Saskatchewan Co-operative Fisheries Limited meeting. Photo courtesy of Abel Charles.
Saskatchewan’s commercial fishing industry is struggling with low prices and limited quotas, but there is still a lot of optimism and hope for a stronger industry in the future.
Over the weekend, fishers from across the north attended the annual meeting of Saskatchewan Co-operative Fisheries Limited to get an update on the state of the industry. The open market seems to be working, with some sellers sticking with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, which is a federal Crown corporation, while others are opting for private buyers like Arctic Blue.
Thomas Moberly, a fisher from Turner Lake, says no matter who the buyer is, fishers need to be able to harvest more product.
“They have a lot of fish in their lakes, but they can’t seem to get a bigger quota, and that’s the only problem we have is with the province,” said Moberly.
Another problem is prices. Ray Funk runs the Wollaston Lake Fishery. About 85 per cent of the product harvested is trout and whitefish, which are going for rock-bottom prices. Funk says he is competing with salmon prices as low as 10 cents a pound on the west coast.
Funk is working on a deal to partner with the Ile-a-la-Crosse fishery to obtain more pike, pickerel and to expand his market share. In the meantime, the plant is not making money.
“We are subsidizing the operation in Wollaston just to be able to gear up our plant, get our people trained, get efficient at what we do, and develop those new markets,” said Funk.
Funk is also hoping to land a contract with Federated Co-operative to supply fish to 170 of its stores, but he admits, the plant is losing money, but he hopes to turn that around within a year.