Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have stated many times in this Legislature before, the historic contribution and the future potential of the Great Slave Lake commercial fisheries is very important to the renewable resource economy of the North and particularly Hay River.

Since my last Member's statement on October 19th on the commercial fishery on the Great Slave Lake, the NWT Fishermen’s Federation has been working to develop a recovery strategy for their fishery. The task force group is made up of fishermen and is assisted by the guidance of Beatrice Lepine, who has been seconded from RWED to help develop this strategy. The objectives of the task force group include working toward the establishment of a new fish plant in Hay River and the processing and marketing of value-added fish products from our lake. They are also pursuing research with the Marine Stewardship Council -- an international seafood and fish certification body -- with the intention of certifying our fishery as a sustainable fishery.

This is a very interesting and unique opportunity, Mr. Speaker. Great Slave Lake does have sustainable fish stocks and is well managed. Certification of the Great Slave Lake Fishery would allow the sale of our fish into equal markets to consumers who want to purchase only those products which come from sustainable fisheries. These large markets exist in Europe and the U.S. and this certification may also allow the fishery to access other niche markets where the unique features of our NWT fish, which come from cold and clear water, would be a selling point.

The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation is not able to access those markets because of the pooling of all fish, whether from Great Slave Lake or from other unsustainable and less desirable fisheries in southern jurisdictions. Great Slave Lake fish is export ready when it leaves Hay River, meaning that it has such a low parasite count in its flesh that it does not have to go through the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation biological sampling program in the Winnipeg plant, and can actually go directly to market. No other freshwater lake in freshwater country has this unique quality.

Mr. Speaker the fishermen presented Minister Bell with requests for assistance on exploring the benefits of this fishery certification and for changing the relationship they have with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, fishermen need better prices for their fish. Allowing NWT fishermen to opt out of the marketing pool and participate in the marketplace on their own may be the only way to achieve this. Fishermen have asked Minister Bell to begin exploring with his federal counterpart, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, this option. The fishermen have committed to working on this, as well.

I believe that the fishery is getting the attention it deserves from this government at this time and I look forward to working with the Minister and the Fishermen’s Taskforce Group to keep this positive momentum moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause