We receive so many lovely emails from our members talking about why the CSF is special to them. This message from Elana in Vancouver was so touching — it showed us that our deeply held values really do come across in all that we do. Thank you, Elana, for allowing me to share your email with our members here, and to all our members for being a part of such a powerful community of change!

Dear Skipper Otto’s CSF,

I had the wonderful experience last week of picking up the last piece of Ling Cod at the Fisherman’s Wharf market on Thursday night.

There was something quite special about it.  I hadn’t pre-ordered it and decided to show up on a whim.  When I asked for some ling cod, the person told me that there wasn’t any more and offered some other options.  But her colleague said, “I think I saw one last piece in the freezer”.  He had and brought it to me – and it was perfect.

Everyone was happy that I received the last piece of ling cod, but it wasn’t just the usual run-of-the-mill “look – a customer is happy”.  I had the sense that that last piece of cod represented an entire story of receiving the cod, meeting the fisher, preparing the pieces for pick-up.  Unlike a regular store where the shipments come from anywhere (any person any angler any distribution), these pieces of ling cod came from a person and the pieces were limited by what that person had caught.

So I had the lucky chance to feel the human-scale of the CSF.  I was lucky, as a consumer, to get the last piece.  But I was honoured, as a supporter of this CSF, to be a part of a larger story that links those who buy fish to those who prepare it to those who catch it to the waters the fish are caught in.  If we are not careful there can be, indeed, an end to fish.  It is so good to be part of something that upholds the values of sustainability and community.

best,

Elana