Canfisco's Early Years: Part II

Photo: Circa 1920 scene at Canfisco's Home Plant office in Vancouver, BC. Individuals pictured are (left to right) Janet Ferrier (extreme left, at the typewriter), Reg Finch-Govey (sitting at the desk), Gertie Laird (typing at the switchboard), unidentified person (standing at the adding machine), George Crawford and Bob Payne Sr. (standing at the counter). Inside the inner office (left to right) is Elsie Taylor, Jim Eckman and Neil Hassie.
(Canfisco Photo Collection)

Canfisco did not start to can salmon until 1918, when the Home Plant cannery was built in Vancouver. Expansion in this industry, however, was very rapid until the 1930's when salmon canning became the major single activity of the Company. During this period Canfisco owned 16 salmon canneries in strategic locations throughout the salmon producing districts of British Columbia. Canfisco purchased the Gulf of Georgia Cannery in 1926.

To better control and improve quality, as well as to develop new products and processes, Canfisco created, in 1927, the first company operated (commercial) fisheries research laboratory to be established in Canada, which included an excellent technical reference library on fisheries related subjects. The Research Department was instituted at the Home Plant under the direction of Mr. H. R. Beard, and consisted of an office and technical library, chemical research and analytical laboratory, canning division, laboratory freezer (capable of holding -40 C), net testing division, and pilot plant. The primary functions of the Research Department were to maintain the high quality of Canfisco products, to develop new products, to improve production techniques, and to test supplies used in the production and manufacture of fishery products.

Photos: The photographs above are from the late 1920's and show the analytical laboratory (upper left) and the library (upper right). The photographs below are from the 1940's and show the net testing facility (lower left) and the pilot plant (lower right). Note the overhead belt drives used to power the manual seamer used for seaming the lids onto the salmon cans. (Canfisco Photo Collection)

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To round out its operations during the 1930's, Canfisco also expanded into large scale production and distribution of smoked fish, salted salmon and herring, canned herring, salmon caviar, and fish meal and oil.

In 1938, Canfisco initiated a new development in the frozen fish field in British Columbia -- quick frozen packaged fillets and slices, individually wrapped, ready for consumer use. Canfisco, the largest producer for two decades, operated packaged frozen fish plants at Vancouver, Butedale and Prince Rupert.

The herring fishery of British Columbia was both very important very extensive during the 1930's and 1940's. Tonnage landed during this period was greater than for salmon, but the value was considerably less. Large quantities were used fresh, frozen, canned, smoked and salted, and for bait. In the years following World War I, large packs of dry-salted herring were produced, reaching a peak of over 50,000 tons per year for several years. This was exported to the Orient, but tonnage declined greatly during the depression and as the Japanese invaded China. Beginning in 1926, the Government permitted whole herring to be reduced to fish meal and oil and in succeeding years this branch of the industry developed by leaps and bounds, taking the major part of the catch in the years 1935 through 1940. Herring canning was started by Canfisco in 1934 after no pack by the industry for about ten years. War needs for canned fish caused the Canadian pack to leap ten-fold in 1939, greatly again in 1940, and averaged about 1,200,000 cases a year until the late 1940's. Also, in each of these years, large quantities of herring were used for meal and oil and for other purposes.

Photo: Cannery workers "patch" (or adjust) the weight of half-pound oval cans of herring prior to seaming the lids on the cans, circa 1945. (Canfisco Photo Collection)

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Another British Columbia fishery almost as important as the herring fishery was the pilchard fishery. Extensive exploitation of this resource, which appears off the west coast of Vancouver Island in the summer and fall months, started in 1925 when the Government permitted these fish to be reduced to fish meal and oil. Expansion was almost instantaneous and production, except for a few off years, was consistently at a high level for a number of years. Tonnage in many years approximated or exceeded that of herring. An excellent pack of canned pilchards was put up each year, the peak being 101,356 cases in 1943.

Canfisco has from the first participated in all branches of the herring and pilchard fisheries but more particularly in the former. Large quantities have been frozen yearly for bait, for making kippers and for the frozen fish market. In the early days, Canfisco was a large producer of Scotch-cured herring and later, when great quantities of dry-salted herring were exported to the Orient, Canfisco operated two salteries on Vancouver Island, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. With the decline of markets for this product, reduction of herring to fish meal and oil was undertaken and later canning of herring was initiated and developed to large proportions by Canfisco. Reduction of pilchards was started in 1927.

Canfisco commenced production of herring meal and oil at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery in 1940, which continued until the reduction operation ceased in 1979. Canfisco also launched its Gold Seal® brand canned salmon label in 1940 with production from the Gulf of Georgia Cannery. In 1940, Canfisco also started large scale production of high quality fish pastes in British Columbia and was the largest producer of this product.

In 1945, Canfisco became a major producer, second to none, in the herring and pilchard industries, by purchasing the Nootka-Banfield Company, Limited, and its associate companies. This added to Canfisco's production facilities the largest and best fleet of pilchard and herring seiners, two of the finest reduction plants in British Columbia, pilchard and herring canneries, and additional salmon canning facilities.

Another important branch of the fishery industries of British Columbia initiated and pioneered by Canfisco was the vitamin liver and vitamin liver oil industry. In 1932, Canfisco stared purchasing large quantities of livers from the halibut fleet. These livers went to pharmaceutical companies who produced vitamin oils from them. In 1941, Canfisco contracted for the total production of livers and vitamin-bearing fish viscera from the halibut fleet and put into operation the first modern vitamin oil plant for producing high, as well as low, potency oils from fish livers. Further expansion took place in 1941 when Canfisco built and started operation of a large fish oil cold-cleaning and blending plant to produce vitamin feeding oils for the poultry and stock producers of Canada. Canfisco's analytical laboratory determined countless Vitamin A values on livers and plant oils. These various vitamin-producing operations became an important part of Canfisco's business and continued for several decades until the introduction of synthetic Vitamin A reduced the necessity for vitamin-rich fish liver oils.

Photo: Canfisco produced Gold Seal® brand "feeding oil" containing vitamins A and D as an animal feed supplement, December 1945. (Canfisco Photo Collection)

When the second World War broke out in the Fall of 1939, the BC fishing industry immediately went to war. To help meet the demand for non-perishable protein food, herring canning was expanded over twenty-fold by the BC industry. Canfisco commenced canning herring at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery in 1940, and is justly proud of its part in the BC fishing industry's magnificent war record. This, plus all canned salmon, was shipped overseas to Great Britain and to the Armed Forces. Fish meal and oil and vitamin oils were expanded to the utmost, as were fresh and frozen fishery products, to help feed Canada, the British Empire and its Allies. Following the war, in 1946, salmon canning was ceased at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, and one year later, in 1947, herring canning at this facility also ceased.

Photos: The pictures above were taken at Canfisco's Home Plant in the late 1940s and show bagging of fish meal (left) and filling of fish oil drums.
(Canfisco Photo Collection)

Thus, in war and in peace, The Canadian Fishing Company, Limited, expanded into all areas of the fishing industry of Western Canada. In the short space of 42 years, Canfisco became so identified with the fishing industry of Canada that its name was recognized, not only throughout the British Empire, but around the world as the symbol of quality and service in the seafood products.