Fishermen’s
Direct Marketing
Manual
Fourth Edition
Alaska
Oregon
Washington
Fishermen’s
Direct Marketing Manual
Fourth Edition
Terry Johnson, Editor
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Editorial assistance provided by Jeanette Johnson, Alaska Marine
Advisory Program, and David G. Gordon, Washington Sea
Grant. Design by Robyn Ricks, Washington Sea Grant. Mailing
address: 3716 Brooklyn Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
www.
wsg.washington.edu
The Marine Advisory Program is a unit of the School of Fisheries
and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is
funded in part by Alaska Sea Grant College Program. Mailing
address: 1007 W. 3rd Ave., Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99501.
www.marineadvisory.org.
Photos courtesy of Alaska Sea Grant College Program,
Washington Sea Grant and Desire Fish Company of Bellingham,
Washington.
Funding from NOAA National Sea Grant to the Alaska Sea
Grant College Program, grant NA16RG2321, A/152-18.
A publication of the University of Washington, pursuant to
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award No.
NA16RG1044. The views expressed herein are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any
of its sub-agencies.
WSG-AS 03-03
MAB-53
rev. 10/07
Contributors
Torie Baker
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
Bennett Brooks
formerly Alaska Department
of Commerce and Economic
Development
Liz Brown
formerly Alaska Sea Grant
Marine Advisory Program
Paula Cullenberg
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
Greg Fisk
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
Sarah Fisken
Washington Sea Grant
Ginny Goblirsch
Oregon Sea Grant (retired)
Steve Grabacki
Graystar Pacific Seafoods
Pete Granger
Washington Sea Grant
Glenn Haight
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
Michelle Kern
Alaska Business Development
Center
John Kingeter
NOAA Fisheries Office for
Law Enforcement
Donald Kramer
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
Donna Parker
formerly Alaska Department
of Commerce and Economic
Development
Brian Paust
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program (retired)
Allison “Sunny” Rice
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
H. Charles Sparks
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Cynthia Wallesz
Alaska Sea Grant Marine
Advisory Program
i
Table of Contents
Foreword ...................................................................................................................................... iii
1. Defining Direct Marketing ...................................................................................................... 1
2. The Seafood Distribution System ........................................................................................... 5
3. Marketing Concepts ............................................................................................................... 9
4. Finding Customers ................................................................................................................ 13
5. E-Commerce ..........................................................................................................................17
6. Planning Your Business ......................................................................................................... 21
7. Accounting for Your Fish Business........................................................................................ 25
8. Considering Quality .............................................................................................................. 29
9. Working with a Custom-Processor ....................................................................................... 33
10. Packaging and Shipping of Seafood Products .................................................................... 37
11. Live Shipping ........................................................................................................................41
12. Setting Up Your Boat for Direct Marketing ......................................................................... 43
13. Direct Marketing Prawns .....................................................................................................47
14. Marketing Internationally ....................................................................................................51
Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 56
A. Fisheries Business Financing and Business Assistance in Alaska .................................................................................................56
B. Working with the IFQ Program ........................................................................................................................................................58
C. Safety and Sanitation Requirements ..............................................................................................................................................61
D. Common Mistakes in HACCP ...........................................................................................................................................................62
E. Salmon Roe ........................................................................................................................................................................................65
F. Refrigeration Considerations ............................................................................................................................................................66
G. Box Insulation Values and Gel Pack Effectiveness .........................................................................................................................67
H. Processing and Storage Costs ..........................................................................................................................................................68
I. Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
Recommended Statewide Quality Specifications for Alaska Fresh and Frozen Wild Salmon ...................................................69
J. Permits, Licenses, Bonds, Reporting, and Taxes Required for Alaska Seafood
Direct Marketers and Small-Scale Processors .................................................................................................................................72
K. State and Local Regulations in Oregon .........................................................................................................................................78
L. Marketing Your Own Catch: State and Local Regulations in Washington .................................................................................81
M. Sources of Information and Materials ...........................................................................................................................................82
N. Glossary of Seafood Business Terms ...............................................................................................................................................84
0. Business Plan Outline ........................................................................................................................................................................86
ii
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
iii
Welcome to the fourth edition of the
Fishermen’s Direct
Marketing Manual.
Since the mid-1990s, commercial fishermen have used earlier
editions of this publication to help them think through the
issues involved in selling their seafood products further up the
distribution system than the local processor. This is what we call
direct marketing.
Over the years, we have distributed thousands of copies of
the manual and we have heard back from dozens of users who
have told us that they found it helpful. The manual is often
cited as a source of reliable information on the subject and as an
example of university and Sea Grant support of the fishing and
seafood industries.
This edition is not only updated but also significantly
expanded from previous editions. We have invited new
contributors and are fortunate to be able to include work by
some talented experts in their fields. We have added sections
on accounting, e-commerce, working with custom processors,
direct marketing shrimp, setting up a boat for direct marketing,
avoiding HACCP problems and other topics.
Readers have given us suggestions on how to make it
better and we have tried to incorporate those suggestions in this
edition. Even if you have a copy of an earlier edition, you may
want to read through this one; you’ll find many changes and we
hope they are improvements.
