Monday, April 14, 2008P
Business Toolbox: Your competition
Vegas: How the other half cooks
Paul Bartolotta is the most famous Vegas celebrity chef you’ve never heard of. And his gorgeous Bartolotta Ristorante Di Mare (it has its own lagoon!) in the Wynn Las Vegas is perhaps the most luxurious seafood restaurant in North America. Luxurious because of the fine Italian products he uses; not because of its preparation, which runs from simple to downright rustic. The chef imports 1 ½ tons of line-caught fish and seafood from seaports, large and small, dotting the Mediterranean.
“Only Steve Wynn and I are crazy enough to open a Mediterranean seafood restaurant in the middle of the desert,” says the big and bold Barlotta, in town recently as an ambassador for the upcoming “Vegas Uncork’d: A Bon Appétit Epicurean Experience”, which hits Sin City May 8 – 11, 2008. A collaboration between Bon Appétit magazine, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and an elite group of Las Vegas resorts; they’ll all join foodie forces with some of the destination’s finest chefs, including Chef Bartolotta, Daniel Boulud, Tom Colicchio, Todd English, Michael Mina, Wolfgang Puck, Guy Savoy and Jean-Georges Vongerichten for an all-access culinary brouhaha.
But back to dinner: On the counter sits oversized bowls of colourful and curious sea creatures, the likes of which I’ve never seen, such as the prehistoric Slipper Lobster and the Spotted Big Eye Red Bream. They’re all no more than 24 hours off the boat, and look so fresh their dead eyes twinkle. Chef Bartolotta says that microchips in the fish cases track temperature in transit every 30 minutes. (He adds that, you can afford that kind of fresh technology when you’ve got Steve Wynn as a backer.)
The chef’s food philosophy is to use the best ingredients, prepared simply but beautifully. “The balance of ingredients, time and temperature equals taste,” he says. “That’s the equation.” Taking a variable and making it a constant, is what makes his food great.
The James Beard award-winning Bartolotta is about to reach an even larger audience, c/o his recent Iron Chef America battle against his friend Mario Batali, which will air June 1. Who won? “I don’t know. They tape three different endings now [a win, loss and draw] because everybody used to blow the confidentiality agreement. We had a lot of fun. We’re buddies. But I think I crushed him.” – National Post, Canada
Business Toolbox: Passover, April 20-26
Traditional Ashkenazi dishes can be healthful
When I speak with people about healthy Jewish cooking, it's easy to emphasize Sephardi specialties. After all, they are kosher dishes from the healthy Mediterranean diet. But there are plenty of Ashkenazi dishes that are wholesome too, including many of the old-fashioned standbys.
Gefilte fish is a prime example. Made simply of ground fish and eggs or egg whites, it has plenty of valuable nutrients and is low in fat. Besides, since it's served cold and made ahead, it's very convenient for the Seder menu.
Gefilte fish might seem boring to some, but it's easy to liven it up. Make it with salmon, and you get not only a tasty, colorful appetizer but you insert some heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids into your menu.
Author Jayne Cohen finds gefilte fish so inspiring that she wrote The Gefilte Variations cookbook. She flavors one version of gefilte fish with saffron, and poaches another in fennel-wine broth. Based on a Chinese technique for steaming dumplings, she also makes gefilte fish steamed between cabbage leaves, and serves it with dill-horseradish mayonnaise.
To turn gefilte fish into a springtime starter, perfect for the Seder, I use mini salmon gefilte fish balls to embellish a lively salad. The pale orange fish balls are beautiful and delicious when set on bed of tender baby greens and, to further set the springtime tone, I garnish the salad with lightly cooked fresh asparagus. – Fay Levy, writing in the Jerusalem Post
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Salmon ban could kill San Francisco fishery
SAN FRANCISCO -- The one-year ban on fishing for Chinook salmon could kill the commercial salmon fishery in California, officials said.
The number of boats has dropped from 4,000 to 400 in 15 years, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"We're looking at the end of it right now," said Hedley Prince, harbormaster at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
Most commercial fishing captains in California get about 70 percent of their income from salmon, with the Chinook the backbone of the commercial fishery.
