Fraser MacDonald needs a big freezer. The Vancouver-based tuna and prawn fisherman is trying to sell more of his catch in B.C., but first he needs somewhere to keep his catch until it sells. He could rent space in an industrial-scale freezer facility, but this option doesn’t offer the 24/7 access he needs to supply the B.C. market he wants to serve. Buying his own cold storage unit – an investment of at least $18 000 – is a key step to growing his locally-focused fishing business.

In 2018, B.C. fishermen harvested wild salmon, swimming scallops, and dozens of species in between. In all, they landed close to 196 300 tonnes of wild seafood, worth about $48 million to the province’s fishermen – yet in BC, it’s difficult to buy fish harvested outside our front door. Most of our fish is exported to the US, China, and close to 80 other countries, while the majority of the fish consumed by BC residents comes from overseas. Why?

Setting gillnets at dawn with a green smoothie in hand, is standard fishing-season practice for Scotia Siider, a 24-year-old, fifth-generation fisherman based in Sointula. Light comes early to the B.C. coast during the summer and the salmon gillnet fishery – open for only a few days each week on a good year – makes up a big part of her livelihood.

Helen-Anne Beans was three years old when she started fishing. It was inevitable – her family has been involved in the commercial fishery for generations, and each summer they’d head out from their home in Alert Bay to fish the B.C. coast. 

Enthusiasm and elbow grease got Laura Moore into fishing almost thirty years ago. They’re the only things about the industry that she hasn’t seen change during her time on the water.

Humpback whales dancing through a glassy sea at dawn convinced Kate Gillette she’d found her calling—two days into her first commercial fishing trip.