BY JACOB JONES
The Daily World
Previously discarded salmon meat from the Westport-based Ocean Companies will now go to local food banks under a new distribution agreement.
Heidi Happonen, spokeswoman for the Ocean Companies group that includes Ocean Gold, Ocean Cold and others, said the company has worked out a new agreement to allow food banks to pick up bycatch salmon that state law prevents the company from processing.
The company had previously given salmon to local food banks, but an agreement with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife required a wildlife officer to deliver the fish. Happonen said the new agreement gives food banks permission to pick up the salmon themselves.
“We’re right now able to get a lot more fish out,” she said. “We’re really excited about it.”
The agreement with Fish & Wildlife as well as the Makah Tribe allows the company to distribute salmon bycatch received from state and treaty fisheries during the whiting fish season. An Ocean Companies news release explained the fish processing facility has distributed more than 800 pounds of fresh salmon to South Beach and Aberdeen organizations since the new agreement was finalized last week.
“While our boats and our plant target Pacific whiting (hake), we often see landings of valuable and healthy salmon that we are unable to process under state law,” Ocean Gold President Dennis Rydman said in the release. “Instead of discarding this fish, we believe the right thing to do is make it available to local families who are struggling to put healthy food on their table every day.”
Happonen said the company has donated to the Union Gospel Mission in Aberdeen, the Westport senior center, the South Beach Christian Center and the South Beach Food Bank. The company is open to distributing salmon to other food banks on the Harbor.
Denny Rasmussen, director of the South Beach Food Bank, said in the release that he was “thrilled” about the new agreement.
“During these difficult economic times, we hope other businesses and individuals take note and find ways they may also be able to contribute to a part of our community that is in desperate need of healthy, quality food,” he said. “Even small donations help, whether that be through in-kind contributions like this, or cash.”
Interested charitable organizations can contact the Ocean Companies at (360) 268-2510 to learn about how to get involved.
