Bruce Dirom

Bruce was born (1970) and raised in the Cowichan Valley, B.C.. Moving to Port Hardy in 1991 while being employed with BC Hydro, his passion for sportfishing was what initially motivated him to open a custom processing and hot smoking facility in June 1994. Bruce continued to work at BC Hydro and developed Hardy Buoys on the side. He was approached by Alpha Processing in 2000, and became the assistant manager for their value added production, managing 150 employees. In that time Hardy Buoys was growing and became federally registered in 2003 to meet the increasing demands for their products at a wholesale level. At this same time Bruce left Alpha to concentrate soley on Hardy Buoys. Since Hardy Buoys Smoked Fish began in 1994, Bruce and Carol have been able to find the perfect balance as hands on and involved owner/operators. The management and responsibilities have been shared between the two of them. Bruce has been in charge of ordering raw product, scheduling production, working with the production staff to ensure quality and consistency, new product development, sales, and marketing.

Carol Dirom

Carol was born (1971) and raised on Vancouver Island. Moving to Port Hardy with Bruce in 1991. Carol has enjoyed being self employed since 1994 as it has allowed her the flexibility to raise their three children and be a hands on mom. Carol’s background as an accounts payable clerk for a mining company gave her the tools to manage the administration of Hardy Buoys. As a “hockey mom” Carol enjoys being able to be involved at all levels of her children’s sports.
Carol sits on various executives for organized sports and is quite involved in the community.
Carol has been responsible for the day to day administration accounts payable and receivable, payroll, employee scheduling, human resources, managing a staff of up to 20, ordering supplies, retail & internet sales, and marketing. In addition to daily ops, Bruce and Carol have worked side by side for 14 years.

Barney Bjermeland

Barney started in the fish processing business in 1972. For the first 23 years he worked with Seafood Products Company Ltd., starting as a fish processor, but quickly making his way up to management positions such as warehouse manager, fresh fish manager, and herring processing manager. The next eight years were spent as General Manager with Pan Fish which included building a 50,000 square foot state of the art processing facility, managing over 250 employees. Following this, he spent the next three years with Walcan Seafoods as general manager of aquaculture production, before moving on to Keltic Seafoods as general manager. In both these positions Barney’s main duties were to streamline the different production lines as well as bringing on new processing customers and production. Barney is well rounded in the fish processing business, from building Q.M.P. plans, O.H. & S. plans, budgeting, and purchasing to a hands on knowledge of processing machinery.

Todd Harmon

Todd Harmon has been a partner in Pacific Seafoods for 20 years and has been actively involved in marketing and sales of smoked salmon for over 25 years. He has been responsible for all aspects of marketing for domestic and export sales (countries including: Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Italy, China, USA) of numerous house brands and private label production. Todd has also been involved in sourcing and buying wild and farmed salmon from Canada, USA, Norway, Chile, Japan, Russia, and Vietnam. His sales experience includes food service and retail accounts in both national and regional markets. Todd has met consumer demands by providing product and recipe development for numerous Salmon, Tuna, and Sablefish products. Todd has been involved as a board member of both the BCSMC and the BCSSC and is currently a founding member of the Pacific Organic Seafood Association.

Mick Farup

Starting with Oakland Fisheries in 1977, Mick was involved with Salmon, Herring and Ground fish processing. In 1981, he moved to their sister company Pacific Seafoods International Ltd., to manage their value-added seafood products; primarily smoked salmon. In 1985, Mick became President of the company and began orchestrating it’s rapid growth, expanding from producing it’s own brands to private label and custom processing other well established brand names. Mick brings with him 30 years of processing and administrative experience in the fishing industry.