Cordova, Alaska-based seafood processor Sixty North Seafoods has opened a custom, fishermen-run processing facility in time for the 2018 Copper River harvests, the company announced on 30 April.
Founded by Rich Wheeler, Sena Wheeler, and John D. Weise, who all hail from multi-generational fishing families, Sixty North Seafoods offers traceable and sustainable seafood through three product lines: 60° North, Copper River Fresh, and Sena Sea. The company employs both long-line and gillnet fishing methods when catching wild fish in Alaska, and is dedicated to upholding sustainable practices in all of its operations.
“As third generation fishermen, the founders of Sixty North Seafoods take great pride in fishing sustainably and feel a strong commitment to ocean stewardship,” the company said in a news release announcing its new facility.
Through its new facility, Sixty North intends to lead by example. The company will buy and process wild Alaskan fish (custom process and direct market) at the new location, as well as empower other fishermen to do the same with their catch, the processor said. It will process mainly salmon, rockfish, sablefish, and halibut in the new facility.
Moreover, each fish that comes through the processing facility will have been handled in the same exact fashion – with an eye toward quality and care, Sixty North said.
“Every fish caught in the Copper River is treated with the utmost respect and care. Caught by a small fleet of independent fishermen, a craft that has been handed down for generations, the fish are hand-picked from the net one by one, inspected for quality, stored on ice in refrigerated holds and urgently shipped by plane daily for the pinnacle of quality and freshness,” the processor explained.
