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Docklines May 2011
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(The links below will take you to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute website in new browser tabs.)

F/V Carole D

Commercial fishing has been a part of Frank Balovich’s life since he was 5 and he has the photo on board as a reminder of where he’s come from and what he inherited from his dad. When his father died, Frank took on his father’s fishing business and soon learned how different it was being a captain rather than crew. But with his hard working deckhands, Erik Jameson and Waylon Evans, and the Monk design 48’ steel Carole D underneath them, they’ve done well fishing for halibut, black cod, salmon and tanner crab.

Balovich loves the adventurous life on the ocean. He’s constantly awed by the scenery that is always different. And he’s always learning something, especially that you can’t take anything for granted, and “that you have to put your time into it, to understand what it’s all about – things change so much.” Frank is concerned about threats to the biomass and wants to make sure that if he ever has children there will be something to pass on to them.

One way Balovich contributes to this legacy is being careful at the roller. When they’re pulling a longline set, they try to shake the smaller fish and not use the crucifier, which is so efficient it usually kills the unwanted fish. They handle the fish as little as possible and don’t drop them. They make smaller 3-day trips and so don’t overload the boat. The fish are well-cleaned and iced.

Frank Balovich is in this for the long-haul, keeping a family tradition alive. Protecting the resources just makes good sense.

F/V Carole D (293kb PDF file)

Seafood Species

Alaskans Own is proud to offer the best in sustainably-harvested, wild Alaskan seafood:

Longline-caught sablefish, halibut and rockfish
Troll-caught salmon

Wild Sablefish—The Alaska sablefish longline fishery is certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Our sablefish are harvested from depths as great as 3,000 feet. Living in a cold, deepwater environment gives sablefish a rich, buttery flavor with unmatched Omega 3 content. Snow white sablefish fillets flake perfectly and are melt-in-your-mouth delicious! skiff fishing

Wild Halibut—Our MSC-certified halibut are also longline harvested. Halibut’s reputation as one of the premier seafoods in Alaska is well earned. Firm, white fillets and mild flavor make halibut easy to prepare and always a treat.

Wild Rockfish—Yelloweye rockfish are harvested in limited quantities in the halibut and sablefish longline fisheries. These bright red fish have a firm fillet with a delicate flavor well suited to Cajun-style “blackened” rockfish, chowder, or light sauces.

sablefish, halibut and rockfish are harvested with benthic
longline gear from family-owned fishing vessels generally less than 60 feet in
length.

longline diagram Benthic longlining is a passive fishing technique that has been used sustainably for more than 150 years. Benthic longlines make use of a groundline set along the sea floor, with short branch lines called gangions attached every few yards ending in a baited hook.

Longlines are left to soak for a few hours then retrieved, as pictured above. Each fish is individually landed.

This individual attention to quality continues once the fish is onboard the vessel. Each fish is humanely stunned, gill bled and chilled on ice within minutes of being harvested.

Wild Salmon

Our 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 Salmon

Rich 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 Salmon

Named for their lustrous silver color when swimming in the ocean, these salmon have a mild flavor, bright red flesh and firm texture.

trolling diagram 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.

F/V Myriad

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)