Skipper Otto

Our commitment...

Accessing high-quality, sustainable seafood can be incredibly difficult and many complex global factors play a role. 80% of the seafood Canadians are eating is imported from foreign fisheries through global, industrial supply chains that prioritize profit over all other considerations. This industrial-scale profit-focus has led to depleted fish stocks in many global fisheries, harmful harvesting practices, and a callous disregard for safety, human rights, and environmental protection. Shoppers are regularly cheated through rampant seafood fraud and mislabeling which is aided by long, convoluted supply chains where seafood passes through many hands before reaching a local store or consumer.

At the same time, we export 90% of the seafood we catch in Canada. This is not surprising, given that fisheries in Canada were set up as resource-extraction systems, designed to enrich a distant empire. In the decades since colonization, Canada’s west coast fisheries have become increasingly concentrated into a few large corporate hands, siphoning the profits away from coastal communities that had traditionally been the beneficiaries of the resource’s abundance.

There is however a better way. If we truly value people and the planet, we need to design resilient, local food systems that feed Canadians with Canadian seafood and protect a way of life in coastal and Indigenous communities. Guided by insights and leadership from our independent, multi-generational fishing families and Indigenous partners, we’re doing just that – in a multitude of ways.

Skipper Otto fishing families independently run their own fishing operations. They own or lease their vessels, licences, and quota. They prepare for each season, take great pride in preserving the quality of their catches, and have the freedom to sell to whomever they choose. Skipper Otto supports these independent fishers by paying a transparent and higher-than-typical price for their catches as soon as the fish is landed. This contrasts with most of the fleet, forced to deliver their catches to buyers who always have a reason for a surprisingly low price (or won’t even disclose the price they are paying) and then don’t provide payment in full until many months later. Yet somehow the low prices paid to fishers by corporate interests never seem to translate into lower prices for seafood in stores for Canadian consumers. Skipper Otto is different.  We choose to share the benefits of our efficient, one-stop supply chain with our independent fishing families. In exchange, Skipper Otto members get competitively priced, top-quality seafood handled with care by fishing families who feel respected for their hard work and expertise.

Our independent fishing families are environmental stewards who fully embrace that their long-term livelihoods and those of their children and grandchildren depend on healthy fish stocks. They care about their coastal and Indigenous communities and are eager to be part of resilient, local food systems that feed Canadians with Canadian seafood for generations to come.

Skipper Otto is committed to environmental sustainability. We ensure that all the seafood we carry comes from well-managed, heavily-monitored fisheries, with healthy stocks, using gear methods that minimize bycatch and ecosystem damage. To accomplish this, we partner with the Canadian non-profit ocean conservation organization, Ocean Wise. They evaluate scientific fishery data sources to provide recommendations on which species and gear methods meet their standards of sustainability. The majority of the seafood we carry at Skipper Otto is “Ocean Wise Recommended.” In addition, we undertake our own research with an in-house fisheries expert who gathers and evaluates data from university researchers, DFO data sets, and other experts using methodologies similar to Ocean Wise and other globally recognized seafood verification and certification systems. In cases where our conclusions differ from Ocean Wise, we share with our members our findings and rationale for carrying a species, and are always transparent about these differences in our online store and on our labels.

In the spirit of reconciliation and justice, Skipper Otto is deliberate in sourcing a significant amount of its offerings from Indigenous fishing families each season. As with all our fishers, we have developed long-term relationships based on open dialogue and respect. We support the Canadian government’s reconciliation efforts to recognize Indigenous rights around fisheries by building a fair market for their growing access to the resource. We think it is important to celebrate and highlight all our fishers on both our website and on every label so that members can build a connection with the people who catch their seafood. This transparency allows our members to see for themselves the beautiful diversity in our coastal fishing communities.