Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Creative Processors Make the Most of Abundant Wild Salmon Harvests

Alaska’s celebrated wild salmon, for years the inspiration of seafood aficionados creating everything from gourmet burgers and tacos to glamorous entrees, are increasingly available to folks who love fish, but don’t know what to do with it.

A growing number of seafood providers are filling growing market demand with online promotions of salmon fillets, steaks, burgers, soups and snacks, with seasonings and recipes, with overnight delivery anywhere in the United States, for serving at home, as well as gourmet gifts.

Their customers can work with recipes provided with the seafood purchase or simply heat and serve, a preference of many busy families today.

Take the Healthy Hearts Wild Salmon Variety Pack of sauces offered by Seabear Wild Salmon, of Anacortes, Washington (www.seabear.com).

Along with portion-sized fillets of sockeye, king, coho and keta salmon, Seabear provides packets of seafood spice rub, 4 pepper olive oil, cranberry salsa and lemon sea salt. Seabear’s wild Alaska salmon offerings also include packages of king salmon dinner fillets, ready-to-eat vacuum–sealed packets of boneless, skinless, lightly flaked sockeye salmon; wild salmon barbecue sandwiches, and smoked salmon chowder.

Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics, in Ferndale, Washington offers a variety of wild sockeye and silver salmon portions, wild salmon caviar, hot smoked nova lox, salmon burgers, and salmon jerky.
From the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle (www.pikeplacefish.com) to 10th and M Seafoods in Anchorage (www.10thandmseafoods.com) shoppers may choose at the shop or online from a variety of steaks, fillets, snacks, gift baskets, and recipes, for basic ingredients for their own recipes or ready to pop into the oven entrees.

It’s all a concerted effort of seafood marketers, including the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (www.alaskaseafood.org) to put more seafood on the center of the plate, for everything from backyard barbecues to formal dinners, and yes, snacks on the trail for lovers of the outdoors.

Prices per pound and shipping fees may vary greatly. Some have a flat rate for shipping, or even free shipping above certain minimum orders. Buyers should also be on the lookout for unannounced specials, dropping the price per pound by several dollars for a limited time period.

Seafood processors meanwhile have been busy processing this year’s harvests of wild salmon from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

As of Sept. 9, the preliminary Alaska commercial salmon harvest for 2014 stood at 148,116,000 salmon, including 90,102,000 pink, 43,360,000 sockeye, 9,524,000 chum, 4,653,000 coho and 478,000 Chinook salmon.

Daily preliminary harvest updates are posted online during the salmon harvesting season at www.adfg.alaska.gov


Data compiled by ADF&G biologists showed an overall final harvest for 2013 of 272,630,000 salmon, including a record 219,160,000 pink, 29,257,000 sockeye, 18,578,000 chum, 5,353,000 silver, and 281,000 kings.

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