YELLOWKNIFE - The closing of the Wool Bay fish plant last weekend is another sign of declining commercial fishing activity in Great Slave Lake.

Fisheries officer Craig Schwartz shares a word with Gerry Gaudon at the Wool Bay fish plant outside Yellowknife last year. The plant closed last weekend due to the low volume of fish coming to the plant for processing. - NNSL file photo

"We haven't operated Wool Bay as a delivery point since the summer of 2005," said Calvin Peddle of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, a crown company based in Winnipeg that handles the Great Slave catch. "Last year we used it as a place to drop off fish but that didn't work at all because didn't have enough volume to make it worthwhile."

The Wool Bay fish plant sits on an island at the edge of Yellowknife Bay about 13 kilometres south of the city.

Its closure leaves only one fish plant at Hay River still operating on Great Slave Lake.

Peddle said last season's summer catch of 516,150 kilograms was well below the 1.727 million kilograms quota and a mere fraction of what the Hay River plant is capable of processing.

It was during the 1987/88 season when the fishery last came close to the quota, catching more than 1.5 million kilograms.

Morley Johnson, a retired commercial fisherman who began fishing with his father on Great Slave Lake in 1947, remembers a time when there were eight independent fish buyers and more than 400 commercial licences out of Hay River alone.

"Nobody wants to work anymore, it's too easy to go on welfare I guess," said Johnson, who recalled 15 "big fishing boats" moored at Yellowknife during the industry's heyday. "And it's a shame because (fishing) was really the first industry that started here, fishing and mining."

However, a change in pricing scales for catches seven years ago may have more to do with a lack of candidates for the trade.

Previously, fishers were paid for total weight. Now fish are graded small, medium, large and jumbo and there is a corresponding value per weight.

"And that really hurt, especially for the smaller fishermen who pulls up his net with a bunch of small fish in it," said Johnson.

Lloyd Jones, South Slave regional superintendent for Industry, Tourism and Investment, said freight subsidies in the 1990s and industry support programs introduced in 2000 have not had the desired effect of enhancing a declining fishery.

Commercial harvesters, which number just 30 license-holders, are eligible for a 50 cent/kilogram subsidy up to 10,000 kilograms, 30 cents for harvests between 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms and 20 cents for 20,000 and 55,000 kilograms.

Fishers can also access up to $60,000 for equipment upgrades.

"There is a downturn in the industry and production is key for these fisheries to survive, many fishers who historically deliver to the freshwater fish marketers are leaving because they're getting on in age," said Jones. "And some are working well beyond the age when most people would retire at."

Johnson, 75 parked his skiff and hung up his nets just two days ago, revitalizing the fishery could be a matter of getting the word out of the untapped fish bounty beneath the surface of Great Slave Lake.

"There's enough fish in there for two or three (fish processing) operations," he said. "Maybe we should get a bunch of Japanese guys over here to smarten everybody up... those guys know how to fish."