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Like many people in northwestern Ontario, Paul Drombolis grew up loving fish and fishing.
He says as a young man he chased brook trout and steelhead in local streams and rivers around Thunder Bay. He fell in love with the area and the fish. Although it started out as simply as a fever for angling, as he grew older, Drombolis wanted to make a career out of fish.
Then, one day, that dream began to grow into an idea. |
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"It was an idea that kind of sprung up between myself and a friend while we were out actually camping and fishing," Drombolis said. "And we kind of thought, 'you know, why isn't there an easy way for people to connect with fishermen that want to sell their catch locally?' So we created this idea to bring more fish to the Thunder Bay Country market."
Drombolis said the name Eat the Fish came from the desire to teach local people about the different species of fish that commercial fishermen harvest and sell. And they wanted to promote seeing people eating more of that local fish.
In 2018, Eat the Fish launched an began selling mostly locally harvested fish including whitefish, lake trout and walleye. Two fishermen from Nunavut were also brought on and supplied Arctic char. Business was good and growing.
Then, in March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. The Eat the Fish business plan was dealt a major blow. |
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