Shoreline Wild Salmon co-founder Marie Rose is feeling like a small fish in a big pond after the Southeast Alaska-based company was recently listed in Good Housekeeping magazine’s 10 Best Seafood Delivery Services & Subscriptions of 2023.
“A lot of the companies on the Top 10 list are really big companies, we’re quite small in comparison, so to know that our products are making the ranks with theirs is really exciting,” Rose said. “It feels really great to have been included, we’ve worked really hard over the years to try to establish this online store through our website.”
The Good Housekeeping Institute nutrition lab recently a review of more than 40 popular seafood and meat delivery services over the course of three months to determine the best. Shoreline Wild Salmon came in at No. 9.
Testers with Good Housekeeping reported: “The fish arrived fresh, and the portions were large and left my family feeling satisfied.”
Another tester added: “It was fun to try a new dish, and it was enjoyed by everyone. The fish was delicious and the texture and color were perfection!”
An Anchorage-based delivery operation, Alaskan Salmon Company, was ranked No. 6. The other winners are all based in the Lower 48.
Shoreline was founded in 2016 by Rose and fishermen Joe Emerson and Keith Heller. The company prides itself on fishing the “old-school way,” trolling, which Rose explained is the best way to ensure their company can pull fish from the water one at a time.
“We’re not catching large volumes, we’re really more quality-focused than quantity-focused, and by doing so we’re able to handle all of these salmon one at a time,” Rose said. “As soon as they’re brought aboard the boat they’re immediately cleaned and pressure bled and packed into ice. Catching them one at a time allows you to take a lot of steps to really produce the highest quality possible of Alaska salmon.”
The fish are fileted, packaged and frozen, then shipped from the company’s Juneau warehouse to customers. Stores and restaurants can buy what they want; subscribers can select a la carte or subscription boxes that include 5 pounds or 10 pounds of fish delivered monthly.
Born and raised in Michigan, Rose explained that she, Heller and Emerson came together with the idea of taking troll-caught fish to consumers throughout the United States. At first, they started by working at farmer’s markets in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area of Michigan. From there Rose said the trio started making connections with various grocery store owners and started wholesaling their product.
In addition to serving Rainbow Foods in Juneau as well as Mountain Market in Haines, Shoreline also supplies more than 60 grocery stores and restaurants in Michigan, as well as locations in Ohio, Minnesota and one in Mexico, according to Rose.
The online, direct-to-consumer business didn’t start until the latter half of 2020, and it’s been on a steady rise ever since.
When Rose first moved to Alaska, she worked for salmon-advocacy nonprofit Salmon Beyond Borders, but shortly thereafter transitioned into working with Heller and Emerson to collaborate on the beginnings of what would become Shoreline Wild Salmon. Emerson is their main fisherman that the company buys from; Heller handles a lot of the offloading, as well as operations in Pelican; while Rose handles the bulk of the business operations and marketing.
Emerson said he’s grateful that Good Housekeeping recognized the quality of fish that Shoreline produces.
“Our mission has really been to produce the highest-quality salmon possible, and we spend a lot of time and effort to make that happen,” Emerson said. “We basically try to produce a fish that we would give to our own family.”
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