AQUACULTURE
SEAFOOD PROCESSOR SEES BRIGHT FUTURE FROM PORT ALBERNI FLURER SMOKERY LTD. RELOCATED FROM CAMPBELL RIVER TO PROCESS AND SMOKE WEST COAST PRODUCT
26
PORT ALBERNI – Flurer Smokery Ltd. has landed on the Port Alberni waterfront after over 10 years in Campbell River, and they envision a bright future processing and smoking west coast fish and seafood. Kelly Flurer, who owns the company with husband Brian, says their location, at 3003140D Harbour Road – the former Port Fish building, now known as Dock Plus – means docking fishboats are just 40 feet away from their front door. “It’s quite an opportunity for a number of businesses in the community to have a federally registered building to operate out of,” she says. “For us, we’ve always done a lot of wild and farmed fish, but also we’ve done a lot of custom work. We see great potential here working within the industry, with First Nation bands around the island, sport fishers and aquaculture companies.” Flurer Smokery Ltd. closed their Campbell River operation on January 15, and began preparing for the move to Port Alberni. Then COVID-19 struck, which delayed renovations in their new location, for which they obtained their federal certification two months ago. “A lot of our regular customers would have been closed through COVID, so we wouldn’t have had a lot of sales anyway,” she notes. “The down-side was we couldn’t get set up until July 1, as the crews were delayed.” Flurer Smokery Ltd. does custom, wholesale and retail work, everything from primary processing to value-added and ready-to-eat, as well as smoked products. They are mainly focused on fin fish, including all different
Kelly and Brian Flurer own and operate Flurer Smokery Ltd.
species of salmon, halibut, tuna, ling cod, black cod (sable fish), and even sturgeon. Sturgeon is being grown at a little hatchery on Great Central Lake, after acquiring smolts from Vancouver Island University, “so they’re looking to having us do their processing here.” “We have a product called FINS – it’s our version of a nugget of smoked salmon,” she adds. “Most companies cut little squares and call them nuggets, but we cut ours into triangles and call them FINS. We’ve had a really great response.” Now that they’ve relocated, Flurer says they
SEPTEMBER 2020