Challenges facing the Lake Manitoba Commercial Fishermen's Association continue. Last year fishermen expressed concerns about the future of the operation, as the growing jack fish population reduces the populations of more valuable species, such as perch and pickerel. Just one week into yellow perch season South Basin Director Allan Gaudry says it appears the situation isn't much better this year.

"The feedback from fishermen is very sad. There's no perch to be found. As for pickerel, it's the same story as last year as those numbers are down. It looks pretty bleak for Lake Manitoba and the south basin for catching any pickerel or yellow perch which are high value. We're down to pretty much a jack fish fishery."

At their 2015 annual general meeting, the fishermen passed a resolution to lobby the provincial and federal governments to buy out their licenses. Gaudry noted it wasn't something they wanted to do, but the situation has become so dire the future of Lake Manitoba's fisheries is in jeopardy. He notes they've yet to see anything come of that resolution, but says they're early in the process.

"We're still waiting for some discussion that will hopefully lead to a plan for Lake Manitoba. It hasn't led to any solutions yet, but we're still early on in the discussions and hopefully a plan will come forward soon rather than later."

While they want to see a plan for Lake Manitoba's recovery, Gaudry says they don't have much time to have it implemented.

"The future doesn't look bright when it comes to getting high value fish out of this lake. If it's going to be a ten year plan for this lake to recover, well, a lot of us will be out of business by that time. It's a very sad situation on Lake Manitoba for the south basin."

While they called for a buy out, the group noted major changes to the way fish can be marketed could help to improve the situation. They want to have an open market, rather than dealing only with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.