March 30, 2023 by Charles Bingham

Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust host Spring Virtual Fishermen’s EXPO

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) will host a Spring Virtual Fishermen’s EXPO from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 4-5.

The EXPO will provide educational workshops and training to new and experienced local fishermen as well as others with interest in the fishing sector. During this EXPO all the workshops and presentations will be offered in a virtual format.

Commercial and subsistence fishermen of all gear types will have the opportunity to attend free and interactive classes on fishermen training courses, commercial fishing insurance, management updates on halibut bycatch and and pending salmon bycatch actions, business planning for fishermen, break-even analysis, preparing for your lender, deckhand logbook updates, troller-led oceanography in Southeast Alaska, ALFA’s crew training program and more.

Presenters include Maddie Lightsey with Alaska Boats and Permits, Jess Sarsfield with AgWest Farm Credit, Marc Wheeler with Spruce Root, Sunny Rice and Gabe Dunham with Alaska SeaGrant, Linda Behnken and Natalie Sattler with ALFA, Kirk Johanson and Dylan Hopper with SeaMountain Insurance and Tyler Hennon with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Attendees are welcome to participate in as many sessions as they are able. Raffle prizes are available for those that attend sessions.

Please reach out to Natalie Sattler at program.director@alfafish.org or 907-738-1286 with any questions. Visit alfafish.org for a full schedule of events and to register. All presentations will provide time for questions and discussion.

This series is part of a push by ALFA and ASFT to provide resources and educational opportunities for fishermen, especially those who are just starting out in the industry. “Thanks to the support of our sponsors and ALFA’s membership, we are able to offer these workshops free and open to the public,” ALFA executive director Linda Behnken said.

ALFA is an alliance of small-boat, commercial fishermen that support sustainable fisheries and thriving coastal communities by involving fishermen in research, advocacy, and conservation initiatives.

ASFT is a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening fishing communities and marine resources through research, education, and economic opportunity.

March 28, 2023 by Charles Bingham

Alaskans Own community-supported seafood program opens 2023 membership sales

All profits from Alaskans Own’s 2023 seafood sales will go toward fishery conservation and community health and resilience programs

SITKA, Alaska — Alaskans Own is excited to announce that seafood lovers throughout Alaska and Seattle can now sign up for Alaskans Own’s 2023 monthly seafood shares.

This year marks the 14th year that Alaskans Own, a Sitka-based nonprofit, will deliver monthly shares of wild Alaska seafood directly to consumers through its community supported fishery. Based on the widespread community supported agriculture (aka, CSAs) model, CSFs are a way for people to buy a “share” of seafood before the fishing season, giving fishermen some certainty that they have a market before they head out to the fishing grounds. Founded in 2009 by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), Alaskans Own is Alaska’s first and oldest community supported fishery and offers monthly seafood shares subscriptions in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Sitka, Juneau, and Seattle.

In 2023, all profits from Alaskans Own seafood sales will go towards ALFA’s Fishery Conservation Network and community health and resilience programs such as ALFA’s Seafood Distribution Network. The Seafood Donation Program, now the Seafood Distribution Network, was created in 2020 in response to COVID-19 and the rise in demand for food assistance throughout Alaska and the greater Pacific Northwest region. Thanks to funding from Catch Together, Multiplier, The Alaska Community Foundation and affiliate Sitka Legacy Fund, First Bank of Alaska, Sealaska, Sitka Rotary Club, The Wave Foundation, Seafood Producers Cooperative, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association and a host of individual and business donors, ALFA was able to help deliver more than 650,000 donated seafood meals to more than 100,000 families to date. Given the Seafood Distribution Network’s success and continued food insecurity amongst thousands of Alaska households, ALFA and network partners are working to sustain the Seafood Distribution Network and will dedicate a portion of Alaskans Own’s monthly seafood shares to support this important work.

“As a community supported fishery, community is at the heart of who we are and everything we do at Alaskans Own,” said Natalie Sattler, Alaskans Own Program Director. “Our top priority is to take care of our community, whether that’s by safeguarding ocean health, paying local fishermen a good price for their catch, providing our customers with premium quality fish, or ensuring that all Alaskans can have access to nutritious, wild seafood, When someone signs up for our monthly seafood share, they’re not only taking care of their family’s health, but they’re also directly supporting conservation of Alaska’s fisheries and seafood donations for families in need.”

