First Nations in Manitoba are working to create a new industry
selling "rough fish" such as carp and mullet to consumers in China.

Native leaders in Manitoba are meeting over the next few weeks with John Du, a senior government official from Beijing, about the potential for fish exports.

"We need fish. The Chinese eat fish every day. It's not a luxury thing," said Eva Luk, Du's translator, at a reception in Winnipeg last week.

The demand for fish in China is ever-increasing as the country struggles with contamination of freshwater stocks and a decrease in fish farms, Luk said.

There is already some market for the rough fish, so fishers are already catching them — but not on the scale suggested in the Chinese concept.

Morris Shannacappo, head of the Southern Chiefs Organization, said several reserves have expressed interest in establishing a fishing industry aimed specifically at the Chinese market.
"In discussion with a lot of the fishers from our communities, there is no market for the rough fish," he said.

"I would say we've found a market. It's just making it a sustainable development."

Mervin Lynx, chief of Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve (Valley River), near Dauphin, Man., said a local fishing industry could help solve a serious unemployment problem on the reserve.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/10/22/fish-china.html


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