Many of the salmon that wind up in the nets of the fishing vessel Ounce have their buyer’s name on them from the moment they come out of the sea.
Out in Cook Inlet, Chuck Lindsay and his business partner Hannah Heimbuch will haul in silver, red and chum salmon from their drift gillnets and sort them for clients in Alaska and elsewhere. Though most of them will cross the dock at one of the area’s processors, about one-fifth will be carefully packed into a cooler in the back of Lindsay’s truck and delivered to his customers’ doors.
Lindsay, a co-owner of Kenai Wild Salmon Co. with Heimbuch, has directly marketed part of his catch to customers for the past three years. Once the boat has docked for the day, if he and his partner are not fishing the next day, they will deliver the fish in the morning. The fish is always delivered within 12 hours, he said.
