John Beatty's brother Paul commercial fishing at Big Sandy Lake (submitted photo/John Beatty) 

By Glenn Hicks

INDUSTRY

Northern fishers seek aid as COVID-19 shuts down market

May 6, 2020 | 4:00 PM

The fishing industry across northern Saskatchewan is facing an uncertain year because of COVID-19. With restaurants closed there are no orders of their product coming in, hundreds of livelihoods are impacted, and the sector is seeking financial help from the federal government.

The Prince Albert Grand Council says a $62.5 million aid package announced by Ottawa last month for the country’s fish and seafood processors should have included inland fisheries in this province who contribute millions of dollars to the economy.

“There’s absolutely no market for us and we have no means to make a living this summer,” John Beatty, vice-president of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation – who is based at Deschambault Lake – told paNOW.

Beatty said there were 70 fishers just in his region and as many as 300 people across the whole North who are seasonally self-employed are in danger of losing their income. He said most employment insurance benefits expire in May each year, and he’s seeking an extension of 12 months to that as the current Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is not expected to run for much longer.

“We attain our quota by the end of the summer and then we can get EI in the winter and that keeps us going because we have no other industry here,” he explained.

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Beatty added the federal government also needed to offer capital investment into industry infrastructure so work on renovating and repairing their plants, docks and ice sheds could be done during this anticipated summer of inactivity.

paNOW reached out to the federal government but did not receive an immediate response.

Meanwhile, MP for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Conservative Gary Vidal, said he was just learning about the plight of the northern fishers and would be finding out more so he can advocate for them in Ottawa. Vidal has already had success recently in helping to secure eligibility for local First Nation Limited Partnerships for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).

“What I learned from that I would take into this fight as well and take that forward and see if we can have that same kind of success,” he said. “We typically think of coastal fish first when we visit a restaurant but there is this inland market that we maybe need to draw attention to and get them included in the process.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow