Boreal Fisheries Inc., which buys and processes Yukon Kings from the Lower Yukon villages of St. Marys, Pilot Station, Marshall and Mountain Village, will be promoting its award-winning Smoked Yukon King Salmon at the upcoming Boston Seafood Show.

So will Yukon King Seafoods, of Marshall, with its Smoked Cajun King Salmon.

Both companies, who buy their kings from Yupik Eskimos on the Lower Yukon, were winners of the people's choice awards in the 2006 Alaska Symphony of Seafood.

Morey's Seafood International, of Golden Valley, Minn., won the grand prize, plus first place in the retail competition in this year's symphony, with its Marinated Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon. Yukon King Seafoods took first place in smoked fish competition for its Smoked Cajun King Salmon, and Prowler Fisheries LLC in the food service competition with Smoked Sweet Chili Sablefish Tenderloin.

"It's a great product, and we are very excited to be a grand prize winner," said Kelly Gross, marketing manager for Morey's Seafood, which won a people's choice award last year for its Marinated Chum Salmon. Morey's marinated sockeye is already being sold in Costco's entire Midwestern region, a total of 39 stores, Gross said. The 6-ounce portions, four to a package, are popular for grilling and baking, she said.

The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which has sponsored the event for the past 13 years in partnership with other industry supporters, gives air fare and space at its own booth at the Boston Seafood Show to all first prize and people's choice winners. A team of professional chefs and others in the industry judged this year's 19 entries in Las Vegas in January. Winners were announced Feb. 2 in Anchorage. Those attending the Law Vegas event selected Yukon King Seafoods as the people's choice, while Anchorage samplers picked Boreal Seafoods.

"This is so exciting," said Randy Crawford, president of Boreal Fisheries, as he learned Feb. 4 in Anchorage that the company's gourmet Smoked Yukon King Salmon was the people's choice award winner. "Our fishermen have worked so hard."

"I'm going to St. Marys to meet with the fishermen to plan for the 2006 season, on a marketing plan and to collect their input," he said. "It's important that they are part of the planning. This is going to help them so much."

The Lower Yukon, where Crawford and his wife, Edna, have been processing Yukon kings and fall chum salmon since 1974, is dotted with Yupik Eskimo villages who rely on commercial salmon fisheries for the bulk of their income. St. Marys, headquarters for Boreal Fisheries during the fishing season, is a city of 539 people, 65 of whom hold commercial fishing permits. The Crawfords also buy from fishermen in Pilot Station, population 559; Marshall, population 358; and Mountain Village, population 769. All four communities are struggling with the rising cost of living, particularly fuel costs.

But the Crawfords see a viable future for their fishermen in Yukon kings, which are high in the omega-3 fatty acids that are toted as a dietary guard for everything from heart disease to depression. "These people have a wonderful product, and they are a wonderful labor force," Randy Crawford said.

His goal is to "connect what swims naturally by (the fishermen) into economic prosperity for their communities," he said. "But it can't happen without marketing and transportation."

The Crawfords first came to St. Marys in 1974 to start Boreal Fisheries. In the years that followed, they made friends with many families in the area. The cross-cultural understanding has created an excellent working relationship, as well as mutual respect, they said. Edna Crawford still works directly with the fishermen, does the bookkeeping and schedules aircraft to pick up and deliver the fish. Her husband handles maintenance and manages the buying operations.

The kings they harvest spawn in the river gravel of northwestern Canada, and migrate down the Yukon River through the Alaska wilderness to the Bering Sea. As they approach six years of age, the kings have stored up enough energy rich oils for their two-month, 2,000-mile journey back to their original spawning grounds, making them the richest of Alaska salmon in terms of omega-3 fatty acids.

As the kings enter the Yukon River, they are caught and delivered for immediate flake icing at onsite tenders, then air-lifted to Boreal's main facility, where they are immersed in slush ice. Within 12 hours after harvest, they are 400 miles from the fishing grounds, on processing tables in Anchorage or Kenai, before shipment to points throughout the United States.

To the Crawfords, who came north more than 30 years ago on the heels of earning their teaching certificates in college, their company is about a lot more than fish. "It's a commitment to the area, the people and the product," Edna Crawford said.

While excited about the popularity of their gourmet smoked kings, the Crawfords also have markets for their fresh and other smoked products, including kosher-certified lox.

The challenge is finding more markets for Yukon fall chums, which would do well in skinless, boneless portions for restaurants, Edna Crawford said. "And we can get it to them for a reasonable price," while bringing more sorely needed income to fishermen, she said.