Farms, fishers & beekeepers
Selling fish and seafood you catch in BC
A commercial fisher needs a $30 fisher vendor licence to sell their catch to the public straight off the boat, or to licensed shops and restaurants. Farmers’ markets aren’t covered: there, fish must be processed and packed by a licensed seafood processor and sold frozen. Filleting, smoking or canning needs a processor licence, and sport-caught fish can never be sold.
Coming up for farms
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Only want the steps that apply to you?
What you need, in order
6 steps. Each links to its own page, with the forms and the rule behind it.
- 1
Fisher vendor licence
BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Lets a commercial fisher sell their own catch straight off the boat, or to licensed shops and restaurants. It does not cover farmers’ markets or roadside sales.
- Cost:
- $30.
- 2
Seafood processor licence
BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food
If you process or pack fish for sale
Needed to process fish — fillet, smoke, can, freeze or pack it — for sale, unless the processing is part of a restaurant or shop with a food premises permit. Also exempt: a commercial fisher who only bleeds, heads, guts, ices, freezes or packs their own catch at sea; a business with a federal processing licence; a freshwater fish farm; and processing a sport fisher’s catch that goes back only to them.
- 3
Letter of Confirmation for higher-risk food at markets
Island Health
For selling frozen fish at markets
Before selling a higher-risk food at a farmers’ market — for example anything from an approved kitchen that needs refrigeration, frozen meat or fish, dairy, or a shelf-stable higher-risk food such as a nut butter, flavoured oil or ferment — the health authority reviews the product and issues a letter. It covers in-person market sales only.
- Time:
- Apply at least 30 days before the market; plan on about 14 days to process.
- 4
Federal food labels
CFIA and Health Canada rules
Prepackaged food needs a common name, net quantity, ingredients and allergens, your name and a physical address (a website doesn’t count), a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less, a Nutrition Facts table, a front-of-pack “High in” symbol if it is high in saturated fat, sugars or sodium, and English and French — English-only is allowed for food sold only in the municipality where it’s made and its neighbours. Selling only at markets yourself removes the Nutrition Facts table and the front-of-pack symbol, unless the label makes a nutrition claim. There is no exemption for online sales, and a product may not be advertised online without a proper label.
- 5
Safe Food for Canadians licence
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Only if you sell to other provinces
Needed to make, process, pack or label food that goes to another province, and to import food; a business that only exports needs one just to get a CFIA export certificate. Not needed for food made and sold only in BC, nor by a restaurant or caterer sending food straight to its customers.
- Time:
- Valid two years.
- 6
Registering your business name
BC Registries
Trading under your own name needs no registration. Any other name means reserving it and registering within 3 months of first using it; a partnership registers within 3 months of forming. Incorporating is the alternative, and only a corporation, co-op or society gets exclusive use of its name.
- Cost:
- Name request $30 (reserved 56 days); sole proprietorship or partnership registration $40; incorporation $350, then a $43.39 annual report.
What you can sell
More for farms
When you’re ready to sell
Selling on Local Pass
Boat-to-table sells itself when customers can find the boat. On the Island Food Market, they order your catch by name.
For commercially caught fish, as anywhere else — sport-caught fish can never be sold.
Sell by weight
Price by the pound or kilo: the customer’s card is held at checkout, and they’re charged the actual weight when you pack the order.
Your own storefront
A storefront on the Island Food Market, with every product on its own page, built to be found on Google.
Soon to Go
Clear surplus at a discount, with a clearance badge and boosted placement.
Local Pass is a platform that connects Island businesses and customers through its app and website — it is not a regulator. Every seller is responsible for the permits, licences and labels their food needs, and this guide is here to help you work out which ones.