BEN & PETE KANASAWE

BUZWAH FISHERIES

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HISTORY

• 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

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LOCATION 3

LOCATION

Anchor

Design

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HISTORY

• 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

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HARVESTING CYCLE

1. Fingerlings are purchased from a hatchery at

approximately 35 grams

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HARVESTING CYCLE

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.

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HARVESTING CYCLE

3. Actively feeding.

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HARVESTING CYCLE

4. One cage is fed with organic feed.

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HARVESTING CYCLE

5. It takes approx. 6 months before fish are ready

for market.

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HARVESTING CYCLE

6. Once ready for market, it takes 1 week to empty a cage. Fish are harvested manually around 2.5 pounds.

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HARVESTING CYCLE

7. Fish is purchased by Cole-Munro Foods and

shipped for processing to Southern Ontario.

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BUZWAH FISHERIES TODAY

• 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

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BUZWAH FISHERIES TODAY

• 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

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LESSONS LEARNED

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

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LESSONS LEARNED

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”

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LESSONS LEARNED

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

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LESSONS LEARNED

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

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LESSONS LEARNED

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

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QUESTIONS? 20

CONTACT INFORMATION

Pete Kanasawe Buzwah Fisheries

1103 Lakeshore Rd

Wikwemikong, Ontario, P0P 2J0

(705) 859-1807

peterkanasawe@yahoo.ca

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