This year Alaskans Own will continue to offer the option for customers to choose from a selection of monthly seafood shares, including a seafood variety share, salmon lovers share, and white fish share. All monthly seafood share options feature hook-and-line caught wild Alaska seafood harvested by Southeast Alaska’s troll and longline fishermen.

“The challenges that we all experienced as a result of the Covid pandemic really reinforced for us at Alaskans Own that we want to do more than just deliver high quality seafood,” said Linda Behnken, Alaskans Own founder, commercial fisherman, and ALFA executive director. “We want our fish to do good and build community. We’re so grateful for our customers who believe in our mission and invest in it every time they buy seafood from Alaskans Own.”

To learn more about Alaskans Own’s monthly seafood shares and other seafood products, visit www.alaskansown.com.

March 15, 2022 by Charles Bingham

ALFA, ASFT to host 2022 Spring Fishermen’s EXPO virtually on March 30

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) are hosting a Spring Fishermen’s EXPO on Wednesday, March 30, to provide free educational workshops and training to new and experienced local fishermen. During this EXPO all the workshops and presentations will be offered virtually.

The EXPO event will be offered on an online platform so that all Alaskan fishermen and others that are interested are welcome to attend. Tools and links to attend the workshops will be provided prior to the event.

Commercial and subsistence fishermen of all gear types will have the opportunity to attend free and interactive classes on bathymetry mapping updates; halibut catch sharing plan and fishery policy updates; large shark electronic monitoring project; skipper training for ALFA’s Crewmember Training Program; hear from representatives on Smart Buoys and PredictWind fishing vessel products; Skipper Science plans for 2022; Dangers, Health, and Near Misses AMSEA Round Table; and more. Presenters include Daniel Joram from Nobeltec, Leann Fay from AMSEA, Keith Fuller postdoctoral researcher with the FAST lab at Alaska Pacific University, Kortney Opshaug (founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Gear), Lindsey Bloom and Hannah-Marie Garcia from the Skipper Science Partnership, Linda Behnken (executive director of ALFA), and others.

Attendees are welcome to participate in as many sessions as they are able. Raffle prizes are available for those that attend sessions. Thank you to Alaska Boats and Permits Inc. and Hames Corporation for their support in sponsoring this event.

ALFA is an alliance of small-boat, commercial fishermen that support sustainable fisheries and thriving coastal communities by involving fishermen in research, advocacy and conservation initiatives.

ASFT is a non-profit dedicated to strengthening fishing communities and marine resources through research, education and economic opportunity.

March 5, 2022 by Charles Bingham

Alaskans Own community-supported seafood program opens 2022 membership sales

Alaskans Own is excited to announce that seafood lovers throughout Alaska and Seattle can now sign up for Alaskans Own seafood’s 2022 monthly seafood shares, with the early bird sale starting on Monday, March 7.

This year marks the 13th year that Sitka-based Alaskans Own will deliver monthly shares of wild Alaska seafood directly to consumers through its community-supported fishery (CSF). Based on the widespread community-supported agriculture (aka, CSAs) model where people pay a farmer before the season for a share of the crop, CSFs are a way for people to buy a “share” of seafood before the fishing season, giving fishermen some certainty that they have a market before they head out to the fishing grounds. Founded in 2009 by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), Alaskans Own is Alaska’s first and oldest community supported fishery and offers monthly seafood shares subscriptions in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Sitka, Juneau, and Seattle.

In 2022, all profits from Alaskans Own seafood sales will go towards ALFA’s Fishery Conservation Network and Seafood Donation Program. The Seafood Donation Program was created in 2020 in response to COVID-19 and the rise in demand for food assistance throughout Alaska and the greater Pacific Northwest region. Thanks to funding from Catch Together, Multiplier, The Alaska Community Foundation and affiliates Sitka Legacy Fund, First Bank of Alaska, Sealaska, Sitka Rotary Club, and a host of individual and business donors, ALFA was able to help deliver more than 640,000 donated seafood meals to more than 100,000 families in 2020 and 2021. Given the Seafood Donation Program’s success and continued food insecurity amongst thousands of Alaska households, ALFA is hoping to expand the Seafood Donation Program and use Alaskans Own’s monthly seafood shares sales as a way to help sustain it.

