A Better Way to Buy Fish: 5 Reasons To Get Fish From A Fishermen’s Co-op
When you buy fish from a fishermen’s cooperative, you get your fish from a fisherman. We fishermen own and operate Seafood Producers Cooperative (SPC). From boat to plate, we take great pride in delivering premium-quality, wild seafood to you. Your fish goes from the water to your plate in the most direct path possible.
Reason #1:
Fish from a Fishermen’s Cooperative goes to the customer in the most direct path from boat to plate.
Reason #2:
Fish from Alaska Gold is caught and packed in the USA.
91% of seafood purchased in the United States is imported and up to a third of that is illegal, unregulated fish. Essentially, pirate fish. And pirate fishermen destroy the world’s fisheries by overfishing.
SPC fishermen catch their fish in the waters of the North Pacific, much of it in Alaska, the world’s model for sustainable fisheries. Alaska is the only state with a mandate for sustainable seafood written right into its State Constitution. All fisheries are carefully managed so that our grandchildren can fish the same way that we do.
Reason #3:
Even when supermarket fish claims to be caught in Alaskan waters, much of it is processed in China.
Our fishermen take great pride in the fish we bring our customers. We never process our fish in China. We have one processing plant with very rigorous quality standards. And this plant is in the US of A.
Reason #4:
We fish with hook and line in a traditional, artisan way.
Only a small percentage—less than 5%—of Alaska seafood comes from hook and line methods (aka trolling), but what troll-caught fish lack in quantity, they more than make up for in quality.
A troll-caught fish is the best fish on the market. No fish is handled with more care than a troll-caught fish. At Alaska Gold, we are particularly fastidious with our handling procedures. Fish are quickly bled and iced. Troll-caught fish don’t pile up on the boat deck. They are handled One Fish At A Time and are iced and stowed in a matter of minutes. In contrast, while many net-caught fish are dead long before they even reach the deck of a boat. This difference means that a hook and line caught fish makes for a premium-quality product with a fresher taste.
Troll-caught salmon are also harvested in the open ocean and are actively feeding. Once salmon swim towards rivers, they begin preparing to spawn and undergo changes in their bodies that create an off taste. Net-caught fish are caught closer to rivers, where begin these changes. For these reasons, a troll-caught salmon is pound for pound the most valuable of the Alaska salmon, and is the most premium-quality fish available.
Reason #5:
Because our fishermen own and operate the cooperative, they have a vested interest in producing the highest quality fish for our customers.
Cooperatives make the world a better place by adhering to the 7 cooperative principles. For us, these principles are sacred and we believe that they support the communities that we live in.
Check out our online store and get the world’s best seafood.
