Alaska

Stop Pebble Mine

While most of us are gearing up for summer vegetables and barbecues, our friend Christopher Nicolson and his family are packing up to make the long trek to Bristol Bay, Alaska for salmon fishing season. “We grew up fishing with my parents, that’s just what my family did,” says Nicolson, and the tradition goes back even further. His mother, a native Alaskan, can trace her family’s fishing roots around the Kenai Peninsula back hundreds of years, and the family continues to fish from the same Graveyard Point set-net camp Nicolson’s grandfather homesteaded in the 1940’s. Like the forty million salmon returning each year to the Bristol Bay watershed, these fishermen take part in a cycle that has endured for millennia.

The story of Christopher Nicolson and his family is one we tell often, one that illustrates perfectly the connection between traditional fishing communities, well-managed wild fisheries, and good fish. But it’s a story we may not be able to tell for long. Bristol Bay, the largest and most sustainable source of wild salmon in the world, provider of tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of income for people around the country, is in jeopardy. The specter that looms is the proposed Pebble Mine project, which, according to the EPA’s most recent assessment, would destroy salmon habitat, spread toxic waste into the ecosystem, and change the face of Bristol Bay as we know it.

The best thing we can do to protect Bristol Bay salmon is to eat it, and demonstrate with our choices that we value pure, natural food and healthy communities more than gold. We witnessed top tastemakers do just that this weekend at Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Cooking for Solutions event, where our Bristol Bay sockeye salmon was proudly served to hundreds of guests. It was great to see Bristol Bay salmon in the spotlight at this celebration of sustainable food, but we can take a stand for salmon year-round. Our friend chef Evan Mallett put it best, “Whether we like it or not, food is politics. What we eat reflects our values.” Take a moment to speak out and tell the EPA what you think of the proposed Pebble Mine. And if you really want to make a difference, pick up your fork.

Spring Halibut

You know spring can’t be far behind when the first halibut lands in Alaska. Pacific halibut is considered one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world. Captain Tim Abena of the F/V Big Blue fishes halibut using selective hook and line gear, with a small secondary catch of (delicious) rockfish. His first halibut of the season was caught in Prince William Sound’s Two Arm Bay, landed in Homer, headed, gutted, and shipped via FedEx to arrive next day in the lower 48.

Unlike Atlantic halibut, which was severely overfished and has yet to recover, the Alaska halibut fishery has a robust scientific management system, ensuring a long and abundant season that stretches until November. The largest of all flatfish, halibut can grow to over 300 pounds. More commonly 15-30 pounds, Alaska halibut is prized for its mild, sweet flavor, firm texture, and spectacular results whether grilled, roasted, sautéed, or poached.

The season’s first halibut made its way this week to Walker’s Drive-In in Jackson, Mississippi. Jackson isn’t a city known for its food scene, but chef Derek Emerson and his wife Jennifer have set the bar high, turning an old 1950’s diner into a local culinary favorite. There’s nothing quite like the beautiful white flake of halibut, and chef Derek did it justice with his preparation of pan-seared halibut with roasted garlic, white bean purée, sous vide hearts of palm, and sea bean salad. We think Captain Abena should be proud.

Captain Abena and Chef Derek are prime examples of the kinds of independent producers and tastemakers we like to celebrate. But neither is entirely self-sufficient. Just as the independent Alaska halibut fisherman needs an outside market to survive, and relies on chefs who care about top-notch seafood, a chef can’t ultimately create great dishes without great products and the good work of the producers who catch and grow their food. As spring progresses and new fish land at our docks, we’re grateful for this kind of inter-reliance.

Menu this Salmon

Salmon has become a culinary staple and expected menu item for American diners. Many chefs turn to farmed Atlantic salmon to meet this demand, and yet, for very good reasons, it is unanimously red-listed by seafood sustainability organizations. Chefs need a wild, sustainable salmon option year-round, and we’ve created a program to meet that need.

“This program makes the farmed salmon alternative look less and less appealing all the time,” says chef Dennis Phelps from the Kitchen Cafe in Boulder, CO. “We are thrilled to be able to support a sustainable, traceable source of wild salmon year-round.” Chef Mary Cleaver, arguably New York’s biggest proponent of sustainable and seasonal cuisine, agrees, claiming that the only challenge is teaching her cooks not to overcook it. Last week Danny Meyer’s Union Square Events prepared sockeye for a special event with Edible magazine, and everyone agreed the salmon was delicious.

