As the wife of a commercial fisherman, Libie Cain quickly realized how fishermen – and their catch – are often undervalued. When Cain and her friend Teresa Reeves decided to launch Sassy Seafood in Westport, Wash., six years ago, the albacore tuna market was depressed and the two set out to help commercial fishermen – including their families – achieve a fair price for their catch.
SeafoodSource recently talked with Cain (pictured, on left, with Reeves), co-owner of Sassy Seafood about the growth of the specialty canned tuna company – and the West Coast albacore tuna market.
Blank: Why did you decide to start Sassy Seafood?
Cain: My husband was working in the Bering Sea, and I fell in love with the fishing aspect of it and all the people in the industry. My husband and I decided to buy a 50-foot commercial boat. I have been working as a deckhand for 13 seasons, so in between the fishing, you have a lot of time to sit on the boat and think. I didn’t want to be at the mercy of the canneries. At the time, the albacore price was so low. I knew we had to figure out how to make our own way. I mulled it over for a lot of years and then, six years ago, I went to my best friend, who is also a commercial fisherman’s wife. I told her my idea about how we could form a female-owned seafood company, and use the old bomber-style art in our marketing. We started Sassy Seafood with zero dollars in our bank account.
Blank: What type of canned seafood products do you produce?
We are developing flavor combinations for canned albacore tuna that are really different. The first flavor that was really unique to Sassy Seafood was Lil’ Lemon. You take the fish and then hand-slice lemons and put it through the canning line. It preserves the lemon so that, when you open the can, it is gorgeous. We also have Original, No Salt, Smokin’ Sadie and Delicious Dot (with dill). Our artist brings the flavors to life in bomber girl art form. The 6-ounce cans sell for USD 6.50 (EUR 5.90) each. We also typically produce 100 pounds of razor clams a year, which we hand-dig from Willapaw Bay. They sell for US 9.99 (EUR 9.07) per 6-ounce can.
Blank: Where do you sell Sassy Seafood products?
Cain: We are sold out of most of our products in our store online, but we have a big production coming in. We also sell them at four farmers’ markets, a couple of specialty stores and at events. What makes Sassy Seafood really special is we mainly use it as an education platform about commercial fishing. As commercial fishermen, we are the best stewards of the ocean. We depend on our natural resources and the health of our oceans in order to feed our kids and live our lives. There is no bycatch in our albacore fishery. We are able to put out the tiny fires that may cause consumers to be scared of our product [albacore tuna], such as mercury fears or radiation from Fukushima in Japan. They don’t have to be scared of our product. We are up on all the high-tech testing protocols and our product is very safe.
Blank: How are the albacore tuna and razor clams selling?
Cain: We have more demand than supply. We can’t keep the razor clams or the smoked albacore on the shelf. We bring the razor clams out at the holidays only, since we typically only have 20 to 30 cases. We produce more albacore tuna every season, as our customer base grows. The more boat-to-belly seafood we can get to customers directly, so the price isn’t marked up, is great.
