'One guy in a 12-foot boat. How much damage could he do?'

Garden River First Nation has one commercial fisherman.

Today, Chief Lyle Sayers and several others from the community helped that fisherman launch his tiny boat at Gros Cap.

They were hoping that the Ministry of Natural Resources would attend and lay charges.

No such luck.

"I called them from there and told them he was putting his nets in today," Sayers tells SooToday.com. "But they said they weren't coming. They said they didn't like to be set up."

Sayers and his band council granted one person from their community a licence to fish commercially on Garden River First Nation traditional lands this year.

The Ministry of Natural Resources says the man needs a commercial fishing license from the province.

"That's not the case," said Sayers.

In the past few weeks, representatives of the MNR have siezed the fisherman's catch and have written letters to his buyers telling them not to purchase fish from him, Sayers said.

"He hasn't been able to sell much of his catch, so we have bought what he can't sell and given it to elders so it won't be wasted," said Sayers. "We want the minister to write the buyers telling them it's okay to purchase fish from our fisherman or to charge him so we can take it to court."

Sayers believes the band would win its case and says the MNR knows licenses issued by the band have as much legal validity as those issued by the province.

He also wonders why Garden River First Nation is being centred out when other Anishinabek and Ontario commercial fishermen are fishing in the same waters at this time.

"It's one guy in a 12-foot boat," he said. "Seriously, how much damage could he do on Lake Superior?"

When no representatives from the MNR came to lay charges today, Sayers and the others from Garden River left to plan strategy.

If no letters have gone out to the commercial fish buyers this afternoon, Garden River Chief and Council will meet with their fisherman on Monday to discuss their options.