Foreword
Where did the new material come from? Are your editor
and writers better informed than before? Possibly, but more
importantly, the industry has advanced and the working
direct marketers are developing new knowledge and skills
and are sharing what they know. We’ve brought in some new
contributors. We’ve updated sections where regulations have
changed and where technology has advanced.
In addition to the authors listed on the title page, I wish
to thank Jeanette Johnson for checking contact information
and Cynthis Wallesz, George Meintel, Heather Maxcey
and Dr. Quentin Fong for reviewing content and providing
supplementary material.
We at Alaska Sea Grant wish to thank our partners at
Washington Sea Grant for the excellent content, copy editing and
design work they have contributed to this publication. It truly is
a collaborative effort.
This is the fourth edition of the manual but probably not
the last. So if you, the reader, find errors or outdated material
or can contribute additional information for the wellbeing of the
industry as a whole, please send me a note and let me know.
The
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual is a living document and
it depends on an open exchange with active participants in the
industry.
Terry Johnson, Editor
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
iv
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
1
Times are changing in the fishing industry. Because of lower
ex-vessel prices, boat limits, reduced tender and other services
and, in some cases, a lack of buyers altogether, more fishermen
are looking into direct marketing. Change can be threatening and
many fishermen are worried about their futures.
Change can also provide opportunity. Development of
the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program, for example, has
given fishermen a chance to harvest their quotas a little at a time
and retain ownership of their catches to get the best value. New
chilling and processing technologies are making it easier to
handle, store and transport fish products. The Internet has opened
up the world to sellers of all kinds of goods, including fresh and
processed seafood.
Direct marketing usually means more work, greater anxiety
and uncertain returns. But growing numbers of fishermen on the
West Coast and in Alaska are finding that the rewards, in terms
of financial success as well as greater connectedness with the
food industry and the ultimate consumers, make it worthwhile.
Remote locations, high catch volumes, variable species and
grades and a variety of other factors still make direct marketing
impractical for most fishermen. This chapter is intended to help
you think through what direct marketing means to you.
What Is Direct Marketing?
In this book, direct marketing means selling a product to a
user at a point on the distribution chain higher than the primary
processor. The word “marketing” is used differently from the way
it is used in other businesses.
Normally, a fish flows through the chain in a manner some-
thing like this: the catcher sells to a processor, who sells to an im-
porter or regional distributor, who sells to a local wholesaler, who
sells to a retailer (store) or food service operator (restaurant or
hotel), who sells to the public. Sometimes secondary processors are
involved, as well as brokers, shippers and so on. A fisherman who
does direct marketing might sell directly to the public or to one
of the wholesalers or distributors somewhere in the middle of the
chain.
Some people call this “getting rid of the middleman” but,
in reality, you don’t get rid of the middleman, you
become the
middleman. You do the jobs,
incur the expenses and take the
risks that someone else would
have, and, hopefully, you get
paid those shares of the final
value of the product.
A dead fish is a raw material. Its relationship to the retail
item or restaurant entrée is something like the relationship of a
felled tree in the forest to a finished house, or at least to milled
lumber in a lumberyard. The value of the final product is a
reflection of the intrinsic value of the raw material plus the value
of the labor, technology and risk involved in bringing it to the
market in its finished form.
Fish is highly perishable, subject to wide variation in
quality and constantly changing market demand. Risk is a large
part of the value of a finished seafood product. If the product
is mishandled, delayed in shipment or sold during less than
optimum market conditions, it can drop in value or become
entirely worthless. Each entity in the distribution chain assumes
some of the risk involved in bringing the product to market, and
the fisherman who becomes a direct marketer assumes a greater
share of that risk, in direct proportion to the greater share of the
profits he or she expects to realize.
What Kind of Direct Marketing Might Be
Best for You?
The first step as a fisherman considering direct marketing
is to decide what kind of operation would best for you. Do you
want to sell directly to the public? If so, you become a retailer and
you may spend a lot of your time sitting in a shop, on your boat
in harbor or at a roadside stand, with a scale and a cash box,
meeting your customers face-to-face. Even if you ship or deliver
your fish to your buyers, you will have to be a salesman, talking
up the quality of your product, answering lots of questions,
making lots of calls.
Don’t have time for that? Maybe you want to wholesale
your product, delivering to individual restaurants or fish
markets. If so, you won’t have to sit in your pickup by the side
Defining Direct Marketing
…you don’t get rid of the
middleman, you become the
middleman.
1
2
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
of the road, day after day, but you probably will have to meet a
delivery schedule of one or several days a week. And you’ll have
to produce the size, quality, species and form of product your
buyers demand.
Maybe you would rather sell to a wholesaler and let that
person worry about making the sales, delivering the product and
collecting payment. Of course, the amount you get for your fish
will be lower, but your time commitment will be less.
The further up the distribution chain you choose to sell, the
greater portion of the total retail value of the product you get
to keep for yourself, but the more time, complexity and risk is
involved. The only way to completely avoid some level of additional
complexity is to sell ex-vessel to your processor and avoid direct
marketing altogether.
So, What Exactly Does a Direct Marketer Do?
