Jillian Dickens
Northern News Services

Broughton Island (Sep 19/05) - For three days last week, the 89-ft fishing vessel Baffin Sound and its 11 crew members were adrift at sea, waiting for a government response to their request to fish in deeper waters.

On Friday, without so much as a phone call from the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (the territory's fishing authority) the crew finally gave up.

Earlier that week, on Sunday, Sept. 11, the boat was engaged in a $4,000-a-day turbot test fishery off Qikiqtarjuaq.

They were only allowed to set gear within 12-miles of the coast (referred to as a 12-mile on-shore limit).

By Wednesday, having failed to find any fish after three exhausting days, captain, crew and company managers decided to call it quits and demand the right to set up where a viable fishing industry actually exists - in the deep waters just beyond the 12 mile limit.

Waiting in vain

After the crew made its request to the management board, the Baffin Sound drifted just inside the limit for three more days, while they waited for a response.

At the end of the day on Friday, they gave up and the Baffin Sound steamed south to fish its southern quota.

The Baffin Sound is owned by Masiliit Corporation - a Qikiqtarjuaq-based, Inuit-owned, independent fishing company organized by the Nattivak Hunters and Trappers Association.

Nattivak spearheaded the fishery, which would be in the waters close to Qikiqtarjuaq, to directly benefit those living there.

"We lobbied (all levels of government) to make this a reality," said Seemee Nookiguak, Masiliit's manager.

Creating local employment in a community with skyrocketing suicide rates, lack of job creation efforts and housing shortages was important for the company, Nookiguak said.

Quota transfer

They waited all summer for the management board to approve the quota request, which would allow the company to set its gear and begin the gillnet and hook and line experimental fishery, to be carried out until the end of September.

If the test fishery was not successful, the management board said they would transfer the quota to the Baffin Fishery Coalition, which does not have 12-mile on-shore restrictions, according to Nunavut fisheries specialist Rick Selleck.

"That essentially means they will transfer the quota to the foreigners," said Selleck. "(The Baffin Fishery Coalition) aren't Canadian boats - they're Icelanders and Greenlanders."

Before Friday, Nookiguak was convinced a viable turbot fishery existed in the area.

"Based on past studies, we're pretty positive large stocks of turbot are in the area," he said earlier in the week. Nookiguak was referring to the test fishery performed by private fisherman contracted by the government 15 years ago.

The fishery was in area known as OA, which covers Baffin Island's coast and extends out 12 miles - the same area the Baffin Sound was searching.

Tests required

The request made to the management board explained, in detail, the situation facing the experimental fishery.

It said further tests should be made within the on-shore limit, but could only be done with a smaller boat and crew, which is less expensive to operate, and the backup of a money-making vessel fishing outside the limit.

"This on-shore fishery project cannot proceed without the support of the Baffin Sound as a 'mother-ship' to process and freeze the turbot that will be caught and to act as a safety back-up."

As of Saturday morning, Nattivak had still received no word from the management board.

Nunavut News/North was also unable to reach the board for comment.