As many as 80 individuals are employed during the tullibee spawning season. For two weeks in October the shores of Pinehouse Lake are busy. (Submitted photo)

By Eagle Feather News/ NC Raine

Fish resources

Saskatchewan’s cold-water fish is still making waves on the European market

Nov 2, 2024 | 7:00 AM

Once the temperature drops, the fishing industry heats up in a small village in northern Saskatchewan thanks to the tullibee and after five years it’s still going strong.

“They are saving the Pinehouse fishing industry,” said Lionel Smith, commercial fisherman from his home on Pinehouse Lake.

The tullibee, also known as a northern cisco, lake herring, or chub, is a small roughly two-pound fish found in northern cold-water lakes.

Once upon a time, commercial fishermen in Pinehouse would cast the petite fish from their nets in favour of much larger and tastier fish.

But food connoisseurs across the ocean have changed that narrative. The once seemingly undesirable fish is harvested for its roe and is a rare delicacy in Europe. As a result, the tullibee is providing a lucrative income for fish harvesters.

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“Things were slowly dropping in the last ten years,” said Smith about the fishing industry in Pinehouse.

“We were going to be dead, so this is a big bonus for the community − it’s saving our industry.”

However, there is a very short window in October when the tullibee spawn and drop their eggs, so they must work fast and work hard.

While the window is open, Smith and a large crew of fishers set out in fishing boats and cast nets for about eleven hours during the day, hauling up huge quantities of tullibee.

They sell the tullibee to Winnipeg’s Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, delivering a semi-truck full of fish every day for about two weeks.

Freshwater processes the tullibee for caviar, which is then shipped overseas to Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Finland.

“It’s serious money,” said Smith.

Ralph Natomagan sits in a boat with his catch. In October, a net usually yields 300 tullibee. (Submitted photo)

To read the rest of this story, click here to be directed to Eagle Feather News, featuring more inspiring Indigenous stories from across Saskatchewan.

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