Despite challenges, fishing on Lake Winnipeg 'just a way of life' for many in this northern First Nation
CBC
It's before sunrise on a warm September morning as a commercial fishing boat, music playing out of its speakers, pulls up to the docks outside the Negginan Fishing Station in Poplar River First Nation.
On board are three fishers, including the boat's captain, 43-year-old Desmond Batenchuk.
As they load up several blue tubs of ice, a CBC News photographer and a reporter hop in, and the boat sets out, zipping over only slightly choppy water as first light appears over the mouth of the Poplar River, where it enters Lake Winnipeg's expansive north basin.
For Batenchuk, this marks the beginning of what will turn out to be a condensed fall commercial fishing season.
"It's the greatest thing in the world," he says. "I love it. I've been doing it all my life. It's something I look forward to doing every season. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't fish."
Commercial fishing is a key industry for Poplar River, a remote fly-in First Nation on the eastern side of the lake, about 350 kilometres north of Winnipeg .
"It was just a way of life," Batenchuk said. "There was no cellphones, games, TVs when I was growing up."
He's been fishing since he was seven years old, when he started helping his parents, who were also commercial fishers.
"That's how I got into it," he said. "It's just a hobby for me. I don't consider it work anymore. I've been doing it all my life."
He runs a boat of his own on the north basin of Lake Winnipeg, the 11th-largest freshwater lake in the world.
Batenchuk said he's grateful to be able to make a living doing what he loves.
And he's not alone. There are about 30 commercial fishers in Poplar River First Nation, a community with an on-reserve population of around 1,200.
WATCH | What it's like to be out on Lake Winnipeg with Poplar River fishers:
"A lot of people rely on it," said Batenchuk. "They live off of it."
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