About Us

Message from the President of Botsford Fisheries Limited:

On behalf of our company - especially our employees - I want to welcome you to our website. The website is quite small but yet I anticipate that it will provide you with a good sense of what our small business is all about and what it has to offer you.

As you know, the Internet now plays a much greater role in our lives for communicating and for disseminating information almost instantly. I am very proud that we have taken a few steps to making ourselves known to all our customers around the world. This is quite a departure from my old days of doing business using nothing but the telephone and the Fax machine.

We, at Botsford Fisheries, hope that you will enjoy your visit to our website. We are always open to ideas for improving our website and our services to you. If you need more information regarding our selection of products or if you have any suggestions then I hope you will take a few minutes to send us an email - after all, we are here to serve you in any way we can.

Sincerely,

Janice Ryan

Our Mission

Our mission is to be top producer of the highest quality value-added herring fish products. To accomplish this, we use nothing but time-tested traditional fish processing methods and the latest in high technology dryers and smoke processing equipment.

Botsford Fisheries is a renowned global exporter of the finest salted and smoked fish products available such as herring, alewives and mackerel.

Our Company Policies

"Our customers are our family"

As a company policy, we aim to develop a relationship of mutual trust with our clients, enabling us to work jointly to satisfy their needs in a timely, effective way.

"We are dedicated to exceed industry quality standards."

Botsford Fisheries ensures the high quality and excellent taste of their products by mastering the skills of the traditional fish smoking techniques that Europeans are renowned for. We deliver only the finest smoked fish products available by using nothing else but the freshest raw fish from the North Atlantic seas. Botsford Fisheries only buys from the top quality-contentious fishers in the Maritimes.

We have fully implemented the HACCP quality program (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) which essentially tracks the complete fish processing life-cycle from the very day the fish is caught to its ultimate market destination. Striving continuously towards excellence and quality, we have dedicated huge investments and resources to our quality control process. Botsford Fisheries is presently improving all aspects of the enterprise through the adoption of ISO 9000 quality standards. We collect samples continuously on a daily basis through our lab testing facility. Customers can rest assured that nothing but the best quality products falls on their dinner plates.

"We become innovative by listening to our clients."

Botsford Fisheries has an unsurpassed reputation in the industry for being innovative and avant-garde. Early on, William LeBlanc, the company founder, understood the value of being client-focused. By understanding our client needs, Botsford gained a position of leadership and a strong competitive edge in the industry. As a "jack-of-all-trades", Mr LeBlanc strived for excellence by introducing new and improved methods for the sustainability and viability of the company. He re-engineered the business processes so effectively that his methods were eventually copied by everyone in the industry. One of his greatest achievements in improving the business came when he created the company's first computerized fish drying and smoking kiln - a machine that improved the quality, processing and handling of the fish.

All of our products are processed using natural ingredients. We do not use any artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

Our Markets

Our markets are mainly in the Caribbeans and West Indies Islands, the European Union and the United States. Our customers are culturally diverse with a keen sense of their historical, cultural and family traditions.

In those markets, our smoked fish products have been consumed for many generations as a good source of essential proteins, omega fats and of its flavour-enhancing properties. In the West Indies, most particularly in Haiti, smoked herring is blended into well-guarded family recipes that are handed down from one generation to another. The meat portion of the bloater (the name given to describe a hard cured smoked herring) is extracted and revered for its flavour in sauces and in special dishes.

Description of the Processing Facilities

Botsford Fisheries is a family-owned fish processing company celebrating over 50 years of business. It operates year-round with a crew of 60 or more wonderfully dedicated employees. The motivation of the workers has propelled the company to a steady growth ever since it was incorporated in 1979. Nowadays, you will find the Botsford name on products distributed throughout the world.

The company produces and ships millions of pounds of smoked and salted fish abroad yearly mainly to Italy, Greece and the West Indies Islands. Botsford Fisheries products are sold in high-bulk quantities to distributors who in turn redistribute the product to the retailers and eventually to the consumer.

The main building at Botsford Fisheries is a very modern facility built in 1999 and has over 40,000 square feet of processing space. The refrigeration and freezing area alone has a storage capacity of over 15,000 square feet. This high capacity for storing thousands of tons of raw goods actually gives the company an advantage for operating year-round even when the fishing season is long over with.

Our offices are on the second floor of the plant and offer a very good view of the "Petit-Cap" rural setting.

Botsford Fisheries is affiliated with another top producing company called Canadian Sliver Herring, which specializes on the production of bloaters and of other salted fish products destined for the West Indies market. To help in the marketing, sales and development of new products, Botsford Fisheries relies on another affiliated company, R&L Trading, which is specialized on export and import services as well as the development and marketing services.

The Botsford plant itself is located in the "Beaubassin" region (south-east of New Brunswick) more particularly in the parish of Botsford. The plant is on the shores of the Northumberland Strait across from Prince Edward Island. Nearby is the world famous Confederation Bridge that connects our Province (New Brunswick) with the Province of Prince Edward Island.

Botsford Fisheries Limited - a brief history

• Around the years 1920, the first smokehouse in the Cap-Pelé region was built was built.
• Mr. Willie LeBlanc was the first member of the LeBlanc family to build a smokehouse way back in the 1950's.
• His son, William LeBlanc, inherited the small and modest business in 1964.
• William LeBlanc, a local fisher at the time, continued the tradition of producing bloaters. As a fisher, Mr. LeBlanc would even catch his own herring and mackerel that supplied the small family outfit.
• In 1979, the business was officially incorporated under the name of Botsford Fisheries Limited. The business had grown steadily to the point where Mr. LeBlanc had to give up his love of lobster fishing to concentrate purely on his growing enterprise.
• In 1986, the company expanded in European markets.
• In 1993, Mr. LeBlanc purchased another nearby fish plant. The new company is named Canadian Silver Herring Ltd. The new acquisition was to take over the production of the bloater product leaving Botsford Fisheries to eventually concentrate on new value-added products and markets such as in Italy and Greece.
• In 1996, Mr. LeBlanc developped the very first automated drying and smoking fish kiln. The machine is still in use today and has successfully supplied some of Botsford's most promising markets.
• In 1999, Botsford Fisheries built a new 40,000 square feet modern plant to meet the rising demand for its high quality products.