Duncan MacLean, who fishes out of Half Moon Bay on a 43-foot boat named after his daughter, Barbara Faye, said the one-year moratorium will damage marketing efforts and other infrastructure.
The California fishermen generally work off small boats and cannot afford the $60,000 permits required to fish for salmon off Alaska.
Commercial salmon fishing in the San Francisco area dates back to the Gold Rush era. Joe DiMaggio and his brothers are among the celebrated San Franciscans from fishing families. – UPI
Business Toolbox: Your costs
Blue crab prices going skyhigh
First it was the price of gas, then milk and wheat.
Now it's blue crabs -- that Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay tradition.
At Hadfield's Seafood in New Castle, a bushel ranged in price from $161 for the smallest blue crabs to $280 for the largest.
"They're high," General Manager John Wolenski said.
Prices are always higher this time of year when the local supply is slim and crabs must be trucked or flown to the area.
The crabs at Hadfield's, for example, are from Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, Wolenski said. The Louisiana crabs are flown in, which makes them more expensive. But with the high price of diesel fuel, even the trucked-in crabs from the south Atlantic states are pricier. Diesel fuel prices ranged this week from $4.14 a gallon in the mid-Atlantic to $3.93 a gallon in the south Atlantic.
And it could get even worse.
Over in the Chesapeake, regulators in both Maryland and Virginia are looking at harvest cuts to address overfishing of blue crab stocks.
Maryland's plan -- to cut female crab harvests by up to 40 percent -- comes after about 10 years of low harvest numbers.
In Virginia, regulators are looking at reductions in the number of pots that can be fished, a larger minimum peeler crab size (crabs that are shedding) and pot tagging.
Officials in Virginia believe overfishing is still a significant concern and the one factor that can be managed.
The whole crab market has changed, Robins said. The market now is dominated by bushel sales of hard crabs rather than picked crab meat, he said.
"Our resources right now can't satisfy the demand," he said.
Delaware environmental officials don't see a similar stock decline in the Delaware Bay.
The population, state fisheries administrator Roy Miller said, "is holding up."
Years ago, Delaware fisheries administrators limited entry into commercial blue crabbing by restricting the issue of new commercial licenses. In addition, it capped the number of pots that can be fished to 200 per license. To help fishermen cut costs on fuel and boat expenses, as many as three license holders can fish up to 500 total pots from a single boat, Miller said. -- The News Journal, Delaware
Business Toolbox: Sustainability
World’s food security threatened in oceans
HANOI — The future food security of millions of people is at risk because over-fishing, climate change and pollution are inflicting massive damage on the world's oceans, marine scientists warned last week.
The two-thirds of the planet covered by seas provide one fifth of the world's protein -- but 75 percent of fish stocks are now fully exploited or depleted, a Hanoi conference that was told.
Warming seas are bleaching corals, feeding algal blooms and changing ocean currents that impact the weather, and rising sea levels could in future threaten coastal areas from Bangladesh to New York, experts said.
"People think the ocean is a place apart," said Peter Neill, head of the World Ocean Observatory. "In fact it's the thing that connects us -- through trade, transportation, natural systems, weather patterns and everything we depend on for survival."
Marine ecosystems and food security were key concerns at the Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, an international meeting of hundreds of experts from governments, environmental groups and universities.
"There is a race to fish, but in wild capture fisheries right now we can catch no more," said Steven Murawski, fisheries chief science advisor at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"We catch 100 million metric tonnes per year, and that's been very flat globally. Our only hope is if we conserve and rebuild stocks," he said, adding that sustainable aquaculture could help make up the shortfall.
The current plunder is risking long-term sustainability with "too many fishing boats taking too many fish and not allowing the stocks to regenerate," said Frazer McGilvray of Conservation International.
"Once the oceans are gone, we're gone. The oceans sustain the planet." – APF
Tuesday, April 15, 2008P
There was no Wild News installment for Tuesday, April 15. Blame an unlucky lightning strike. Sorry.
