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In the seaside village of Sointula on Malcolm Island that lies between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, Cary Williams serves hake and eggs for breakfast. Williams caught the hake himself. He has fished hake for nearly 25 years off the west edge of Vancouver Island. The delicate, soft, white-fleshed, mild-tasting fish is the largest seafood catch in B.C.
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“Pacific hake is the most abundant fish resource we have off the coast of Canada,” said Murdoch McAllister, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s department of oceans and fisheries. “It’s way, way larger than the salmon abundance.” |
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In 2017, 85,000 tonnes of hake were harvested off the B.C. coast, nearly six times the province’s wild salmon catch.
But there’s one more catch: not many others in B.C. are eating hake. Despite the unrivalled volume of the province’s hake catch, it’s unlikely to find hake on local restaurant menus or in supermarkets and grocery stores.
Williams and McAllister each note that most of B.C.’s hake catch is exported overseas. “I think we actually consume very little of what we catch here,” said Williams. “The amount that is exported would probably be significantly all of it.” |
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