Steveston

Steveston was once the largest fishing port on the Pacific coast, with dozens of canneries along the Fraser mouth processing sockeye. The Gulf of Georgia Cannery, built in 1894, survives as a museum with the canning line in place, the machinery explained including the racist name given to one early machine, and the herring reduction plant. The Britannia Shipyard nearby preserves boatbuilding sheds and the stilt houses of Japanese Canadian workers, most of whom were interned and dispossessed in 1942. At the public dock, licensed fishermen still sell their catch directly off the boats, which is unusual in Canada.

What you actually see

• The Gulf of Georgia Cannery - an 1894 plant with the canning line intact.
• The fisherman's wharf - boats selling salmon, prawns and crab off the deck.
• Britannia Shipyard - boatbuilding sheds and Japanese Canadian stilt houses.
• The dyke path - a walking route along the Fraser and the marsh.

When to go

May to September for boat sales and full opening; the cannery reduces hours in winter. Catch at the dock depends entirely on openings, which vary by year and species.

Honest expectations

Dock sales depend on fishery openings and there may be nothing for sale. The cannery is a Parks Canada site with its own hours. Summer weekend parking is difficult.

Nearby

Richmond Night Market lies northeast; Vancouver is north.