Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is our last sitting day, so I would like to get some more information out to the public on the progress on the Commercial Fisheries Revitalization Strategy. I will go back to the fish plant. We have got the money in the budget now. The Minister said that Infrastructure is taking the lead on this, so when can we expect the ground to break on this project? Even better, when can we expect this to be operational, this new fish plant? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we are in the planning stage right now, figuring this out. The department is the lead. Hopefully, we will be able to break ground in the spring.
As I said, I think we have some property identified moving forward and working with the Town of Hay River. I suspect construction will probably take at least a year for a facility that size.
So it looks like it will be operational summer 2019, from what the Minister has stated. Will we be able to do both primary and secondary processing in the new fish plant?
Mr. Speaker, as we move forward working with the fishing federation, primarily right now we will be doing exactly what Freshwater did, was to be able to do the primary sourcing of fish, cutting up round, and filleting. As far as doing secondary processing, that is going to be entirely up to what Freshwater wants to do moving forward.
I hope the Minister did not mean it when he said we are going to do exactly what Freshwater was doing. Another element of the revitalization strategy is the training program.
I know there have been talks with different organizations about training, not just for fishermen, but for people in the marine industry, as well, so where are we in terms of creating a training program to revitalize the fishery?
We are working with a number of people on moving this forward. The first part of it is what do we need to have the existing fishermen trained up to participate in fishing on the lake and have all the qualifications needed to do that.
We are also looking at a second part of how do we bring new, younger fishermen into the process, what type of training they need to be able to access the lake and do it in a safe manner. We are looking at a different approach, as well, with a number of other proponents about how we can bring training to the fishing industry in the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Still just a lot of looking at things, it sounds like, so, while the department is looking at things, I know the fishermen have been fishing, so can the Minister give us an update about how much production has been on the lake, what percentage of the quota or how many pounds have been taken off the lake this year?
I don't think we have the full details on the catch, but from everything I have heard to date, it sounds like it is very similar to last year's quota. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