We work with fishermen Christopher Nicolson and Reid Ten Kley’s family business, the Iliamna Fish Company, to source wild sockeye salmon from the pristine waters of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Each year Christopher and Reid distribute shares of their sockeye to members of a community-supported fishery. Our program expands this opportunity to chefs: the salmon are flash-frozen at the moment of harvest with advanced freezing technology that locks in the flavor at its peak. Our partnership with Iliamna enables us to offer a consistent, steady, year-round supply of wild salmon for your restaurant menu at an affordable price.

Under threat from the proposed Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay salmon is a fragile natural resource, and we want to support our chef partners who are taking a stand and serving this incredible fish. Please let us know how you are preparing the salmon so that we can help spread the word on our new webpage. We look forward to the July season, when forty million sockeye course into the Bristol Bay watershed. In the meantime, being able to menu sockeye now from the world’s largest sustainable wild salmon fishery is truly a unique opportunity.

A Shrimp of a Different Color

We never get sick of shrimp. Though shrimp is a ubiquitous offering in restaurants, there is much more to shrimp than the unsustainable, and often flavorless, farmed shrimp found on most menus. In fact, there are over 300 species of shrimp around the world, and some of our favorite, more unique varieties are available.



Shrimper John Van Hyning knows the waters of Alaska’s Prince William Sound like the back of his hand. From early spring through the beginning of August, Captain John goes out for sidestripe shrimp on his boat the F/V New Wave. Others have tried their hand at sidestripe shrimping, but no one knows the water like John does, and he catches the best specimens of these shrimp that the Japanese refer to as “amaebi” for their incredibly sweet flavor. They’re beloved among Alaskans and mainlanders alike, and these “sugar shrimp” are available frozen and saltwater-packed until the fresh season starts in April.

Across the Gulf of Alaska in the port of Sitka, fisherman John Bahrt has been packing out spot prawns. John Bahrt has been fishing since he was seven years-old, and he catches spot prawns on his boat the F/V Kristina with pots, limiting bycatch and environmental impact. The deep, cold Alaskan waters make the prawns fatty, succulent, and creamy, with a meatier flavor than the more delicate sidestripe. Many chefs claim spot prawns as their favorite crustacean.

In another Gulf, the Wood family is landing Royal Red shrimp down on the Florida Panhandle. Shrimping for Royal Reds is hard work, with shrimpers going 40-60 miles offshore and dropping their trawls 200 fathoms down in the strongest currents of the Gulf. The deep, cold waters where Royal Reds swim give them a pronounced, sweet flavor that some compare to lobster. The season is brief, and we’re savoring them while we can. Meanwhile classic wild white and pink shrimp continue to land, available both with heads and without.



Whether swimming in saltwater or fresh, warm water or cold, there’s one thing that all shrimp have in common: there’s just no comparing the taste of wild shrimp to farmed. With Sea to Table’s direct model cutting many links from the supply chain, chefs can now enjoy these incredible creatures at competitive prices. Wild shrimp are as varied in flavor as the regions from where they come, and it’s worth getting to know every one. 

Iliamna Sockeye Salmon

For Christopher Nicolson and his cousin Reid Ten Kley, salmon is at the center of their family’s life and work. It all started back in 1946, when their grandpa Jack and his wife Lyn packed up their belongings to homestead in Alaska on the shores of Lake Iliamna, Alaska’s largest freshwater lake. “So began a lifelong love affair with fish,” they say, and fifty years later Jack’s grandchildren are still fishing. Each summer, Christopher, Reid, and their families return to their fish camp built in an old cannery on Graveyard Point to fish for sockeye salmon. The extended family of fishermen comes from as wide as Portland, OR and Brooklyn, NY, but each member is intimately tied to maintaining the environment and community of Bristol Bay, the world’s largest sustainable wild salmon fishery.

