As the largest seafood distributor in Western Canada, officials with Vancouver-based Albion Fisheries feel a responsibility to conserve the oceans and promote sustainable seafood. As a result, the company — which has operations in Victoria, Vancouver, Alberta and Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) — has taken several non-sustainable species off of its product list over the past few years.
Contributing Editor Christine Blank recently spoke to Guy Dean, VP of import/export and chief sustainability officer for Albion, about sustainability and seafood.
Blank: How long has Albion been working on providing sustainable seafood?
Dean: It has been a focus since we started, 48 years ago. Our previous owners were two families with a long history of being in the seafood and fishing industries, who were focused on preservation of our resources for their children and their children’s children. Living in Vancouver and western Canada, we are more focused on the environment than the balance of North America. Officially, though, our organization developed a strong plan and policy six or seven years ago. Now, more than 30 percent of our approximately 2,000 active SKUs are certified sustainable. Those SKUs make up well over 50 percent of our business, and that is the path to the future.
Which seafood items did Albion stop carrying, as a result of its official stance on sustainability?
We de-listed Chilean sea bass in 2005, well before everyone else jumped on the “green” bandwagon. The year we de-listed it, we were doing over USD 1 million worth of sales a year in Chilean sea bass. There was enough foresight by our leaders that selling Chilean sea bass was a short-term solution, not a long-term solution. Over the last couple of years, we de-listed nine species groups, which account for around 40 to 50 SKUs. These include sharks, skates, rays, and hoki. Two years ago, we told all of our halibut suppliers that we would carry only Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified halibut.
What challenges have you had in moving towards more sustainable species?
Part of the challenge is getting our customer base online. Their customers are used to a certain taste or flavor profile, so getting them to change is an ongoing challenge. To get our customers to switch over from black tigers and exotic whites from Southeast Asia has been a real challenge. For the most part, most of our customers recognize what we do and are completely supportive of it.
Who are a few of your sustainable seafood suppliers?
We are sourcing product from all over the world, but local is very important to us and makes up the bulk of business that we do. There are a number of trout operations that involve inland aquaculture and Sweetwater is a company that is producing coho salmon in tanks on land. Target Marine is a farmed sturgeon company; they have been trying to do it for 10 years and have finally come to the point that they are able to produce a great quality product. We have also been able to align ourselves with Green Prairie Aquafarm, an inland prawn farm in Alabama.
Which sustainable organizations do you work with?
There are so many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have so many opinions on what is deemed sustainable and what is not. We still have a number of items that Greenpeace Canada would consider should be de-listed. We tend to work closely with OceanWise (a program of the Vancouver Aquarium) and SeaChoice. They hold us accountable and help us make conscientious decisions. MSC is the gold standard; it is international in scope and is recognized by many of our retailers.
Do you distribute primarily to restaurants or supermarkets?
Our customer base is 50 percent retail and 50 percent foodservice. Our success in foodservice is the higher-end white tablecloth restaurants and chains. We sell to every major retailer in western Canada, expect for one. It is the retailers that are recognizing MSC certification, foodservice has not.
