Voices of Seafood: A chorus sings the praises of Alaska's ocean bounty.

• Author: Rhode, Scott
• Position: Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Alaska Symphony of Seafood 2022

"Alaska seafood has so much to offer," says Ashley Heimbigner. "It's often a game of choosing which messages are best for the audience."

Choosing messages is Heimbigner's job as communications director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). The public/private partnership, established by state statute in 1981, marked its 40th anniversary last year by revamping its alaskaseafood.org website to deliver its message more effectively. In addition to becoming more mobile friendly, the redesign streamlined access to ASMI's recipe library.

"It was timely with the pandemic because more and more people were looking for information about what they were eating and recipes online, as we were all at home cooking," Heimbigner says.

Website visitors might see suggestions for products they would not otherwise have bought. For example, potato latkes with Alaska salmon roe can be made with ingredients most home chefs keep in their cupboards, save one (or two, if the latkes are fried in duck fat, as directed). Salmon eggs would send the cook to the supermarket or Asian grocery.

"Based on insight that salmon roe is becoming more popular in the US domestic market, we worked with a chef to create a series of salmon roe recipes," Heimbigner says. This accomplishes two of ASMI's immediate goals: building demand for all parts of a fish, thus getting more value out of the catch, and creating a market to absorb the bonanza of Bristol Bay sockeye, which just saw a record harvest.

Processors and harvesters pay a self-assessment to ASMI, and the institute also leverages federal grants for its research and marketing. Those efforts range from designating January as "Wild Alaska Seafood Month" in Europe--starting this year and, with luck, again in 2023--to recommending fish as a replacement for Christmas ham or a fat goose at the center of winter holiday meals. Heimbigner says ASMI began gearing up six months in advance for next spring's Lent, when Roman Catholics substitute fish for meat on the six Fridays before Easter.

This month, ASMI observes its own holiday, of sorts, with the return of the All Hands on Deck conference. Meeting in person after two years of virtual alternatives, ASMI is hosting the event at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood on November 9, 10, and 11. The conference lets the wider seafood industry and general public learn how each fishery is performing and how ASMI is coordinating the marketing of Alaska brands.

For all that. All Hands on Deck is merely a tune-up before the major opus the following week.

Symphonic Showcase

The Seahawks aren't playing a home game the weekend of November 17, yet Seattle's Lumen Field is drawing a crowd to the adjacent event center for the Pacific Marine Expo. That event is the stage for the annual Symphony of Seafood, presented by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF).

Just as ASMI is a creation of state law, AFDF formed as the result of federal law, the 1976...