Despite the health and abundance of Bristol Bay’s salmon, the past ten years haven’t been easy for the family business due to the influx of foreign fish. Instead of giving into market pressure, Christopher and Reid founded Iliamna Fish Company, which has enabled them to sell their harvest of fish directly to diners and chefs. When they became a licensed fish seller, the state inspector called them “the smallest floating processor in Alaska,” but it’s precisely the small scale of their operation that ensures the pristine quality of the fish. As the salmon come out of the water, it’s immediately bled by hand, iced down, and then blast frozen a few hours later at a new state-of-the-art processing plant down the road in Naknek. When Christopher and Reid tie up their nets and head back to the lower forty-eight, this short period of salmon fishing helps support them throughout the rest of the year.

Just as Christopher and Reid’s harvest of salmon sustains them through the winter, chefs too can enjoy this family’s catch during the season when wild salmon aren’t available. The feedback we’ve received from our chefs has been overwhelmingly positive. “Your frozen sockeye is not even in the same category as farmed salmon,” says chef Todd Hudson at the Wildflower Cafe in Mason, Ohio. “One guest said that the sockeye is ‘easily the best salmon he’s ever had.’” “The salmon is delicious and selling well,” adds Mary Cleaver of the Green Table in New York’s Chelsea Market. It’s no surprise that chefs love Iliamna’s salmon knowing the care and love that go into its harvest. For us, being able to partake in a three-generation family tradition makes the sockeye that much more delicious.

Red is the Color of Love

They say that red is the color of love, and psychological studies show that seeing red encourages increased feelings of passion. Maybe that explains why our chefs are feeling especially amorous over two particular fish this week, red sockeye salmon and American red snapper.

The deep vermillion color of sockeye salmon is striking, but even more attractive is its rich flavor, which outshines that of the ubiquitous imported farmed salmon. Chefs are able to enjoy this superior flavor year round thanks to advanced freezing technology. Wild salmon are caught during the brief but bountiful sockeye run each summer by our friends Christopher Nicholson, Reid Ten Kley and their clan near Naknek in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The fish is filleted and flash frozen at the peak of flavor in a new state of the art facility mere hours after being caught. This is drastically different from the old method of freezing fish, when processors froze what wasn't sold after days of sitting at the dock. This new technology allows us to enjoy amazing fish year round, directly from the men and women who fish the world’s greatest salmon run.

This week our day-boat fisherman friend Chatham Morgan will fish for American red snappers down in Destin, Florida. Red snappers are prized by sports fishermen, and equally beloved by chefs and diners for their sweet white flesh and brilliantly colored red skin. Not long ago, the popularity of American red snapper led to overfishing, but recently a catch shares management program was implemented in the Gulf fishery, and the stock is rebuilding fast. Chatham and his buddies can now fish safely for American reds year round thanks to the new management system. Landings in 2012 were 55% above that of just three years earlier, a real success story. When winter storms bear down on Northeast fishermen, we're thankful to be able to enjoy this harvest from our Gulf friends.

Our fishermen love knowing that their catch is in good hands as much as chefs love to know who caught the beautiful seafood they cook. We think it's a perfect match.

GMO Farmed Salmon

Genetically modified salmon is more than a food safety risk; it threatens the livelihoods of traditional fishermen. Our friend Christopher Nicolson has been landing wild salmon in Bristol Bay since he was thirteen. Nicolson tells us that in the 1940s, pioneers flocked to the Alaskan territory to take advantage of the Homestead Act, which offered ownership to anyone who spent two years on a piece of land. Nicolson’s grandfather spent two winters without permanent structure in a camp on Graveyard Point, Alaska. Nicolson and his cousins return each summer to fish from the same homestead that their grandfather built.

The Bristol Bay salmon run is the largest and best managed in the world. Fishermen camp together waiting for the openings, and then work together to pull shallow nets bulging with the brilliantly-colored salmon coursing through the rivers and streams. The six week season is abundant enough to provide superlative sockeye salmon, flash-frozen at the dock, year-round. Nicolson spends the rest of the year as a winemaker in Brooklyn with his wife and small children, but two months ago Hurricane Sandy devastated his Red Hook winery. We hope for a quick recovery of the business, and that in the meantime his work as a fisherman can carry him through the hard time.

