Despite challenges, fishing on Lake Winnipeg ‘just a way of life’ for many in this northern First Nation [Video]

It’s before sunrise on a warm September morning as a commercial fishing boat, music playing out of its speakers, pulls up to the docks outside the Negginan Fishing Station in Poplar River First Nation.

On board are three fishers, including the boat’s captain, 43-year-old Desmond Batenchuk.

As they load up several blue tubs of ice, a CBC News photographer and a reporter hop in, and the boat sets out, zipping over only slightly choppy water as first light appears over the mouth of the Poplar River, where it enters Lake Winnipeg’s expansive north basin.

For Batenchuk, this marks the beginning of what will turn out to be a condensed fall commercial fishing season. 

“It’s the greatest thing in the world,” he says. “I love it. I’ve been doing it all my life. It’s something I look forward to doing every season. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t …