Docklines May 2011
Docklines June 2011
Docklines July 2011
Docklines August 2011
(The links below will take you to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute website in new browser tabs.)
Wild SalmonOur salmon are ocean “bright,” troll-caught at the peak of quality before their long river journeys. As described at right, the quality of Alaska salmon harvested with troll gear is unmatched. Careful cleaning and quick icing ensure superb flavor and texture. Fresh product is kept below 34 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. Frozen-at-sea salmon are flash frozen to -30 degrees within minutes of being brought onboard to guarantee the highest possible quality and longest shelf life. With this state-of the-art process “fresh fish has met its match.”
Wild King SalmonRich red color, full flavor and loaded with healthful Omega 3’s. Wild king salmon is the fish of choice for seafood lovers and chefs.
Wild Silver SalmonNamed for their lustrous silver color when swimming in the ocean, these salmon have a mild flavor, bright red flesh and firm texture.
Trollers are small fishing vessels operated
by independent fishing families who “troll” baited hooks and artificial lures
through the water to harvest fish one at a
time.
Trollers fish on the open ocean and harvest salmon when they are “bright” and at their peak quality. Careful individual handling maintains this quality. Each fish is humanely stunned in the water, gill bled, cleaned and chilled on ice within minutes of coming onboard. Hook and line gear avoids the bruising and scale loss associated with salmon net fisheries. Because of the timeconsuming care, troll-caught salmon generally make up less than 10 percent of the total Alaska salmon catch.
No fish is treated with more care from the time it leaves the water until it is delivered to your door.
It’s not often that you get to meet with someone who has invented a technique that is spreading industry-wide. It’s inspiring when you do. Dan Falvey, skipper of the F/V Myriad, and his deckhand figured out how to get ALL of the blood out of the belly of a salmon when it’s being cleaned, and that’s without scraping it with a “spoon,” the old method. I won’t go into all the details but what impresses me is the dedication to quality. Having the best end-product, the one that sits on our plate, requires constant vigilance and looking for new ways to do things even better.
Falvey came to Alaska in 1981 because he “always wanted to see it.” Not an uncommon phrase in Alaska. But this is no common fisherman. It only took a few years of being a deckhand to realize he could run his own boat. And the fascination of trying new ideas in his newfound career led Falvey to go to school in the late 80s to earn a degree in Resource Management and Policy. Fishing in the summer paid his way through school.
Commitment to the industry and to a high quality product led Falvey to convert to a Frozen at Sea (FAS) process in 2001. Let me explain what this means…the FAS fish is stunned in the water, brought on board, “pipette” cleaned to get the blood out, and flash frozen within minutes of hitting the deck. FAS fish are such high quality that the skin is still iridescent after thawing. That’s fresh. FAS fishers guarantee consistently perfect fish.
Falvey isn’t just committed to improving quality; he also has a family to support and the community of Sitka and future generations on his mind. He wants to help make a sustainable future for the resource. “We need to leave fish for future generations. We owe it to the kids to leave them something.” This fisherman knows he can take pride in what he’s done at the end of the day.
F/V Myriad (368kb PDF file)