The Hanselman family
The Hanselman have been in the fish business since 1908. The business, set up by my great uncle and my great grandfather, did pass down through the generations. I, however, decided to try some other opportunities, in Asia and so never went directly into the business. But in 2000, having worked for the Hong Kong Government and then an NGO, with an increasing awareness of overfishing in our oceans, I decided to attempt to educate people of the benefits of purchasing seafood from ‘responsibly sourced’ suppliers and supplying them with these items in Asia.
When Hanselman Brothers was established in Durham County, Northern England, fish in the North Sea and Atlantic was abundant. In those days fish was bought daily in from those thriving fishing ports and brought to the city and town outlets as well as to other distributors. The essence was to provide quality fish from ‘sources of plenty’. Unfortunately, with the advent of new post war technologies, these fisheries were depleted. As the fishing industry declined, and in fact has never resurrected, there became an increasing awareness of the need to care for our oceans.
