Buying Canadian Seafood: It’s About More Than Where Your Food Comes From

Buying Canadian Seafood: It’s About More Than Where Your Food Comes From

Buying Canadian is getting a lot of attention right now. But for Shaun and me, this conversation goes back 18 years.

When we started Skipper Otto, we were a fishing family trying to solve a problem that was very personal to us: could we create a better way for fishing families like ours to earn a fair price for their catch, while giving Canadians a direct connection to the seafood harvested in our own waters?

That simple question became Skipper Otto.

Today, we connect 70 independent fish harvesters directly with thousands of Canadians. And as more people think about buying Canadian, food security and where their food comes from, I’ve been reflecting on what supporting Canadian really means.

Because I think it goes much deeper than the label on a package.

Why we started Skipper Otto

When you’re a fishing family, you experience the seafood system from a very different perspective.

Fishing is expensive and unpredictable. Harvesters take on significant costs before they ever leave the dock, often without knowing exactly what they’ll catch, what they’ll be paid or whether the price they receive will make the trip worthwhile.

At the same time, the people buying that seafood are often completely disconnected from the people who caught it. They may know very little about where it came from, how it was harvested or who benefited from their purchase.

Shaun and I wondered whether we could bring those two sides closer together.

We looked to the community supported agriculture model and asked whether something similar could work for fishing families.

What if people committed to buying seafood from us, and that commitment allowed us to make commitments to harvesters before they headed out on the water?

That idea became our community supported fishery. A commitment that goes both ways

Eighteen years later, this is still the part of our model that matters most to me.

Our members commit to us, which means we can commit to fishing families before they even untie from the dock.

That gives independent harvesters greater certainty. It allows us to build long-term relationships with fishing families and pay fair prices for their catch.

And on the other side of that relationship, our members get to know where their seafood comes from, who harvested it and how it was caught. There are fewer degrees of separation between the person on the boat and the person sitting down to dinner.

To me, that relationship is what community supported fisheries are really about.

What does it mean to support Canadian?

This is where I think the current conversation about buying Canadian gets particularly interesting.

Of course, where something is caught or grown matters. But I think we should also be asking bigger questions. Who produced this food? Who benefits when I buy it? How much of its value stays with the people who produced it? And what kind of food system does my purchase help sustain? For seafood, those questions can be surprisingly complicated.

Canada has extraordinary seafood resources and generations of fishing families with deep knowledge of our waters. Supporting them helps preserve independent fishing livelihoods, strengthens coastal communities and creates a more resilient Canadian food system. That is the version of “buy Canadian” that matters most to me.

It’s not simply about choosing one product over another because of where it came from. It’s about creating a food system in which the people who produce our food can build viable livelihoods and Canadians can have a meaningful connection to the food harvested here.

18 years later

This year, 70 independent fish harvesters have earned income through Skipper Otto, supported by thousands of member households across Canada.

I’m incredibly proud of that.

But I’m equally proud that the idea at the heart of Skipper Otto hasn’t changed.

We started with the belief that there could be a better relationship between fishing families and the people who enjoy their catch. Eighteen years later, our members and harvesters are still proving that there can be.

I was recently pleased to speak with Brett Bundale at The Canadian Press about the renewed interest in community supported fisheries and farms across Canada.

I’m glad this conversation is getting so much attention. Because if more Canadians are asking where their food comes from, who produces it and where the value of that food ultimately goes, those are questions worth asking long after the current conversation about buying Canadian fades from the headlines.

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