The Fish Counter

At first glance it’s not the most likely partnership: a chef and a marine biologist. But Robert Clark and Mike McDermid, the joint owners of Main Street’s The Fish Counter, have a lot in common. They first met launching Vancouver Aquarium’s sustainable seafood restaurant initiative, Ocean Wise. Robert was C Restaurant’s award-winning chef and Mike was heading up the Aquarium’s conservation program. Together they created an easy-to-understand sustainable seafood label for restaurants.

“Two thirds of seafood is purchased in restaurants,” explains Mike, “so if we convince one chef to switch to sustainable seafood that makes an impact on thousands of diners.”

That was back in 2005; now the Ocean Wise program stretches from coast to coast across Canada. With this success under their belts, it was time for a new challenge, tackling the other third of seafood consumers. “Mike and I wanted to offer something no one else does,” says Robert, “a sustainable seafood counter for home cooks.”

The idea came about years ago when Mike and his wife were living on Main Street, a funky area with great stores, but nowhere to buy seafood. “I said to Rob, ‘Someone needs to open a sustainable seafood market on Main Street’ and he said, ‘I’ll do it with you’ and that was that.” The Fish Counter opened in December 2013, much to the delight of the local community.

“Every day while we were working on the store we’d get people stopping by, asking when we’re opening.” remembers Mike. “One lady even raced in, gave our foreman a hug, got covered in mud and exclaimed, ‘I’ve been living here almost 30 years and we’ve never had a seafood store on Main. Give the owners a big bear hug for me.’ The community response has been amazing.”