On the lighter side of things, this is a video showing what happens when you visit Egegik in summer.  Half the year, temperatures are below freezing.  When they do rise, all sorts of wildlife come out of the woodwork.  Outside of the famous wild salmon runs, insects like to swarm whatever or whoever comes in their path.

Locals really like it when there is wind as this offers a small reprieve of the relentless swarm.  Insects will follow fishermen more than 100 yards into the water.  This was taken at the end of a 3 day visit in the area.

Alaska has very strict regulations on fishing so that the state can continue with a long-term sustainable fishing industry.   In this video, Ole Oksvold, one of our fishemen has been fishing in Bristol Bay for nearly 25 years, explains the rules and regulations involved in commercial fishing in Egegik.

This is the third recipe video in our series and by far our favorite one.  Go ahead and gather the following ingredients:

• 1 cup of Orange Juice
• 1.5 table spoons of lime juice
• 1 teaspoon of chili pepper
• 1 teaspoon of honey dijon mustard
• 1.5 tablespoons of minced onion
• .5 cup of italian dressing
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• salt and pepper
• and of course… 1-2 salmon fillets (approx 2 lbs)

Make sure you have the following equipment:

• 1 pan
• 1 blender
• 1 skillet

Set the oven to 400 degrees and then press play…

As part of our efforts to bring a piece of our world to you, we have created a series of interviews with local fishermen who can help give some insight into life as a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay.  Victor Popa is originally from Romania and moved to the United States in the early 70’s.  It was at that time that he had the opportunity to come to Alaska one summer to fish.

Since then, he has come back to the same place every summer for nearly 35 years.  Victor is one of the fishermen that we purchase fish from.  In these two videos, he is explaining about his life while unloading fish for us.  Enjoy!

This video is the first in a series that explore Bristol Bay and the fishermen we work with.  For people that are not familiar with the region, this gives background on the quality of fish that we offer and how we work with local fishermen within the framework of alaskan law.

Ty Stafford, director of Fishing operations, explains how to tell if a fish is good enough to make it to our processor.  Toward the end of the video, the wind is very strong and drwons out a few sylables but overall, you get the idea of what we go through.

There are three tests he discusses:

1) Firmness

2) Gils

3) Scales