Our Story
How it all started…
Bob Fraumeni Bought His First Boat In 1977, Starting What We Now Know As Finest At Sea
Bob didn't come from a fishing family, but the ocean felt like home from an early age. He was constantly down at the busy Victoria Harbour docks, learning the ropes and feeling the salty spray on his face.
Although his very first boat was a 36-foot troller designed for salmon fishing, Bob knew early on in his career that he wanted to branch out into groundfish. His vision was to bring sustainable, wild-caught seafood to more people and start to change the taste for good seafood — still the sole purpose of Finest At Sea today.
FAS Seafood Producers Ltd. Est. 1984
What Started In A Garage Turned Into A Thriving Sustainable Seafood Company Selling To Global Markets
Bob slowly scaled his operation to sell sustainable, wild-caught seafood in global markets. He added more ships to the fleet and developed the FAS signature processing, storage, and delivery systems.
While his market was mainly in Asia in the early years, Bob always prioritized developing local relationships and supporting fishermen, trap makers, and processors. Bob was not only scaling his company in global markets, he was simultaneously growing a local community.
The local West Coast focus
Locals Needed Access To Wild-Caught, Sustainable Seafood Too – So Bob Started The Finest At Sea Fish Market On Erie St
Bob was eager to bring high-quality sustainable seafood to West Coast locals to continue to nurture the community he had built over the years. With 8 boats in the FAS fleet catching everything from Halibut in Haida Gwaii to Albacore Tuna off the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Bob started the boutique fish market, now a staple of the Victoria Harbour.
The Finest At Sea food truck was added in 2006 and now proudly boasts the 'best fish and chips in town'. The market and food truck continue to bring more sustainable seafood to local West Coasters and the local tourism industry.
Where Finest At Sea is today…
A Thriving Ocean Ecology – Creating Sustainable Seafood, Jobs, And Community
Finest At Sea has grown, but not too much. Our emphasis on sustainability means growing slowly and steadily as a team, fleet, and company. We provide jobs in our food truck, market, boats, processing facility, and delivery teams and we're proud to be recognized locally as a company that gives back to our community and supports local businesses.
But most of all, we're just happy to be here. Happy to be small enough to do all of this sustainably, and with smiles on our faces. Bob still works in our offices every chance he can (when he's not out fishing) with ideas and dreams that guide our team forward. We're so grateful for the craziness of our days, and the peace of knowing we're making a real impact.
