Alaska’s Bristol Bay is home to the world’s largest and most abundant sockeye salmon fishery and the region’s processors are paying fishermen up to a ten-cent premium per pound.
SeafoodSource reports that prices have been breaking records in recent years, partly because of a fishery-wide push for higher quality product destined for a robust wild fillet market.
“We’re really happy with what we’re seeing in terms of quality. We went a little harder at the bleeding program this year and we’re closing in a complete refrigerated sea water (RSW) fleet. We just want to make sure that fish gets in cold water and is taken care of and overall the fleet did a good job of it,” said Joel Zarate, fleet manager at Icicle Seafoods.
The Navigator caught a few moments with our North American sales manager Siggi Skúlason and asked him how he thought Skaginn 3X could further support Bristol Bay processors on their journey to improve product quality.
“Our ValuePump™ is a great solution that could be added to the process, using water from the RSW tanks, to pre-cool the fish and lock in freshness before salmon are delivered to the tanks,” Skúlason said. “This method maximizes product quality while onboard and delivers product optimized for further processing on land, which allows fishermen to secure top dollar for their catch,” he added.
The ValuePump™ is the latest innovation from Skaginn 3X. With the understanding that fish processing is a race against time and every minute is precious, the primary function of the ValuePump™ is to expedite conveyance from one stage of processing to another with a range of value-added options.
The ValuePump™ can be used across the food processing spectrum, handling raw material sizes from just a few grams up to tens of kilos. As such, it can accommodate everything from salmon to shrimp and add value in every sector—from pelagic and whitefish fisheries to traditional and closed containment aquaculture systems. And Skaginn 3X has also ensured that it is as effective at sea as it is on land, no matter what the requirement.
For additional information and details on the ValuePump™, visit the product page.
