Fair Fishing, by Annemarie Tempelman-Kluit for Yoyomama

Sonia - January 13, 2015

“Local mum (and yoyomama reader!) Sonia Strobel married into a fishing family. Her husband and father-in-law were both fisherman (and teachers), but fishing’s a hard industry to make a living at and they were thinking of getting out, when they hatched the CSF idea. A bit of research showed there was no such thing (yet) and so Skipper Otto’s (Otto’s the senior Strobel), Canada’s first CSF was born.

Launched in 2009 with 40 members, they initially only offered salmon. Now they have 1,200 members, support about 15 fisherman and offer fresh and frozen salmon, tuna, halibut, spots prawns and side striped shrimp, and Dungeness crab. In 2014 they launched a Seafood Equipment Library stocked with canners, vacuum sealers and filet knives, all available on loan to members.

After some growing pains, they streamlined their process to make things easier. You simply buy an annual membership (it’s just $38 through February, then it goes up to $68) and then buy shares in $100 increments. Then it’s a buy-down process. This system allows them to keep their prices consistent, provides a fair value to customers, a fair price for the fisherman, and it’s the right thing to do for the ocean.”

Sonia - January 13, 2015


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Fair Fishing, by Annemarie Tempelman-Kluit for Yoyomama

Sonia - January 13, 2015

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