Thursday, November 20, 2008

Skeena Wild Smoked Salmon Sales



With the holiday season fast approaching, we thought we would remind everyone of the initiative th NCSA are engaged in with Skeena Wild.
The letter copied below outlines the program. This is as grassroots as it gets, folks. Use your purchasing power to vote for change in the Skeena fishery that will benefit people and the fish.
The product is high quality smoked sockeye salmon which makes the perfect holiday gift. Present it to your family or friends and feel great about making a direct contribution to change. Please contact Skeena Wild at sales@skeenawild.org for more information.


Partners in Change: Skeena Steelheaders, FN’s and Conservationists

We thought your staff and customers would be interested in a small pilot project we initiated in the Skeena this year. It is a cooperative venture between the Gitsxan fishery around Kitwanga, the North Coast Steelhead Alliance and the Skeena Wild Conservation Trust that is designed to:

1.Encourage the transfer of allocations from the mixed stock fishery on the coast to in-river selective fisheries
2.Investigate value added products and markets for Fair Trade, selectively harvested, FN’s caught sockeye
3.Be the first step in the creation of “Brand” for certified Fair Trade, selectively harvested fish in the Skeena watershed

The SWCT has purchased sockeye from Gitsxan beach seine fishers operating above the confluence of the Kitwanga and Skeena Rivers. The sockeye fillets have been “hot smoked” and frozen. We are marketing the product to steelhead fishermen through steelhead guides and lodges on the Skeena system. To avoid inventory costs etc. we are taking orders from the clients and shipping the fillets directly to their homes along with information describing how this initiative will contribute to reducing the inadvertent killing of steelhead in the gillnet fishery. We hope they will share both the wonderful smoked salmon as well as the information about Fair Trade caught sockeye with their friends and family. All profits will be returned either to the fishers or to salmon conservation on the Skeena.

In this way, steelhead fishermen can partner with others in the Watershed to help transform the Skeena into a principled fishery that encompasses the values implicit in preserving and enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, the precautionary principle and social justice.
Thank you for your interest.
Skeena Wild

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