This year's first delivery of Alaska's Copper River salmon to the Lower 48 touched down at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at approximately 7:45 a.m. on Friday.
About 20,000 pounds of the prized fish, which arrived via an Alaska Airlines 737-400 freighter, was purchased by Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Trident Seafoods and Copper River Seafoods. Steve Sarkisian, the University of Washington's new head football coach, caught the season's first fish on the runway and then passed the 40-pound king salmon to the highest bidder in a KJR-AM-sponsored charity auction.
"Our executive chef in Seattle [Aaron Valimont] is expecting two whole fish today," Wade Wiestling, VP of culinary development at Minneapolis-based Oceanaire Seafood Room, which operates 16 upscale seafood restaurants nationwide, told SeafoodSource on Friday.
"We have some contacts on the Copper River. So if we can get it air freighted out, a lot of our restaurants can have it tomorrow," he said. "But most certainly by Monday all our restaurants will have some Copper River salmon."
At least two more Alaska Airlines flights on Friday will transport salmon from Cordova, Alaska, to Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska. Last year, the airline flew more than 15 million pounds of fresh Alaska seafood, including nearly 400,000 pounds of Copper River salmon.
"Alaska Airlines flies more Copper River salmon throughout the season than any other airline," said Joe Sprague, the airline's VP of cargo. "With enhanced food quality procedures and additional flights to support the Alaska seafood industry, we are going the extra mile to deliver fresh seafood throughout the country."
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May 17, 2009
