Executive director Jim Harmon said in an email update this past week that the organization was busy in October, sending a truckload of Pollock, cod and salmon to Georgia following Hurricane Michael, as well as two truckloads of Pollock to Missouri, and large quantity of salmon to food banks in Connecticut and Oregon.
In Washington state SeaShare is working with Seattle’s Food Lifeline to support 300–400 smaller agencies across Western Washington with nutritious seafood. Harmon confirmed that this represents 115,000 pounds so far this season.
In addition to regular donations to food banks in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks and Kodiak, SeaShare is also adding new regional hubs to accept and distribute more seafood to Western Alaska. This year they have worked with freight carriers, including the US Coast Guard, to transport fish to Dillingham, Nome, Kotzebue and Chignik. In all, 34 communities in Western Alaska received fish from SeaShare in 2018.
Members of the At-Sea Processors Association donate 250,000 pounds of frozen Pollock annually. Harmon said this year they combined that generosity with donated materials and processing from HighLiner Foods and Trident Seafoods to generate 1.8- million servings of breaded, over ready portions, packaged for distribution by food banks.
SeaShare was started by Alaska fisherman back in 1994, and to date more than 200 million seafood servings have been distributed. For a list of SeaShare’s seafood industry partners and more information log on to www.seashare.org.