“As a Community Supported Fishery, community is at the heart of who we are and everything we do at Alaskans Own. Our top priority is to take care of our community, whether that’s by paying local fishermen a good price for their catch, providing our customers with premium quality fish, or ensuring that all Alaskans can have access to nutritious, wild seafood,” said Natalie Sattler, Alaskans Own program director. “When someone signs up for our monthly seafood share, they’re not only taking care of their family’s health, but they’re also directly supporting conservation of Alaska’s fisheries and seafood donations for families in need.”

This year will be the option again for Alaskans Own customers to choose from a selection of monthly seafood shares, including a seafood variety share, salmon lovers share, and white fish share. All monthly seafood share options feature hook-and-line caught wild Alaska seafood harvested by Southeast Alaska’s troll and longline fishermen.

“The challenges that we all experienced as a result of the Covid pandemic really reinforced for us at Alaskans Own that we want to do more than just deliver high quality seafood. We want our fish to do good for the greater good. We’re so grateful for our customers who believe in our mission and invest in it every time they buy seafood from Alaskans Own,” Alaskans Own founder, commercial fisherman, and ALFA executive director, Linda Behnken said.

To learn more about Alaskans Own’s monthly seafood shares and other seafood products, visit www.alaskansown.com.

December 21, 2021 by Charles Bingham

USDA awards Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) with funding to conduct assessment of local seafood security and seafood industry workforce

SITKA, Alaska – The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) is pleased to announce it was selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to receive $209,100 from a Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) grant as part of the Agriculture Marketing Service’s Local Agriculture Marketing Program (LAMP). ALFA was one of 30 projects selected across 24 states to receive an RFSP grant and will use the funding to foster new partnerships around Alaska that help build a more resilient regional food system, specifically when it comes to local seafood access and seafood industry workforce development.

The impacts of Covid-19 highlighted long standing workforce development and food insecurity issues in Alaska. The seafood industry provides the backbone of coastal economies but relies on outside labor for processing, marketing, and shipping. Quarantine requirements led to significant labor shortages and high costs. In addition, currently less than 1 percent of the seafood caught in Alaska stays in Alaska to benefit the local economy. Alaska is one of the top five most food insecure states in the nation. It is estimated 95 percent of the $2 billion of food Alaskans purchase each year is imported, and 14 percent of Alaskans, including 20 percent of children, face food insecurity.

In response to the pandemic and food insecurity in Alaska, in March 2020, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association formed a statewide coalition of nonprofits, tribal organizations, military organizations, city and boroughs, foundations, fishermen, and seafood processors to address food insecurity and workforce development challenges. The coalition was made possible with funding from Catch Together; a nonprofit that supports innovative conservation endeavors and fishermen-led efforts that address long-term access to local fishery resources. This initiative, which became known as the Seafood Donation Program, provided stipends and workforce support to the seafood industry and deployed $2.5 million to purchase local seafood for distribution, providing more than 630,000 free meals of Alaska seafood to individuals and families facing food insecurity.

With funding from the USDA, ALFA will develop and implement a two-year assessment that looks at its pilot Seafood Donation Program and the feasibility of potentially continuing and expanding it into an ongoing program. In addition, the assessment will look at current seafood industry workforce development programs and identify gaps and barriers keeping local Alaskans from participating in the seafood industry. The project will culminate with the development of a feasibility study for a ten-year statewide seafood distribution and workforce development plan with emphasis on cultural relevance of seafood and serving marginalized communities.

“We’re honored to carry this project forward and help lay the groundwork for new projects and programs in Alaska that could help make our communities healthier and more resilient,” said Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. “Thanks to this support from the USDA, we’ll be able to work with a wide range of partners to assess where the biggest needs and opportunities are for ensuring that our local food systems are better prepared for future disruptions such as COVID-19, and that we have the tools in place to encourage local employment in our local seafood industry.”

