Sitka Salmon Shares uses a community-supported fishery model, similar to that of CSA farms.
When Sitka Salmon Shares started distributing wild-caught Alaskan seafood to the Midwest in 2012, the people behind the company initially expected to see the highest demand coming from larger, urban markets like Chicago. But as the business got up and running, they were surprised to see some of the fastest market growth was coming from Madison.
“It was kind of unprecedented,” says Sean Treacy, Sitka’s assistant coordinator for Wisconsin. “[Madison] was kind of like the golden child amongst our different communities, and it still is in many ways.”
Sitka uses a community-supported fishery (CSF) model, which involves customers purchasing shares of the harvest direct from Alaskan fishing crews before the summer salmon runs in June and July. With orders placed and paid for ahead of time, CSF companies are able to negotiate the cost of fishing and processing before the season, guaranteeing a fair income for fishing crews and transparent pricing for customers.
Customers in coastal regions have long purchased seafood directly from people who fish, and the CSF model has been gaining popularity throughout the country over the last 10 years. Sitka was a pioneer in entering the Midwestern market, but others soon followed. Noah Locke, an independent contractor for Kwee-Jack Fish Co., started a local CSF after moving to Madison in 2013. Locke had been fishing in Alaska since 2001 and had previously done a CSF when he lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The business grew really slowly,” Locke says of his previous CSF. “It grew a lot faster [in Madison] than it did in Salt Lake City.”
Locke says demand from Madison customers has “grown considerably” every year since launching the CSF. “The first two or three years we doubled every year,” he says. Things have slowed down a bit these days, but demand is still high — the CSF is sold out for 2018.
Both Locke and Treacy say the success of CSFs in Madison is directly linked to its reputation as a city whose residents love good food and care about where it comes from. They also credit the area’s established network of community-supported agriculture, or CSAs, which connect consumers to fresh produce from local farms.
“The CSA market is so strong in Madison, we don’t have to do a lot of education,” Locke says. “People already get it, so when we tell them we do a CSF, they get that too.”
It’s right for people to be concerned about ethics and sustainability when it comes to food — and seafood is no exception. It’s a troubled industry, and one that’s notoriously difficult for customers to navigate — a recent AP investigation cast doubts on the transparency of sourcing and supply chain practices of popular online retailer Sea to Table, which had previously been lauded for its ethics. And on a global scale, salmon populations are in danger from pollution, overfishing and unsustainable farming practices.
Treacy says this year’s salmon run is shaping up to be “one of the poorer runs” in recent memory. “It’s definitely kind of concerning,” he says. Kwee-Jack fishes in a different area that has not had issues with declining harvests, Locke says. But for salmon lovers concerned about fish populations and environment, buying from CSFs is among the best ways to get an ethical, eco-friendly catch. Both companies use sustainable harvest methods in line with the strict regulatory guidelines of Alaskan fisheries.
“Alaska is probably the best example of a state government that’s doing a really good job of caring for a natural resource,” Locke says. “So much income comes from salmon, they don’t want the population to disappear.”
