The Best Little Seafood Market in British Columbia
Fresh Seafood & Friendly Service Since 1992
Committed to wild-only seafood products, The Fishery has delivered fresh seafood and friendly service for more than 16 years. The owner, Arnie Hengstler, is a commercial fisherman from a family of fishermen and is committed to wild-only seafood products. He started selling his fresh catch in the Saturday Market in 1972. By 1992, he & his wife, Julia, opened The Fishery seafood market on Salt Spring Island with partners, John & Verna Elliott. Arnie & Julia assumed sole ownership of the store in 1995, branching out into their own gourmet line of wild-only seafood products. Arnie continues to fish for salmon and live crab in order to deliver you the freshest and highest quality seafood.
The Fishery Afloat: Serving the Outer Gulf Islands (Summers)
While the main retail outlet for The Fishery is the Saltspring Island storefront, during the summers and winters, Arnie travels by boat, van & plane to bring his fabulous seafood to locations far and wide. Arnie operates The Fishery Afloat, a boat-based store that brings fresh, frozen, canned & smoked seafood to various Gulf Islands during the busy season. See our calendar for upcoming dates & times. From late fall to just before Christmas, you will find Arnie travelling from nearby Sidney, BC, all the way to Toronto, ON, to sell his gourmet seafood products at trade, gift & food shows. Be sure to check our calendar page to see if we're coming to a town near you!
About the Owner, Arnie Hengstler
Arnie Hengstler grew up in Richmond, BC, close to Steveston--a historic port for salmon fishing. In fact, our canned fish is now sold in the historic Gulf of Georgia Cannery Gift Shop. Arnie spent many hours on his father, Kurt's, fishing boats. While he fished for others in early years, by the age of 15 Arnie skippered the 20 ft. African Queen to fish salmon in and around the Fraser River--pulling his net in by hand. At 19 years old , Arnie built his own fibreglass boat with Kurt, his father, & older brother, Ray. While Kurt built a more convetional stern-picker boat with the net pulled on to a drum at the stern, both Arnie & Ray built bow-pickers. For more on fishing vessel types see this handout from 
the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council.
Arnie still fishes salmon on Mahalo Kai--the boat he built with his father--but he now also catches crab aboard The Warrior Rock.
The method for crabbing is very different from how Arnie catches salmon--a method called gillnetting. For more on methods see this handout ( crabber p. 1; gilnetter p. 2) from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game--Division of Commercial Fisheries.
