At UBC Food Services, we've long believed that feeding thousands of students every day is more than a logistical challenge; it's an opportunity to model what a better food system looks like and to help a generation of young people think differently about where their food comes from.
This World Oceans Day (June 8th), we're celebrating a partnership with Skipper Otto that puts those values into practice.
Who Is Skipper Otto?
Skipper Otto Community Supported Fishery was founded 18 years ago by Sonia and Shaun Strobel to connect people directly with the fishers who catch their seafood, and to ensure those harvesters are paid fairly for their work. What started with one fishing family has grown into a national network of more than 70 small-scale, independent harvesters in coastal and Indigenous communities across Canada, serving over 7,000 members from Victoria to Montreal.
Skipper Otto operates differently from conventional seafood systems. Members commit funds ahead of the fishing season, which are used to guide responsible harvesting and ensure fishers receive fair, stable incomes. In return, members get direct access to high-quality, fully traceable seafood: they know who caught it, where, and how.
It's also worth noting that Skipper Otto founder Sonia Strobel is a UBC alumna, which makes this partnership feel like a full-circle moment.
Doing Business Differently
UBC became the first Canadian university to commit to purchasing only sustainably sourced seafood back in 2019. A milestone Chef David Speight, UBC's Executive Chef and Culinary Director, is proud of, even as he continues to push further. "We challenge all other Canadian universities to follow our lead," he says.
When he learned about Skipper Otto's model, it clicked immediately. "When we purchase from Skipper Otto, we know who caught it, where they caught it, on what boat," says Chef David. "It's beautiful. That's everything that we want."
This past year, the partnership took a meaningful step forward. Rather than operating through a conventional purchasing arrangement, UBC and Skipper Otto structured something closer to a large-scale community supported fishery: UBC projected its seafood volumes for the year and paid 50% upfront, guaranteeing income for fishing families before the season began.
This isn't how institutional procurement typically works, but Chef David was confident it was the right move. "It is a really great example of how business can be done if you are specific about what's important to you."
For Skipper Otto's fishing families, the impact was tangible. "Before they even untie from the docks at the start of the season, they know that you've committed to buying what they catch," says Sonia Strobel. "It takes out so much of the risk."
In the past year, UBC sourced nearly 7,000 pounds of sustainably harvested wild salmon (sockeye, coho, and chinook) from 12 small-scale fishing families across coastal and Indigenous communities, through a fully transparent supply chain.
Why It Matters
There’s a natural fit between this partnership and the university environment. Students at UBC, many making independent food choices for the first time, are well placed to adopt and champion these values for years to come.
"We are at a place of learning," says Chef David. "We feel as the food service provider that it's our duty to provide an education around sustainable food systems and help them make informed choices that hopefully will last a lifetime."
Sonia echoes that. "Students who experience this kind of food system firsthand carry that awareness with them into whatever careers they pursue. That's how change scales."
"This partnership shows that it's possible to source seafood in a way that directly supports harvesters, strengthens communities, and protects ecosystems, even at an institutional level," says Sonia. "We hope it encourages others to examine their own sourcing practices."
World Oceans Day is a good moment to pause and ask what our choices add up to. For UBC Food Services, the answer is increasingly clear: when you know where your food comes from and you've invested in the people who produced it, you get something better than just a meal.
