fonos says the current price is just 52 cents a pound – down ten cents from last year, and the news isn’t much better for any of the mullets or pike that he catches, either.

 

He admits pickerel will bring in a good price. However, with the stricter government limits that came into being recently, Fonos can’t rely on that species for any significant income.

 

Fonos says his only real wish right now is that a proposed fish plant for Prince Albert would be built as soon as possible.

 

He says that development would provide better prices to local fishermen and would also serve as a wake-up call for the FFMC.

 

Fonos doesn’t buy the corporation’s arguments that fallout over 9/11 and the rising Canadian dollar are the reasons behind poor prices again this year.

 

He blames the FFMC’s handling and marketing of the northern species.