This is the first of a series of stories looking at Pangnirtung Fisheries and how it's helping the community by providing jobs and developing the economy.

It鈥檚 a very cold day on March 7 in Pangnirtung. But that's a good thing.

The season for turbot fishing turbot on which the community is dependent is starting later and later in the winter, making for a shorter season overall. This winter, the fishing season began on Feb. 17. It had started in December in recent years.

On March 7, Pangnirtung Fisheries will have hauled over 300,000 lbs. of fish collected. Jackie Maniapik, himself a former fisherman, was recently promoted to the role of production manager. He continually updates the total on a big screen in the fishery鈥檚 break room as more numbers roll in throughout the day with each fisherman鈥檚 haul.

More than 200 people in the community directly benefit from the fishery. The lowest paid worker still gets paid more than the minimum wage of $19 per hour.

The general manager of Pangnirtung Fisheries is Jon Johannsson, who has spent his life fishing in both Iceland and Newfoundland and Labrador.

鈥淲hat I have learned in my life, I had to forget most of it,鈥� says Johannsson, who took over management of the fishery in 2023. 鈥淚nstead of trying to rework the wheel [here], I made a deal with the local people to share their knowledge.鈥�

That deal, which sees guaranteed and meaningful employment, has been extremely beneficial to both parties.

鈥淭here are so many active hunters and fishers here, hunters and trappers," said Johannsson. "That's because of their capability, and because of the money we get for the fish. How do we put a fire under other communities so they can do the same?鈥�

Pangnirtung鈥檚 booming fishing industry is no accident. It was a conscious economic direction taken by the hamlet in the 1970s.

鈥淭urbot was never a community endeavour,鈥� says Nancy Aniniliak, who is on the fishery's board of directors. 鈥淚t started because the fur industry was banned and they had to find other employment for the hunters. It was a big challenge for people. Fishing is positive for the community because it鈥檚 creating employment for people. It鈥檚 got many benefits [for] everyone, and the community itself.

鈥淓verybody seems to become happier because they鈥檙e busy," she added. "The income is more regular in the hopefully three-month season. Families are more happy. Fisherman are more happy. They can hire helpers and build capacity, so more young people can learn techniques about fishing."

Executive manager Brittany MacLellan started her role in 2023 and said the company was headed in the wrong direction.

"Financially, they were backlogged in most outstanding matters, compliance issues, finances not in order, those types of things," she said. "I didn鈥檛 have a full understanding of the impact we have on the community, the amount of people we employ, and the community benefit of it until I went and saw it first hand.

鈥淲hen fishing is happening, there鈥檚 activity happening in the community. People are earning an income, and they aren鈥檛 earning it through going to the government," she added. "They鈥檙e actually working and earning. It鈥檚 meaningful work.鈥�

MacLellan also described some upgrades to the cold storage system to help make the fishery more modern.

鈥淲hen we went there, it was just very old, outdated equipment," she said. "It was just faulty and just lack of investment in the facility for so many years. In updating the cold storage, it鈥檚 allowing us to hold all the product on-site until we get a vessel landed. Traditionally, we鈥檝e flown everything out to other markets, but now we can ship it out via sea instead of air, which is a huge cost savings for us.鈥�

The investment in a barge to ship the product out to a more stable market in northern Europe has been a major shift in operational tactics thanks to suggestions and work with Greenlandic fisherman, who already have the market developed in that part of the world.

The move to shipping by sea to 快盈v3 Europe came as a necessity after Canadian North increased freight shipping rates 140 per cent in 2024.

鈥淚t would have bankrupted us if we kept running the same system,鈥� says Johannsson. 鈥淲e are paying more to Canadian North than all the fishermen and plant workers and everyone else combined. The service level went down, and we鈥檙e not seeing the benefits."

Johannsson explains that rather than trying to offset the financial loss by not paying plant workers top dollar, the company absorbed the hit. 

"That put us in an extremely tough financial situation," he said.