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HAY RIVER
Shawn Buckley, a well-known commercial fisherman in Hay River, is making a move to grow his tourism business, Great Slave Lake Tours.

Hay River fisherman/tourism operator Shawn Buckley – along with his partner Franziska Ulbricht and their child Kijel – sit next to the new sign for his tour boat business. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Buckley is relocating his tour boats to the Coast Guard harbour, which gives them more visibility to tourists driving along Highway 2. Plus, he has erected a new sign there.

"Seeing is advertising, right?" he said. "So people come in and they see my sign and maybe think about it. At least they know I exist."

Normally, his boats – a 43-footer, a 23-footer and a 20- foot – are docked at Fisherman's Wharf.

"One of the boats is always going to be available for tourism," Buckley said.

They will be relocated to the harbour this month once other vessels are moved to make some room.

"We never had a spot to set up on to tell the truth. This is a new one," he said. "We talked about it first for a year or two and then we finally got to the point where we asked the town about this particular spot."

The Town of Hay River cleared the brush from an area next to the harbour for tour operations and created approaches for motorists to enter the area.

Buckley has had the tour boat business for five years.

"I just haven't been pushing it, because most of our tourism stuff happens to be in the winter," he explained, referring to the Bombardier tours he offers on the frozen Great Slave Lake.

"It's the same company," he added. "I've always had the winter and summer outfits."

In addition to tours in the summer, he often does contract work to take scientists onto Great Slave Lake to do their studies.

"I'm fishing part-time. I always fill the gap in with commercial fishing," he said. "So it's usually contract work because that's where you make money. You contract your time and your boat so you make better money."

Contract work and tourism is also easier than fishing, he explained. "It's not like you're lifting 40-50 boxes a day and then breaking your back to barely make it."

The smallest of his three boats is for sport fishing, the midsized one is for trips further out onto the lake, and the largest vessel is for extended trips, including to the East Arm, for groups of up to a half-dozen people.

"If they want to go for a month, then I'll look at going for a month," said Buckley.

The tour operator said he is optimistic about the potential for the tourism industry in Hay River.

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