The Post Supply is honored to stock Drifter’s Fish Wild Caught Salmon. Katie was lucky enough to attend at dinner at favorite local restaurant - The Alna Store - with Drifter’s Fish founders Nelly and Michael. Their knowledge around sustainable fisheries, passion for the art of fishing, the deep respect for the waters they fish, and the pride in the quality of fish they catch was inspiring and moving. Not to mention - delicious! This is special, special stuff and we are so lucky to have it on our shelves!
6.5 Oz
Drifter’s Fish is a small team bringing sustainably harvested seafood from Alaska's wild waters to your table.
ABOUT THE FISHERMEN:
Founder Nelly Hand grew up in a fishing family and spent summers throughout high school and college working on the family boat in Alaska. Her love for a good meal and the story behind it has inspired her to continue living and working close to wild fisheries. Off the water, you can usually find her outside foraging for wild foods or cooking food over a campfire.
Founder Michael Hand began commercial fishing in 2006 as a crew member on his cousin’s fishing boat. This experience on the water led him to a gillnetting season on his very own boat in 2012. After meeting Nelly, he began spending time between fishing seasons adventuring around the globe with her. Over the past few years, he's been learning new fisheries - adding Tanner Crab, Spot Prawns, and Sablefish to our seasonal fishing rhythms. These days when he’s not on the boat, you can usually find him working on VW vans or camping somewhere in the mountains.
Note from the Founders:
Our home is always by the water. We’re deeply grateful to live and work on Eyak lands here on the coast of Alaska. Bringing you wild Alaska seafood caught onboard our small boats, sustainably harvested from cold, wild waters. Alaska’s cold, pristine waters provide us with a livelihood and a way of life. As commercial fishermen, we love nothing more than sharing wild, healthy salmon with our customers. We harvest salmon from the Copper River watershed using an environmentally-conscious fishing technique called gillnetting. This involves laying a shallow net wall in the water along the fish’s path. Once the fish swim into the mesh, we pull the net onto our boat, The Heron, where we carefully remove the fish, one by one. The fish are then bled and placed in ice water to ensure peak freshness.
Sustainability
Alaska has always been committed to the scientific, sustainable management of its fisheries. During the summer season, fishery managers closely watch the salmon swim up the river to their headwaters where they spawn. If the number of fish doesn't meet the requirement for a healthy population, the fleet of fishermen stay in the harbor and refrain from fishing. The livelihood of commercial fishermen depends on the salmon that they don’t catch in their net just as much as the ones that they do. They take care of their wild salmon fishery so that it continues to thrive for years and years to come.
The Copper River Watershed
Protecting and advocating for the wild Watershed where the fish return is important to Drifter’s Fish. They are proud to partner with the Copper River Watershed Project by giving back 1 % of their annual sales to further habitat preservation and education. The Copper River Watershed Project works to foster the health of the Copper River watershed's salmon-based cultures, communities, and economies. Learn more about the Copper River Watershed Project.
Prince William Sound Stewardship
Drifter’s Fish’s fishing district spans to the waters west of Cordova, where wild salmon swim in glacial fjords and around the islands of Prince William Sound. Surrounded by the massive mountains of the Chugach range, this coastline is incredibly beautiful and a wild place to call home. This year, they are excited to sign on with the Prince William Sound Stewardship Foundation and donate 1% to supporting their good work keeping PWS healthy, clean, and wild. PWSSF is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the wilderness of the Sound through beach clean ups, site restoration, and educational programs. Taking care of wild places and being committed to stewardship of Alaska’s rich, vital coastline is so important to them and to their lives as fishermen. Read more about the: Prince William Sound Stewardship Foundation.
Nelly & Michael honor and acknowledge the homeland of the Eyak, Alutiiq, and Sugpiaq People. Through generations, their stewardship of the lands and waters have protected and preserved this beautiful wild place on the coast of Alaska.
They are committed to be stewards of this wild place and to respectfully live on their land. They believe in partnering with organizations that support this mission and work together towards healthy wild places. Through the good work of the Copper River Watershed Project and Net Your Problem, the old web cut out of our nets is recycled. The salmon nets they use are made from nylon, which can be repurposed and upcycled to create fiber and nylon products. Their worn out bibs and jackets get sent off to Rugged Seas, a Maine based company that upcycles used fishing gear.
They strive to continue to find new ways to recycle materials and utilize sustainable packaging. They have recently focused on transitioning to recyclable packaging for their frozen fish shares.
6.5oz