A record harvest 219 million pink salmon has spurred the
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to develop more markets quickly for these
humpies.
The ASMI board, meeting in Anchorage in late October,
directed staff and committees involved in marketing these fish domestically and
internationally to come up with plans to increase domestic retail and food
service, as well as international outlets for pink salmon, from canned to
frozen headed and gutted and frozen fillets.
ASMI is planning to spend an additional $1.5 million on this
effort said Kevin Adams, chairman of the board of the state’s seafood marketing
entity.
Included in that $1.5 million budget will be some funds for
ASMI’s Alaska global food aid program, headed by Bruce Schactler of Kodiak,
which promotes the proteins found in wild Alaska pink salmon, as well as
herring, in its current programs.
The global food aid program assists non-governmental
organizations and others with program design, ration selection, recipe
development, storage, handling and preparation of dishes integrating canned
salmon and other food aid commodities with local ingredients to feed cultural
tastes. The program also conveniently provides needed markets in years of
abundant pink salmon harvests.
To date the global food aid program has partnered with
non-governmental organizations in Bolivia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau,
Jamaica, Laos and Uganda to incorporate canned Alaska pink salmon and now
canned herring into meals appealing to residents of these countries.
Federal programs currently using wild Alaska canned salmon
include the US Department of Agriculture’s domestic school lunch program,
Women, Infants & Children Nutrition (WIC) and other domestic programs; the
McGovern Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, and
Food for Progress; the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Food
for Peace Program.
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