Fishermen load the day's catch into brailers - one fish at a time.
Next step is icing the fish down in ice-filled totes
Loading totes of fresh Kotz chum onto a charter.
A row of tents housing the fishermen during the season.
E&E Foods is an active buyer of salmon throughout Alaska, regularly buying directly from fishermen in Yakutat, Kenai, Bristol Bay, and Kotzebue Sound. One of the reasons for this geographic diversification is to take advantage of the differentiation in annual runs.
Bristol Bay's recording-setting sockeye run was big news, but it wasn't the only noteworthy run this year. According to ADF&G figures, the Kotzebue Sound commercial chum salmon harvest reached nearly 500,000 fish in 2022, its eighth-best in 61 years. To add some context, 2021's harvest finished just shy of 100,000 fish.
E&E was one of a handful of regular buyers who worked with Kotzebue locals to fly the fresh chum salmon daily to our Kenai plant for further processing. We moved 1.5mn lbs. over the course of the season, much of it on chartered flights. As noted in a previous blog, some of it ended up being donated to SeaShare for distribution to Yukon communities.
Thank you to the fishermen and dock workers that made the season such a great success!
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