Fishers Say Reports Of Prosperity Exaggerated

Fishers Say Reports Of Prosperity Exaggerated

Thursday, July 21, 2005 at 12:44

A fisherman from Fond du Lac says Lake Athabasca fishers are not reaping as much money from an export licence as has been reported.

Victor Fern says, contrary to previous reports, fishers who choose to sell their fish to a dealer with connections to a buyer in Seattle are not getting double the returns they would normally get.

Fern says Athabasca Distributors has been keeping the fish freight subsidy it receives from the province, so fishers are actually getting substantially less than what they would normally receive through the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.

Fern says the price differential prompted him to pull up his nets during a pilot project involving the new buyer this past March.

However, Fern admits it would be a different story if the fishers received the subsidy from the distributor to the US.