Check out this great National Geographic article about CSF’s and other examples of seafood entrepreneurship in the United States.

Our Alaskan friends at the Copper River Wild Salmon Company are starting up a local processing plant. Their nonprofit facility will enable local fishermen to have control over the processing, labeling, and distribution of their high quality Copper River wild salmon.

Currently, as is the case for the majority of the world, fishermen are beholden to dockside processors who in most cases are the only buyer for their highly perishable catch and can dictate prices. Fishermen usually don’t know what price they will receive for their catch at the time of offloading, so can’t plan their catch quantity or schedule. A fishermen owned processing facility would allow artisanal, multigenerational fishermen to catch less fish but generate more income by using higher quality, sustainable fishing methods.

Way to go Copper River Wild Salmon Company!

The article also touches on the fraud rampant in seafood markets. This is especially nerve wracking considering the increasing amount of seafood Canada is importing from Japan post-fukushima. Knowing your fisherman (and the boat your fish was caught on) has never been more important!