In the April 1 issue of The Dutch Harbor Fisherman, we read a fantastic article written by Margaret Bauman about Copper River Seafood’s Salmon College.
The article begins: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to bleed and chill a fish properly and you can feed a village.” We commend Copper River Seafood for working to do just this. CRS has created a seafood industry handling school to train individuals in proper fish handling and processing. Their goal is to raise the standards for processing throughout Alaska – therefore raising the overall quality of Alaskan salmon and and price garnered for that salmon.
The article goes on to speak about CRS’ work to train villagers in Togiak. After the training and with CRS as their market, the villagers were suddenly able to sell their salmon catch at $1/lb, nearly twice the price point of some previous years. Such a change immediately changed the economic outlook of the village and its people. Buying Wild Alaska salmon means supporting families across the state.
Wild Kenai Red Salmon, like CRS, only works with small-scale, quality-oriented, family-owned fishing operations. That said, this coming year, WKRS looks to pay over $2/lb for its whole salmon for its premium catch. This is again double what CRS will pay, which further ensures positive local economic repercussions and premium quality. Working with WKRS means everyone ones – the fishermen, other growers and producers, WKRS workers, and the customers who get the highest quality money can buy at a reasonable price.
