After 55 years of protecting commercial fishers in western and northern Canada from instability in the fish market, the federal government announced its intention this year to sell the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation (FFMC), which will become a privately owned enterprise.
FFMC is a Crown corporation established in 1969 to provide commercial fishers with fair prices for their fish and to market that fish domestically and abroad. The federal department of fisheries and oceans (DFO) initiated a process in 2017 to engage commercial fishers and other stakeholders on the future of FFMC after the Conservative government in Manitoba opted out of the federal Freshwater Fish Marketing Act to create an open market. DFO established a panel to examine new governance and ownership models for FFMC and promote reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Lake Winnipeg commercial fisher Robert T. Kristjanson, who is 90 years old and has been fishing for over 75 years, said he’s concerned that the overall stability the marketing board brings to the fishery could fall by the wayside through the sale and privatization of the corporation.
Fishers might see the return of erratic pricing, an inability among private companies to store large volumes of fish while markets are in flux, an inability to create new products for market, the loss of supports such as the processing and packing of fish, infrastructure support such as docks and transport vessels around lakes and the upholding of labour standards. It could also jeopardize a well-known reputation for Canadian fresh water fish, he said.
“The sale of FFMC will very much affect my and my family’s fishing operations,” said Kristjanson, who sells fish to FFMC. “We can, absolutely, go back to the days before the marketing board when fishers didn’t know whether they’d get a fair price for their fish from all the fish companies we had.”
Before the marketing board was established, Kristjanson said there were around a dozen fish companies – including Chicago-based Booth Fisheries – that would haggle with local fishers over price. Kristjanson’s dad, who had his own fish station, would have to go around to each company to see what they were paying or whether they’d even buy his catch.
It was the fishers themselves who had called for the establishment of a government-led marketing board to help them deal with market volatility.
“I’m going back to my time before the marketing board when there were about 10 to 12 fish companies dealing here. We saw fishers running from one company to another, dragging down the price of fish, and that’s why often there wasn’t a good price. The fish companies were also subsidizing the unsuccessful fishers,” said Kristjanson. “You’re seeing that instability now with companies that came in 2017 with the privatization of Manitoba’s fish market. You see some fish companies not releasing their price lists until the marketing board releases its price list.”
FFMC’s mandate is to purchase fish that is lawfully harvested, create an orderly market, promote international markets, increase fish trade and increase returns to fishers. Provinces that were signatories to the Freshwater Fish Marketing Act began to withdraw and return to an open market. Ontario withdrew in 2011, Saskatchewan in 2012 [some fishers there still sell to FFMC] and Manitoba in 2017 [some Manitoba fishers still sell their catches to FFMC]. Alberta closed its inland fishery but did not withdraw from the Act. The Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction participating under the Act, according to the federal government’s website.
“The departure of Manitoba has put Freshwater at a critical juncture,” states the executive summary of a November 2017 Engagement Report posted on DFO’s website. “The corporation will need to evolve to ensure it can continue to support the fishery and livelihoods of fishers, especially those living in northern and remote communities.”
The federal government engaged with fishers, First Nations and Metis stakeholders from July to Sept 2017 to understand the challenges faced by fishers, the importance of the fishery and the services FFMC offers that are most helpful and valued by them, states the executive summary. Some fishers expressed concern about “a future without Freshwater” and wanted to see the role of the corporation continue as it evolves to a “more sustainable business model.” Others said FFMC prices have remained stagnant and the corporation has not kept pace with rising costs and inflationary pressures. Others asked that fishers be allowed to sit at the FFMC decision-making table. There was little support at that time for the dissolution or privatization of Freshwater.
The federal government is currently soliciting expressions of interest from parties that are interested in buying FFMC.
Kristjanson said that although we don’t know exactly what the dissolution of FFMC could bring, it’s possible it might result in a model that won’t have the wherewithal to support the fishers it currently deals with or the means to attract new fishers.
Lake Winnipeg competes with Ontario’s Great Lakes’ fisheries. An overabundance of fish such as pickerel or whitefish can affect supply and demand and the prices of fish in global markets. Canada’s fluctuating dollar can also affect returns.
“There are always wannabe fish buyers out there, but some haven’t got deep enough pockets to carry fish [store it in large quantities] for maybe six months or longer, which often does happen at FFMC when the market is oversupplied and fish prices come down,” said Kristjanson. “Where is the money going to come from in a private company to withstand fluctuations in the market? Private companies at times just won’t buy fish from Manitoba fishers if the market is oversaturated. And we fishers must sell the fish we catch. It’s not wheat: it’s perishable and it must be sold within days.”
FFMC has established markets for pickerel, sauger and whitefish, as well as for whitefish and tullibee roe. It also buys lesser valued fish such as jackfish, mullet and carp, which have smaller markets. It supplies the U.S. gefilte fish market with kosher-certified fish that’s processed at FFMC’s plant in Winnipeg.
Kristjanson said some private companies may be interested only in “big money fish” such as pickerel and whitefish, and won’t buy other fish species.
“Some private companies are doing one or two fish. First it was pickerel, pickerel, pickerel and then it was whitefish. Every wannabe fish dealer that comes here will not want carp. So where does that go? It will shut down this resource. We can’t become a province that sells only a few species of fish yet have tens of thousands of anglers targeting a single species (pickerel) and affecting supply,” said Kristjanson. “There are so many other fish species that FFMC buys from fishers. And there’s the roe market. The expertise FFMC built up over time and the market for other fish could be disrupted under privatization.”
Kristjanson said there were an awful lot of fishers that suffered in the years before the marketing board was established in 1969. Returning to the days of private fish buyers could see some fishers left on the dock.
“We’re going through another change because the government themselves decided that something should be done. We understood at the time there were too many fishermen chasing too few fish. If you go anywhere in the world right now that’s the first thing you’ll hear. And we were not getting paid enough by the companies – I have heard that from BC to Newfoundland and even in Iceland, too, where companies are taking all the money,” said Kristjanson. “We have in Winnipeg our own company that’s doing everything they can to sell our fish. And we’re lucky to have them working for us. They’ve got no pockets they’re filling up, they’re trying to sell our fish at the best price they can. And if we can’t understand that, we’re going to lose our only fish manufacturing operation in Manitoba.”
The Express reached out to DFO with questions, including what percentage of fish the marketing board currently receives from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and territorial fishers and why the government extended the expression of interest application deadline to April 4. The department said it might respond after the paper’s deadline.
The federal government is currently soliciting expressions of interest from organizations or groups that wish to take over the ownership and governance of FFMC. A template is available on DFO’s website through which interested parties can forward an expression of interest. Submissions can be emailed to: DFO.freshwater-eaudouce.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
