Fish Marketing Corp. ‘had no forewarning’ of province’s decision to withdraw from monopoly

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This article was published 18/08/2016 (3412 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fishers have to wait at least a year before the province is officially withdrawn from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.

John Wood, interim president of the FFMC, said that the province’s decision on Tuesday to withdraw from the Crown corporation was sprung upon them. “We had no forewarning, so it takes a little while to gather one’s position on these things,” he said.

The monopoly is required to buy, sell and trade all fish it receives from its fishers, a policy that has been in place since 1969.

The announcement comes after the Tories said during the April election campaign that they would give commercial fishers “the freedom to make their own individual marketing decisions” about their products.

A press release issued by the Manitoba Government stated that the withdrawal will allow Manitoba fishers to market their products outside Manitoba. It also states that the corporation will continue to exist as a marketing option for fishers.

Wood said the withdrawal will not happen overnight; signatories have to give a one year notice of intent to withdraw. “It is very early days. Obviously we have to work out first what the fishery is going to look like going forward and then decide how we’re going to respond to that,” he said.

Frank Stanek, manager of media relations for the department of fisheries and oceans, said there will be no immediate changes to the FFMC operations.

“DFO will look at all opportunities and options over the next year to ensure freshwater fisheries are supported in western and northern Canada,” he said. “. . . the Crown corporation will maintain its mandate and operations while analyzing how to modernize and make FFMC more effective.”

Wood said there are going to be “a lot” of discussions between the federal and provincial governments over the next year. “Over that year we’re going to be working towards what our own future at Freshwater looks like and that can’t happen until we understand what the fishery in Manitoba is going to look like.

“. . . I know there’s a lot of fishers who are concerned about what the future is going to look like,” he said. “Not everybody is happy with that decision, we’ll put it that way.”

Fishers stand on both sides of the issue, voicing their opinions both for and against the decision to withdraw.

Based out of Gimli, Robert Kristjanson’s family has been in the fishing business since 1891. He dealt with fish companies before the FFMC was formed and said “nothing has changed” since then.

“It is so sad that I can’t even put words to it,” said Kristjanson, speaking on Tuesday about the withdrawal. “I’m not saying (it) has been true blue . . . but to add more fish companies to this is not the answer.”

Frank Kenyon runs the WMM Fisheries Co-operative Ltd., and is a fisher based out of Fairford. He said Manitoba’s withdrawal will have a positive impact on the price of his fish, the environment, jobs and foreign investment in the province.

“We have a lot of hopes here and we don’t know how they’ll turn out, but if we’re all very careful and work together, and the fishermen stick together, and the buyers, we hope that this move will be better for everyone,” he said.

alexandra.depape@freepress.mb.ca

– With files from Kristin Annable