In addition to bringing in the catch this year, a Lake Winnipeg commercial fishing family has been busy promoting Manitoba’s freshwater fishery and trying to encourage international fish buyers to take a close look at freshwater fish.
Robert T. Kristjanson and his family played host to fish buyers from French company Picard Surgeles earlier this spring, to Estonian scientists, fish buyers and fishers from the Peipus Lower Basin Fishermen’s Association in September, and recently to a smoked fish company based in New York.
Chris Kristjanson on a past visit to Acme Smoked Fish in Brooklyn, New York
The Kristjansons provided another lake-to-plate commercial fishing experience to representatives from Brooklyn-based Acme Smoked Fish, a fourth-generation family-owned fish store that has people lined up down the block on Fish Fridays.
The Kristjansons showcased Lake Winnipeg’s whitefish, a high value nutrient-dense fish.
“The buyers for Acme fish came out and we took them out in two boats and set a net so they could see our whitefish,” said Robert T. Kristjanson, who has fished for about eight decades on the lake, earned the Order of Manitoba in 2018 and took part in the Ice Vikings television series that showcased Lake Winnipeg’s winter fishery. “They smoke thousands of pounds of whitefish a week. It comes from all over the Great Lakes. We’re trying to show how important our Lake Winnipeg whitefish is.”
As fish is a highly perishable product, the buying and selling of fish is a “tough business,” said Kristjanson. But his family’s fishing outfit is doing its part to “get more buyers into Manitoba to buy fish” and do everything they can “to try to sell our fish products.”
Alexandra Golub, director of sustainability at Acme Smoked Fish, told the Express she and a colleague, Jacob Tupper, had attended the Marine Stewardship Council’s Winnipeg fishers meeting where they presented themselves as buyers of Winnipeg seafood and chatted with the Kristjansons, with whom they’ve connected several times.
During the meeting they shared how Acme Smoked Fish utilizes lake whitefish in their assortment of products.
“We also provided an outlook on market demands among U.S. retailers towards eco-certified seafood,” said Golub.
Manitoba’s commercial fishery generates about $100 million for the provincial economy each year, according to the provincial government’s fisheries department, and provides employment to many communities, including Indigenous communities.
Manitoba has two eco-certified commercial fisheries in Waterhen Lake and Cedar Lake, and the province is continuing to “advance progress” towards achieving the eco-certification of all fisheries.
A pre-assessment report of the Lake Winnipeg fishery was completed in November last year and two prospective Fisheries Improvement Projects (FIPs) – one for the walleye and whitefish from the north basin, and one for walleye and whitefish from the channel and south basin – were registered in December 2024.
