Fish Exporter Defends Results On Lake Athabasca

Fish Exporter Defends Results On Lake Athabasca

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 at 13:26

 

 

The agent who sold fish from Lake Athabasca to a buyer in the States this past March says he’s contractually obligated to get fishers a better price for their catch.

 

Tony Goulding runs Athabasca Distributors — a Debden-based outfit that has been given a rare exemption by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation to market fish south of the border.

 

At least one fisher from the region believes he can get a better deal through the FFMC by transporting the fish to La Ronge and collecting a fish freight subsidy.

 

But Goulding says most fishers in the Athabasca basin are unemployed and don’t have the means to transport their fish themselves.

 

Even if they could, he doubts they could make it work — given the cost of transporting goods down south.

 

As well, under terms of his export dealer’s licence with the FFMC, Goulding says he has to give fishers as good a price, or better, than what they would receive from the corporation.

 

Goulding says he offered the fishers prices that were between $0.20 and $0.25 a kilogram higher than what the FFMC was offering — even for whole fish that the corporation wanted headless or dressed.

 

He also says all of the fishers seem pleased that they received their entire payment up front.

 

Goulding hopes to see this new arrangement in place earlier this coming winter, but also feels there’s time to give it a go during the summer and fall months — provided the right infrastructure falls into place on Lake Athabasca in the near future.