This Commerce Life · Phil Chang / Kenny Vannucci

We catch up with Sonia Strobel, Co-Founder & CEO Of Skipper Otto - Canada's Largest Community-Supported Fishery

December 16, 2025·1 hr 1 min·5 clips

Sonia Strobel explains how 8,000 home cooks pre-purchase shares from 45 fishing families in Canada's largest community-supported fishery.

The old data chase gets a quick airing. Before the fishery story takes over, the hosts remember when retail answers meant paperwork, delays, and nobody quite getting what they needed. Then the seafood gets personal. The fish comes through as relationship work, not just inventory moving through a site. Some items disappear quickly. The guest talks about fishers in northern Saskatchewan, including lake fish from a Metis Cree Nation that reached them through community partners. That part matters. The story is not a neat expansion plan. It is trust, long chats, visits, and figuring out the work together. There is real infrastructure behind it too. The fish can be filleted, flash frozen, and handled in a small CFIA plant in the community before it reaches people elsewhere. The hosts perk up at access. Walleye, pike, char, and other fish make the point that seafood is bigger than the store case usually lets on. Scarcity sets the tempo. One minute something is on the site, and the next it is gone because someone waited. So the advice stays blunt: pay attention, move when the fish shows up, and do not assume it will still be there later. The close stays warmly domestic, with talk of sneaking fish into the house, partners who may or may not cheer, and food that tastes different from retail fish. The lesson does not need polishing. Good product, better access, and doing the right thing can sit in the same basket.

As heard by us

A practical look at how community-connected fish reaches customers from northern Saskatchewan.

The piece tracks how fish from a Metis Cree Nation in northern Saskatchewan gets to customers through community partnerships and a small local plant that does CFIA processing, flash freezing, and filleting.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a fish story that feels like community, supply chains, and dinner all at once.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from This Commerce Life