There are an estimated 1900-2000 small-scale harvesters in the province and growth within the seafood sector is expected to double over the next 25 years.
Small scale seafood harvesters hold great socio-economic importance to B.C.’s coastal communities and yet face enormous competition in the global marketplace.
To keep up with growing demand to produce more innovative products and differentiate from the competition, the Centre for Seafood Innovation, at Vancouver Island University (VIU), is offering a Seafood Business Accelerator program.
This intensive four-month training will coach 20 small and early-stage seafood producers (wild harvest fish, shellfish, and seaweed and farmed shellfish) to develop more sustainable and profitable, and become more self-sufficient business and community food providers.
The program runs from March to May 2023 and will include early business stage coaching, food industry training and project implementation services – all considered vital support to help harvesters seek new avenues of differentiation.
By the end of the four-months, all 20 participants will have a completed innovation plan and a product or marketing system prototype to present to potential buyers or other interested parties.
Island Coastal Economic Trust approved funding for this project in 2022 through the Capital and Innovation program.
We work in reciprocal relationships with coastal communities across the ancestral territories of the Kwak̓wala, Nuučaan̓uɫ, Éy7á7juuthem, Ligwilda'xw, Pəntl'áč, She shashishalhem, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Hul’q’umi’num’, diitiidʔaatx̣, SENĆOŦEN, Lekwungen, and T’Sou-ke speaking peoples.
