Northern Saskatchewan commercial fishers have found a new buyer for their fish.
Saskatchewan Aquatic and Food Development Enterprises will be building a fish processing plant in Regina to begin buying the fish in the fall.
Saskatchewan fishers opted out of a monopoly from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation in 2012 to have the ability to seek other buyers for their fish.
Marie Hildebrandt, head of Saskatchewan Commercial Fisheries, says the manager of SAFDE has provided some good incentives for fishers to sell their fish to them.
“They want to see the north built up and they want to see the people be able to live a good life too, so if somebody wants to work the can make a lot of money,” said Hildebrandt. “They offered some really good pricing and some good deals for the fishermen so they can make a living and not just surviving.”
Hildebrandt says SAFDE will buy the fish from Saskatchewan to sell to buyers in China.
“I had asked them what kind of quota they would put on us and they said ‘this is China and China has a lot of people and they all eat fish,’” said Hildebrandt. “So it is good for the fishers if they want a different option.”
Hildebrandt does say the new buyer will offer a freight cost that will be the same across all of Saskatchewan.
She also says SAFDE is willing to buy fish whole at the same price.