I joined an Alaska Processor Leadership Institute
through the Univ. of Alaska Seagrant Program last
year. We did HAACP training in Kodiak in April, some
Human Resources training in Anchorage last Oct, and
the culmination and highlight of the program is this
trip to the Boston Seafood Show and Iceland.
The Boston Seafood Show show cases seafood – farmed,
wild, and anything in between – from around the world.
There was shrimp from Louisiana, crab from Virginia,
tilapia from Panama, and hybrid striped bass from
North Carolina. Of course, there was wild salmon from
Alaska and Canada, and farmed salmon from Canada and
Chile. And this is just a partial list.
With the suppliers were also the distributers – people
who take the seafood and do something with it – either
add value and sell it again, or simply move fish on to
someone who does.
For the value added sellers, I saw that seafood in
America is more about the coatings than the seafood
product, for the most part. Shrimp is pretty much
shrimp, but you can distinguish the food product by
what type of breading or batter you place on the
product – batters and coatings, I might add, that are
likely negating much of the benefits of the raw
seafood product.
For a $30 ticket, you can eat seafood all day. I´m
not sure if the ticket is good for one day or all 3,
but either way, it´s well worth it. I sampled
tilapia, shrimp cooked every which way, salmon, smoked
salmon, clams, crab cakes – the food just keeps coming
from open to close, and no one cares if you grab a
piece and move on to the next booth or stop and talk.
The machinery sellers were perhaps the most
interesting to me. Freezers and skinners and slicers
and fillet machines and pin bone removers all are
something I could see getting if we can get enough of
us together to buy one to justify the cost.
We now are in Iceland, up in Akureyri. Today we´ll
take tours of 2 plants. This is quite a place.
People are friendly, but somewhat formal with us here.
My biggest impression so far is that I´ve not see one
really overweight or obese person since I´ve been
here, and I want to know why. And the legend of
beautiful scenery – both landscape and female, are
certainly true.
–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com