A fisherman who wants to take on the challenge of direct
marketing must do some or all of the following:
• Obtain all licenses and permits, pay bonds, collect and pay
fees, complete forms and file reports, submit to inspections
and file and pay quarterly and annual taxes
• Find potential customers, sell them on the product
and negotiate prices and terms. This can mean buying
advertising, writing and printing promotional materials,
posting Web sites, sitting at booths in farmers markets or
aboard the boat at dockside or going on sales trips to distant
cities
• Gill, gut, slime, wash and re-chill the fish for shipment or
dockside sale
• Chill or refrigerate the catch on-board or immediately after
getting to shore
• Box or package the product and physically move it off the
boat
• Acquire equipment (such as a truck) to transport the
product to the point of sale or delivery, arrange shipment,
weigh, prepare airbills, arrange transportation and drayage,
transfers and final delivery
• Purchase packaging and labeling materials and containers
and, possibly, arrange backhaul of shipping containers
• Send bills, collect payment, deal with customers who don’t
pay and with complaints, as well as negotiate terms and
specifications
A direct marketer may also want to process the catch before
selling it. If so, the fisherman then becomes a processor who also
is a direct marketer. This manual does not address processing.
For a similar primer on basic seafood processing, see
A Village
Fish Processing Plant: Yes or No? published by the Institute of
Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage,
available on the Web at
www.iser.
uaa.alaska.edu/ResourceStudies/
VillageFishProcessingHandbook/
default.htm.
Some direct marketers perform
or contract custom secondary
processing. They make steaks,
fillets or portions or produce salted,
pickled, canned or smoked products.
Some make up fancy packaging
with eye-catching labels. Some put on promotions and do in-store
cooking demonstrations. Some open retail shops or kiosks, print
mail-order catalogs, design tee-shirts and print postcards with
designs that complement and promote their fish products. Some
start out as direct marketers of the fish they catch themselves
and end up as buyers, processors and sellers of fish they get from
others. In essence, they become fish companies.
Is Direct Marketing for Me?
For some people, the idea of going into direct marketing is an
emotional response to what they consider an unjust or worsening
situation: “The processors are ripping us off. They’re making big
bucks on our fish and paying us peanuts. I’m not gonna take it
anymore; I’ll just sell my own damn fish.”
Whatever your motivation for considering direct
marketing, you need to take stock objectively of your situation.
This includes an assessment of your personal strengths and
weaknesses as a potential direct marketer. A good fisherman
doesn’t necessarily make a good fisheries businessman, and a
businessman is what your are if you do direct marketing.
Cash flow is a big problem for many direct marketers.
Instead of landing fish and getting paid, you are landing fish and
paying money to others. Then, after paying processing, shipping,
insurance, packaging, cold storage and distribution costs, you
may have to wait 30 to 90 days to get your money, hope that
your customers come through with that money and hope you
don’t have a product claim. Remember that all these cash flow
considerations come on top of all the costs associated with your
boat, crew, equipment and overall fish-catching operation.
How Do I Get Started?
If you feel direct marketing might be for you, it’s time to start
planning your new enterprise. Every business should begin with a
written plan (described in Chapter 4 of this publication). In it, you
need to put down what your objective is, how you will operate,
how you will keep track of your income and expenses, what you
project your income and expenses to be, how you intend to grow
and so on. The seafood industry is constantly changing and what
works today very likely will not be effective a few years down
the road, so it is important to incorporate a plan for growing and
for adapting to change in the market. Keep in mind also that it
commonly takes three to five years for a new business to actually
For some people, the
idea of going into
direct marketing is an
emotional response to
what they consider an
unjust or worsening
situation.
3
• Am I good at bookkeeping and paperwork?
• How do I feel about being a salesman, either on the phone or in person? Do I enjoy
meeting and talking to people?
• Am I good at taking care of details?
• Do I need to be paid immediately or can I wait to collect my money?
• How forceful can I be at making people pay what they owe me, or otherwise do what they
have agreed to do?
• Can I stick with one task, week after week, year after year, or do I quickly become bored
and need frequent change?
• Am I willing and physically able to do the extra work and commit the additional time to
run a direct marketing operation? Or do I prefer to put the boat away and forget about fish
at the end of the day or the season?
• Is my family supportive of this change, and can they make any necessary adjustments so
that I can spend the additional time and money on the business?
• Do you have the equipment and a boat big enough to properly handle the product?
• Do you have, or have access to, ice or chilling machinery?
• Is there regular, reliable, affordable transportation from your point of landing to the
location of your potential customers?
• Is the timing and volume of your catch conducive to taking the time out to handle
and transport fish and to meeting the volume and delivery frequency demands of your
customers?
• Is the species mix and intrinsic quality of your catch appropriate to the market? (see
intrinsic vs.
extrinsic quality explanation in this manual)
• Do you have a plan for the roe (if your product is salmon) and for fish that your customers
don’t want because of species, size, condition or other factors?
• Do you have customers already lined up, or do you have a plan for selling your product?
• Do you have available cash for up-front operating expenses and to cover cash flow in case
some customers don’t pay or if, for some other reason, the operation is not immediately
profitable?
