In February, the Anchorage Daily News published a nice article on icing Bristol Bay salmon. According to the author, Laine Welch, “The drift fleet delivered 60 million pounds of chilled salmon to processors last summer [in 2009], nearly double the 2008 delivery.” Chilling salmon while in storage and transit to processors produces a better end product, usually in the form of fresh and frozen salmon fillets.
Salmon kept cold in slush ice or refrigerated seawater garner a “10 cent ice bonus” as a rule of thumb, says Jonathan King, the lead author of the report funded by the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association. He noted that the ice bonus on last year’s catch conservatively added 2.7 – 3 million to permit holder’s end-of-year earnings.
Later in the article, Tom Sunderland, the marketing director for processor Ocean Beauty Seafoods, is quoted as saying “Icing on the grounds has a bigger impact on product quality than any other action we can take in Bristol Bay.”
Bristol Bay is changing, and changing fast. More and more people see the value of pushing for higher quality product. We at Wild Kenai are extremely excited to see and help pioneer this development. From the beginning, Wild Kenai has committed to the highest quality in salmon production. We will never swerve from this commitment, and look forward to seeing the industry continue to change in positive ways.
