Alaska Seafood Newsbrief

Message from the Executive Director

Greetings-

We're moving into the summer salmon season here in Alaska. Streams from one end of the state to the other are bubbling with activity, as five different species of Pacific salmon fight against the current to reach the spawning grounds. The methods used in commercial harvest of salmon include purse seine, drift gillnet, set gillnet, troll, and even a rare fish wheel or two. Most of the salmon are harvested prior to entering fresh water by vessels in the salt water. Alaska's king, sockeye, keta, coho and pink salmon are enjoyed by people all over the world.

Among the visitors to Alaska's salmon fishery this season was TV celebrity chef Alton Brown, who was working on a video that will be posted on our website. We are all celebrating the longest days of the year, and enjoying the spectacle provided by salmon, eagles and bears in and near the streams all around us as the drama of the salmon life cycle unfolds. We are optimistic the harvest will be robust. So far only about 1/14 of the expected harvest has come in, about what one would expect at this point in the season. Wild caught salmon bearing the Alaska brand continues to gain popularity in the U.S. and key overseas markets, and we wish all who harvest and process this fine seafood a safe and productive season.

See you over the next swell,

Ray Riutta

Wild Wonderful Seafood for UK

Hot off the press is a very cool cookbooklet to promote Alaska Seafood in the United Kingdom. The cookbooklet, entitled "Wild Wonderful Alaska Seafood" opens with a welcome from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and includes more than seventy sumptuous photographs by British photographer Steve Lee. The photos conduct you on a journey that includes Alaska wildlife, scenery, and commercial fishing. There are also appetite-teasing photographs of the more than fifty recipes in the Wild Wonderful collection. The recipes include preparations for salmon, halibut, black cod, cod, pollock, and crab.

Chef Alton Brown, known to millions of fans through his popular television programs including "Good Eats" on the Food Network, visited Alaska as part of his continuing up-close and personal exploration of Alaska Seafood.While in Alaska, Brown met via teleconference with Governor Sarah Palin, who welcomed him to the state. He met with the State's top fisheries manager, Commissioner Denby Lloyd of the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, and with officials of the National Marine Fisheries Service, learning in detail about the management regimes applied to Alaska's commercial fisheries. Brown spent time also at the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau, Alaska, meeting with scientists conducting research that can help policy makers reach informed decisions. Filming in the Seafood Producers Cooperative processing facility in Sitka, and aboard an Alaska commercial salmon trolling vessel, the F/V Alexa K, skippered by Charlie Wilber, Alton Brown studied many aspects of sustainable seafood, and followed the process from harvest to plate. Some of the video footage capturing Alton Brown's journey of discovery will appear on the ASMI website this summer, and will help site visitors learn more about fisheries resource conservation and management. While on camera, Brown grilled a variety of Alaska seafood at a lakeside grill on the pristine shores of Mendenhall Lake near the Mendenhall Glacier. Click here for the news story and photograph.

Constellation Wine and Alaska Seafood Are Stars

This summer, the productive promotional partnership continues between Constellation Wine and Alaska Seafood at select retail accounts: Basha's (162 stores), Fry's Food & Drug (117 stores), H.E.B. Grocery (279 stores), Harris-Teeter (155 stores). The groundwork was laid during a successful Lenten promotion in which 2,113 grocery stores participated that included wine displays in the seafood department and point-of-sale material for the seafood case, bottleneckers and a coupon.

Kodiak Chef Joel Chenet at Cooking for Solutions in Monterey

Chef Joel Chenet, a dynamic French chef who makes his home in rugged Kodiak, Alaska, has attained the title "Ambassador of Sustainable Seafood," and holds the 2008 Sustainable Seafood Challenge "Most Original" award for his creative contest entries during the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions event series. Chenet was included in a lineup of celebrity chefs from across the nation chosen by the Monterey Bay Aquarium to educate the press and the public about sustainable seafood. Click here for photos and to read more about Chef Chenet.

"Romancecar" Riders to Enjoy Armchair Alaska Seafood Adventure

Climb aboard "Romancecar," one of the special electric express trains running between downtown Tokyo and popular sightseeing destinations. Whether you are bound for a peaceful weekend getaway at Hakone, known for its hot springs, or whether you are one of the successful businesspeople who can reserve your seat on the Romance Car for commuting, you will find in the seat pocket the glossy on-train magazine MELLODA, and inside a long story about Alaska Seafood. The editorial-style placement spans five pages, and will be seen by an estimated 130,000 people. It offers an exciting story about wild and sustainable Alaska seafood products, including salmon life cycle, harvesting, and processing. Rich color photos of Alaska fishermen, whales, bears, and eagles deliver the excitement of the Alaska wilderness. The flavor possibilities of Alaska seafood are developed by a prominent Japanese chef through a unique Alaska Salmon Pizza, also pictured. This special promotion with Odakyu includes special events: an Alaska Seafood "O-Bento" or box lunch for train passengers, and Alaska seafood fairs in the Odakyu owned resort hotels in Hakone, and the Odakyu department store adjacent to Shinjuku, one of Tokyo's largest commuter stations. If you want to learn more about these fast modern trains you can visit the Odakyu Romancecar website and to see photos of some of the sightseeing attractions of Hakone you can visit Odakyu company's pages on that "hotspot."