Pollock protein noodles, southern-style Alaska wild wings, candied salmon ice cream, fish oils for pets, fish and chips meal kits and finfish earrings are just a small sample of past winners of Alaska’s biggest seafood competition — the Alaska Symphony of Seafood — which has showcased and promoted new, market-ready products since 1993.
The annual event draws from Alaska’s largest and smallest seafood companies, whose products are all judged blind by an expert panel.
Eighteen entries are in the running for the 2021 contest, the first leg of which takes place next month at Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. They will compete in several categories: retail and food service, salmon and whitefish, Beyond the Plate, and new to the lineup is a Bristol Bay Choice award given to the best new sockeye product.
Products made from Alaska seaweeds also are making their way into the annual lineup, said Riley Smith, deputy director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation which hosts the event.
“We have Alaska barbecue sauce from Barnacle Foods of Juneau with kelp in it. They won the grand prize two years ago for their Bullwhip Kelp Hot Sauce. Premium Aquatics and Seagrove Kelp also entered their ribbon kelp,” Smith said.
The Beyond the Plate category features edible and non-edible marine products, and attracted five entries: AlaSkin Dog Treats, two gourmet salts from Prince William Sound Salt Co., salmon oils and Deep Blue Sea Bath Soak by Waterbody of Wrangell.
The judging takes place Nov. 17 and seafood fans can experience them all at a bash at Seattle’s Bell Harbor Conference Center that evening.
The first place winners and a Seattle People’s Choice award will be announced at Pacific Marine Expo’s center stage on Nov. 19.
The grand prize winner and second and third place awards are kept under wraps until the event moves to Juneau in February. Following that, top winners get a free trip and booth space at the big Seafood Expo North America in Boston in March where their products will compete nationally.
“That’s a really big deal,” said Keith Singleton, president of the value-added division of Alaskan Leader Seafoods, which won a grand prize for its Alaska cod with lemon herb butter and a first place for its Cod Crunchies pet treats.
“The exposure we got from the Symphony, we used that in all of our marketing. We’re fishermen and for us as a company that’s pretty new at this it was pretty impressive that we won. And we definitely have picked up a lot of new accounts,” Singleton said. “Anybody who wants to compete in the Symphony, I strongly encourage them. It’s a lot of fun and it really gets your name out there. It’s really helped us for sure.”
No end
to trade troubles
Ongoing tariffs and trade imbalances continue to take big bites out of seafood revenues, with no end in sight.
An investigation by Undercurrent News reveals that the trade war with China which began three years ago by then-President Donald Trump over concerns about intellectual property theft has cost the U.S. nearly $704 million in seafood import tariff revenues between September 2018 and August 2021, and no relief is forthcoming from the Biden administration.
In terms of products going to China, seafood is Alaska’s top export by far. Before the tariff tangle, China was the largest purchaser at 54%, valued at $1.3 billion a year.
That value has since dropped by nearly half a billion dollars, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. At the same time, tariffs on Alaska seafood exported to China have reached 37% to 42%.
At the same time, the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Russia is heading into its eighth year.
Russia stopped purchasing any foods from the U.S. over criticism of its illegal land-grab of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Since then, not a single pound of seafood has gone to Russia while imports to the U.S. from that country have increased by 173%.
“Russia has open access to our markets with no restrictions. I just don't understand the fairness of this,” Mark Palmer, president and CEO of OBI Seafoods, said in a webinar. “We will compete against anyone, but if they're not going to give us access to their market, they shouldn't have unfettered access to ours.”
Yet the surge of Russian seafood into the U.S. continues. So far this year, the U.S. has purchased over 19 million pounds of Russian red king crab valued at more than $378 million; nearly 26 million pounds of snow crab valued at over $294 million, and more than eight million pounds of cod for $21.5 million.
Catch share crunch
Quota shares of Alaska halibut are in high demand but good luck finding any.
Dock prices that have remained in the mid-$6 and $7 per pound range and even topped $8 have kept a lid on any harvest quota sales at the major fishing regions of Southeast, the Central Gulf and Western Gulf.
“It is incredibly tight. There is virtually no 3A (Central Gulf) on the market right now,” said Maddie Lightsey, at Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. “Recent sales for mid-size blocks were maybe $42 a pound but good luck finding one. You could have $44 a pound ready to go and good luck. It's a really, really tight market right now.”
Some encouraging signs from the annual summer survey also are fueling interest in halibut shares, Lightsey added.
The biggest demand for halibut shares is from the halibut charter sector, which Lightsey called “insatiable.”
“Central Gulf six-angler permits have been selling for $110,000, which I believe is quite a bit higher than ever before,” she said. “I think a lot of people had really good seasons, tourism was back and there are people with cash in hand ready to quite literally buy any 3A charter permit they can get their hands on. And the same goes for Southeast.”
Reader Comments(0)