Now Frankenfish is moving one step closer to our dinner plates. Even as AquaBounty, the company who genetically engineered this fast-growing salmon hybrid, struggles to stay afloat, the FDA is expected to approve genetically-modified salmon, and the fish could potentially reach grocery stores months from now. Consumer fear of GMO farmed salmon is justifiable, and the environmental risk associated with genetically engineered fish is yet unknown. If we want a healthy source of seafood for future generations, GMO farmed salmon is a threat that can’t be taken lightly. The FDA is currently accepting public comments, and we encourage you to take a moment to let your voice be heard.

Ultimately when we make choices about what products we want as consumers, we have to keep in mind the link between our dollars and producer livelihoods. The GMO salmon debate should consider the effect on our communities as well as the risk to our environment and health. When you eat salmon, where did it come from? Remember that when we dig into salmon, we’re part of a much larger web.

A Feast of Seven (Sustainable) Fishes

Among all the ways to celebrate the holidays, we can't help but be partial to the Mediterranean tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a seafood-centric dinner that takes place on Christmas Eve. Where we come from, any celebration is a good excuse to eat fish, and so come Christmastime we make a point to get in touch with our Italian side.

It's easy to eat fish, but not always easy to know what fish to choose, so we're offering up recommendations for a sustainable seafood feast. We planned this meal with special consideration for the hard-working independent fishermen that brave the seas to bring us our fish, and so each of our choices represents a fishing community worthy of our support and recognition.

Our hope this holiday season is that whether you're preparing a multi-course meal or a humble supper, sustainable and traceable seafood becomes a staple in your kitchen.

1) Atlantic Pollock from Portland, Maine

Though Atlantic Cod has seen hard times, there's plenty of sustainable species still swimming in the Gulf of Maine. One is Atlantic Pollock. A close cousin of Cod, our fisherman friend Terry Alexanderdescribes it as "a good eatin' fish." Best of all, this under-appreciated species drives profit back to traditional New England fishing communities.

2) Squid from Point Judith, Rhode Island

We love a good calamari, but why fry up the tasteless imported squid proliferating the marketplace when you could eat local? Frying up a sustainably managed fresh squid from the waterfront village of the Port of Galilee is a surefire way to rediscover a classic dish.

3) Blue Crab from Cambridge, Maryland

J.M. Clayton is the oldest working crab house in the country. During blue crab season, the fifth-generation family business picks thousands of pounds of crabs bought directly from Chesapeake watermen. No one does it better, and we wouldn't imagine getting our crab elsewhere.

4) Mahi-Mahi from Beaufort, North Carolina

Rapid growing and fast breeding, Atlantic mahi-mahi in many ways epitomizes the perfect sustainable fish. They're abundant along the East Coast, especially in the Mid-Atlantic off of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras, where the Labrador and Gulf Stream currents converge to create a wall of water that's ideal for fishing.

5) Gulf White Shrimp from Port St. Joe, Florida

Wild-caught domestic shrimp gets our vote for the fifth course of our fishy feast. Gulf Shrimp is unmatched in sweet, briny flavor and caught sustainably using special by-catch reduction devices. We especially favor the shrimp landing at Wood's Fisheries in Port St. Joe, Florida, a thriving family-run dock that welcomes the Gulf's best shrimping vessels.

6) American Red Snapper from Destin, Florida

American Red Snapper is one of our favorite fishery comeback stories. A mere decade ago the Gulf fishing community was in trouble due to poorly managed fish stocks and an influx of imported seafood. Now the fishery is sustainably managed using individual fishing quotas (IFQs), and Florida fisherman land abundant American Red Snapper four or five days a week.

7) Pacific Cod from Homer, Alaska

A sustainable alternative to Atlantic Cod on the east coast, Alaska's thriving Pacific Cod fishery is among the best managed in the world. Fishermen harvest Pacific Cod with pots, a method with zero by-catch that does no harm to the sea floor. That's a fish worth eating.

Shrimp Hot and Cold

Shrimp are delicious little critters that everyone loves, but few respect. In our Huffington Post blog we discuss the opaque seafood supply chain that allows Asian pond-farms to fuel Red Lobster’s “Endless Shrimp” buffet. Sea to Table offers chefs access to delicious wild shrimp, traceable right to the boat, that they can be proud to serve their guests.

