Finest At Sea - a sustainable seafood company

Erie St plant manager Richard McBride holds up a live Dungeness crab. Spot Prawns are available year round – either fresh or frozen. Photo by Deanna Ladret.

Next time you find yourself in James Bay and searching for dinner inspiration, why not opt for fresh seafood from Erie Street’s Finest At Sea?

Operating off BC’s coast for over thirty years, Finest At Sea’s fishing crew and their 13 boats supply dozens of restaurants and stores across Victoria and Vancouver (and in fact, Japan as well). Sashimi grade albacore tuna, halibut, salmon, lingcod, rockfish, sablefish, scallops, oysters, spot prawns, mussels, and crabs are all harvested sustainably from the wild waters surrounding Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

Once the fish are caught, they are immediately frozen at sea below the ship deck to maintain their quality and form. At the end of the trip, they are unloaded at the docks and transported to a Finest At Sea Plant (such as Erie Street) where they are prepared for wholesale shipments, frozen, smoked, or sent up island for canning.

First and foremost, Finest At Sea is a sustainable company. They operate strictly within their allowable quotas, adhere to the guidelines for each season, and save absolutely all bycatch that wouldn’t survive being thrown back. In fact, says Plant Manager Richard McBride, many species that are considered ‘bycatch’ such as rockfish and black cod/sablefish used to be discarded – but are newly rediscovered as excellent for eating.

In addition to supplying restaurants and grocery stores, Finest At Sea has a small shop around the back of the office at the Erie Street plant, walls decorated with large framed photos of fishing boats loaded with piles of gleaming halibut. Here one can find – even in January – an array of fresh-frozen and smoked fish behind the counter, shellfish, prawns, and a sizeable tank teeming with Sooke Dungeness crab. Summer, of course, yields a more bountiful selection, including the ultimate treat: fresh fish caught that very morning. A few shelves line the store’s opposite corner, stocked with Finest At Sea’s own canned tuna and salmon, an array of salts and spice blends and other local gourmet products. The TV mounted above the office doors displays videos taken from their fishing boats – as close as you can get to tracing your food’s source without actually catching the fish yourself!

Website

James Bay, Victoria

Finest At Sea

27 Erie Street,

Victoria, BC. Canada.

Phone: 250-383-7760

Vancouver

Finest At Sea Seafood Boutique & Bistro

4675 Arbutus Street

Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Phone: 604-266-1904

1805 Mast Tower Road, Granville Island