What’s your potential
as a direct marketer?
Test yourself by
honestly answering
these straightforward
questions:
If you feel you’re
psychologically
suited to direct
marketing, take stock
of your strengths and
weaknesses in the
business:
Defining Direct Marketing
Got the Goods?
become profitable, so your plan has to address cash flow and your
family’s financial subsistence while your business is developing.
See Chapter 6 of this publication for information on how to write
a business plan and where to get assistance.
The second step is to draw up a marketing and sales plan
and start lining up customers. Many fisheries businesses have
failed because their owners bought the equipment, hired the
help and produced a quality product but couldn’t find a buyer
willing to pay enough to make the venture profitable. With a few
exceptions, seafood products do not “sell themselves.” It is up to
you not only to find potential buyers but to make it clear to them
why they should buy from you rather than from someone else.
Direct marketers often base their sales pitch on two things —
superior quality and personal service.
The terms “sales” and “marketing” are not the same thing.
Sales is the process of presenting the product to a presumably
willing buyer and persuading them to exchange their money
for that product. Marketing is a wide range of activities, most
of which precede the actual sale, that may include networking,
public relations, advertising, market research, producing
samples, conducting demonstrations, developing consumer-
attracting packages and labels and providing generic information
to consumers about the qualities and attributes of the kinds of
products you hope to sell. For some examples of marketing, look
4
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
up the Web sites of some existing direct marketers and see how
they position their products in terms of flavor, purity, nutrient
content, sustainability, the cultures of the harvesters and harvest
locales.
You must be able to determine both who will buy your
product and how much they are willing to pay for it. Pricing is
one of the most important skills of small business — too low and
you don’t make money; too high and either no-one will buy or
someone will buy initially but soon a competitor will come along
and undercut you. That means market research. Before you
invest very much capital and time into developing this business,
you are well advised to study the current market and market
trends, understand the factors that influence price fluctuations
and make reasonably accurate wholesale and retail price
projections for the coming season. Until you have a pretty good
idea of how much you will be paid, you have no way of knowing
whether the business will be profitable.
Once you’re satisfied that you can find customers who
will pay you a price you can live with, as demonstrated in the
pro forma of your business plan, you need to check on all the
pertinent laws, regulations and requirements. Fish is food, and
when food goes into commerce, governments get involved and
they tend to take very seriously their responsibility to protect
public health. Depending on your type of operation, you will
probably need at least one business license and you may need a
processing facility permit. You may be required to obtain various
state and local fisheries business licenses, you may have to post
a bond, you may have to complete and submit fish tickets, and
may have to pay various taxes and fees. You can’t do all this
halfway; many a budding small-scale fisheries business has been
nipped by state and federal regulations that control, restrict or
prohibit certain types of operation.
When you’ve figured out all the above, you may need to deal
with financing. Start-up businesses that are undercapitalized —
don’t have enough money to buy equipment and supplies and to
operate at a loss for a while — tend to fail. If you have enough
money in the bank you can self-finance, but remember that you
are borrowing from yourself and that money could be earning
interest or used productively in some other investment (the so-
called
opportunity cost of capital). Money may be available
from outside sources, but, in most cases, it is hard or impossible
to borrow money to start a small-scale fishery business for the
simple reason that it is risky. To borrow, you need to have your
ducks in a row, so be prepared to provide financial statements,
tax returns, financial references and other required information.
Often collateral in the form of property is required to secure
business loans. Only rarely are cash grants made to start-up
fisheries businesses.
After you have
successfully addressed each of
the issues listed on the prior
page, you have a myriad of
details to attend to. You need
to order packaging materials,
reserve transportation space,
arrange transfer from your
boat to the airline, trucking
company or other means of
transport, secure appropriate insurance, modify your boat and
equipment, and decide whether to hire help. In your “free”
time you probably will be studying market newsletters, reading
seafood industry journals, informing yourself on the jargon and
operating procedures of transportation companies and learning
about packaging and product quality assurance, credit and
financing and marketing techniques.
All this is the language and practice of your new occupation.
As soon as you decide to take your fish anywhere other than to
your local tender or processor’s dock, you are no longer in the
fishing industry. You’re now in the seafood industry.
It is up to you not only to
find potential buyers but
to make it clear to them why
they should buy from you
rather than from someone
else.
5
For a fisherman to compete in the seafood market, it is
important to understand the seafood distribution system.
This helps identify potential customers and potential competitors
and determine where one can best be positioned to build on their
strengths and capabilities.
The distribution system in the United States may seem
unnecessarily complex, with too many different entities taking
cuts of the product’s retail value. Rest assured that in some
other countries, it’s even more complex. However, there are
reasons that the seafood industry trades fish the way it does. The
distribution system ensures adequate supply, minimizes waste,
provides convenience and accountability and minimizes risk at
each level of the chain.
If retailers and restaurant chefs could get fish that was just
as good and get it just as reliably and for less money through
bypassing the distribution chain, they would do so. In fact, some
of them do — buying directly from fishermen. If selling your fish
straight to the retailer or food service operator is your goal, it’s
important to understand what all those people who are links in
the distribution chain between you and the people who eat your
fish do.
