Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Whale Cove (Sep 25/02) - The Nunavut Development Corp. is trying to provide employment opportunities in Whale Cove by reviving a long-abandoned project.

The Papiruq fish plant recently wrapped-up its second year of operations since being reopened as a pilot project in 2001.

DevCorp president John Hickes says the plant had been idle since the mid-1990s.

"The pilot project proved successful, so we incorporated a company with community shareholders to operate it as a full-fledged fish plant," says Hickes.

Local harvesters took 11,791 kilograms of char from the surrounding areas and a further 4,500 kilograms from rivers adjacent to Whale Cove.

The char are frozen, glazed and repackaged in Whale, before being air-lifted to Rankin for secondary processing at Kivalliq Arctic Foods (KAF) Ltd.

While the plant employs three workers, the real boom to the local economy stems from the fishers.

"The plant creates seasonal employment for many people in the community who are between 30 to 50 years of age, and have been hunting and fishing all their lives," says Hickes.

"The work helps supplement their family income."

Hickes says the original operation failed due to a number of factors, including a lack of sales, inadequate management and the necessary upgrades required to meet federal inspection certification.

"We've corrected those problems and we sell everything they produce," he says.

DevCorp contributed financially to the pilot project in order to upgrade the facility, and provided a subsidy this year to help operations.

The plant is managed by KAF out of Rankin, with the Whale Cove Hunters and Trappers Organization directly involved with daily operations and board decisions.

KAF plant manager Bran Schindel says a number of hurdles must be overcome for the Whale plant to be self-sufficient.

"With solid business practices, costs maintained and the implementation of further training -- the plant could operate without subsidy," says Schindel.

"We're competing against so many other fish that the quality of our product has to be superior to realize a premium price.

"We're marketing the fish as wild-caught arctic char from the pristine waters of Nunavut, in an attempt to influence consumers that our product will contribute to a greater dining experience."