Copper River salmon make a splash in Boston

BRANDY JOHNSON

March 13, 2008 at 1:25PM AKST

For The Cordova Times

From Feb. 24-26, the Copper River salmon industry and Alaska were well represented at the International Boston Seafood Show.

The seafood show, which has been in existence since 1982, is an annual destination for seafood industry companies looking to develop their business and maintain industry relationships.

Featuring 860 exhibitors from around the world this year, the show is one of a handful of shows attended by major players in the national and global seafood markets.

This year, according to Stacey Dand, a marketing coordinator with Diversified Communications Group, the organization that hosts the show, companies from 42 countries had exhibits at the show.

The shrimp industry, which comprises the largest segment of seafood sales in the United States, was well represented. Salmon, which is now the second-most popular seafood on most restaurant menus across the nation, was also a hot item.

The show offered a unique perspective on how the Copper River salmon are viewed by peers within the salmon industry as well as by other fisheries competing for a presence on a national level.

Attending the show and representing the Copper River salmon fishery as well as Alaska were Trident Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Copper River Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods.

John van Amerongen, a marketing and communications specialist with Trident Seafoods, a Seattle-based company with plants in Cordova, said that Trident has been attending the IBSS for more than 10 years.

By attending the show in Boston each year, "we celebrate the increasing popularity of seafood as a category, we renew our relationships with valued Trident customers and show our latest products to everyone," van Amerongen said.

"We always use our booth to promote wild Alaska salmon, and Copper River salmon is an important part of what we offer to our customers," he added. "One area where Copper River is called out specifically at trade shows is on our packaging and in our catalog for Portlock smoked salmon products," he said.

Trident Seafoods also promotes Alaska salmon at various other events, which include the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago, the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels and Fancy Food Shows in New York and San Francisco.

Additionally it attends numerous smaller shows hosted by broad-line foodservice suppliers and others.

Ocean Beauty, the parent company of one of Cordova’s longstanding processors, was also present at the show.

Tom Sunderland, the director of marketing for Ocean Beauty Seafoods based out of Seattle, said that Ocean Beauty has attended the IBSS for "a long time."

According to Sunderland, Ocean Beauty attends the seafood show for "the chance to meet customers face to face; and the chance to show new products to customers. We use it to promote all of our salmon, including Copper River."

Ocean Beauty Seafoods also attends the European Seafood Exposition.

Copper River Seafoods has been attending the IBSS for about 10 years. "Now it’s the only one we do," said Bill Bailey, one of the owners of the Cordova-based company.

"We started out targeting Boston and the East Coast," Bailey said. "It’s a dynamite show, a good environment, and Boston is a great town. The facility hosting the show, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, is so big, it actually makes the show seem smaller."

The Boston convention center has hosted the IBSS since 2005.

Pip Fillingham, one of the owners of Copper River Seafoods, said that they attend the show primarily to maintain their current contacts and to let seafood buyers as well as importer/exporters know that they are "still out there."

Joe Egemo, the chief operations officer for the Copper River Seafoods plant in Anchorage, noted the national attention that the IBSS receives and added that they use the seafood show to maintain their West Coast relationships and to develop their East Coast relationships.

Egemo mentioned that Copper River Seafoods has improved its shipping procedures to the point where it can deliver Alaska salmon to any doorstep in the United States within 20 hours, six days a week.

Packing fresh fish with dry ice in insulated boxes and flying them out of the Anchorage airport, now one of the world’s busiest cargo hubs, has greatly improved the market reach for Copper River salmon.

Buyers from around the world attended the show to shore up seafood markets for their respective upcoming seasons. In addition to the vendor exhibits, the seminars held at the show offered vendors the opportunity to discuss topics pertinent to the current trends in the industry.

Bret Lynch, a corporate executive chef and consultant to Ocean Beauty Seafoods, commented on the importance of obtaining fish with the best quality standards and maintaining a consistency with the product.

As the seafood industry becomes more competitive, it is imperative that the seafood processors maintain a high quality standard to sell their fish.

