Much higher than expected 2014 Alaska sockeye salmon landings — along with near-record projections for the 2015 season — are fueling the surge in sockeye promotions in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) recently asked its board to approve an extra USD 1 million (EUR 889,391) for U.S. and international salmon retail campaigns — in addition to its routine retail salmon promotions — to help processors move excess canned and frozen sockeye inventory.
“The sockeye run was better than expected last season and another better-than-expected sockeye run is expected this season,” Alexa Tonkovich, international program director for ASMI, told SeafoodSource. “Lent is really a big time of year for canned sockeye sales in the U.K. and Canada. [The heavy sockeye run] was why the dates were pushed up to capitalize on this already crucial time of year for sockeye sales.”
The glut of sockeye is not expected to end anytime soon, since the Bristol Bay sockeye harvest was 71 percent higher than projected at 29 million fish. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (AFDF) is projecting a record run of 54 million sockeye for Bristol Bay for 2015, a surge of 50 percent over the long-term average of 32 million. AFDF is also projecting a run of 3.19 million Copper River sockeye for the 2015 season.
“Part of this [international retail promotions] is being proactive and promoting it ahead of the expectation that we will have a lot of sockeye,” Tonkovich said.
However, not all traders are realizing an unusual abundance of sockeye salmon. “We are down to around 2,000 pounds of sockeye in inventory. I’m not really seeing the Copper River frozen market being in a huge surplus,” said Jeff Bailey, manger at Prime Select Seafoods Alaska, a division of distributor Northern Fish, and a board member of the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association.
Still, Bailey says the marketing group plans to increase its promotions with distributors, retailers and foodservice companies for the 2015 sockeye season. “We are looking at partnerships with distributions and retailers, to have Copper River salmon in their stores in June and July. For years, there has been this misunderstanding that the season lasts for two weeks, and then it is over. It runs well into the end of July.”
While it is still working out the details, ASMI has approved USD 350,000 (EUR 310,835) to market canned sockeye salmon in the U.K. Partnering with grocery chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose, along with canned salmon suppliers John West, Princes, and potentially others, the group is planning in-store messaging along with sockeye promotions on the retailers’ web sites, such as Waitrose’s Ocado.com.
“The campaign would run in conjunction with their in-store promotions, such as ads in their in-store magazines and possibly some sampling of products in stores,” Tonkovich said.
The campaign should be up and running in February, to coincide with the Lenten season. While the ASMI board has not yet approved the frozen sockeye promotion in Japan, the campaign would be similar to the U.K. promotions, with a combination of in-store activity, promotions on retailers’ websites and in-store sampling. “That would be more into spring and into the upcoming sockeye salmon season,” Tonkovich said.
Meanwhile, ASMI is working with U.S. supermarket chains — representing around 7,000 stores — to run promotions on frozen sockeye portions and refreshed frozen fillets. ASMI is also planning a big retail marketing push for canned sockeye in Canada during Lent, but the details have not been worked out.
On the foodservice side, ASMI is partnering with U.S. foodservice distributor Sysco on a Lenten promotion of single-frozen fillets. Seventy-one of Sysco’s individual regional companies will run specials on cases of the sockeye fillets, Tyson Fick, communications director for ASMI, told SeafoodSource.
