Pêcheries Ouellet

My brother Bernard and I bought the fisheries from our uncle. That was in 1986, on our own account. Then, we expanded over the years. Nowadays, we sell more retail than we used to sell wholesale. We do more processing now. In other words, all our fish is processed here and sold here over the counter and wholesale to restaurants, grocery stores, and pretty much throughout Quebec.

When we started setting things up, we installed our poles at the beginning of May, OK. We installed them early because we wanted big tides to solidify them, so that storms wouldn’t come and rip them out. We set them up in advance. By September, we had installed the ropes, boxes, and nets in order to fish in October. And now, with global warming, we fish until November 15. In the past, there were no more eels by the end of October because they had all migrated. Now the water is warmer, so the eels migrate a little later. That’s why we take down our nets as of mid November.

We process smoked, marinated, or fresh products. Smoking is done entirely with maple wood. I have two types of smokers: a hot smoker and a cold smoker. It’s all artisanal smoking. That means that we smoke with maple wood, not sawdust, maple wood. Even cold smoking is done with maple wood, which no one else does. They always use wet sawdust. But it doesn’t taste the same as maple wood. The heat is also controlled manually. This gives it a special flavour.

When we process, it’s pretty much a family affair. Pretty much. Look. Even my wife cooks, my daughter too, she cooks. They make new products and ready-to-eat meals. They make sushi, all kinds of things. As for us, I make marinated products. My brother smokes fish. Then he slices it every morning in the summer . . . It’s fresh every day.