A new report by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy suggests the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation should be privatized — or, at the very least, have its monopoly broken up.
Researcher Joseph Quesnel says many fishers want out from under the FFMC’s monopoly, as evidenced by Saskatchewan’s recent exit.
He says fishers in the Northwest Territories have also talked about leaving, and there are concerns among northern Manitoba fishers, as well.
Quesnel says a downward trend in prices is one of the chief worries:
“The total payments between 2001 and 2010 . . . definitely you’re seeing a decline in what’s being paid to these fishermen, and then you’re seeing a rise in the cost of doing business for these fishermen.”
Quesnel adds other measures could also be adopted — such as the exemption of a fish species on certain lakes — but he says the end of the monopoly would be best.
The paper says fishers should be released from the FFMC so they can begin to cash in on opportunities of their own.
Quesnel says most fishers have access to the Internet and can find buyers themselves:
“They’re much more sophisticated, they’re much more tech-savvy and they’re much more tuned in to opportunities than they used to be. Things have changed. The Internet, you’re able to link up with all these markets and suppliers — the world is connected. So, we know that fishermen today can find these opportunities.”
He also feels more regional plants might crop up if the FFMC monopoly was ended.