PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
A Pangnirtung winter ice fishery is on track to shatter its turbot landing record this season, due to the return of favourable ice conditions this year.
Fresh turbot arrives at the Pangnirtung Fisheries Ltd. plant for cleaning, grading, freezing and packaging earlier this season. - photo courtesy of Brian Zawadski/Nunavut Development Corporation
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More and more hamlet fishermen are joining the harvest, delivering tubs of fresh turbot nonstop to the Pangnirtung Fisheries Ltd. plant, which has already seen a remarkable 240,000 pounds of fish landed since the season started Jan. 21.
"It's going very well. It's better than the previous year, which was the record year, so it looks like we'll be putting new records on the books," said general manager Michael Neumann.
Last year, the plant purchased 575,000 pounds of turbot in total, compared to just 108,000 pounds in 2011.
That year, the Nunavut Development Corp. subsidiary sustained a net loss of $146,960, according to the corporation's report for the years ending March 31, 2011, and March 31, 2012.
The Arctic char and turbot processing plant turned that loss around with solid ice conditions in 2012, when its sales rose to $3,824,674, from $2,829,604 in 2011.
The plant created 35 jobs in 2012, compared to 17 in 2011, and this year, the plant has 92 fishermen who have been licensed by the fishery department.
Corporation president Darrin Nichol said participation in the winter turbot fishery is at levels not seen in many years, praising the "exceptional" winter ice fishery in Pangnirtung for the significant earning opportunities it is generating for local fishermen.
"They're having an excellent year. There's lots of people fishing and we anticipate a real strong result this year," Nichol said.
The plant, where the fish are cleaned, graded, frozen and packaged to be flown to Montreal then sold abroad to Asian markets, has already put more than $400,000 into the hamlet's economy in pay to fishers and workers, Neumann said.
Pangnirtung senior administrative officer Ron Mongeau said last year the winter turbot fishery pumped just under $1 million into the community.
"This is a big economic boost for the community. It puts a lot of money into fishermen's hands and we're talking some serious bucks here," Mongeau told Nunavut News/North. "It helps us keep a year-round presence in this resource harvesting because it complements the summer fishing quite well."
Neumann said if all 92 licensed fishermen join the harvest this season, he is anticipating upwards of 800,000 pounds of turbot could be landed this season, generating at least $1 million.
The winter ice season is scheduled to continue until the first week of May.
- with files from Peter Worden
