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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Anglers coming to Yellowknife for the prime fishing may have trouble finding fishing licences.

Though the territorial government is spending thousands of dollars on ads in the The Globe and Mail promoting the NWT as a prime place for fishing and hunting, the number of places in town where residents and visitors alike can purchase a fishing licences are dwindling.

Faye Worthman holds up a booklet of fishing licences on Monday at the Co-op, one of the last places in town to get a licence. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

Wolverine Guns and Tackle, Yellowknife's only hunting and fishing supply store, stopped selling them a while ago.

Now Gastown on Old Airport Road, a gas station and convenience store that also sells fishing bait, has stopped selling fishing licences as well.

"There's no money in it, and I'm not doing the government's work for nothing," said Roy Ferrier, owner of Gastown.

He said the store only makes 50 cents on every licence it sells. Resident licences retail for $10, plus taxes.

Full-season Canadian non-resident licences go for $20, non-Canadian full-season licenses sell for $40.

Judy McLinton, communications officer for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the department is looking into the situation.

"There's more to it than just saying we're going to increase the vendor fees," said McLinton.

"The sport fishing licence is actually federal legislation – we just have a memorandum to sell the fishing licence, so any change in fees we would have to go through the federal government."

Ferrier said he has asked for increases to fees retailers collect from the licences during meetings with the department but he has not been updated on the situation, so he stopped selling them.

The only places McLinton could cite offhand where an angler can get a licence right now were at the Yellowknife Direct Co-op, the Environment and Natural Resources regional office on Bretzlaff Drive and the bilingual service office in the Laing building on 49 St. Both government offices are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, except for holidays.

According to Faye Worthman at the Co-op customer service counter, the store had sold almost 50 licences by April 6.