Creative Salmon turns 25

In 1990, a group of investors came together with a commitment to grow Chinook salmon in Tofino, and began what would become Canada’s first certified organic salmon farming company. Bill Vernon, the company’s first General Manager and a veteran of BC salmon farming industry, began his career on the Sunshine Coast over thirty years ago. Vernon knew the company would need to do something different to succeed, so with only four employees and a farm stocked with 20,000 Chinook, he set out to do just that.

“In a world of very large companies farming salmon, we needed to find a competitive edge. The challenges were many,” recalls Vernon, “but so were the successes.”

While the bulk of salmon farming companies in BC grow Atlantic salmon, Creative Salmon has only ever grown Chinook. Today, the company employs 55 people, and operates four farms simultaneously with its six site tenures. Although it’s still one of the smallest salmon farming companies in the world, Creative Salmon quickly became North America’s largest supplier of Pacific Chinook (king or spring) salmon. Furthermore, Creative Salmon is fully integrated, from producing their own broodstock and smolts to raising and harvesting the fish and processing them in a plant located right on the dock in Tofino.

It was also the first salmon farming company in BC to hire a full-time Aboriginal liaison, Tla-o-qui-aht hereditary chief Bruce Frank, who now chairs the Creative Salmon/Tla-o-qui-aht Fish Farm Committee, which was established under a formal protocol with the Nation signed in July 2014.

“My first message to Creative all those many years ago was simple,” recalls Frank. “I told them to pack up and get out of my Nation’s territory.” Frank says much has changed since then, and credits open communication and relationship building over the years.

Creative Salmon was also the first salmon farming company in BC to implement an Environmental Monitoring Program. Vernon says this concern for the environment extended to other areas, including the decision to not use copper or chemical anti-foulants on nets and the early use of underwater cameras during feeding.

As a founding member of the Pacific Organic Seafood Association, Creative Salmon was a driving force in seeing to the establishment of the Canadian Organic Aquaculture Standard, which was implemented by the Canadian government in May 2012. While organic practices started in the early days for Creative Salmon, the company only became officially recognized for these practices in December 2013, when it was certified.

General Manager Tim Rundle has worked at Creative Salmon for 22 of its 25 years, taking the GM role in 2008. He credits Vernon for envisioning what the company would be, and is committed to continuing the company’s successes into the future.

“Creative Salmon has much to be proud of,” says Rundle. “Certainly with our recent history, organic certification and signing our protocol with the Tla-o-qui-aht is top of mind, but Creative has always pushed to be different and to always get better. Here’s to the next 25 years.”

The salmon farming industry in BC is continuously working to improve the environmental, social and economic sustainability of its practices, and Creative Salmon is helping to drive this effort.