The American Seafood Distribution Chain
“Chain” isn’t the best word to describe the seafood
distribution system, because it implies a single direct line of
travel, when there are multiple routes that a fish or fish product
can take from your boat to the final consumer. Some might
more accurately describe this system as a web or a network, with
numerous interconnected routes. However, for the sake of easeful
discussion, the more commonly accepted term, chain, is used in
this text.
After a fish comes out of the water, the chain begins with the
processor, who sorts, weighs, grades, slimes and washes the fish
and then performs
primary processing tasks such as heading and
gutting. The processor may also perform
secondary processing
tasks, such as freezing, steaking, filleting or canning. Some
processors also do additional
value-added processing tasks such
as smoking, battering and breading, cutting portion-control
servings, vacuum packaging and gift boxing.
Also known in the trade
as
packers, processors may sell
their products to buyers at any
point along the distribution
chain, but, because of the
normally large volumes, they
usually sell to traders or
distributors (described later
in this section). They may
also sell to supermarket chains. In some instances, primary
processors sell to specialty or custom processors who do the
value-added processing. In any case, processors take raw
materials – dead fish – and convert them into products that
can be used by the consumer at home, the supermarket seafood
department, the chef in a restaurant or someone else.
Some processors have their own
in-house sales staffs, who
are employees of the processing company. They are paid a salary
to make the calls, fill the orders and ensure that the company’s
entire pack is sold at the best possible price.
Other processors use the services of a
broker — an
individual or firm that sells products on a commission. A broker
usually doesn’t take ownership of the product and, therefore,
has little risk, or “exposure,” and no inventory cost but receives
typically only about three percent of the value of the sale, or
as little as $.05 per pound. A broker may work out of a small
office with little more than a telephone, fax and a computer and
probably spends most of the day on the phone. Brokers have to
move large amounts of product to make a living, so they usually
deal in volumes rather than specialty items. Direct marketers
may find it advantageous to pay a broker to sell their fish, freeing
up time for other tasks.
Brokers normally work specific geographical territories,
such as the Upper Midwest or New England, For a fisherman
to compete in the seafood market, it is important to understand
the seafood distribution system. This helps identify potential
customers and potential competitors and determine where
one can best be positioned to build on their strengths and
capabilities.
The Seafood
Distribution System
The distribution system
ensures adequate
supply, minimizes waste,
provides convenience and
accountability and minimizes
risk at each level of the chain.
2
6
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
The trader’s role is to match
the flow of product to
the demand by “sourcing”
from numerous suppliers
and trying to supply each
customer what he or she
needs.
Sometimes the first buyer to take product from a broker is a
trader. Traders buy from anyone, including fishermen, packers,
re-processors and other traders. They buy at the lowest price
they can and sell to anyone, at the highest possible price. They
may sell to wholesalers (described below) or directly to retail and
foodservice outlets. They like to buy “back-to-back,” meaning
they have it sold before they take possession of the product, and
they like to buy “on the float,” which means they arrange the
terms of their purchase so that they have already been paid by
their customer before they have to pay their supplier. The trader’s
role is to match the flow of product to the demand by “sourcing”
from numerous suppliers and trying to supply each customer
what he or she needs.
Distributors, also called
wholesalers, actually deliver product
to the users. Usually, distributors have fleets of refrigerated
trucks and those trucks do the door-to-door delivery of products
to restaurants and supermarkets or to central warehouses owned
by or serving those restaurants and supermarkets.
Most restaurants use small quantities of fish, no more than
a few hundred pounds a week of all species, and individual
supermarkets don’t sell much more than that. Neither has
much refrigerated storage on-site, so the wholesaler’s job is to
provide a slow, steady flow of product to meet the buyers’ daily
needs. Wholesalers are buffers between the processors, who may
produce millions of pounds a year, and dozens of end-users, each
of whom needs only hundreds of pounds a week or a few pounds
a day.
In most cases, distributors service the geographical regions
where they are located. They commonly handle several lines
of seafoods so they can supply their customers not only salmon
from Alaska, for example, but also catfish from Mississippi,
shrimp from Thailand, quahogs from New England and mahi
mahi from Hawaii. They buy the product and then re-sell it at
a profit, but profit margins are typically only 10 percent to 15
percent because of competition among distributors with similar
or identical products.They buy from processors through their
sales staffs or brokers, from customer processors, from fishermen
and even from one another. To minimize risk, they prefer to buy
small quantities and re-sell quickly but, because each wholesaler
buys to re-sell to several retailers, their volume is greater than
that of their customers. Much of the distributor’s stock-in-
trade is the relationship he or she has with each customer; they
trust the distributor to supply consistent quality and in volumes
meeting their needs and nothing more. Because they buy in large
volume, distributors can add small profit margins to their costs
and still sell to their customers at competitive prices.
Small distributors are
sometimes called
jobbers and
run one or two trucks. Large
companies, some with annual
sales of tens of millions of
dollars, are called
broadline
distributors, and they distribute
many kinds of products besides
seafood, including meats and
fresh produce. They may have
whole fleets of refrigerated trucks. Some distributors specialize
in sales to retail outlets or foodservice, and some do both.