As a “partnership” grant, ALFA’s project will rely heavily on the engagement of diverse stakeholders and will be guided by a formal steering committee including representatives from Alaska tribes, seafood distributors, national and state philanthropic and foundation leadership, chefs, community, and policy leaders as well as youth representatives. Some of these steering committee members will include founding partners of the Seafood Donation Program, including Sam Schimmel from Kenai, who helped spearhead several salmon distributions to Alaska Native families in the Anchorage and Fairbanks communities.

“I’m really excited to be part of this project and help create new, locally grown solutions to some very complex problems,” Schimmel said. “We know that these needs are not going away, so this project is an important opportunity for us to all come together, share information, and figure out how we can ensure our Alaska Native communities continue to have access to the native foods that keep us connected to our traditions and to our cultures.”

“There’s no question that Alaska’s seafood industry faces a lot of challenges when it comes to workforce, whether that’s graying of the fleet or lack of new recruitment into the fisheries,” said Norm Pillen, president of Seafood Producers Cooperative in Sitka. “I”m looking forward to seeing what we learn through this project and how it can help advance conversations already underway about the future of Alaska’s seafood industry and our coastal communities.”

The funding is made possible through grant programs administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) as part of the Local Agriculture Marketing Program (LAMP) — the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), and the Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP).

March 5, 2021 by Charles Bingham

Alaskans Own community-supported seafood program opens 2021 membership sales

Alaskans Own is excited to announce that seafood lovers throughout Alaska and Seattle can now sign up for 2021 monthly seafood shares, while seeing their share payments going toward Alaska seafood donations and fishery conservation work.

This year marks the 12th year that Alaskans Own will deliver monthly shares of wild Alaska seafood directly to consumers through its Community Supported Fishery. Based on the widespread Community Supported Agriculture (aka, CSA) model, CSFs are a way for people to buy a “share” of seafood before the fishing season, giving fishermen some certainty that they have a market before they head out to the fishing grounds. Founded in 2009 by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), Alaskans Own is Alaska’s first and oldest Community Supported Fishery and offers monthly seafood shares subscriptions in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Sitka, Juneau, and Seattle.

In 2021, all profits from Alaskans Own seafood sales will go towards ALFA’s Fishery Conservation Network and Seafood Donation Program. The Seafood Donation Program was created in 2020 in response to COVID-19 and the rise in demand for food assistance throughout Alaska and the greater Pacific Northwest region. Thanks to funding from Catch Together, Multiplier, The Alaska Community Foundation and affiliate The Sitka Legacy Foundation, First Bank Alaska, Sealaska, Sitka Rotary Club, and a host of individual and business donors, ALFA was able to help deliver more than 600,000 donated seafood meals to more than 100,000 families in 2020. Given the Seafood Donation Program’s success and continued food insecurity amongst thousands of Alaska households, ALFA is hoping to expand the Seafood Donation Program and use Alaskans Own’s monthly seafood shares sales as a way to help sustain it.

New this year will be the option for Alaskans Own customers to choose from a selection of monthly seafood shares, including a seafood variety share, salmon lovers share, and white fish share. All monthly seafood share options feature hook-and-line caught wild Alaska seafood harvested by Southeast Alaska’s troll and longline fishermen.

“The challenges that we all experienced in 2020 really reinforced for us at Alaskans Own that we want to do more than just deliver high quality seafood. We want our fish to do good for the greater good. We’re so grateful for our customers who believe in our mission and invest in it every time they buy seafood from Alaskans Own,” said Linda Behnken, Alaskans Own founder, commercial fisherman, and ALFA executive director.

To learn more about Alaskans Own’s monthly seafood shares and other seafood products, visit www.alaskansown.com.

Alaskans Own is a non-profit, community supported fisheries program. Joining Alaskans Own is about a lot more than buying great fish. It’s an investment in the health of both fish and fisherman, in a cleaner environment, more vibrant local economies and a better future for Alaska. Learn more about our Fishery Conservation Network at alfafish.org. You can follow the the Alaskans Own program on Facebook and on Instagram.

