Port Alberni’s fish market—Codfather Seafood—is undergoing renovations to become a certified seafood producer.
Located at the Harbour Quay, Codfather is now under new ownership after the store’s previous owner passed away.
Dale Leier, VP/director of business development at Codfather, said he’s entered the seafood business as a new face, as he used to sell and manufacture soap.
He said he and his partners—Michael Thurber and Daniel Furgason—were originally looking for a place to set up a fish hatchery on the West Coast when they came across Codfather.
“Our long-term plan was to acquire some leases and to basically produce our own oyster and clam seed, raise it on our own farms, harvest it and then process it for market…it’s a three or four stage process,” Leier said. “One of those steps is to run it through a processing plant, so the product has to be created, disinfected, cleaned and made ready for restaurants, retailers and so forth. We were looking for a place for a hatchery and then we stumbled upon this—it’s a processing plant.”
Leier said the plant still has to go through federal inspection before becoming a certified food processing facility but that they already have distributors lined up and are in meetings with foreign buyers.
Codfather’s hand-peeled shrimp is a signature item for the shop, that gets supplied to restaurants and grocery stores around the Island. The shop also offers smoked salmon, crab (when available) and recently they have entered into the shellfish market.
“We have to have a federally approved facility in order to process the shellfish which we would in fact collect from oyster beds and farms on the west side of the island,” Leier said.
Codfather Seafood is currently forming a partnership with Effingham Oysters, on the Effingham Inlet that joins into Barclay Sound, who have an oyster farm.
“They want to process,” Leier said. “Now, everyone on this side of the island has to send their oysters over to the other side of the island for processing, so we’re undertaking renovations to make us compliant with the federal regulations as far as a processing plant has to be.”
Leier said the shellfish industry was appealing to him and his partners because they have more control over the supply than other seafood products like fish and crab.
He said the original plan was to process other fish species as well like salmon, halibut and cod, but that they can’t get enough product.
“All the catch is contracted out to buyers. We can’t get any of the fishermen to sell to us,” he said.
Being in a port, Leier didn’t think getting a supply of fish would be a problem.
“It’s a huge problem,” Leier said. “What we are able to get, the prices are unbelievable. We got some spot prawns and in the space of one week they jumped $5 a pound. Of all the challenges that wasn’t one that I was anticipating.”
Leier said their Chum salmon comes out of Campbell River and their hand-peeled shrimp comes from the North Island.
“With regards to the shellfish and being on the West Coast, it will be much more consistent, which helps for a business point of view. Because not only does a plant operate more efficiently when it operates consistently but also for the customers and their expectations,” he said.
Leier and his partners opened the shop at the end of March but haven’t yet had an official grand opening. Most of the former staff have remained at the shop.
karly.blats@albernivalleynews.com
