HAY RIVER - It appears long-time commercial fishers on Great Slave Lake are welcoming a limited number of southerners into the industry.

Chad Wolkowski, a non-resident of the NWT currently fishing on Great Slave Lake, cleans a day's catch on Aug. 20. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"It's alright," said Hay River's Garfield McPherson, who has fished on the lake for 46 years. "We need more fishermen here."

McPherson said an increase in fish landings will help ensure the fish plant in Hay River remains open.

Last year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) began making 10 certificates for fishing vessels on Great Slave Lake available to non-residents of the NWT in an effort to stimulate the dwindling industry.

Like McPherson, a group of fishers sitting on a vessel tied up to Hay River's Fisherman's Wharf also welcomed the newcomers.

"The lake needs more fishermen," said one long-time fisher, who did not wish to be identified.

"It's a dying industry," said the man, who has fished on Great Slave Lake for 40 years. "If you don't bring people up, it's going to die."

The other fishers nodded in agreement as he said the fish plant in Hay River needs volume to survive.

Chad Wolkowski of Arnes, Man., who spent the summer fishing on Great Slave Lake, said he was welcomed "very nicely" by local fishers.

"Everyone is really cool people," he said, while cutting up a day's catch.

This was Wolkowski's first season fishing on Great Slave. Also a commercial fisher on Lake Winnipeg he said he came North for a couple of reasons.

"The biggest reason is to help the industry survive," he said, adding he heard about the problems of the Great Slave Lake fishery by word of mouth.

"We need fishermen here so we can get infrastructure built for the fishery," he said.

The second reason he came North is to fish all year round - during the summer on Great Slave Lake and in the fall and winter on Lake Winnipeg.

Gordon Caudron, the fish plant manager in Hay River, said any extra production from the lake is welcomed.

"I hope it increases some more," Caudron said.

The fish plant, operated by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation (FFMC), currently employs three people.

Any fish from the lake destined for export out of the NWT has to go through the Crown corporation, although fishers themselves can sell fish to local markets.

Last year's decision by DFO to allow non-resident fishers on Great Slave Lake caught the notice of many people.

"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 Deanna Leonard, a DFO fisheries management biologist.

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

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

Vessels 900 kg and heavier get class A certificates, while smaller vessels get class B.

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

So far, three certificates in both classes A and B have been taken by non-residents, and 13 class A and 26 class B certificates have been claimed by NWT residents.

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.

Leonard is cautiously optimistic the fishery's decline may be bottoming out and it may gradually recovery.

Doug Clayton, the Alberta manager of the FFMC, shares the cautious optimism.

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

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

The summer fishery on Great Slave Lake opened this year on June 20 and will remain open until the middle of this month.