Foodservice is the trade term for businesses that serve
meals. The class includes restaurants, kiosks and street vendors,
schools, prisons, hospitals, airline meal providers, corporate
cafeterias or mess halls, entertainment venues such as sports
stadiums, and special facilities such as cruise ships and lodges
with meal services. Large restaurant chains account for a big
part of the food service seafood consumption. Foodservice
operators usually buy from distributors, although some
restaurants are willing to buy directly from fishermen. Usually
these are the so-called “white tablecloth” restaurants that
feature very high quality fare at commensurately high prices.
The other endpoint of the distribution web are the various
kinds of
retailers, including supermarkets, fish markets, health
food stores, gift shops and even certain upscale department
stores. Most supermarkets in America are members of
chains,
that is, many stores owned by a single parent company. Large
chains have tremendous purchasing power and move large
volumes of product, which can be a good thing if you have
tons of fish to sell, but a bad thing if you’re trying to sell small
quantities. They buy from a number of different processors and
distributors. Most chains have their own central warehouses in
large cities and may operate their own fleet of delivery trucks.
Supermarkets (and some other retailers) have extremely
high
overhead costs — building and space rental or purchase,
maintenance, staff, advertising, etc. In addition, they experience
shrinkage. This is the term for product value lost to factors
such as in-house cutting and trimming, declining quality during
storage or desiccation from exposure to air. Because of these
overhead and shrinkage costs, retailers have to
mark up their
products by 30 to 40 percent or more. Retail mark-up is the
largest single component of the increase in fish price between
the catcher and the consumer, but, because of overhead and
shrinkage involved, it isn’t all “profit.”
7
Distributing Seafood
Other retailers include those who market seafoods at the
dock or from a truck beside the road, via mail order, over the
Internet, by subscription and through direct home deliveries.
Keep in mind that the aforementioned individuals are just the
players who buy, sell, or take ownership of the product. Others
are in the distribution chain include:
• Delivery services, such as Federal Express, United Parcel
Service, DHL and the U.S. Postal Service
• Trucking and air freight companies, which also transport
product
• Cold storage companies, which perform a variety of
services, including flash freezing, holding in frozen storage,
retrieving, sorting, boxing and, in some instances, certain
kinds of custom processing
• Drayage firms, which pick up products at the airport and
deliver them to a buyer, or
vice versa.
Plenty of people are eager to get their hands on your fish,
in hopes of making a few percent or a few cents per pound by
processing, handling, sorting, transporting, delivering, preparing
and selling the product. It’s complicated in the U.S. but even
more so in other countries. See the chapter in this manual on
marketing internationally.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
9
It’s a lot more cost-effective
to put the content of your
advertising into a Web site
than to buy a huge ad to
contain it all.
Marketing Concepts
3
In Chapter 1, we defined direct marketing as selling a
product at a point up the distribution chain. In this section we
will examine the concept of marketing.
Each business needs a marketing plan. It helps you decide
how to reach and sell to your customers and much more. It
helps you define and position your business. It helps you to
think about your competition and how to distinguish your
product from theirs. It helps you set your pricing. It helps you
develop an image or identity that guides your operations.
What is Marketing?
Marketing does not mean sales, although sales is part of
marketing. Marketing defines potential buyers and their needs
and how to meet those needs.
Marketing includes:
•
Situation analysis – Deciding who you are as a business
and what you want to do and, then, figuring out how to
accomplish it in the marketplace.
•
Market research – finding out who your customers are,
their characteristics and what they want. It may also involve
identifying your competitors and how their products (or
services) differ from yours.
•
Competitive analysis – finding out who your competitors
are and what they do well and not so well and how your
business differs from theirs. This is part of market research.
Pricing is also often part of market research.
•
Promotion – Public relations (or PR) – getting your name
out there through the press, any way you can.
•
Advertising – usually paid advertising in newspapers and
magazines, radio, and, now to a very large degree, on the
Internet.
•
Sales – making cold calls, servicing accounts,
taking orders,
billing, filling orders and collecting payment.
Could you skip any of these components? Sure, but
you would risk overlooking important factors in attracting
customers.
Could you get someone
else to do your marketing for
you? Probably not, unless
you’re big enough (and some of
your competitors are) to hire a
marketing staff; besides, no-one
else knows your business and
can represent it as well as you.
Situation Analysis
This is where you decide what to call your business and how
to phrase your
mission statement or
defining statement. In other
words, you have to be able to put into a few words who you are
as a business and what you sell.
Market Research
Corporations pay millions of dollars for market research that
tells them who buys their products and why, who buys competing
products and why, what consumers are looking for and how they
make their buying decisions, how much they will pay, and so on.
You need to do the same thing, on a smaller scale.
A part of market research is consumer
demographics.
Organizations like Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute can tell
you who buys what kind of seafood, where they live and so on.
Another part is competitive analysis — that is,
understanding who the competition is, what they offer, why
people go to them and what you can do to get some of that
business.
