The Industry: The commercial fishing industry is quite large and is not composed of just fishing.  Under the umbrella are also processing/canning operations, other food operations such as fish meal and fish oil production as well as shipyards. All these divisions provide important jobs to people. There are 4 types of commercial fishing boats used in operations. Gillnetters are two man operated vessels which use a fishing technique called gillnetting. Long horizontal nets are placed in the water and fish are caught by their gills. They tend to fish near rivers and inlets. Purse seiners are larger boats which gather fish using the purse seining method. A large net surrounds the fish. Two ropes draw the opening closed, like drawing closed a purse and the fish cannot escape. Trollers vary in size from small boats to large diesel boats. The fishermen attract fish using shiny objects called spoons and catch them on hooks and lines attached to long poles. The last ship used is called a packer.  Packers pick up the catches from all the boats and take them to processing plants. (The Story of British Columbia Salmon 2) (Nelson and Turris 6)

The fishing industry in British Columbia has changed over the years due to decreasing fish numbers. Conservation has become a much bigger priority.  The pre-1950s were referred to as the “good old days” of commercial salmon fishing as there was enough salmon to satisfy everyone. During the “good old days” there were few restrictions aside from opening and closing days. Conservation of fish was based on overall run size and escapement of the salmon – meaning how many were able to get away and return to the spawning grounds. As long as the run sizes and the escapement numbers in the major fishing areas stayed the same each year, then conservation was thought to be achieved. (Nelson and Turris 11) It was a much simpler time in the fishery world!

The Company and Brand: The Canadian Fishing Company Limited, also known as Canfisco, was founded in 1906. It has been considered an industry leader since its inception. In the 1940’s, Canfisco and its associated companies operated approximately 1,350 boats, ranging from small one-man gillnetters to large diesel ships up to 115 feet in length. The majority of the fleet was Canfisco owned and the remaining boats were either chartered or owned by private fisherman. There was no company in the world that compared to it at the time. Not only did Canfisco have a large fleet, they also maintained two shipyards which provided a place to build new ships and to service their fleet.  In addition, Canfisco was operating six large canneries, 25 fresh fish stations and numerous other plants for things such as cold storage, freezing and the processing of oils (The Story of British Columbia Salmon  1). The company seemed larger in the past then in modern day. The document states they were collecting about 200 million pounds of fish in a normal year (The Story of British Columbia Salmon  1). Today they sell products throughout most of the world, with an excess of 45 million pounds of salmon sold each year. Currently the president is Dan Nomura and the company has a fleet of over 860 vessels and 9 processing plants. They are the largest packer of canned salmon in Canada (“About Confisco”). Gold Seal is one of Canfisco’s brands and it is displayed throughout the booklet. Initially Canfisco was exclusively a salmon fishery, however over time they expanded to fishing species such as, herring, hake and halibut (“About Confisco”).   The Gold seal brand therefore includes a variety of non-perishable food products.