Alaska Seafood

Wild seafood used around the world

The Alaska seafood industry and the State of Alaska are partners in promoting wild and sustainable Alaska seafood and educating people about the seafood industry. Alaska has been focused on sustainable seafood for over 50 years: the seafood industry is Alaska's largest employer in the private sector. It is well understood that fisheries and habitats need to be protected to continue their way of life (fish and humans). Their State constitution mandates that fish are "utilized, developed and maintained on the sustained yield principle."

Industry and State partnership is handled through the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). Their most recent release is a Seafood for All Seasons guide (click here), listing wild Alaska seafood and their seasons. It's an effort to help people integrate seafood into their meals all year long.

We wanted to find out more about Alaska seafood and worked with Tyson Fick, Communications Director at ASMI.

SD!: What makes Alaska seafood different from seafood from other regions?

TF: Wild Alaska seafood has an incredible story. With its rugged natural beauty, the state of Alaska has earned its reputation as the "Last Frontier." Alaska's fishing families brave the wild waters of Alaska to bring their delicious, natural, and sustainable seafood to market - a story that today's food-conscious consumers appreciate. The cold water and natural environment of Alaska produces seafood with lean flesh, firm texture, and superior flavor. It is also full of high quality protein, vitamins, minerals and oils essential to good health.

Alaska seafood is some of the most sustainable seafood on the planet. When Alaska became a state in 1959, its citizens included a mandate in the State's constitution that requires its seafood resources to be managed sustainably. As a result, Alaska has become a world model for sustainable, ecologically responsible wild fisheries, and in fact by law there is no finfish farming in the state of Alaska. This has allowed wild Alaska seafood to represent the ultimate in flavor and quality. Chefs, retailers and consumers know the difference and look for Alaska salmon when they want the best.

SD! What seafood comes from Alaska?

TF: Over 17 different species of wild and natural seafood come from Alaska, including whitefish like halibut and black cod (also known as sablefish), five types of salmon (king, sockeye, coho, keta and pink), and shellfish such as crab (king, bairdi, snow and dungeness) and spot prawns. Hundreds of versatile recipes, cooking tips and technique videos for cooking all types of Alaska seafood are available at www.wildalaskaseafood.com.

SD! How much seafood comes from Alaska (used in US, sent around the world)?

TF: Boasting over one million square miles of rich fishing waters-more than all of the lower 48 states combined-Alaska yields nearly six billion pounds of wild seafood sustainably harvested per year. This accounts for nearly 60% of the nation's seafood and approximately 90-95% of the wild salmon caught in the United States. 30-40% of wild salmon in the world are caught in Alaska.

SD! When is Alaska seafood available?

TF: While some consumers may think of wild Alaska seafood as a seasonal product, the truth is that Alaska seafood quality and flavor is available year-round. The Alaska seafood industry has developed state-of-the art freezing technologies, rapidly chilling and flash freezing fish at the time of harvest to maintain the highest quality and maximize purity and taste. In addition, canned and pouched options offer a convenient and affordable way to always have sustainable seafood in the freezer. For fresh fish options, the fresh Alaska seafood season kicks off with halibut (photo) and black cod harvests in the spring - this year, on March 14, 2015 - followed quickly by the summer salmon season starting mid-May.

SD! Alaska fisheries are managed for sustainability. Does each fishery have to be certified by every group doing certification or do you choose a program you think is best? How does the constitutional mandate work?

TF: Alaska has been a global leader in sustainable fisheries management for over 50 years. Certifications are useful for some consumers and required to access some markets, but if you really want to be sure you are choosing sustainably-harvested seafood that supports American fishing families and sustains local communities, you should ask for Alaska and US fish. Alaska supports the Responsible Fisheries Management program which assesses and verifies our fisheries to the most rigorous and widely-accepted international standards for fisheries management.

The constitutional mandate to sustainably harvest our seafood guides all of our decisions about our fisheries. Without question the first consideration when making fisheries management decisions in Alaska is the health of the resource going into the future. This is different than other places in the world where those decisions are often driven by harvests rather than conservation.

SD! How is fish handled: when caught, after caught, when processed, when shipped? With different boats, processing plants, shippers, etc., how is consistency created?

TF: There are strict environmental and food handling laws that go along with a commitment to conservation. Whether the seafood is processed at sea or at one of the many shore-side facilities around Alaska, great care is taken with each fish from the boat to the plate that care and handling guidelines and food safety requirements are met so that Alaska seafood customers have a good experience every time.

SD! Are there marketing firms like ASMI for other states?

TF : ASMI is a public-private partnership established to foster economic development of a renewable natural resource. Additional groups around the county, such as the Maine Lobstermen's Association, work to support all American fisheries and we view them as allies in the marketplace. They say raising tides lift all boats and we feel success across the seafood category in the US elevates success for Alaska seafood, and results in consumers choosing local seafood options over imported seafood or other proteins.

Click for recipes:

Alaska Halibut with Broccoli-Ginger Slaw

Thyme-Crusted Alaska Black Cod

Alaska Sockeye Salmon with Shoyu Tarranon Sauce

Photos courtesy of ASMI

April 2015