by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 09/97) - Great Slave Lake commercial fisherman say they've got the boats and equipment, and the lake has the fish, but fishing just doesn't pay any more.

"Everything snowballed on us," said Lionel Rundel, a fisherman and a member of the NWT Fishermens' Association (NWTFA). "The price of everything went up and the price of fish went down."

Leonard Cardinal said whitefish prices this year continued a downward trend, dropping from 57 to 45 cents a pound.

Prices are set by, and all fish sold to the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, a non-profit federal Crown corporation.

Zone manager Dave Bergunder said the corporation dropped its price, because of market forces, by only two cents this year, from 57 to 55 cents.

"Where the price really went down is where the GNWT reduced its price support," said Bergunder.

While fuel prices and other operating expenses continue to rise, noted Cardinal, a territorial subsidy for the summer fishery has been cut back by $132,000 to just $280,000, this year.

John Culford of the fish and wildlife section of renewable resources said a rethinking of the way subsidies are distributed, something the NWTFA controls, could go a long way to reducing hardship.

Culford said five of the 46 commercial operators working Great Slave Lake land 50 per cent of the catch.

"There's a great concern out there about the impact of the subsidy cut, but given that split, there are creative ways we can deal with the subsidy," said Culford.

Currently the subsidy is awarded by pound on a volume basis, so the biggest operators get most of it.

Bergunder said that in spite of assertions that prices make the business uneconomical most fishermen are still out on the water fishing.

Both fishermen pointed out that almost all the money made fishing on Great Slave Lake stays in the North. The industry, they said, employs more than 120 people.

Cardinal and Rundel were among five fishing association board members, along with wives and some children who took a bus up to Yellowknife from their Hay River homes to put their case to MLAs Wednesday, with the help of Hay River MLA Jane Groenewegen.

"The fishing industry contributes $6 million to our economy annually. At this time it is not self supporting," she said. "We need a plan driven by fishermen, not the Great Slave Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation."

Later, Resources Minister Stephen Kakfwi responded to questions posed by Groenewegen.

"We're prepared to fund the development of a strategy as long as the fishermen take the lead," said Kakfwi, though he also said no more money would be available for subsidies.

Kakfwi, Groenewegen and other MLAs met with the fishermen to discuss the next step in seeking a solution.

"We feel a little relieved," said Cardinal. "But this is just a start."