Your market research should help you decide on
marketing
objectives — that is, ways of measuring the success of your
marketing. In your business’ first year, you may simply want
to sell some fish. After that, your objectives may be to increase
sales by a certain percent or produce certain levels of revenue
(income).
Pricing simply means deciding how much to charge for your
product.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
If you’re lucky, all your marketing efforts to this point
will result in some people actually buying your product.
This can occur in several ways, and it’s important to treat
this step as carefully as all the others:
Be specific. — Make sure to clearly spell out what
you are providing (species, quantity, weight, type of
processing, packaging, delivery and schedule).
Specify type of payment and terms. Provide clear
instructions for reaching you in case of any problems with
the order.
Be businesslike. — The way you take people’s money
can tell a lot about your personality, professionalism and
the quality of your business. Be businesslike but don’t
appear greedy, and, at all times, be gracious, polite and
appreciative.
Sales Tips:
There are two approaches to pricing: decide how much
you want to make per unit (such as pound of fish), calculate
your costs and, then, add the two; or find out what others are
charging for similar products and, then, charge the same, more
or less, depending on your reasoning.
In general, pricing is not a good way to compete in the
seafood business, for two reasons. One is that if you charge a
lower price than a competitor, it can give the impression that
your product is not as good. The other is that if competing
businesses start lowering prices to get bigger shares of customers,
they can quickly get into a
price war and drive down the price to
the point that no-one makes a profit.
Experienced seafood marketers advise that you set your
price at a level where you can make a profit and then stick with
it. Compete instead on the basis of quality and service.
Along with pricing, market research will help you determine
product placement, which means getting your product before the
right audience. You may want to sell directly to the consumer or
you may want to sell to food services or regional distributors.
Promotion
Promotion is every way, other than paid advertising,
of getting your business name and product before potential
customers. Promotion can include
publicity (just getting your
name and face out there), and
public relations (creating a positive
image of your business in the eye of the public). Here are some
examples:
• Press releases to newspapers, magazines, radio stations
sponsorship of community events, public radio, conservation
groups, etc.
• Promotional items such as pens, mugs or clothing with your
company logo
• Public speaking engagements and slide shows
• Brochures, business cards and rack cards
• Magnetic signs on the sides of your truck
• Exhibiting in trade shows.
• Cooking demonstrations.
Guerilla Marketing
Some forms of promotion are expensive, others inexpensive
and some free. Guerilla marketing is described as “an
unconventional way of performing promotional activities on
a very low budget.” Here are some approaches to guerilla
marketing:
• Use your friends, relatives, community and job connections
to spread the word
• Guest-write or ghost-write newspaper or magazine food
columns or articles
• Use the VIP concept and reward past customers with price
discounts, special treatment or gifts, such as hats and tee-
shirts, with your logo
• Send bulk-mail fliers to people in the industry
• Trade Internet Web site links
• Offer cash finders’ fees or other awards to people who refer
customers to you.
Advertising
Although no distinct line separates guerilla marketing from
advertising, we can define advertising as promotion in print
(newspaper and magazine) or broadcast (radio and TV) media
that you have to pay for, and also includes the Internet.
Advertising is expensive. A square inch or two in the
back of a national food or hospitality industry magazine can
cost several hundred dollars and a half page or full page may
cost several thousand dollars each month. Furthermore, most
advertising professionals will tell you that a single ad is almost
worthless; you need to conduct an
ad campaign over a period of
months or years.
If you consider buying paid advertising, you need to
determine a measure of
return on investment (or ROI).
If you spend $1,000 on an ad campaign and you can trace
$5,000 worth of sales to that campaign, then you have an ROI
of $5 per dollar invested. That may sound good but remember,
that’s not profit; you still have all the other costs of your
business.
11
To determine your ROI, you need to track the sources
of your customers. You can use various devices, such as e-mail
or mailing addresses or phone numbers that are coded to
indicate where the
prospect (prospective client) got your contact
information.
When buying advertising, the quoted rate usually is for the
space (or air time, in broadcasting) and you have to supply the
content. This can be a significant additional cost if you have to
hire someone to make up your ad, but it may be better to pay
than try to do it yourself, unless you’re already a pro at writing
copy and doing layout.
Increasingly, businesses are buying small print ads simply
to direct traffic to their Web sites. The ad needs little more
than a catchy phrase (like your defining statement) an attractive
photo or logo and the Web site address. It’s a lot more cost-
effective to put the content of your advertising into a Web site
than to buy a huge ad to contain it all.
The Internet
The World Wide Web has fundamentally changed
marketing. Many small businesses now devote most of their ad
budgets to Website design, optimization and maintenance.
The Web is the great business equalizer; the number of
pixels a viewer sees on a page of your Web site is exactly the
same as on General Motors’ site.
Advantages:
• Can be accessed by virtually any computer in the world
• Relatively low cost to set up
• Continues to do its job indefinitely rather than for a single
day or month
• Can include large quantities of copy and all the photos you
want to post
• Can be made interactive and can be used to take bookings
• Can link and be linked to other Web sites.
Disadvantages:
• Immense competition on the Web
• Most users only look at the first few sites that show up on
a search
• Viewers scan quickly so they may miss important
information
• Searchers must use the correct key words to find your site
• Web sites must be maintained, and must be supplemented
with other kinds of advertising to be effective.
