The chief of an Inverness Co. First Nation says fish in the water is good for the local economy.
Rod Googoo, the chief of We’koqma’q, says the aquaculture project in his community is very successful.
Googoo tells The Hawk the benefits go beyond We’koqma’q, which means government support is very important.
“The support from the various governments, like the provincial and federal, is very important,” he says. “We put in our fair share of money as required, but it’s also important that we do get some support from the federal and provincial government, because we are creating employment, and we are making things a lot better for the whole area.”
Googoo says an increase in fish means more workers will be required for the upcoming season.
“This year, because of the increase in the number of fish we are going to be processing, we’re quite confident we’ll probably be processing fish for maybe a good six, seven, eight months.”
Googoo says the project in his community employs a couple of dozen people year-round, and as many as 80 during the peak season.
He says that’s up from 50 the previous year.
