An open letter from Molly Ekstrom, Generational Alaska Fisherman
For many Alaskans, fishing isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life. Molly Ekstrom, a lifelong commercial fisherman, shares her story of how the pandemic reshaped her perspective on seafood, from catching it to buying it. In this candid reflection, she explains the challenges fishermen faced during 2020, why it matters where your seafood comes from, and how connecting directly with consumers is helping to keep America’s fishing families strong.
Growing Up in a Fishing Family
Many times in my life, people have asked for my opinions on ordering seafood at a restaurant or purchasing it for cooking at home. In the past, I used to proudly state I wouldn’t know where to look when purchasing seafood, save for maybe finding something wild, Alaskan, and never farmed.
As a life long fisherman and Alaskan, I had access to the freshest seafood in the world. I had no need to know anything about purchasing fish at a restaurant or from a market, because I had never had to. Like many Alaskan families, our freezer was always full of fish we had caught ourselves, and I took great pride in that.
“Why waste the money when we have fish at home?” was a statement I often heard growing up.
I knew that wild was good, and Alaskan supported my home state and economy, but I knew little else. Looking back, this mindset was ridiculous considering I depended on people consuming seafood for my livelihood, but I went years thinking this way.
When the Pandemic Changed Everything
Then 2020 happened.
Like most industries, the covid-19 pandemic hit the commercial fishing world hard. Supply chains and business operations were disrupted. The price for almost all seafood plummeted. Fish that we once got $5-8/lb for was suddenly netting us $1-3/lb, depending on the species. Fuel, food, and bait prices skyrocketed at the same time.
Suddenly, our industry was teetering on the brink of total disaster, and many of us worried we would soon be forced out of business.
Fortunately, we fishermen are tough and resourceful. A life at sea has led us to be quick to take initiative and problem solve. Many of us started looking inwards, trying to figure out how we could get people to buy more seafood, and how we could connect with people who wanted to buy the seafood we catch.
The Disconnect Between Fishermen and Consumers
While Americans do eat a lot of seafood, many don’t eat a lot of our seafood. America imports most of its seafood from other countries while exporting most of its own catch.
There are many reasons for these two facts, but both contributed to a huge problem the commercial fishing industry faced in the wake of the pandemic. Americans want to consume seafood, but they don’t know where to get seafood produced here in America.
For many years, there has been a strong disconnect between different levels of the seafood industry. On the commercial fishing level, fishermen often keep to themselves. People who enjoy crowds and high levels of social interaction aren’t typically drawn to a world where you are isolated with just a few other individuals on a tiny boat in some remote part of the ocean.
It’s only been in the last few years that we have even had to ability to communicate with the outside world at large while fishing. Previously, wifi, phones, and texting on boats was virtually nonexistent, or at the very least, very expensive. Because of this, a lot of what we do as fishermen has remained largely unknown to the outside world.
Not only were the consumers disconnected from our world, we were disconnected from the consumers and their needs and wants. In the past, when fish left our boats during an offload at a cannery, we had very little idea about where they would go or who would be purchasing them. We may have known some things, like that most of our black cod goes overseas to Japan, or that halibut is popular during Lent, but beyond that, we knew very little. We certainly didn’t know our individual consumers.
Finding a New Way Forward
While the pandemic negatively impacted our industry in many ways, something positive came from it. Americans started to push to know where our food comes from, while simultaneously wanting to support small-scale businesses.
Suddenly people wanted to know “their” fisherman at the same time that fishermen were trying to connect with seafood consumers. This shift in attitude coincided with technological advances in the fleet. Relatively cheap wifi was suddenly available for our boats. We could now share our story much more easily, often in real time.
We haven’t completely fixed the problems our industry has faced. It’s a long, uphill battle that always throws unexpected challenges at us, but I believe, we are on the right path to restore our industry.
For me personally, I started thinking about my relationship to the seafood market during these difficult years. How could I talk about how delicious seafood is, it’s nutritional value, and why my industry matters, if I myself don’t know what the fish available to most consumers tastes like? Sure, I know what seafood tastes like, but do I know what the quality of the seafood the average person can get when they can’t catch and process it themselves?
Since 2020, I started dipping my toes into the world of ordering and purchasing seafood. I no longer view purchasing seafood as a waste- rather, I view it as an investment. By buying seafood products to try myself, I can verify its quality based on my experience growing up as a commercial fisherman and Alaskan.
I stumbled across Premier Catch through the power of social media, although our story with the Besecker family goes back much further. My husband has sold halibut and black cod to the Besecker family for years. Once I found them on social media, it didn’t take long for us to connect with the Premier Catch team. Right away I was impressed with their dedication to the industry. I can happily say that Premier Catch has our stamp of approval, from the quality of their products, to their support of fishing families like my own.
Why This Matters
At Premier Catch, we’re proud to work alongside fishing families like Molly’s, who dedicate their lives to bringing wild, sustainable seafood from Alaska’s waters to your table. Her story is a reminder that when you choose American-caught seafood, you’re not only enjoying the freshest, healthiest protein - you’re also supporting the hardworking men and women who make their living on the sea. Together, we can close the gap between fishermen and consumers and keep this vital industry thriving for generations to come.