Wenesday, April 16, 2008P
Business Toolbox: Marketing I
Native chief in Fiji tells people to eat their fish
A chief in the north has encouraged qoliqoli (fishing rights) owners to use resources as the main source of food supply for their families instead of buying canned fish.
The overlord of Macuata in the north, Ratu Aisea Katonivere, said with soaring food prices, villagers could turn to their fishing grounds, which were rich with marine life.
He said their marine protected areas exercise ensured they have enough to depend on.
"The people of Macuata should make use of their qoliqoli and fish to bring back fresh supplies to feed their families instead of relying on supermarkets for tinned fish, which costs money," he said.
"Qoliqoli owners don't have to pay for the fish they catch because it is free. This will save them money and keep them healthy."
He said the supply of fish and other marine lives from the qoliqoli of Macuata was abundant. "Fishing is healthier for the lifestyle and costs no money unlike buying canned food from the shops," Ratu Aisea said.
The Macuata chief was also happy with the response from landowners towards the farming of rice, which is in short supply across the world. -- Fiji Times
Business Toolbox: Marketing II
'Supper club' now greener... and with fish
MINNEAPOLIS — In the Upper Midwest, you can't call your restaurant a supper club without conjuring certain associations.
Meat and potatoes on the menu, dark wood paneling on the walls and a folksy atmosphere in the dining room are all hallmarks of a type of eating establishment common for decades in the rural environs of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. With her Red Stag Supper Club, restaurateur Kim Bartmann recycled these concepts with a modern twist — but that's not all she recycled.
The Red Stag, which opened late last year, is one of only a few restaurants in the country on its way to achieving the U.S. Green Building Council's nationally recognized standard for environmentally friendly design. It was designed and built to use about half the gas and electricity and 30 percent of the water of a typical restaurant its size.
In addition, major elements of its interior were made from existing materials. Tables came from doors that were discarded from a nearby condo project, and the bar is made of Italian marble salvaged from a local hotel.
Bartmann is hoping the certification, known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), is good not just for the environment but also for her bottom line. Achieving the energy and water efficiencies cost more up front, but Bartmann said she'll recoup that quickly in lower monthly costs.
And she said she saved so much elsewhere by using salvage materials that her startup costs were about half the typical $1 million for a restaurant of similar size.
"You hear more and more people in the sustainability community shifting their conversations from the moral imperative to the business argument," Bartmann said. "It's kind of obvious that a 'It's just good business' argument is going to push things along a lot more rapidly than a moral imperative."
Restaurants generally consume the most energy of any type of retail business, and while many commercial and residential structures are now being built to LEED standards, restaurateurs have been slow to follow suit. Ashley Katz, spokeswoman for the U.S. Green Building Council, said the agency has only certified seven restaurants so far.
"We'd like to see that grow," Katz said. "If you're operating a restaurant, you're using a lot of energy. Thirty to 50 percent energy savings, 30 percent of water usage — these are things you can really take to the bank."
Bartmann spent major parts of her childhood in northern Wisconsin's lake country, where both locals and weekend visitors would gather at the local supper clubs.
"The White Stag, Pitlik and Wick, Birch Bar — on Sunday they delivered a pot roast with canned green beans and mashed potatoes for $9.95, you know," Bartmann said. "You took your whole family, and you could stay for hours and feel comfortable and welcome."
Bartmann hired Bill Baskin, a local chef who interned at England's renowned Fat Duck, and together they conceived a menu that's inspired by supper club fare, with plenty of meats and fried food — but aimed at a more sophisticated palate, and with entree prices a bit north of $9.95.
For example, "I'm doing a venison stroganoff," Baskin said. "We take a rare seared pile of venison from Wisconsin, we put that over some house-made sour cream egg noodles. But instead of that old gray gravy, we add dehydrated yellow tomatoes, crimini mushrooms, watercress and freeze-dried garlic. It's souped up a little bit, but it's still stroganoff all the way."
Every Friday night, the restaurant holds a fish fry — a Wisconsin tradition if there ever was one. Much of the food is purchased from farms and vendors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, another key aspect of the sustainability approach. – Associated Press
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Even more bad news about blue crab
Commercial crabbers and seafood packers in Maryland could be in for a tough year, as the state considers mid-season changes to the blue crab harvest.
