Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Canadian Fishing Company Limited was incorporated in British Columbia in 1908. It grew out of operations of the New England Fish Companys halibut operations on the British Columbia Coast. The New England Fish Company was organized in 1868 by fish dealers doing business in Boston so they could supply themselves with halibut from the Atlantic Banks. To satisfy increased demand the company began fishing for halibut on the west coast in 1893. The company used a small freighter commanded by Captain Freeman who was one of the men who later organized the Canadian Fishing Company. In 1905, five Vancouver men organized an association, a predecessor to the Canadian Fishing Company, to produce halibut for the New England Fishing Company and other distributors. When Alvah L. Hager took over management of the company in 1909, Canadian Fishing Company began distribution of its own products. Mr. Hager had been building up a salmon business in British Columbia since 1901. New England Fish Company gradually withdrew from west coast fishing operations after this time. Canadian Fishing Company built a large freezing, cold storage and ice-making plant in Vancouver in 1910. In 1912 Canfisco purchased Atlin Fisheries Limited in Prince Rupert. Home Plant cannery was built in 1918 at the foot of Gore Street in Vancouver. In 1923 the company purchased the freezing and cold storage plant at Butedale, near Wrights Sound, from Western Packers Limited along with canneries at Shushartie Bay on Vancouver Island and Marguerite Bay on Smiths Inlet. In 1925 the company purchased three plants owned by Kildala Packing Company: Kildala Cannery on Rivers Inlet, Manitou Cannery on Deans Channel and Carlisle Cannery on the Skeena River. In 1934 a public cold storage plant was built adjacent to the Atlin Fisheries plant in Prince Rupert. This plant was purchased by Canfisco in 1945. The same year Canfisco purchased the Nootka-Banfield Company with its fleet of pilchard and herring seiners, and plants at Nootka and Port Albion. In 1969 the Canadian Fishing Company purchased part of the holdings of the Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company Limited including North Pacific Cannery on the Skeena River. In 1984 the Canadian Fishing Company was purchased by the Pattison Group of Companies in Vancouver. In April, 2000, the company completed the purchase of British Columbia Packers Limited. The additional real estate in British Columbia and Alaska, processing plants, fishing licences and boats more than doubled the size of the company. Included in the purchase is the largest fish processing plant on the British Columbia coast, Oceanside Plant in Prince Rupert. Among other plants and canneries that have been owned by Canfisco are: Bones Bay on Cracroft Island; Goose Bay on Rivers Inlet; Tallheo at the head of Burke Channel near Bella Coola; Oceanic, Skeena; Wales Island, Pearse Channel near the mouth of the Naas River, built in 1902 by the American firm, Wales Island Packing Company, sold to Merrill DesBrisay and Company in 1911, purchased from M. DesBrisay in 1925, closed in 1949; Lockeport, (Lagoon Bay) east coast of Moresby Island, Queen Charlotte Islands; Sterling Shipyards Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary in Vancouver Harbour; Port Albion, shipyard on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Canadian Fishing Company has associate companies in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.