Did you know... self employed fishers are exempt from looking for work? As long as they're engaged in activities related to fishing, such as repairs to a boat, or mending gear.

Did you also know...you're not required to relocate or travel (beyond a "normal" commute for your community) for work? If there's no work in the area, you're good to collect EI.

There's communities in our province where pretty much the whole community runs on seasonal EI.

I don't like it, I personally think it's holding us back, and we're subsiding industries to pay employees less...

... but it's all completely within the bounds of how the system works, they literally have rules specifically for "seasonal" workers.