Scientists say they need to curtail the harvest of crabs -- and females in particular -- to keep the crab population from crashing.
Though the state doesn't have a final proposal yet, some preliminary ideas are being discussed.
All of the ideas are centered on females: size limits, bushel limits and even a partial closure of the harvest for commercial crabbers and a total ban on keeping females for recreational crabbers.
Altogether, the state aims to reduce the female harvest by 20 to 40 percent. The final goal --- and the final proposal -- will depend on data from a key survey that's still being reviewed.
"We've not made a final decision yet," said Lynn Fegley, a fisheries biologist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "What we're coming forward with now is a fine-tuned suite of options that would accomplish somewhere between a 20 and 40 percent cutback on the harvest of females."
The proposed changes come as no surprise to watermen and seafood processors, who already have met with DNR officials several times this year. Many have said they acknowledge a need to reduce the harvest to protect the crab population -- but they worry how the restrictions might affect their bottom line.
Seafood processors in particular could be hit hard by changes to the harvest. They depend on female crabs, many caught in the fall, for their picking and packaging operations.
"It's going to be a very fine line between saving enough of the resource to get their objectives and having such a detrimental effect on the industry that they can't stay in business," said Bill Sieling of the Chesapeake Seafood Industries Association.
Already, the industry is suffering. Mr. Sieling said the number of crab meat processors has dropped from 55 to 25 in the past 10 years. And watermen reported one of their lowest harvests ever in 2007.
The low catch was due to low reproduction in recent years -- there just were fewer crabs in the bay for watermen to take. As a result of lower populations, watermen have been catching a greater percentage of the total population, contributing to the problem.
Scientists have figured that the bay needs 200 million adult crabs for stable reproduction. And no more than 46 percent of the crabs should be caught in a given year. -- Annapolis Capital Gazette
Business Toolbox: Your environment
B.C. biologists may defy government to save salmon
A woman who lives on British Columbia's central coast says she might defy the federal government and relocate migrating salmon away from fish farm enclosures.
Marine biologist Alexandra Morton says juvenile salmon are in danger because of commercial fish farming in the Broughton archipelago, a group of islands on the northeastern flank of the Queen Charlotte Strait on B.C.'s central coast.
Young fish are drawn to the farms by their bright lights and the fish feed that is tossed into the water, Morton said, exposing them to viruses and sea lice.
Morton says she has drafted a plan to catch and release the salmon some distance away from the farms.
"I was going to pour them into a tank on a fish boat and put them down [in the ocean] about 20 kilometres along,'' she said.
Morton said officials from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans have warned her that she could face jail time if she proceeds with the plan.
But she says she might go ahead anyway: "I'm really a law-abiding person, but the trouble is, which law do you obey — the natural law or political decisions?'' – CBC
Thursday, April 18, 2008P
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Chesapeake governors agree to blue crab limit
The governors of Maryland and Virginia have agreed to take immediate steps to reduce by one-third the amount of female blue crabs harvested from the Chesapeake Bay -- an unprecedented joint effort to stop the skid of the bay's iconic species.
Maryland officials said they are prepared to offer other work to watermen to make up for lost income. Natural resources officials pointed out that there is $3 million in the capital budget to help the seafood industry. Some of it could be used to hire watermen to build oyster reefs or start aquaculture businesses, officials said.
"It's not us trying to get them a welfare check. It's doing things that are in their interest, too," said Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin.
Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, both Democrats, stood on the banks of the Potomac River to declare their determination to fight the precipitous drop in the population of the Chesapeake blue crab.
"The crab has more than an economic impact. It truly is a symbol that unites the two states," Kaine said. "When positive steps are taken, this is a very resilient species that could come back very quickly. We need to take the steps."