August 14, 2020 by Charles Bingham

Tenth annual Fish To Schools coho donation drive has a new partner

Sitka commercial troller Eric Jordan discusses the fishing industry with local students during a Fish To Schools have lunch with a fisherman event (photo courtesy Sitka Conservation Society)

(The following was submitted as a letter to the editor that ran in the Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel)

Sitka’s Fish to Schools program is celebrating a decade of bringing locally caught seafood lunches into all of Sitka’s schools. While the program typically relies solely on donations from local fishermen, Sitka Producers Cooperative (SPC) and Sitka Sounds Seafoods, (SSS) this year the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) will also be purchasing fish. We’re grateful that ALFA’s investment in food security will ensure that Sitka’s kids have access to nourishing foods, while circulating money in the local economy and taking pressure off of fishermen during a challenging summer.

The coho donation drive will operate as usual from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15, and all contributions are welcome and appreciated. Sitka’s fishermen are the heart and soul of the Fish to Schools program and this program wouldn’t exist without their generosity and dedication to feeding the next generation of ocean stewards.

Linda Behnken, Executive Director of ALFA, said on the program, “Sitka fishermen and local processors SPC and Sitka Sound Seafoods have long supported Fish to Schools and have donated generously over the years. ALFA/ASFT (Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust) are grateful to be in a position this year to support the purchase of seafood for schools to take the pressure off Sitka fishermen and processors who are reeling from the impacts of COVID-19.“

Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School student Naomi Capp, age 9, talks with fisherman Steve Lawrie Wednesday (April 25, 2018) during lunch at the school. The elementary school was hosting fishermen who donated part of their catch to the Fish to Schools program. The program is managed by the Sitka Conservation Society and provides fish dishes as part of the lunch programs at Baranof Elementary School, Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School, Blatchley Middle School, Sitka High School, Pacific High School, the SEER School, and Mount Edgecumbe High School. (Daily Sitka Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

The Sitka Fish to Schools program brings locally caught seafood lunches and salmon-focused classroom curricula into schools. The mission of this program is to deepen youth understanding of local seafood resources and teach children that salmon require respect in both harvest and habitat. Fish to Schools lays the groundwork for Sitka’s youth to discover how the commercial fishing industry operates and inspires students to support or become involved in one of Southeast Alaska’s most important economic sectors. Having access to local seafood reminds us how lucky we are to be Alaskans!

“Ten years of Fish to Schools in Sitka has flown by. The best part of being involved in this program is witnessing how many community members care about our local kids and want to help this program succeed. To me, Fish to Schools really exemplifies how wonderful our community is,” longtime program supporter Lexi Fish said. She continued, “my daughter was a kindergartener last year and loved eating the school lunch on Wednesdays — salmon burgers were her favorite.”

Since it became a community wellness project at the 2010 Sitka Health Summit, the Fish to Schools program has been a partner-rich endeavor. Local processors including Sitka Sound Seafoods and the Seafood Producers Cooperative, the Sitka School District, Mount Edgecumbe High School, the SEER School, Head Start — and in particular the cafeteria teams at those facilities — along with community members Lexi Fish and Beth Short-Rhoads have all been key players in realizing this initiative from the ground up. We’re happy to expand this list this year to include ALFA. And of course, the program would not be possible without such strong support from the local fishermen who donate their catch to the program, nourishing students with the Omega-3s and other vitamins wild salmon provide.

To donate, tell scale operators how many fish you would like to donate as you offload at Seafood Producers Cooperative or Sitka Sound Seafoods. If fishermen have yelloweye rockfish overage, they are welcome to donate them to Fish to Schools as well. If you would like to donate to Fish to Schools, please contact Heather Bauscher of Sitka Conservation Society at heather@sitkawild.org or 747-7509 for more information.

Sincerely,

Sitka Conservation Society

April 11, 2020 by Charles Bingham

Sitka-based community supported fisheries programs give back to the community

These are tough times, with an outbreak keeping people at home and closing many businesses. It’s also been a tough time for some fisheries, with unusual season closures and reduced catch limits.

