I’m so desparate to find someone – anyone- to sell me quality pink salmon that I got my 18 foot skiff licensed to go out and get them directly off of gillnet vessels as they harvest them. Things were going okay till the weather kicked up a little. I pulled up to the brother of a friend of mine, and he warned me that it didn’t look like a real safe operation I had going on. I told him I knew, it was my first try, and I’d be careful. He dropped fish down to me, and I left for home, with a slight chop to the quarter stern. Then the outboard cut down – I was about out of fuel, and was not in a good situation, as a stern wave could swamp me. A full 1/2 tote of fish was between me and the outboard can I needed to fill, and I could not get the tote moved, as I bobbed up and down in the seas. I could see the gillnetter who warned me coming over to make sure I was okay. After several minutes, I finally got the can free, filled it, and got on my way. I just about kissed the dock when I got there, and learned I’m not going this route again. I’ve got to get fishermen onboard before the season starts to do what I need so that they will allow me to buy their fish and give them money. Funny how some people make that so hard…

–
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

It’s certainly been another learning year. After putting flyers on nearly all the gillnet vessels in town, as well as on the harbor bulletin boards, I finally have a semi-committment from a fisherman to allow us to pay him about 200% over the dock price to sell us pink salmon handled the way we need them. It’s been so hard for me to give fisherman money this year – much more difficult than I expected.

This fisherman, too, is a self-marketer, who just opened a restaurant in Jackson Hole, Wyoming – now that’s some serious marketing!

When he called and said he was interested, I immediately pinned him down to give a demonstration of our pressure bleeding technique, and ran out to our processor to show him. After talking with him for awhile, he said he might even be interested in selling them at his store/restaurant! You just never know where your next opportunity will come up. It’s always exciting to be working with other self-marketers who are excited to have someone else (like me) move a product they don’t yet have a market for themselves. As self-marketers, they know the importance of quality and are interested in learning anything that can easily improve quality.

Bruno came to dinner last night. I went to the bathroom about 2 am, and when I laid back down, I noticed the motion light was on outside. It didn’t register until I heard the gravel crunching outside my window, on the other side of the wall. I walked around to the back door, and sure enough, there was a black bear just grabbing a little bag of garbage out of the can. I knocked on the door and told him to “drop it”, and he ran up the driveway. Luckily, he didn’t scatter the garbage all over the place. I picked up the bag this morning, and we’ll have to put our garbage in the garage from now on.

There are fish everywhere right now – we can watch them jumping 24 hours a day in the channel in front of the house – yet some bears would still rather eat junk food than getting a real meal! They have no shame. Must be an American bear.

– 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

We needed totes this year, and my friend said we could get them in BC and get them shipped up here for free with a local processor and save lots of money.  So, we ordered them back in April or May.  May went by.  June went by.  And now July is almost by.

When I’d ask my friend where our totes were, he said they were here in town, we just had to find them. Today, I finally hear that the processor gave the totes to the Canadian gillnetters up the Taku and that they “need them”.   So our cheap totes are now no totes.  So, I just now ordered 4 from Sitka, where luckily my fishing partner is fishing, so he can bring them back to town.  Lesson learned.

–
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

It’s been a very interesting season so far. I’ve been
trying to purchase pink salmon, which many processors
won’t even buy when a salmon fishermen brings in his
catch of chum, sockeye, king and coho salmon. They’re
small, and get soft in a hurry if they are not dressed
and chilled soon after they come out of the water.

I know from pressure bleeding, dressing and chilling
them myself that they can make a great product if
handled properly. I’ve been aggressively seeking
fishermen to handle them this way, and willing to buy
the fish at over double what any processor is
currently paying. I figure that conservatively, a
deckhand could dress 30 pinks per hour (more 40 to 60
once they get trained, but 30 should be easy), and
that would translate to $60/hour at least. I’ve
advertised on the radio (not one response). I’ve put
up signs on the bulletin boards (a couple responses).
Yesterday, I went to nearly every gillnet vessel in
the harbor and put my notice to buy in their door, and
got a few more responses.

However, response does not mean anyone said they’ll
sell to us. The price sounds great, but once they
hear we want the fish dressed, etc., the enthusiasm
goes away. And the older the fisherman, it seems like
not just a lack of enthusiasm but almost disgust that
anyone would ask them to dress a pink salmon. Most
fishermen make it out that it’s beneath them – a jab
at their dignity – to clean a pink salmon. Seems most
everyone thinks someone should buy pink salmon, but
only the way they’ve taken them for the past 100 years
– in the round, and maybe chilled – but that’s it. Oh
yeah, and we want a high price for in the round, soft
pink salmon.

Seems few realize these fish are a dime a dozen in the
world of pink salmon commodity markets, and generally
only fit for one product form – the can – of which
there is, and has been, a perennial glut.

I’m definitely going to have to do more leg work this
winter to get someone fishermen interested. It sure
seems like a lot of money to throw overboard,
particularly with the high fuel prices, but it really
is difficult to teach a new dog new tricks.

–
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

Put up signs for buying sockeye salmon and pink salmon
at area harbors. Mailed canned salmon and pet treats
to Ohio, Anchorage, Seward, Massachusetts, and
Illinois. Collected gel pacs from a fish customer to
recycle. Checked in at processor to return canned
salmon boxes for reuse. Met with two trollers there
and showed them how to pressure bleed. Emailed
Southeast Seiners Association looking for more pink
salmon. Took cardboard boxes to recycling. Left
message for Len that I can use plenty of sockeye in
town. Called the label printer and paid for labels,
which are to ship the 26th – finally! Worked on
marketing RFP for post season.

–
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

I seemed to have missed a few days. It cannot
possibly be Friday. I called a restaurant in Texas,
and had put the wrong phone number on the airway bill,
so Alaska Airlines called the wrong place. Luckily,
they have a cooler in Dallas, so the fished arrived
just fine. Another went to Tennessee, and I hope that
arrived fine as well – I was too exhastimicated from
the stomach flu to pack both boxes going there, and
I’m never sure if others will put as many gel pacs in
as I do (which is probably too many, but better safe
than sorry).

Today I got great news. I finally hooked up with a
gillnetter on the phone. One of the buyers he sells
fish to asked me to show him how to pressure bleed.
So, we got talking about that, and I described it to
him and he said he’d try it this week. Then I
broached the subject of him selling my dressed,
pressure bled pinks, which no one seems too excited
about doing. He was the first who jumped at the
chance to put this fine fish in his boat instead of
throwing it back or selling it for next to nothing.

This got me so excited I immediately started looking
for whole fish around town so I could show him in
person how to pressure bleed. No fish were yet
available at the hatchery. Next I went to one of the
local processors, and the manager, gladly gave me 3
pinks.

I called the gillnetter back, he was over within the
hour, and I gave him a walk through. We found it
didn’t work on a whole fish that had been sitting as
long as the pink had at the cannery, as the blood had
coagulated and could not be moved, but he saw the
technique and was excited to try it. Like me, the
gillnetter self-markets much of his own catch, and so
can see further than the nose on his face if something
looks promising – even if it’s to help someone else
out in the process. He said he’d already talked to
his buddies, so hopefully they can get in several
hundred pounds this week for me.

After he left, I changed the rear brake shoes on our
new, highly used mini-van, and another friend called
looking for king salmon for a reunion. So, I drove
out to my processor and got him his fish. Finally
home at 7:30 after dinner on Costco Polish Hotdog cuisine.

–
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