Fish sauce fermentation is widely used in Southeast Asia as a means of preservation and producing valued added products from underutilized fish species. First grade and second grade Nampla, commercially produced Thai fish sauces, were analyzed for their chemical and microbiological composition. First grade commercially produced Nampla contained higher amounts of total nitrogen, formol nitrogen, free and total amino acids compared to second grade sauce. Most of the essential amino acids were present in both grades of sauces. Low microbial counts of halotolerant microorganisms were observed in both sauces. The use of trypsin and chymotrypsin to accelerate the rate of fish sauce fermentation produced from herring, one of the underutilized fish species in Quebec, was investigated. Results showed that supplementation with trypsin and chymotrypsin increased significantly the rate of proteolysis, the amounts of total nitrogen, formol nitrogen and free amino acids in the final fish sauces (p