Waswanipi Commercial Fisheries is now open for this season’s business.
Though plagued by compressor problems, Albert Saganash expects no problems with servicing his customers this year. He warned, though, that customers might be looking at a quota this year on sturgeon, which could raise prices on this main seller.
Smoked sturgeon in fact accounts for most of the sales of this relatively new company. The Waswanipi company has been in existence for five years. Like all companies, they have experienced run-ins with people in the south who don’t pay on time. In the past, some clients have taken up to two years to pay.
Two fish the company doesn’t sell are trout and walleyes, which are reserved for sports fishing.
What they do sell is available at very good prices:
Doré: filets—$5.00/lb. whole fish—$ 2.00/lb. cheeks— $4.25/lb. Sturgeon: no head/ cleaned—$2.30/lb. smoked—$8.00/lb.
Pike: filets—$1.50/lb. deboned/no skin— $2.30/lb.
Suckers: deboned— $2.30/lb (mostly a Chinese market)
Whitefish: filets—$2.20/ lb. whole— $1.00/lb. cleaned/skin—$1.50/lb. smoked—$3.50/lb.
