BEN & PETE KANASAWE
BUZWAH FISHERIES 1
• Privately owned by Ben & Peter Kanasawe
• Began operations in 1996 • Located on Manitowaning Bay just offshore to property owned by Ben Kanasawe in Wikwemikong, Ontario • Received permit by the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve to have a fish cage operation Buzwah Fisheries
HISTORY
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LOCATION
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Anchor Design
LOCATION
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• Began operations with 6 cages • Averaged 50,000 pounds per cage or 300,000 pounds per year • Cages were 40’ x 40’ • Harvested 6 cages per year • Employed 2 Wikwemikong band members on a full-time year-round basis and 2 more seasonal during harvest HISTORY
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1. Fingerlings are purchased from a hatchery at approximately 35 grams
HARVESTING CYCLE
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2. Fed 2 kg of feed per day as fingerlings up to 420 kg (6 barrels at 70 kg) per day as they get closer to harvest.
HARVESTING CYCLE
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3. Actively feeding.
HARVESTING CYCLE
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4. One cage is fed with organic feed.
HARVESTING CYCLE
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5. It takes approx. 6 months before fish are ready for market.
HARVESTING CYCLE
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6. Once ready for market, it takes 1 week to empty a cage. Fish are harvested manually around 2.5 pounds.
HARVESTING CYCLE
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7. Fish is purchased by Cole-Munro Foods and shipped for processing to Southern Ontario.
HARVESTING CYCLE
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• Employ 4 full time year-round community members and 3 part-time during harvest • Do own monitoring once per month • Have allowed MOE to come and sample sediment • Band also regulates Buzwah Fisheries operations
BUZWAH FISHERIES TODAY
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• Have 10 cages, four are submersible • Cages are now 50’ x 50’ • Averaging 90,000 pounds per cage or 1 million pounds per year
• Buzwah yields approximately 14 cages per year – fastest grower in Ontario due to coldest waters
BUZWAH FISHERIES TODAY 14
Feeding times – 19 degrees or lower
• Constantly monitor water temperature at different depths • Do not feed when water is too warm or feed very early in the morning before sunrise
LESSONS LEARNED
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Fish grew to only a certain size in the cages and there was overcrowding, difficult trying to get them to 2.5 pounds • We remove 5000 pounds per cage once they reach about 2 pounds. • Remaining fish grow faster as there is more room in the cage • This process of downloading is now used by fish cages all over Ontario and some call it the “Buzwah download” or “Ben’s download”
LESSONS LEARNED
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Ice flows and ice build up • Put log booms out into the water away from the cages • Ice would build up would happen at the boom instead of at the cages – less damage done to the cages • Purchased four submersible cages
LESSONS LEARNED
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If it’s broken, we fix it! • Sometimes it takes a week or two to get someone in to fix something and at a significant cost. • We pay and train own workers as divers who check the cages once a month. • Purchased portable welding machine to fix structural problems with the cages • Built own barge with hoist that can lift several thousand pounds
LESSONS LEARNED
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Have fish sold before it goes into the water.
• Can’t keep the fish on the shelf • Have to schedule it at least a year in advance • Need at least a yield of a half million before seller will buy • Need guarantees about when you will have the fish LESSONS LEARNED
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QUESTIONS?
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Pete Kanasawe Buzwah Fisheries 1103 Lakeshore Rd Wikwemikong, Ontario, P0P 2J0 (705) 859-1807
peterkanasawe@yahoo.ca
CONTACT INFORMATION
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