By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

For Kwik'pak Fisheries LLC, a harvester of Yukon River salmon, the romance of the popular fishery is rooted in the high content of nutrition rich Omega 3 oils and the harvesters themselves, the Yu'pik Eskimo fishermen of the Western Yukon River Delta.

Kwik'pak, a subsidiary of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, takes its name from the Yupik Eskimo name for the Yukon River. The company, formed in 2002, is the major employer of several hundred residents of the Lower Yukon, where jobs are otherwise scarce.

When the kings and chums are running, some 295 families in villages dotting the mouth of the Yukon, plus others in Mountain Village and St. Mary's, are out on the Lower Yukon fishing for Kwik'pak. The company also employs about 200 additional workers at its processing plant in Emmonak, and at buying stations in Mountain Village and Kotlik. Many fishermen deliver their catch directly to Emmonak, Mountain Village and Kotlik, but Kwik'pak also has three tenders, with ice on board, to take the harvest from the rest of its fleet on the fishing grounds.

The toughest part is getting the fish out of the Lower Yukon region into the marketplace, said Jack Schultheis, sales manager. Transportation infrastructure that many fisheries take for granted simply does not exist in the Lower Yukon. There are no ferries, no ocean ports, no road system and no barge service.

“It's the biggest hurdle we have, because everything has to be flown in and out,” he said. “Our transportation infrastructure is just non-existent compared with other areas of the state. Even Bethel has a port where a barge can come in and pick up the fish.”

Air transportation options are also limited. There are no paved runways and no jet service. Only Emmonak's airport can handle heavy aircraft like a DC-6. Northern Air Cargo and Everett's Air Cargo are the main transportation links, he said.

Residents of Lower Yukon communities pay about $8 a gallon for milk, $5 for a fresh tomato and $6 a gallon for fuel. Round-trip airfare from Emmonak to Anchorage is $1,000, and the nearest hospital, doctor, dentist and bank are all 160 miles away in Bethel, he said.

To educate potential buyers about the people and culture of the Lower Yukon, Kwik'pak has a special section on its Web site, www.yukonriverkings.com. The Web site has information about the Eskimo people who have inhabited this region for more than 10,000 years.

Business wasn't as good as it might have been this summer for Kwik'pak's best-sellers, the Yukon kings, because of a weak run of kings, but the season was salvaged by the Yukon River summer chums, Schultheis said.

The company is also gearing up for the fall run of Yukon chums, to fill orders for fillets and headed and gutted chums in domestic, European and some Japanese markets, he said.

Preliminary reports from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed a season harvest of 32,000 kings in the Lower Yukon, and 176,000 chums. Fish and Game officials acknowledged that this year's Chinook run was slightly later than average and not as strong overall as anticipated, while the summer chum run was near average in both strength and run timing.

The king fishery was sufficient to pay fishermen a total of $2,640,000 this year, Schultheis said. The summer chums, in their first year for Kwik'pak, brought in another $500,000.

Summer chums were a strong market from the 1970s through the early 1990s, “but when hatchery salmon came along, with closer transportation access, they basically put us out of business, he said. “It starved us and helped Southeast and Prince William Sound fishermen.”

Schultheis argues that hatchery fish “are inferior in quality, taste and everything else” to wild Yukon chums. More importantly, the communities on the Lower Yukon rely on Kwik'pak and two other local processing firms for their economy.

When word got out on international news wires that some hatchery salmon had been fed imported contaminated feed, the demand for Yukon River summer chums rose quickly, Schultheis said.

“A lot of European buyers backed away from the hatchery fish and wanted wild fish,” he said. “It's a true wild stock and a very good quality. The Europeans are much more quality-conscious when it comes to fish than the people in America, and they are much more environmentally aware, compared to U.S. consumers. They want sustainable fisheries.”

The 2007 crop of Yukon chums average 7 pounds each and have good color, a bright reddish orange, which also appeals to European consumers. Because it is a hearty fish, it holds up better on the shelf and Europeans like the taste, Schultheis said.

Kwik'pak does a lot of business with the Whole Foods chain in Europe and America, he said.

Kwik'pak counts among its buyers a grocery chain in Paris.

“We make direct air shipments to them,” Schultheis said. “The limiting factor going to France on a fresh deal is the amount of cargo space you have.”

Kwik'pak acquired that contract by networking at the Boston Seafood Show, where a number of European buyers visited their booth. This year was Kwik'pak's fourth year at the prestigious seafood show.

Europeans put a lot of value on who they do business with, Schultheis said. The company is a member of the Fair Trade Association, which guarantees that Kwik'pak pays a fair price and does not exploit workers.

Another attraction is that all of Kwik'pak's fishermen are Siberian Yu'pik Alaska Natives from the Lower Yukon. “The fair trade issue is highly regarded in Europe, and people are becoming more aware now of the political and economic issues involved,” he said.

Kwik'pak's salmon also attracts high-end customers in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

10th and M Seafoods also distributed Yukon salmon to several other Anchorage area restaurants.

Then there are the customers who have standing orders, including an Idaho schoolteacher who e-mails every year with an order for 100 pounds of Yukon kings, Schultheis said.

“I have stores and restaurants who do the same thing,” he said.

These include Metropolitan Markets, an upscale Seattle retailer, who sells exclusively Kwik'pak Yukon kings.

Kwik'pak also sells to Mutual Fish of Seattle, a wholesale firm like 10th and M Seafoods in Anchorage.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com