Fish Plant Proposal Still Facing Obstacles

Fish Plant Proposal Still Facing Obstacles

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 at 14:21

 

 

A consultant for a proposed fish processing plant in Prince Albert says a number of challenges still need to be met before any work begins.

 

Larry Goodfellow admits construction of the 3.7 million dollar facility was supposed to have started last year, but couldn’t due to a lack of major investment.

 

At last word, just under 600-thousand dollars had been raised from fishers and fishing co-ops, and about 450-thousand dollars had been secured from various institutions.

 

That leaves the fishers over 2.5 million dollars short of what’s needed.

 

Goodfellow says he’s hopeful more dollars will be found but some big obstacles are still in the way, including a number of problems Investment Saskatchewan has with the fishers’ funding proposal.

 

Goodfellow says 382 fishermen in the province have already committed one thousand dollars each towards the plant.

 

However, concerns are being raised by a fisher from Deschambault Lake about where most of the investment for the project is coming from.

 

John Beatty says there are a good number of fishers out there who haven’t committed any dollars towards the project yet, and says that needs to change.

 

Beatty says he hopes this week’s annual general meeting of fishers in Prince Albert revives the interest of fishers who haven’t bought shares yet.