SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Interest in the dwindling fishing industry on Great Slave Lake is being stimulated by a move last year to offer vessel certificates to fishers from outside the NWT, according to a representative from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The federal government hopes years of declining interest in the commercial fishery on Great Slave Lake are coming to an end after seeking outside help last year. Here, Darcy Morrow grabs a 60 pound case of whitefish - the main catch on Great Slave - at the government dock in Old Town. - NNSL file photo

"Since there was a press release announcing the fact that there were going to be non-residents fishing, suddenly local people - especially aboriginal groups - looked up and said, 'hey, what's going on here? This is our fishery,'" said the department's fisheries management biologist, Deanna Leonard.

However, she stressed the increased interest from Northerners was simply a bi-product of an overall attempt to resuscitate Great Slave Lake's commercial fishery.

"The decision to allow out-of-province applications to fish on Great Slave Lake was to increase and stimulate the fishery," she said.

"If local interest increases then we'll adjust things accordingly. They'll never be competing for licenses with outsiders."

In the summertime there are 28 class A vessel certificates available to residents of the NWT, and five for non-residents. Residents also have 61 class B certificates available, with five certificates available to outsiders.

So far, three certificates in both class A and B have been taken by non-residents, and 13 class A and 26 class B certificates have been claimed by NWT residents. Vessels 900 kg and over get class A certificates, while smaller vessels get class B.

Leonard said the whitefish quota for Great Slave Lake is 1,727,400 kg. Last year only 300,000 kg were landed. During the 1970s, the industry was thriving and the yearly catch usually came close to reaching quota.

Although the fishing season is only six weeks in, Leonard is cautiously optimistic that the fishery's decline may be plateauing, with the potential for a gradual recovery.

"The quotas won't be filled because they haven't been filled for the last 30 years ... It looks like they're on track to improve for this year, but we've got a long way to go," she said.

Doug Clayton, the Alberta manager of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation (FFMC) Alberta, a Crown corporation that markets fish on behalf of fishers, shares this cautious optimism.

"There were about six years in a row, I think, where production was declining. So we're hoping that we've stopped the decline and are heading in the other direction," he said.

Despite the season starting a week later than last year, Clayton said just over 100,000 kg of all species caught on Great Slave have been processed so far, and the numbers are within 2,000 kg of this time last year.

Clayton said he does not mind who fishes the lake, as long as its fishing potential gets reached.

"Ideally we'd like to see increased production from the lake whether it be from residents or non-residents," he said.

He said there are several factors that make the industry so difficult to recruit for and profit from.

"There a number of reasons, but fishing is expensive. They have to travel some distance to the fishing grounds. The cost of fuel is down a bit, but last year saw record prices. Fisheries has to compete with other industries for manpower," he said.

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington said more can be achieved with savvy marketing, such as promoting Great Slave Lake whitefish as a Northern delicacy.

"If the whitefish are marketed and sold as a higher quality fish it will allow them (the fishers) to start receiving a premium price," he said.

However, Clayton said this approach is not likely to solve the problem.

"Great Slave Lake whitefish are a good quality fish, but they do have to compete with other white-fleshed fish from all over Canada and the U.S. It's a price-sensitive thing and at some point you're going to run into resistance," he said.