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Commercial fishing requires a lot more than sea legs and a sturdy boat. I knew this, but I re-learned it first-hand this past week.

I've just returned from several days in the extraordinarily scenic Alaskan fishing town of Cordova, where I got a broad and in-depth perspective of where one of my favorite seafood items – Copper River salmon – comes from and how it's managed by the fisherman and the State of Alaska.

A healthy fishing community DOES take a village.

"People are really letting us take care of their fish," said Mike Poole, part of Cordova's fleet since 1978 and a former member of the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association's board. "It's the public's natural resource, and we are privileged to fish it."

Interestingly, the chain-restaurant demand for fish and seafood has been growing. A survey in 2011 by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute found "a steady increase in consumption at chain restaurants" with 36 percent of consumer respondents saying they ate more than two years before, and 58 percent saying they ate the same amount.

Read the full story at Nation's Restaurant News>>

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