Smoked Sturgeon, Anyone?

Something deliciously fishy is happening at VIU’s International Centre for Sturgeon Studies these days – and it’s caught on at local restaurants and retail outlets. The Centre began selling cans of smoked sturgeon and fresh and smoked fillets to restaurants and retail shops last year, both to help support the research and education that happens there and as a way of building awareness about what the ICSS does. It appears to have worked, because the first batch of the canned product sold out in just weeks.     

Sturgeon at the Centre are raised in a land-based, closed-containment, recirculating system, which means 96% of the water in tanks is cleaned and reused; wild stocks are not impacted; discharge goes into the City of Nanaimo’s sewer system, not into the environment; and the fish are raised according to the high standards of care set by the Canadian Council on Animal Care.    

Smoked and canned locally at St. Jean’s Cannery and Smokehouse, VIU Smoked Sturgeon is available at the Campus Store and select local retailers in Nanaimo. The fillets and smoked fillets are available by calling 250.740.6171. 

*This article originally appeared in the Winter 2017/18 edition of VIU Magazine. Check out more stories on the VIU Magazine webpage.