The two governors said they had charged their natural resources agencies with imposing restrictions to reduce the female harvest, a reduction that could be achieved by bushel limits, bans on crabbing during parts of the season or other means. They said they recognize that the restrictions would be a hardship for watermen but said they had to do something to try to revive the species. – Baltimore Sun
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Greens decry illegal Russian Arctic fishing
GENEVA— Illegal fishing of cod and pollock in the Arctic is a transnational crime that is putting the health of fisheries at risk, a report published Wednesday by conservation group WWF shows.
The illegal activity is also adding pressure on fish stocks that are already feeling the impact of climate change, said the report.
Some 70 percent of the world's white fish supply originates from the Arctic. Among these are the Russian-Alaska pollock and Barents Sea cod which account for about a quarter of the world's white fish supply.
In 2005, over 100,000 tonnes of illegal cod valued at 225 million euros (350 million dollars) were caught in the Barents Sea.
Efforts to clamp down have resulted in the halving of such illegal landings of cod, but the poaching of Alaska pollock remains a problem, said the WWF.
Illegal Alaska pollock catch can reach a value of 45 million euros a year.
"Illegal fishing in the Arctic is a serious transnational crime crossing European, African, Asian and American borders," said Neil Hamilton, director of WWF International's Arctic Programme.
"Cheats are putting short-term profits ahead of the long-term survival of Arctic fisheries," he added.
The group said illegally caught pollock was typically carried to China for processing by a Russian vessel, the deal was usually handled by middlemen in South Korea, and the processed fish re-exported as fillets to the United States.
"With markets spread across the globe, the distribution of black market cod and pollock is a global problem," said the group. – Press release
Business Toolbox: Your customers' health
Fish fat can help stop pre-cancer growth
A fatty acid from fish may help prevent a pre-cancerous condition from developing further. A high consumption of fish is associated in some studies with a reduced risk of oesophageal cancer.
The n-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) inhibits an enzyme that is associated with the cancer. “Regular, relatively small doses of EPA produced an effect in human patients”, said Professor Ian Johnson of the Institute of Food Research. “A higher or more prolonged level of supplementation may have a role to play in correcting pre-cancerous changes in cells and tissues”.
Esophageal cancer rates are increasing faster than any other malignancy. The prognosis for patients is poor as it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. The average survival time is less than a year. Far better then to find ways to prevent it developing. -- Business Weekly, UK
Business Toolbox: Marketing
Another fishmonger becomes restaurateur
New Bern's (in North Carolina) oldest fresh-seafood market is adding an attraction -- the dinner table.
Work is under way on a 70-seat dining area at Tryon Palace Seafood on South Front Street.
The 72-year-old business has long been the only place downtown to buy fresh fish, laid out on ice. Mounted fish and old photographs of anglers and their catches adorn the walls for viewing while the whole fish are being headed or filleted.
About eight years ago, a small take-out area for cooked seafood dinners was added.
"We felt like New Bern was growing so much and we kept hearing that people wanted good fresh-cooked seafood -- not frozen or farm-raised," said owner Ed McGovern Jr.
He watched the city's growth continue -- multiple condos being built down the street and the North Carolina History Education Center planned for 2010 directly in front of his market. McGovern wanted to keep up.
"People want to sit down and eat and with the Palace putting their project across the street, and all the condos being built downtown, we needed to expand with them," he said.
The long rectangular dining area, with a tentative name of "Sting Ray" café or restaurant, is being built inside what had been the major portion of the fish market's fish offloading bay.
McGovern has been a commercial fisherman for 40 years and said he also wanted to open an affordable seafood eatery. -- New Bern Sun Journal, NC
Friday, April 18, 2008P
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Be smart when you’re pricing salmon this summer
ANCHORAGE -- Does the closure of king salmon fisheries in California and Oregon spell good news for Alaska?
High prices and high demand are not, unfortunately, always good things for the salmon industry and many variables come into play.
Demand, health of salmon runs and operational costs all make a difference in whether a potentially windfall year will actually pay off.
The West Coast closure of king salmon fishing fleets means purchasing the fish at market will cost plenty.
"I would not be surprised to see king salmon selling for $25 a pound to restaurants and $35 a pound in retail establishments," said Monterey Fish Market founder Paul Johnson.
