JuneauTek

That’s Right!  It’s salmon time in Alaska!  Local fishermen will head out in early this morning for a 7 A.M. opener, which marks the start of the 2013 salmon season.  The webcam is a view is from the top of My Eyak, overlooking Cordova’s beautiful harbor.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast is a bit nasty.   Alaska doesn’t want to break free of winter’s icy grip this spring.  The local airport reported record lows this morning, too.  Regardless of the conditions wild caught salmon will be hitting dinner tables soon.   Copper River Reds will be wisked from the tiny port of Cordova and travel across the world within just a few days.  Fresh Alaskan salmon will hit stores by Friday.  Ever wonder how “Copper River Reds” got so popular?  Check out this recent article:

It’s been 30 years since Jon Rowley first persuaded a few salmon fishermen on Alaska’s Copper River that they might be able to do something with their superb fish other than sell it to the cannery. But even he never guessed things would get this crazy.

Today, Copper River salmon is a smash hit. And at the root of this success are a couple of big ideas, one that seems obvious today — getting the best fish and handling them carefully — and one that is still a bit wacky — a race to see which restaurant could serve the first Copper River king salmon of the season

As the Copper River season begins Wednesday, these fish will be one of the few name-dropped on menus. And the first fresh Copper River salmon of the season could fetch as much as $50 a pound.

But 30 years ago, almost none of the fish was even sold fresh.  When food marketing guru Jon Rowley offered the fishermen $3.50 a pound, they were overjoyed.

via The Copper River salmon craze: How the race began – latimes.com.

Related articles

• Copper River Salmon Fleet To Start Fishing Thursday (alaskapublic.org)
• The man behind the Copper River Salmon frenzy as season fast approaches (bizjournals.com)
• Copper River salmon marks 30th year of renown (thecordovatimes.com)