Dear Alaska Gold customers,
Food has always been a human story. Food brings people together. We share community and fellowship with those we love by breaking bread with them. Food is sacred. It’s what we put in our bodies and gives us life. In the case of Seafood Producers Cooperative, producers put their hearts and souls into bringing a pure, wild, minimally processed protein to people who want to enjoy quality ingredients. The people behind this food work hard, each bringing their unique style and background to their craft.
The fishermen-owners of Seafood Producers Cooperative are a collective of optimists and some of the last producers of a pure, unadulterated wild protein produced using traditional fishing methods on this planet. We are courageous, free-spirited and independent but also community-minded. Because anybody who has ever fished for a living knows that there will come a moment when you will have to depend on your peers, your fellow fleet members, and your community for help. Our producer-owners are Alaskans. They’re also New Yorkers who hitchhike to Alaska looking for adventure but end up staying because they can’t imagine any other way to live. We are independent-minded. Many of us are highly opinionated. But some of us are also soft-spoken, humble because we’ve been humbled by nature. Some of us were school teachers who, looking for summer income, got hooked and stayed in Alaska to fish. Some of us were executives for Wall Street banks or Silicon Valley start-ups who ditched those lives to go fishing. For some, fishing for a living is all we know and all we’’ll ever know.
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Seafood Producers Cooperative producer/owner Linda Behnken has a long history of advocating for sustainable seafood and the local community small boat fleet in Sitka, Alaska. Which is also one of the reasons why she is a member of Seafood Producers Cooperative, which has supported small boat fishermen for over 75 years. -
Charlie Piercy used to be a chemical engineer in Port Angeles but came to fishing because of the unique lifestyle. Charlie started hand trolling on a 16-foot skiff in 1978. His wife Sally calls themselves a “Mom and Pop operation.” Charlie is a huge believer of our canned ivory king salmon as the best snack to have aboard their boat. -
Meet Ruben Torres, SPC’s Sitka Plant Manager. Everything about Ruben is the epitome of the American Dream of starting at the bottom and working one’s way to the top. When he first arrived in Sitka, he slept in a church, and worked just about every position in our plant until becoming our plant manager. Never afraid of work, he’s the first one to grab a knife and cut fish when the plant’s busy. -
Our line-caught salmon is truly special. In essence, it’s a boutique fishery focused on quality over quantity. As Seafood Producers Cooperative producer/owner Lance Preston says, “Like your micro-brews, we’re a micro-fishery.” Lance is originally from New York, but spent a summer in Alaska and got hooked and wanted to stay and go fishing for a living, working his way up from deckhand to captain and highliner. -
Dick Curran is a humble highiner who has fished from Chatham Strait in Southeast Alaska, west to the Aleutians, specializing in high quality black cod and halibut. He is a proud steward of the resource and is admired by the fleet for his hard work and dedication to the craft. -
The Miller Family have been Seafood Producers Cooperative producer/owners since 1988. Fishing has been a way for their family to stay together. What the Millers like about being part of Seafood Producers Cooperative is that it’s also like a big family.
Thank you for being part of our history,
The Producer-owners of Seafood Producers Cooperative, whose products are available for home delivery at AlaskaGoldBrand.com.