Essay #1- Final Draft

Growing up in King Cove, Alaska and I have been raised on the subsistence resources that are available in our area. These subsistence foods include: wild Alaskan salmon, caribou, moose, birds, clams, and berries. I am very familiar with the taste of fresh wild foods. When I go to a restaurant outside of Alaska, I hardly ever order salmon because most of the time it is not wild Alaskan salmon, but farmed salmon. The farmed salmon industry has made a large impact on the wild Alaskan salmon industry. Although most people agree that the taste of fresh, wild Alaskan salmon is better, farmed salmon has had a large share of the market because of demand, price, and quality.

Wild Alaskan salmon is delicious, but the demand for salmon in the United States varies. Most of the salmon that is sold in the United State is used in restaurants, processed foods, canned, and in a variety of other ways. The demand for wild Alaskan salmon would be greater if it weren’t for the farmed salmon market. Most of the farmed salmon sales in the United States come from the Atlantic farmed salmon hatcheries, with smaller ones throughout the nation. The United States also imports farmed fish from Chile. Chile farmed salmon is one of the largest markets in the world.

Most of the salmon sold in the United States is fresh, frozen, or canned, and a small portion of the frozen domestic production is Alaskan sockeye salmon. One exception to that are the vacuum-packed sockeye fillets, which are processed under Portlock brand from Port Chatham Seafood. Port Chatham Seafood is a subsidiary of Trident Seafood’s Inc, which have canneries in many fishing towns in Alaska. An example of marketing wild Alaskan salmon products in a variety of ways to impact the salmon markets are: Copper River Red Salmon, Aleutia Salmon, Bristol Bay Sockeye, and Kenai King.

An increase of farmed salmon production has had a negative effect on Alaskan fisherman and fisherwomen, creating a decrease in price for Alaska wild salmon. Due to the price drop for wild Alaskan salmon it has had a major impact on Alaskan commercial fisherman and fisherwomen, especially with the cost of living in Alaska alone. The cost of fuel is getting higher and with the low prices that fish buyers are giving, it makes it hard to make a profit off salmon. Not only are fisherman and fisherwomen suffering, the families who depend on fish for a living are as well. Many students who depend on this income to attend higher education are impacted as well. Finding it hard to make a living on the fishing industry, more and more families are pushed to find work outside of their communities that they were born and raised in. Small communities in Alaska whose main economy comes from the fishing industry are affected as well, much of the taxes support our schools and government entities.

Salmon sales worldwide remain strong, despite the fact that there are possibilities of disease outbreak in farmed salmon industries, like a few that have been reported at Chilean salmon farms. Wild Alaska Salmon has a better texture, taste, and appearance than farmed salmon. Farmed salmon has a soft texture, pale in color and bland in taste. The state of Alaska has promoted fresh wild salmon as being more nutritious than farmed salmon. The potential for diseases in the farmed salmon is high because of the environment they are produced and raised in. We are hopeful that the Alaska wild salmon industry will prevail over farmed salmon.

In conclusion, wild Alaskan salmon is much tastier and healthier for you. The impact of farmed salmon on Alaskan fishermen, fisherwomen, and their families exists today. So I suggest to you only eat Alaskan wild salmon.