Autumn 2009 - Pure and Wild

As Alaska celebrates its 50th anniversary as a state of North America, it focuses on the fish and seafood that are the lifeblood of its communities.

Alaska exudes an aura of natural beauty and a crystal clear environment. This most northerly nation offers an amazing array of wildlife from grizzly bears to deer and golden eagles. But one sector of the wild that it is particularly proud of is its marine life and the way it has protected it for half a century.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary as a state of North America as well as 50 years of successful sustainable fisheries management, Alaska Seafood recently hosted a special lunch at the Japanese restaurant Nobu in London where the cream of its marine larder took centre stage.

Attended by foodies and college chef lecturers, such as Jose Souto and Norman Fu from Westminster Kingsway College, all took a keen interest in the Alaskan seafood menu.

Alaskan salmon, halibut, king crab, Pacific cod and black cod were all served with a Japanese twist. Salmon sashimi was served with dried miso, while halibut sashimi salad came with Matsuhisa dressing and king crab tempura with amazu ponzu sauce, plus there was the obligatory array of sushi.

Black cod is a favourite in Japan where a lot of it is exported from Alaska. The signature dish at Nobu is black cod served with miso and pickled ginger root, which carries a hefty price tag. But diners consider it well worth the price as the fish has a delicious sweet flesh and a caramelised skin from mixing white miso, sugar and sake.

Alaska Seafood technical programme director Randy Rice says that black cod is just a name. “It isn’t even from the cod family. But for a white fish it has a very high fat content and is closer to Chilean sea bass in flavour.”

He is proud that sustainable fisheries are a big part of Alaska’s industry and as long ago as 1959 it was thinking of sustainability. “It wasn’t just some rush to get green because of the trend today,” he says.

With its remote location and small population – just over 670,000 in 2006, Alaska says it has one of the cleanest and most natural marine environments on earth.

It claims to be the largest producer of fish in the US and, if it were a country, it would rank ninth in the world as a fish producer. Unlike many of the world’s other fisheries, Alaska’s are managed for protection against overfishing, habitat damage and pollution.

When it became a state in 1959, it took over the management of its fisheries and the constitution mandated that “fish ... be utilised, developed and maintained on the sustained yield principle”. It claims to be the only state to have written such conservation language into its constitution.

Alaska’s major fisheries include: salmon (king, sockeye, coho, keta, and pink); groundfish (cod, Alaska pollock, sole and flounder); halibut; and crab (king, snow and Dungeness). With the latter only male crabs are used for eating, leaving the females alone to continue breeding.

Protecting the future of fish stocks and the environment are very important to Alaska and it has systems in place to take care of every eventuality, from its harvest regulations such as ‘time and area closures’ that allow fishing during certain times or in certain areas and restrictions on boats and equipment, to its limiting the number of harvesters in a fishery.

Rice is a scientist as well as a fisherman. He says science is important and that “it has to rule”.

Scientists – and there are hundreds of them in Alaska according to Rice – decide how many fish can be harvested. “The allocation can never rise above what the scientists say,” he explains, adding that there are many rivers in Alaska and these scientists check out every one of them. He says all the processes used in the country’s fishing industry are fully transparent and the science that justifies the harvest level can be defended.

“We are proud of the fact that we are leaders in the codes of conduct,” says Rice. All its fish is wild and sustainably sourced, he claims, adding that farmed fish is illegal. The fish that comes to the UK is frozen.

Alaska Seafood has now linked with the Craft Guild in a competition to find recipes that bring out the succulent natural textures and flavours of its salmon, black cod or pollock, a challenge that Guild members will no doubt relish.

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