Mowi Canada West expressed its condolences after Chief Archie Robinson Sr., the hereditary chief and member of the Fish Food Council of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nations tribe in Canada, died at 85 years old.
“With the passing of Chief Archie Robinson Sr., our sincere condolences and deepest sympathies are with the family and the Kitasoo / Xai'xais people,” Mowi Canada West wrote on social media.
“We have had a long relationship with them, working the salmon farms in their territory. We’ve had a partnership with them for over 20 years,” Mowi Spokesman Chris Read told SeafoodSource.
Robinson helped rescue his remote coastal community from economic difficulty with a sustainable fish farming operation, SeaWestNews reported.
“A fierce supporter of salmon farming and other forms of sustainable aquaculture to create healthy First Nations coastal communities, Robinson was remembered as a passionate and charismatic leader who put his community ahead of the individual,” the publication stated.
When a fish-packing facility – the only employer in Klemtu, British Columbia, at the time – abruptly shut down in 1989, Robinson and other leaders set up and operated a fish farm in its place, according to SeaWestNews.
“The fish farm, however, could not achieve the economy of scale required to compete on the global market or withstand the drop in salmon prices in the 1990s,” SeaWestNews wrote.
As a result, the Kitasoo/Xai’Xais tribe invited Marine Harvest Canada (now Mowi) to Klemtu in the mid-1990s, paving the way for the first partnership between the First Nations community and finfish farmers on the coast of British Columbia.
Image courtesy of the Kitasoo/Xai’Xais First Nations community of Klemtu