California suppliers are also suffering. San Francisco-based seafood supplier Bill Dawson usually has 10,000 pounds of wild salmon on his shelves. He's down to about 200.
"We tell them, it looks like were not gonna have any fish for them, and its very disturbing," Dawson said.
Alaska's king salmon is expected to help fill the gap, though.
"I see a lot of demand. I am expecting high prices -- seems like every year prices get a little higher," said Fisherman's Express owner Cade Smith.
But those high prices may foretell mixed blessings.
"Periods of super-high prices can really mess up your market," said Gunnar Knapp, an economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research.
Consumers could ultimately lose their appetite for elite products like wild Chinook salmon if prices spiral out of control.
"As a consumer there will be a point at which there will be resistance to high prices," Smith said.
Even if king prices do soar, economists say it's important to remember there are a lot of other fish in the sea.
"You have to keep it in perspective, really. This fish, these troll-caught kings, are a tiny portion of the total salmon market," Knapp said. "A troll-caught king is a great salmon but there is lots of other great Alaska salmon around that is lots of, and will be a much more affordable price."
Fishermen were able to sell Alaska's troll-caught winter kings from Southeast Alaska at $8.84 per pound this year, about $2 per pound more than last year.
The Copper River run marks the first big opener for Alaska king salmon and is expected to begin in mid-May.
It's important to note that troll-caught wild king salmon are currently netting the really high prices. These are pristine fish from pristine water.
Again, they are just a fraction of the salmon that Alaska brings to market each year.
Still, there are some concerns that the high prices, driven by factors like the out of state closure, may prompt people to select farmed salmon to save money or maybe even turn away from salmon altogether. – KTUU, Anchorage
Business Toolbox: Your competition
Chinook shortage good for fish farmers
The closure of commercial fisheries in California and much of Oregon this year will likely increase the demand for B.C. farmed salmon, says an industry spokesperson.
But Mary Ellen Walling, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Associations, said meeting the demand will be tough because the industry can’t easily expand and growing fish for the market takes about two years.
“The challenge for us is we’re not going to be able to meet the demand for the product,” she said.
Last week, officials in the U.S. announced the closure of commercial and sport Chinook salmon fisheries off California and much of Oregon.
Walling said while demand for BC farmed salmon has grown over the past three years, she expects an increase in demand because of this year’s closure.
In 2007, BC salmon farms grew 72,000 tonnes of fish. In 2006, they grew 68,000 tonnes.
She said there is a growing acceptance of the product in the US, and people are now realizing the positive health benefits of eating salmon.
Retailers also like the year-round availability of the product.
Meantime, Catherine Stewart, salmon farm campaign manager for the Living Oceans Society, linked the likely increase in demand with the outbreak of infectious salmon anemia in Chile and the closure of some farms.
“Gee, I’m really surprised the industry is reporting an upsurge in the demand for the product,” she said.
She said major US grocery chains recently announced they’d no longer carry Chilean farmed salmon and are now likely turning to BC, and the increase in demand is no reflection on environmentalists’ de-marketing campaigns.
She agreed with Walling on one point, though.
“There is no way BC can replace that supply.” – The Westcoaster, B.C.
Business Toolbox: The competition
Attempt to grow ‘organic’ cod fails
The revolutionary project to grow organic cod in Scottish fish farms was praised as an ethical answer to fish stocks, but now had to be shut down. After losing £40 million in three years, the first attempt to farm organic cod worldwide failed. It had been boasted to be a breakthrough in sustainable fisheries with an expensive marketing campaign claiming to “save the planet” and supported by celebrities.
According to the advertisement, there was "Not too high a price to pay for a clear conscience," but the administrators brought in to rescue the Shetland-based business from collapse admitted that organic cod farming had been a financial disaster and the company not had a realistic chance of succeeding.
