GN, NTI unveil fisheries blueprint

Sytukie Joamie of Iqaluit, the only real Nunavut fisherman to witness last week’s launch of the Nunavut Fisheries Strategy, an event attended by the usual clutch of politicians, bureaucrats and glassy-eyed reporters, isn’t the kind of guy to complain about being left out.

“They have a very good strategy to alleviate the problems up here,” Joamie said of the long-awaited document, which was released by the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, at a ceremony inside Iqaluit’s Unikkaarvik Visitor’s Centre.

The fisheries strategy is a spin-off from the Nunavut Economic Development Strategy, which was released in 2003 with a similar degree of bureaucratic pomp.

Joamie, who has just come off a tour aboard the Inuksuk I, a factory-freezer trawler used by the Baffin Fisheries Coalition to fish turbot and shrimp, says it’s essential that Nunavut find ways of getting more benefit from its fishery, in an industry where much of the profit ends up in the South.

“We are like carvers. We sell our polar bear carving to someone for $50 and then that buyer will turn around and sell it for $500 to a different buyer,” Joamie said.

The strategy calls for action in five key areas:

o More scientific research on Nunavut’s fish stocks to find out how much can be harvested safely.

o Access to a larger share of adjacent fisheries resources: “The economic interests of private companies far removed from Nunavut have prevailed over the rights of Nunavummiut,” the strategy says.

o Spending on infrastructure, especially ports, harbours, processing plants and cold storage facilities: “Without such investments Nunavut will struggle to bring the benefits of its adjacent fisheries to its coastal communities.”

o Education and training so that more Nunavumiut are able to work in the fishery and get better paying jobs within the industry.

o Local decision-making: local management of the fishery so that it’s not controlled by southern companies.

Joamie said more training is especially important for Inuit fisheries workers, so that more people can rise from being deck-hands and factory workers.

He said there are many Inuit “who understand the processes of the fishery,” but that more people need training to get better jobs.

Paul Kaludjak, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said getting more fish quota is a major priority for NTI.