Up north in Alaska where temperatures were 33 below in Fairbanks last week, there was a small fall opening for the treasured Spot Prawn. Record dock prices are not expected to decrease demand in Japan, where more than 80 percent of the catch ends up. These cold-water prawns are unlike any shrimp you have ever tasted. The frigid Alaska waters force an extremely high fat content making them succulent and even creamy when eaten raw. Many chefs consider Spot Prawns their favorite crustacean. Alaska Wild Spot Prawns are harvested in pots, or traps, limiting by-catch and environmental impact to nearly zero. Our Sitka friend Captain John Bahrt landed a portion of that quota on the F/V Kristina and IQF flash froze both jumbo (with roe) and medium Spot Prawn tails right at the dock. They rode a barge and train to get to our cold storage where we can FedEx Next Day Ground ship to you. Do not miss these sweet treats.

Waters are warmer in the Gulf of Mexico where abundant white shrimp populations are fueling a recovery in traditional fishing communities built on shrimp. The sleepy town of Port St. Joe, Florida has two claims to fame: legendary high school basketball coach Vernon C. Eppinette, and a prospering local shrimping dock that's been run by the Wood family for five generations. At Wood's Fisheries, shrimp is more than something on your plate, it's someone's life. The Wood family has been shrimping since the mid-1800s. With a little luck and hard work, they've built a state-of-the-art processing plant that blast-freezes shrimp from the Gulf's best shrimping boats, taking care to only source shrimp that has been caught sustainably and left untouched by chemicals. Though Wood's is ahead of the curve when it comes to sourcing and freezing shrimp, a visit to the dock is like taking a trip to old-time Florida, where strangers still greet each other on the street and shrimpers congregate on the dock, chewing the fat and gearing up for their next voyage. We're happy to be supporting this traditional fishing community for future generations.

Frozen Sockeye

Wild salmon is like the asparagus of the fish world - its season is here and gone in a flash, yet it’s a highlight of foodie calendars everywhere. Bristol Bay salmon season lasts a mere six weeks. Now, thanks to advanced freezing technology, chefs have the opportunity to serve beautiful sockeye salmon, available from Sea to Table year-round. Diners demand a familiar, healthy fish on their plates, and chefs want a reliable, pristine product for their menus.

Here are five reasons why you should start serving our frozen sockeye salmon:

1-Because the alternative is farmed:

Don’t be fooled – salmon farming is still a long way off from being a sustainable alternative. It takes many pounds of wild fish feed to raise a pound of farmed salmon and high levels of antibiotics are required. It’s a wasteful, environmentally risky model that seafood rankings will tell you to avoid. And besides, there’s no comparing the taste between wild salmon and its farmed cousin.

2- Because it supports traditional fishing communities:

We get our sockeye salmon from the Iliamna Fish Company, a family who have been fishing the pristine waters of Bristol Bay for generations. Christopher Nicholson and his family land salmon on small set-net boats at Bristol Bay’s Graveyard Point, bleed, ice, and send them to be filleted and blast frozen while still in rigor at a small new processing plant five miles away in Naknek, driving more value to the community. The salmon is frozen at the peak of flavor, and as long as it’s refreshed properly, it’s the ideal way to enjoy this delicious fish year-round.

3- Because eating salmon from Bristol Bay protects wild salmon for future generations:

The proposed Pebble Mine project threatens to destroy the world’s last great wild salmon run. When you eat salmon from Bristol Bay, you are voting with your fork to protect a precious natural resource that has sustained fishing communities and natives for millennium. Forty million salmon return each year to one of the world's best managed fisheries. Says our Bristol Bay friend Christopher Nicolson, “It’s hard to put a value on something that’s been happening for five thousand years.” We couldn’t agree more, and the tradition of family fishing is something we want to see endure for generations to come. If we don’t speak out now, we risk losing our greatest source of wild, sustainable salmon. Eat a salmon to save a salmon - it’s a delicious way to make a difference.

4- Because you can now menu wild salmon year-round:

Wild fishing is our last form of true hunting for food, and it’s as unpredictable and evolving as one might expect from the pursuit of wild things. With our frozen sockeye salmon, you can have a product that you can rely on throughout the changing seasons. We are stocking 25 pound cases of PBO fillet in cold storage facilities around the country, allowing us to deliver to many cities via FedEx Next Day Ground at the lowest possible carbon footprint at an even lower price.

5- Because it is wild, sustainable, and so freaking delicious………...

Ask any bear.

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