About the Author

Photo:Jim BorassI love to eat fish. Like most North Americans, I don't have much wild food in my diet. Eating fish builds a connection to the natural world that seems especially significant.

Fishing is part of my family heritage; my grandfather Norman Nelson was a fisherman in Tromso, Norway. He quit school at age 14 to fish with a hand line over the side of an open boat in the North Sea. Together with his brother, Richard, he came to British Columbia and in 1928 they started a fish packing company. They produced the Paramount brand of salmon.

I grew up eating wonderful seafood, local food caught by people I knew. My family ate salmon, halibut, crab and prawns; we dug up clams and picked oysters off the rocks. Although it was abundant, we never took this food for granted; it always seemed more special than the other food on our table. We made a big deal of it, and we still do.

I wrote A Good Catch to further my own appreciation of fish. I wanted to be sure that I was making good fish choices, and not contributing to the problem. The value we place on fish is very important; it motivates us to make better choices, protect the marine environment, and pay more attention to the method of harvest.

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