Confession time: I didn’t always like fish. Being born in cattle country, I didn’t consider fish to be much worth eating and couldn’t understand the residents of the PNW’s obsession with eating seafood—most notably salmon.
But after 38 years in Washington State I get it. Salmon is amazing. It feeds everyone from hungry teenagers to orca. It truly is the buffalo of the sea.
So what makes a good salmon? According to Ian Kirouac of Lummi Island Wild, it’s the proportion of fat.
“About 15% gives the best flavor. It’s also easier to cook well,” he tells me.
Photograph courtesy of Lummi Island Wild
Ian is a fit and charming man with a soft, low voice and an absolute dedication to salmon sustainability. He’s also a triathlete and reefnet fisherman. He started the tour of the Lummi Island Wild facility by introducing me to two smiling, gentle-faced women named Alicia Poston and Sierra Montoya. Both Alicia and Sierra work in the office and pick-and-pack facility in the off season, but during the fishing season they’re out on the waters of Legoe Bay with the rest of the Lummi Island Wild Co-op crew, spotting salmon and fishing in a manner that is thousands of years old.
All three were eager to explain to me how reefnetting works and why it’s better for marine life as well as us foodies.
One of the unfortunate issues with fishing is what’s known as bycatch—basically, other sea creatures who are pulled out of the water along with the particular fish species you’re trying to catch.
Photograph courtesy of Lummi Island Wild
Reefnetting uses solar-powered nets to lift the fish out of the water, without injuring them. Once on the boat everything that is caught is shifted to a tank for sorting. Because the fish aren’t injured, the crew can safely release any fish that are not the target species back into the water. So if it’s sockeye season everything in the net that is not sockeye gets to swim away unharmed, essentially creating zero bycatch.
The fish who are destined for our dinner plates go from swimming in the ocean to being packed in slush ice in a matter of minutes. They then go, that same day, to be butchered, portioned, and frozen for Lummi Island Wild’s lucky clients.
Photograph courtesy of Lummi Island Wild
It’s a difference you can taste, with unparalleled freshness and wonderful texture. But what struck me most about the experience of meeting this reefnetting crew was just that: I got to meet them. I got to eat the very salmon that the person right in front of me caught in this unique and ancient way. I felt an unbelievable sense of connection to and pride in not only this gorgeous region that I now call home, but also the other humans who live and work here.
But you don’t have to be a magazine writer to have this same experience. Customers ordering online from the Lummi Island Wild website can opt for “pick up,” then just go over to Mercer Street and meet these same people for yourselves, say hello and tell them your favorite way to eat the fish they caught.
Photograph courtesy of Lummi Island Wild
Select Lummi Island wild products are also available at the Community Food Co-op, Whole Foods, and Haggen, with a wider range of products on their website, including black cod, ikura caviar, crab, and shellfish. They have a subscription box, a buyer’s club for groups wanting to purchase in bulk and, coming later this year, a meal kit.
So don’t be shy. Give their fish a try today.
3131 Mercer St., Ste. 105, Bellingham, lummiislandwild.com