Jeff Berger, owner of Deep Creek Custom Packing, a custom processor based out of Ninilchik, Alaska, commented that the mark of a successful processor is his ability to sell his No. 2 and No. 3 graded products.

He added that anybody can sell their No. 1 graded product, but it needs to be a part of every processor’s marketing plan that it allows for a method of selling their less-than-premium-grade product. He noted that fish buyers are constantly looking for sellers who can provide them with a consistent supply of salmon that offer a consistent high quality standard.

How the fish are cared for by the fishermen plays a primary role in factoring how much sellers will receive for their fish. Restaurants are willing to pay a little higher premium for their fish if they know that they are receiving a top quality product.

Fish that are bled and iced immediately are easier to sell at a higher price than fish that are handled with a lesser degree of care. For fresh market fish, obtaining a No. 1 grade is vital.

The Copper River salmon enjoy a national reputation for quality.

"You have the resource," a fish buyer who represents more than 150 retail stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin said. "With the quality of the Copper River salmon, you can’t beat it. You just need to make sure that you take care of it, both from a management standpoint as well as from the point of catch to the point of sale."

The Copper River salmon mystique draws numerous reactions from fish buyers, and it was evident at this year’s IBSS. Some potential salmon buyers were anxious to find out how to obtain the prized fish, as the customer demand has increased.

Some smaller fish brokers bristled at the popularity and the premium price that the Copper River salmon commands, which cuts into their ability to purchase and move larger volumes of fish with their limited buying budgets. Some of the smaller fish brokers have resorted to buying salmon from other regions at a lesser price, opting for a less than premium product in an effort to realize higher profit margins.

In comparison to the generally mild-flavored fish being marketed from around the world, Alaska salmon, led by the Copper River salmon with its firm and silky texture, and its desirable amount of oil content, was unrivaled by its competitors at the show for both flavor and texture.

There were other wild-caught seafood products being marketed at the show, as well as numerous farmed seafood products, such as tilapia and salmon.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute has been a long-standing exhibitor at the IBSS, having attended the very first show in 1982, and returning for all but a couple of years during the show’s infancy.

Larry Andrews, the institute’s retail marketing director, said that one of the top benefits ASMI realizes from attending the show is the exposure the show offers to retailers, food service operators and distributors, not to mention people looking for processors.

"This year has been an excellent show. Yesterday alone, the folks that I talked to represented about 7,000 supermarkets nationally. One store brought in eight people to sit down with us," Andrews said.

The institute was also touting Alaska’s leadership role as one of the world’s true models for sustainability.

Referring to the sustainability issue and the small family of businesses that comprise the Alaska seafood industry, Andrews added, "It is incumbent of all of us to understand our message and deliver it in the same voice."

Andrews said that ASMI also attends the European Seafood Exposition as well as four to six consumer trade shows. The consumer shows offer a target audience and attendance numbers that range from 15,000 to 45,000 attendees.

At the consumer shows, the institute cooks and offers sample products including Alaska salmon, crab, and pollock.

Andrews said that consumers of Alaska seafood are interested in the health benefits of wild caught fish as well as recipes on how to prepare them. By attending these shows, ASMI is able to "distribute hundreds and hundreds of Suppliers Directories and other materials," Andrews said.

The institute, which was initially created more than 20 years ago as a cooperative partnership between the Alaska seafood industry and the state government, maintains a large presence at the show.

This year, ASMI sponsored one of the most prestigious after-hours soir’e9es, complete with ice sculptures and live music from Alaska band Pamyua. Dinner fare featured a wide variety of Alaska seafood, including smoked Copper River king salmon provided by Copper River Seafoods.

The event was standing room only, as all of the tables quickly filled up. That did not deter event goers from attending the annual gala, with the Alaska seafood alone stealing the spotlight.

If the empty serving platters were any indicator, the Copper River fish appeared to be a favorite among the attendees.

Brandy Johnson is the marketing director for the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association and can be reached at (907) 424-3459.

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