The business was sold two Norwegian-owned companies, who will start to produce organic salmon. The last 3,400 tonnes of organic cod will be sold at less than a tenth of its original cost in the shops, reports the Guardian. – Organic-Market.Info, Germany
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Yukon fish gaining popularity
ANCHORAGE – Bragging doesn't come naturally to Marvin Okitkun, but the Yup'ik Eskimo fisherman doesn't miss a beat when talking up king salmon, the valuable fish that makes life possible for villagers on the cash-poor Yukon River delta.
"Once you've tried our salmon, you wouldn't want to have any other salmon from any other place," Okitkun said. "To us, everything else is hype."
The sterling reputation of the Yukon king is buoying the fragile economies of the tiny delta villages, which are among the state's poorest communities. Strikingly high fuel costs and disastrously low fish counts in the last decade have pushed the mostly Alaska Native region deep into poverty.
To survive, local fishermen have immersed themselves in the language and mindset of the modern gourmet in what has become a successful courtship of the upscale commercial seafood market.
With help from a federal fisheries program, they are learning to tout the fish's exceptionally high fat content and lifetime in the wild as sources of health benefits and superior flavor.
The fish naturally store enough fat to survive the 2,000-mile journey up the Yukon to spawn. Most wild salmon swim shorter distances and build up less fat as a result.
"Yukon salmon come from well-managed salmon runs and they are not farm-raised," said Eunice Alexie, 43, of Pitka's Point. "They're all-natural, with 34 percent healthy omega-3 oils."
Alexie recently traveled from her Yup'ik Eskimo village of 110 people to the Boston International Seafood Show to showcase the Yukon fish for Kwik'Pak Fisheries. The company was created in 2002 through a federally sponsored nonprofit to help delta residents secure a niche in the cut-throat international salmon market.
"We want to build an economy based on the fishery," said Jack Schultheis, Kwik'Pak's Anchorage-based sales manager. "We don't have anything else."
Foodies are responding to the marketing push by Kwik'Pak and the few smaller processors left on the delta. Several newspapers and seafood publications have featured the Yukon king in culinary write-ups since the campaign took off several years ago. The fish appeared on Food & Wine magazine's "Best New Ingredients" list of 2008.
"I've been serving Yukon salmon each season for three years," said David LeFavre, executive chef of the tony seafood restaurant Water Grill in Los Angeles. "I think it's got great fat content. It sears up, grills and sautes incredibly nicely."
But the fishery needs more than good publicity to survive. The Yukon delta is hundreds of miles from the state highway and railroad systems. Local villages can accommodate only small planes on their air strips, pushing up shipping costs.
Annual returns of the two main salmon species in the summer fishery king and chum have rollercoastered in recent years.
In the late 1990s, western Alaska's salmon stocks plummeted for reasons that remain unclear. The state declared the area a disaster in 2000. It cut short the commercial season, but allowed fishing for local consumption to continue.
Fish buyers quit the region, village stores cut off credit and some mushers were reportedly killing their sled dogs rather than watch them starve, prompting a flood of pet food donations to the region.
Commercial fishing resumed in 2002 with a rebound in the runs, but the fish have never quite recovered. The state may set strict limits on commercial fishing again this summer to make sure enough salmon reach their spawning grounds, according to Yukon area manager Steve Hayes of the Department of Fish and Game.
The state has an agreement with Canada to allow a certain number of fish across the border and the limits are intended also to compensate for a shortfall last year.
A commercial salmon fisherman on the Yukon delta generally pockets up to several thousand dollars each season, a significant sum to the largely Alaska Native workforce. The area's average annual income was $16,012 in 2005, while the state average was $35,564, according to Dan Robinson, a state economist.
The seasonal salary helps roughly 1,500 residents sustain the modernized hunter-gatherer lifestyle that is common throughout rural Alaska. Snowmobiles, off-road vehicles and motor boats are must-haves in the seasonal pursuit of moose, seal, whale, berries and fish. Fuel currently $6 a gallon saps much of the cash.
According to state estimates, the wild harvest in the region provides at least 600 pounds of food annually per person.
“I'd say subsistence foods, they are the majority of our diet," said Okitkun, one of 600 people in the village of Kotlik. "A lot of it is salmon. My parents and other elders in town, they have dried salmon every day." – Daily News Tribune, Mass.
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