WHATI/LAC LA MARTRE - The downturn of the US economy has claimed its first victim in Lac La Martre Lodge.

The 12-year-old fishing getaway, located 10 km from Whati, will not open for the 2009 summer fishing season.

Mark Damaske, third from left, has decided not to open his Whati-area fishing getaway, Lac La Martre Lodge, due to an unprecedented number of cancellations and an inability to raise enough capital for the lodge's operating costs. - photo courtesy of Mark Damaske

But befitting the owner of a place where guests regularly wrestle with massive pike on the line, Wisconsin-based Mark Damaske, a 25-year industry veteran, did not go down without a fight, in his view.

Attempts to raise enough capital to run the lodge this year ran to the eleventh hour - to the night before Damaske was due to fly up North, to be precise.

"This was ... a race against time to replace the roughly $75,000 that I had lost in cancellations," said Damaske, who opened the lodge with tent-frame accommodations in 1997. The lodge now consists of seven guest cabins with a maximum capacity of 24 people.

Global economic uncertainties have prompted many visitors to Canada, primarily those from the U.S., to clamp down on luxury spending, which is especially damaging to NWT fishing lodges, many of which rely heavily on American tourists.

For Damaske, that means 98 per cent of his clientele.

"Normally I'll get one cancellation," he said. "I get somebody who will die or get (sick) or he may not come up.

"For 2009, I had 29 cancellations."

It wasn't so long ago when things looking pretty good for Damaske: by the end of last year's fishing season, he had 72 guests on the books.

Talk of the economic slowdown prompted him to book himself for one more trade show than normal.

"Not to say I was bragging, but I was telling people, 'Wow, I'm getting comfortable because my history tells me that I'm going to do 20 plus people for the sports shows.'

"As it turned out, not only did the marketing not pay off but I actually ended up having (another) sport show scheduled and I actually blew it off, which is the first time I've ever done that in 25 years."

In late March, the cancellations started.

"All I expected was a cancellation - one guy, maybe a whole party. Never in my wildest imagination would I think I would end up with 29 cancellations."

That left Damaske with 48 customers or parties to call to deliver the bad news, not to mention the fact he wouldn't be giving them their cumulative deposits back.

Guests at Lac La Martre who book during the previous summer end up, through a series of deposits, paying the entire sum of their $3,300-trip, by May 1; the lodge opens in late June.

"Out of the 47 people that I had remaining on the books, 30 of them, maybe a little more, have said, 'Mark, we understand. Let us know what goes on for 2010. Just keep us posted.'

"There were some phone calls after which I actually cried, and I cried in a good way. I had several of the parties, two in particular, indicate to me, 'Hey Mark, you'll be in our prayers.'"

But not everyone took the news as well.

"I had one corporate group that got madder than a hornet," he said. "They called me everything but a white man."

Damaske defended his decision to keep the deposits, saying it is common among most lodge operators he knows.

"As is the case with most of the people in this industry, all of the money that people have paid to me is non-refundable and it clearly states that on the reservation form," he said.

Damaske added he's confident he will be able to reopen the lodge in 2010. He has around 25 people who have decided to keep their bookings and visit next year, at no extra charge.

"Those bookings are frozen to the extent that I will not be asking them for more money until I can guarantee that I will open in 2010."

Some guests who were slated to stay this year have applied to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI), under the Tourism Deposit Assurance Program, to recoup their deposits, said Julie Warnock, communications co-ordinator for Northwest Territories Tourism.

According to an information sheet provided by ITI, a representative of which could not be reached for further comment as of press time, "If (ITI) makes a payment out of the program, the GNWT may take steps to collect the amount paid as a debt owed by the tourism operator to the GNWT."

Damaske insisted he did everything he could to open his lodge. This is the first time he has had to stay south, though he will visit the lodge once this summer to look things over.

"Don't get the impression that I had all this money sitting around and I decided just to hang around in Wisconsin," said Damaske. "As much as I say it was a business decision and a decision that needed to be made, psychologically I was devastated."

Not all hope is lost for those customers who still want an NWT fishing experience this year, however.

"(Ten) of our operators that are still operating this year have offered to step up to the plate and pick up any reservations that he had," said Warnock.

"We had somebody that was going to him who booked with us," said Debbie Witherspoon, co-owner of Frontier Fishing Lodge near Lutsel K'e. "This person told us that the owner of Lac La Martre was not giving him any money back, and he was really, really upset about it... He said he's not the only one."

As for her lodge's own policy, Witherspoon said customers who cannot attend due to a death or sudden illness proved up by a doctor's note would get back their $800 deposit, provided it's before April 1.

Between four to eight residents from Whati typically receive employment from the lodge as guides or labourers, said Damaske.