www.fishseller.com

For 24 years, Anthony Herman counted upon the surf for his survival, following in the family tradition of being a vessel owning fisherman. Skippering a drum seiner in British Columbia, Australia and Croatia, Herman found himself adrift in the late 90's laid low by a blown disk and a changing political scene. In 1998, Herman parted with his vessel, but not with the surf. In fact, as www.fishseller.com continues to grow, Herman is more involved with the surf than ever before, both online and at sea.

Herman recognized an opportunity stay involved in the fish trade and in December 2000 he launched www.fishseller.com with strong support from local seafood processors with whom he retained close ties. As a result, Herman has no warehouse of his own, with orders being handled directly by such processors as Lions Gate Fisheries Ltd. and Fjord Pacific. This unique arrangement allows Herman to operate as a cyber-space fishmonger, offering the freshest seafood available at the most competitive prices. Better yet, the order is delivered directly to your door, residential or commercial.

At the moment, Herman delivers the majority of his first-time orders in person, but this might not be possible for all of his customers, as fishseller.com gets set to expand across Canada. Working with Eagle Global Logistics, Herman will be able to guarantee 24-hour service across the country by the end of February.

"I don't expect the East Coast to buy much in the way of Digby Scallops, but the Northern regions of BC and of course, the entirety of Alberta are very exciting markets for me," said Herman who shipped a pair of large orders to Dawson Creek over the holidays. "There are a lot of places in this country where salt water varieties just are not available. Now they will be."

By keeping the shipping costs to the bare minimum and utilizing the internet for publicity, Herman is keeping his costs low, while providing a high quality product mainlined directly from the fisheries.

"I fished for those companies. Jack Waterfield, the president of Lions Gate Fisheries knew my father and those kinds of associations have helped," said Herman. "Since the fish plants are the starting point, I keep my overhead low and the quality high."

"While it might seem strange, the freshest fish you can buy is online. It comes out of their holds flash frozen at -50 and then gets packaged in a container with gel packs that hold it at -20. The fresh catch gets packed on ice. Either way, the fish is as fresh as you can get it, without catching it yourself."

Herman has watched the .com world boom then bust and knows that customer service is as important as the product. Herman regularly delivers the first order to each customer himself, a tactic which has won fishseller.com a return customer rate of 95%.

That approach to customer service is carried over to the site itself. Replete with over 80 items ranging from deepwater catch such as halibut to specialty items such as octopus, the site offers photos of each item, along with concise information. One click and the customer has recipes to match.

Not that all customers need recipes. Herman's fishseller.com has also attracted wholesale attention and he currently wholesales under a different label to a local delivery service Small Potatoes and quick.com.