Why is it hard to buy local fish in a B.C. port city? Researchers look for answers
Challenges are rising prices and shuttered processing plants, says researcher
Prince Rupert prided itself as "the halibut capital of the world" a century ago, but it's now tricky to get a line on fresh seafood in the port city on B.C.'s northwest coast, a research team has found.
Ecotrust Canada, a non-profit organization that promotes community development and environmental sustainability, is trying to figure out why.
The group is conducting research about the challenges in finding and buying a locally caught sea food in groceries stores and also the difficulties in running a small fishing business.
"The assumption would have been that it's a coastal town, there is fishing all around us and so it should be fairly easy to access fresh, locally caught seafood. But that's actually not the case here," said Rabia Ahmed, a project coordinator with Ecotrust Canada.
Part of the reason is cost, she told Carolina de Ryk, the host of CBC's Daybreak North.
Halibut currently sells for about $28 per pound in Prince Rupert, she said, a price that has increased steeply in recent years.
"Seafood being too expensive was one of the most common responses we heard from people," she said.
Part of the reason for those high prices is the closure of local processing plants. Now most of the seafood caught in the waters off Prince Rupert — from prawns to geoduck to salmon — is processed elsewhere and directly shipped to other markets.
There is always more demand than supply for locally caught seafood, she said
"There is definitely a concern that it does affect food security because it's this food source that everyone has relied on for so long and now it's becoming more and more difficult to access," Ahmed said.
Need to diversify
With low returns of some fish species like salmon, Ahmed said, part of the solution is diversifying the types of seafood that are being caught and sold.
There is also community interest in connecting fishermen more directly with the consumer, she said, with the creation of open fish markets or community supported fisheries.
"My research has focused so far on understanding the 'why' of people in Prince Rupert finding it difficult to access fresh seafood," she said.
The research project will continue throughout the summer and into next year. Ahmed has mainly focused on surveying local residents and plans to focus on fishermen next. After that, the project will look at what type of fish market is feasible — and wanted — in Prince Rupert.
With files from Daybreak North.