 Alaska Seafood Newsbrief ASMI E-Newsletter for the Alaska Seafood Industry
November 29 , 2005
In this issue:
Message from the Executive Director Greetings. We are excited to announce that our new website is up, and we hope you’ll check it out. Of particular interest to the seafood industry will be new tools to improve alignment between ASMI and industry marketing efforts, to make ASMI resources more available, and to let folks in the industry know what we are doing. November was a busy month, involving trips to D.C. and Seattle. In Washington, D.C., I met with the people who run the federal program through which our international marketing efforts are funded: the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Every year the U.S. Congress has to approve the amount of money that goes into the program, and the people at FAS have to figure out how to share it among the many applicants: it is a very competitive process in which ASMI has been successful. One message we heard loud and clear is that the folks in Washington would like to see us bring more match money to the table. Along that line, one of the decisions made by the ASMI Board of Directors at its recent meeting was to seek a state match for our seafood industry dollars in the upcoming legislative session; state participation will stabilize our funding and help us maintain the momentum attained by wild Alaska seafood in the marketplace. The first issue of the electronic Seafood Market Information Bulletin was sent out. Be sure to sign up for it if you haven’t already. Sign up for your free subscription at the same place you sign up for this newsletter: on the ASMI homepage. All the best, Ray Riutta |
New www.alaskaseafood.org Offers New Tools The new ASMI website is open and ready for business, with improved navigation and organization; it also offers access from the homepage straight to the Directory of Alaska Seafood Suppliers. Retailers and foodservice operators will have quick and easy access to Alaska Seafood information as well as marketing and sales aids. Among the features consumers will visit frequently are recipes in a searchable database. The design is search-engine friendly, to drive even more traffic to the site. For Alaska seafood processors and harvesters, the site will offer convenient access to ASMI marketing plans and resources, including long- range calendars of marketing events and advertising. Industry members will also be able to take advantage of an Image Library of top-quality plated food shots, fishing and processing action shots, and magnificent Alaska scenery. The password-protected section for Alaska seafood industry members is a new offering, and we may have a few small bugs to work out, so we welcome your comments and ask for your patience. |
International Marketing Gets Boost A recent increase of more than $500,000 in the allocation of federal funds for ASMI's international marketing effort was announced to the ASMI Board of Directors this month by Lana Bennett, Director of the Forest and Fishery Products Division of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. The federal funds together with the industry match will bring to more than $5.3 million the level of funding for the international marketing program, made possible through USDA's Market Access Program. The money will boost marketing efforts in China, Japan and the European Union. To facilitate access to ASMI's international website, travel through the international gateway page on ASMI's site. |
Board Meeting Highlights Following two days of marketing program briefings and committee meetings, the Board of Directors met Nov. 4 in Seattle. The chairs of the committees prepared a unified report to the board including recommendations on the budget, international marketing, long range planning and regional marketing (see below for the last topic). The board will be creating two new committees to focus on retail and foodservice marketing (members to come from existing species committees), and it ratified two new appointments to the Salmon Committee: Wanetta Ayers and Jennifer Castle, both formerly ex-officio members of that committee. The board decided to seek state participation in ASMI in the form of a general fund match, to stabilize funding and maintain the momentum in the marketplace achieved by the consumer campaigns in the U.S. The next board meeting will be in Juneau February 15 and 16. |
Regional Marketing Update The ASMI Board of Directors considered the issue of how ASMI can support regional marketing. They adopted a summary that defines Regional Seafood Development Associations (RSDAs) and created a committee to devote further attention to the matter. The committee consists of Board Chair Mark Palmer of Ocean Beauty, board member and fisherman Kevin Adams, ASMI staff, and representatives of the three RSDAs that have already formed (for the Prince William Sound region, Bristol Bay Region, Southeast/Yakutat region). A regional marketing meeting is planned for early December. For more information contact Ellyn Lundgren, elundgren@alaskaseafood.org. |
Pacific Marine Expo Booth and Sessions Hats off to the board members who contributed to the success of the ASMI booth at Pacific Marine Expo Nov. 17 – 19. (click here for photo, from left to right Executive Director Ray Riutta with board members Duncan Fields, Bruce Wallace and Kevin Adams). The conference session jointly sponsored by United Fishermen of Alaska (UFA) and ASMI was kicked off by Bill Noll, State of Alaska Commissioner of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED). Duncan Fields put things in context from the UFA perspective, and presentations were offered by John Salle of Trident Seafoods, Len Peterson of Taku River Reds, Diane Platt of Cordova District Fishermen United, Glenn Haight, Fisheries Development Specialist of DCCED, and Ray Riutta. Also at the expo was a presentation by Chris McDowell and Erin Harrington on behalf of ASMI's Seafood Market Information Service (provided by McDowell group). The first issue of the Bulletin was sent out electronically in mid-November. If you want to receive it directly, you’ll need to subscribe on the ASMI homepage (same sign up procedure as for this Newsbrief, but offered as a separate product). The Bulletin is also posted on the website. |
Unilever Launching New Line Including Alaska Pink Salmon A news report published on Intrafish on November 28 described a new line of frozen natural salmon, plaice and saithe fillet products being launched by Unilever: “Naturfilets” is a natural fish line, and features wild pink salmon; the box shown on the website shows salmon fillets bearing the MSC logo, and Alaska's is currently the only salmon fishery certified by MSC. Europe's largest fish supplier, Unilever was one of the original founding entities of the Marine Stewardship Council |
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phone: 1-800-478-2903
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