Tag Archives: Skipper Otto’s
How is Coronavirus impacting BC’s fishermen?
Doug Kostering, a fisherman who docks in Port Hardy, had a two week delay to this start of his halibut fishing this year as the offices that handed out licenses were closed because of the virus. He estimates that two week delay alone resulted in an up to $30,000 loss in revenue. “Fishermen are in an uncertain industry to begin with. Fishermen traditionally take all the risk up front – they take out lines of credit, they take out loans, they do all the work to fix up their boats and get ready for their upcoming season,” said Chris Kantowicz, Skipper Otto’s COO. “And they do all that in hopes that not only will they catch fish, but once they have that fish in hand, that there will be a market for it. It’s a lot of risk and all of it lies with them.” >click to read< 07:06
Community Supported Fisheries processing plant planned for False Creek
Shaun and Sonia Strobel founded Skipper Otto’s Community Supported Fishery in 2008 as a way for Otto Strobel — Shaun’s father — to keep fishing independently at a time when it was becoming increasingly more difficult for fishermen like him to make a living in B.C. Now, another 39 boats have joined their collective and more than 1700 customers pay up front — on average $300 per year — to have the chance to order and pick-up fresh fish, shellfish and other food direct from B.C.’s waters. “The lack of secure processing is the biggest hurdle we have to overcome,” said Shaun Strobel, who added that up to 75 per cent of what he and other fishermen in the collective catch has to be processed. Some of that is done on the boats and in the limited space that the Strobels and others have at the False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf, but most often they must turn to fish processors who are already busy with contracts from much larger companies. Read the rest here 15:36
New distribution model helps Skipper Otto’s expand beyond B.C. borders
Just over a year ago, Sonia and Shaun Strobel decided to expand their community supported fisheries business, Skipper Otto’s, beyond British Columbia’s borders. Unofficially, they were already there. The business had ballooned from 40 people buying fish from a locker on Granville Island to more than 1,000 members, buying thousands of pounds of seafood, across Western Canada. Read the rest here 08:47
