When you buy a piece of wild Alaska salmon, you are buying dinner. But you are also taking part in an American industry built around boats, docks, processing plants and coastal communities. That is something we wish more people knew about seafood.
Who actually catches American seafood?
Behind wild seafood are commercial fishermen and women: skippers, deckhands and family operations working around weather, seasons, fish movement and strict harvest rules. Many Alaska fishing families have fished for generations, and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute describes commercial fishing as both a full-time career and a deeply rooted tradition across the state.
The impact does not stop at the boat
A fishery supports far more than the person hauling the gear. Seafood moves through processors, cold storage, transportation, marine suppliers, mechanics, fuel docks and local businesses. Seafood is Alaska’s largest private-sector employer, and in remote coastal towns, fishing and processing can be the backbone of the local economy.
Healthy fisheries and healthy communities go together
Fishing families have a practical reason to care about sustainability: their future depends on fish to catch next season and decades from now. That is why science-based management matters. NOAA and Alaska fishery managers use stock assessments, catch limits and fishery-specific rules to balance harvest with the long-term health of fish populations. Sustainability here is not just an environmental idea. It is an economic one and a family one.
Buying U.S.-caught seafood keeps more of that value here
Seafood sold in America comes from supply chains all over the world. When you choose U.S.-caught and U.S.-processed seafood, you support domestic harvesters, processors and infrastructure. That does not make every import bad. It means origin is worth knowing, which is the heart of why buying American seafood matters.
This is personal for us
Premier Catch is a family company. We started it in 2020 as part of the Besecker seafood family, whose Dana F. Besecker Company buys directly from fishing boats. The families who catch our seafood are not an abstract marketing story to us.
Take Jesse Pavlik and Molly Ekstrom. Jesse’s family has set-netted salmon near Yakutat since the 1950s, and he started longlining at 16. Molly grew up in Yakutat fishing with her dad, and she has cooked for the crew since she joined the Sherrie Marie. For years they ran the F/V Sherrie Marie, delivering much of their halibut and sablefish to the Dana F. Besecker Company. You can meet them in our Fishing Tales profiles of Molly and Jesse.
In 2026, Jesse became captain of the F/V Marilyn J, the Besecker family’s 58-foot boat out of Bellingham, Washington, which fishes for halibut and sablefish in Alaska and along the Washington and Oregon coasts. Molly tells that story in A New Chapter on the F/V Marilyn J.
Your freezer can be part of the story
Supporting American fishing families does not require living on the coast or buying off a dock. It can be as simple as checking origin before you buy and choosing wild U.S. seafood when it fits your budget. Every time someone chooses American-caught salmon, halibut, sablefish, cod, crab or scallops, that demand travels back through the supply chain to the people who catch and process it.
Dinner really can have a ripple effect. Shop wild-caught seafood.
Frequently asked questions
How does buying Alaska seafood support fishing communities?
Consumer demand supports the fishermen, processors, logistics providers and coastal businesses involved in harvesting seafood and bringing it to market.
Is Premier Catch seafood caught in the United States?
Yes. Our seafood is wild and caught in U.S. waters, primarily Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, with Wild Gulf Shrimp from the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Why does seafood origin matter?
Origin tells you which fishery management system and supply chain stand behind the product, and where the value of your purchase goes.
Sources: Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Families & Communities and Seafood Sustains Alaska · ASMI, The Economic Value of Alaska’s Seafood Industry (2022 update) · NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region · Premier Catch Fishing Tales profiles