Two community supported fisheries (CSF) programs based in Sitka — Alaskans Own Seafood and Sitka Salmon Shares — are doing what they can to give back to the community to try and help ease the strain. The Alaskans Own Seafood program is targeting struggling families, while Sitka Salmon Shares is looking to help struggling families and fishermen.

Similar to a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, where people buy shares from a local farmer to help forward-fund a season of crops and receive monthly boxes of produce in exchange, people sign up to buy subscription boxes from a CSF program so they receive a monthly box of selected fish based on what’s in season. The Alaskans Own program distributes its CSF boxes in Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Seattle. The Sitka Salmon Shares program takes its CSF boxes to several Midwest states, such as Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and others.

The Alaskans Own Seafood program, operated by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, is partnering with Seafood Producers Cooperative so people can go to the Alaskans Own website for people to donate to cover a box of IQF (individually quick frozen) fillets delivered to the doors of Sitka’s families in need. Boxes are $30 and weigh approximately 10 pounds. Families will be identified through partnering Sitka wellness and aid programs. The donating person can specify a family to receive the box or allow families in need to be identified through mutual aid programs such as SAFV (Sitkans Against Family Violence) and other programs, such as the Sitka Mutual Aid — COVID-19 page on Facebook. The SAFV shelter is happy to take weekly donations.

ALFA and SPC are covering costs and will adjust as appropriate. Additional funding support for this program is welcomed.

“This past week we launched a seafood donation program. We are delivering seafood to families in need every Thursday afternoon,” ALFA executive director Linda Behnken wrote in an email. “The three-dollar-per-pound contribution covers processing and door to door distribution — the fish is donated. Seafood is being delivered via an electric car.”

On Friday, April 10, Sitka Salmon Shares donated 100 pounds of salmon collars to the Salvation Army food bank and soup kitchen in Sitka and plans to donate a few hundred more pounds that we have in the freezer to them and other local causes over the coming weeks, Sitka Salmon Shares chief fisheries officer Kelly Harrell wrote in an email. “We are also going to make a cash contribution to Sitka Mutual Aid, and will provide free processing of fish for our fishermen who want to donate fish to local causes over the season.”

“In terms of support for our fleet, we have worked with our fishermen to set minimum prices for their harvest that the company will not go below this season, and will work to stay above those prices as much as possible,” Harrell added. “This provides our fleet with assurance that no matter how far the dock price dives due to the impacts of COVID-19, they will be paid a certain amount for what they deliver to the company. For our first loads of halibut this season, the price we are paying has been 33-42% above the prevailing Sitka dock price in the last few weeks. We’ve also recently launched the Sitka Salmon Shares Fishermen’s Fund which is a creative way to generate extra income for our fleet that is not tied to their harvest or dock prices.

“We are diverting a portion of the company’s 1 Percent to the Wild Fund (which provides contributions to small-scale fisheries and conservation causes) to the Fishermen Fund and are also generating revenue into the fund through the sales of “Alaska Fishermen Keep America Fed” t-shirts designed by local Sitka fleet member Allie Spurlock and through an online “Fisheries of the United States” course (taught by Sitka Salmon Shares co-founder and president Nic Mink) that we will offer to our members and the general public in May,” Harrell said. “All the proceeds from the fund will be evenly split across our 22 Sitka and Kodiak-based fleet members offering what we hope will be a meaningful bump in their season’s income.”

April 3, 2020 by Charles Bingham

Alaskans Own community-supported seafood program opens 2020 membership sales

Alaskans Own (AO), a community-supported fishery (CSF) program run by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), has opened and is receiving subscription orders for the 2020 season.

Alaskans Own was the first community-supported fishery (CSF) program in Alaska. Now in its 11th year, AO was created to connect consumers to small-boat fishermen, ensure that more fish caught in Alaska stays in Alaska, and create a sustainable source of revenue to support ALFA’s Fishery Conservation Network, which engages fishermen and scientists in conservation and research initiatives.

Similar to community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, CSF programs address an important environmental and socio-economic need by strengthening consumer-producer relationships. By forward-funding a season of seafood, subscribers invest in sustainable harvest and the rural fishermen who catch their fish, as well as supporting the web of seafood-related jobs that provide the economic backbone for our coastal communities.

