The government put ban of walleye fishing in 1995 after its population crashed due to overfishing. The resume of commercial walleye fishing has rekindled the hope of Red Lake tribal as it would boost Red Lake’s struggling economy. In past the commercial fishing was done with gill nets that helped fishermen to catch walleye hundred of pounds at a time but now it is changed . The tribal fishermen are restricted to catch limited amount of fish and that too by hook and line only.
The walleye processing plant has been reopened and relied heavy on professionals as well as amateur fishermen. The tribal members are allowed to catch 10 walleyes each day and if they fish commercially they can take 50 a day. But they should be registered with the fishery department. Fishing is the only source of income for tribal members of Red Lake. At present nearly 400 tribals are signed up for fishing commercially.
Fish processing plant, Red Lake Band, spent huge amount in refurbishing. Plant manager Sean Rock believed that more fishes are coming in and this would generate big employment opportunities. Red Lake commercial fishing is planning to bring the average production of fish minimum two million pounds annually.
According to Red Lake officials the tribe’s fishing industry is the only hook-and-line commercial fishery in the country. Red Lake Nation Foods manager Joel Rohde states that everybody would get equal opportunity to bring more fish without investing huge amount.
Tribal Chairman Buck Jourdain informed that tribal leaders are trying to get people involved in the industry. They even plan some loan programme to help tribal getting equipment. Jourdain says the tribe taking their steps very cautiously with the resource to bring the commercial fishing back and build back up the industry that will benefit the tribe community.
