Where Do We Get Our Fish?
An Eminent Clothing Manufacturer Enters the Organic Food Realm
Forty years ago Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia out of his blacksmith shop in Ventura, California. Today the company has 1,350 employees involved in selling clothing and gear inspired by Chouinard's love of the outdoors, and $540 million in sales.
Chouinard says, "I've been interested in food for 40 or 50 years, and I'm just now focusing my attention on it. I want to change the way people are eating. . .
". . . when people catch fish in the ocean, they don't know where it originated. And when they put out big nets to catch pink salmon, they also catch endangered chum salmon. You have to release them, but they're already dead."
He was speaking at a sustainable seafood conference and thought from the audience's reaction he had wasted his time. Nevertheless, it gave him the idea to start Patagonia Provisions (www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=65753).
He told Inc. magazine (March 2013) in an article entitled "My job is to bring ideas into the company and forge change," he describes the kind of change he's forging: "I opened a salmon plant in British Columbia. We buy salmon from natives who fish with lines, selectively, so they release the endangered fish. We have a superior product that's as sustainable as possible. It sends a message to the fishing industry: This is the way it should be done.
"We started with salmon jerky. Hot smoked salmon is next. We're going to make all-organic fruit and nut bars. It's the same approach we have taken with our clothing--full disclosure about where and how the product is sourced."
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