New this year, Alaskans Own is working with Seafood Producers Cooperative on the AO website for people to donate to cover a box of IQF (individually quick frozen) fillets delivered to the doors of Sitka’s families in need. Boxes are $30 and weigh approximately 10 pounds. Families will be identified through partnering Sitka wellness and aid programs. The donating person can specify a family to receive the box or allow families in need to be identified through mutual aid programs such as SAFV (Sitkans Against Family Violence) and other programs.. SAFV shelter is happy to take weekly donations.

ALFA and SPC are covering costs and will adjust as appropriate. Additional funding support for this program is welcomed.

There are four-month and six-month subscriptions available starting in May. The six-month subscriptions allow people to keep receiving fish through October instead of August, when the traditional four-month subscriptions end. Subscriptions include a mix of premium locally hook-and-line caught black cod (sablefish), halibut, king salmon, coho salmon, lingcod and rockfish, depending on the commercial fishing season and prices.

Alaskans Own has just released its 2020 prices, which are the same as the 2019 prices — choose either monthly installments or pay all at once and receive 5 percent off. Alaskans Own is currently doing a spring sale, where customers receive 10 percent off their entire order, including CSF shares, by using code Discount10 at checkout. Also, there is free shipping via Alaska Airlines Cargo for orders over 20 pounds.

CSF Prices:

Four-Month Feed-A-Few share (5 lbs/month, May-August, 20 lbs total), $375 paid in full or $99 monthly payment ($396 total for four months)
Six-Month Feed-A-Few share (5 lbs/month, May-October, 30 lbs total), $565 paid in full or $99 monthly payment ($594 total for six months)

In addition to the Feed-A-Few option, there also are larger Feed-A-Family and Feed-A-Neighborhood options for folks who need more fish than what’s in the regular package. Besides the monthly shares there are a variety of other packages, including different sampler boxes and individual species orders of wild-caught, flash-frozen, high-quality seafood available on the AO website.

In a Feb. 2019 customer survey taken by 40 randomly-selected Alaskans Own CSF subscribers, more than 73 percent gave their overall experience the highest possible rating, 5 out of 5 stars, which was designated as “very satisfied.” The survey asked CSF members what they liked best about Alaskans Own CSF, and the most common answers were excellent, great quality seafood, the variety of species, and supporting local, Alaskan fishermen.

Alaskans Own not only connects consumers with the local fishermen who caught their seafood, which is so important for transparency of the seafood supply chain, it also gives customers the opportunity to give to conservation projects because all AO profits go to the Fishery Conservation Network.

Customers who don’t live in one of Alaskans Own’s CSF cities (Sitka, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Seattle) can also partake by setting up a custom order with the Alaskans Own staff. The AO staff can be reached at alaskansownfish@gmail.com or (907) 747-3400.

Shares and seafood boxes can be purchased on the AO online store at alaskansown.com, and the deadline to order for this year is May 15.

• Alaskans Own seafood brochure (from 2019, info still good, opens as PDF document)

March 23, 2019 by Charles Bingham

Alaskans Own community-supported seafood program opens 2019 membership sales

Alaskans Own (AO), a community-supported fishery (CSF) program run by the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), has opened and is receiving subscription orders for the 2019 season.

Alaskans Own was the first community-supported fishery (CSF) program in Alaska. Now in its 10th year, AO was created to connect consumers to small-boat fishermen, ensure that more fish caught in Alaska stays in Alaska, and create a sustainable source of revenue to support ALFA’s Fishery Conservation Network, which engages fishermen and scientists in conservation and research initiatives.

Alaskans Own has just released its 2019 prices — choose either monthly installments or pay all at once and receive 5 percent off.

CSF Prices:

Four-Month Feed-A-Few share (5 lbs/month, May-August, 20 lbs total), $375 paid in full or $99 monthly payment ($396 total for four months)
Six-Month Feed-A-Few share (5 lbs/month, May-October, 30 lbs total), $565 paid in full or $99 monthly payment ($594 total for six months)

Besides the monthly shares there are a variety of other packages, including different sampler boxes of wild-caught, flash-frozen, high-quality seafood available on the AO website.