Effective Web advertising is a mixture of art and science.
Unless you’re already an Internet techie, you’ll probably want
to hire a pro to build and optimize your site. Keep in mind,
however, that people who know how to create Web sites don’t
necessarily know how to write great advertising copy, and more
importantly, don’t necessarily know how to design effective
Web sites.
Here are some factors that make productive Web sites:
1.
Good site design. Get your most important information
up front, since people spend only a few seconds looking at
a site unless it really grabs their interest. Ensure easy site
navigation.
2.
Search engine optimization. Web sites only work because
people use search engines to find you, so your site has to
be built and include the right key words and links to make
it rank highly with the main search engines. The search
engines change their ranking criteria from time to time, so
the optimization must be renewed periodically. Use links to
other sites but learn to use them correctly.
3.
Web analytics. You can hire services that analyze your site
and tell you how many “hits” your site is getting, where
(what search engines) they are coming from, what key words
are drawing the hits, and so on.
4.
Effective copy. Define your product, its qualities and your
service. Use simple, clear language and leave out buzzwords.
Develop a personality in the site and speak directly to the
prospective customer. Include a call to action (ask the reader
to buy now). Be sure that the site tells the reader how to
reach you by e-mail, regular mail, phone and fax.
Additional information is contained in this handbook’s
chapter on e-commerce.
12
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
13
Finding Customers
4
A few direct marketers actually are pestered by would-be
customers begging for fish. But most spend a lot of time and
energy finding customers and holding on to them once they’ve
made initial sales.
Too often individuals have built small-scale processing
plants, purchased expensive packaging, enlisted family and
employees to help with handling the catch, rearranged their
fishing schedules to put fish into their line and then, only as an
afterthought, stopped to ask themselves, “Now, who is going to
buy my products?”
How you go about finding customers depends a lot on what
you are planning to sell. It also depends on where you expect to
sell your catch and how you plan to supply your customers, once
they’ve shown an interest.
Defining Your Product
It may seem like circular reasoning: to find customers for
your product, you need to clearly define that product, and to
decide on a product, you need to consider what the market wants.
Sixty years ago, most troll salmon was brined in barrels and
sold as “mild cure.” Cod was heavily salted and dried. You’d
have a hard time selling either of those products now.
Market research comes in a variety of forms, some very
sophisticated and some as simple as making a few calls and
asking people what they want. But simple or complex, it’s
essential that you do it. If you’ve got alligator chums and the
market wants ocean-brite reds, being the best salesman in the
world isn’t going to move your product. Usually the issues aren’t
that clear-cut, however. You might have the right species and
right grade, but are the fish the right size, are they dressed or
processed to the buyers’ specifications, can you provide them
in the right quantities and at the right frequency? You need to
define clearly what you can provide and then go looking for
buyers who want that specific product.
Direct marketers often have little choice in the species,
grade, form and quantity they can supply, because those
factors largely are determined by Nature. Custom-processing,
preserving, packaging and storage may give direct marketers
some control over their
offerings but at a cost of cash
and operational complexity.
The same fish that may be
impossible to flog headed and
gutted (
h&g) in a plastic bag
might go like “hotcakes” as a
smoked-side or a portion-controlled entrée in a microwaveable
retort pouch.
Sometimes the easiest and most profitable thing to do is
to pull the catch one-by-one out of the iced hold and sell it
as-is, directly to the customers lined up beside the boat at the
dock. But catcher-seller direct sale to the public only works
where fishermen have access to suitable dock sites, large enough
consumer populations and the time to do it. Everyone else has to
go looking for customers.
Picking a Geographical Market Area
If you’re planning to sell fresh fish from your boat or pickup
truck, you probably already know where you will operate.
Otherwise, the choice of a geographical market is part of the
strategy for finding customers.
There are some widely-held beliefs about seafood demand.
The West Coast, especially the Pacific Northwest and Alaska,
are well-supplied with seafood. The Rockies, Midwest and Sun
Belt are crying out for it. The Deep South eats a lot of seafood
but less expensive products, while New England goes for the
expensive stuff. There’s some truth to all these views but the
picture is far more complicated. In general consumers in large
urban areas now have a pretty good selection of quality fish from
which to choose, but those in smaller cities and rural areas still
are hungry for more seafood.
If you’re thinking of shipping your fish outside the region
where you catch them, think about what advantages you have
regarding other regions. Are you from, or do you have relatives
in, another part of the country? As many direct marketers will
tell you, the best way to sell fish in another region is to live
there. If not, do you have friends who could put you up while
Market research comes
in a variety of forms...
But simple or complex, it’s
essential that you do it.
14
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
you’re there temporarily, scouting markets? Does the airline
that services the region where you land your fish have direct
flights to the region where you want to sell? Is there express
trucking service? This takes you back to your personal resources
inventory (described in Chapter 1 of this document): do you have
any advantages in a particular location that favors it over other
locations and gives you a leg up on the competition?
Which Link in the Chain?
Looking back at Chapter 2 on the distribution chain, to
which link do you want to sell? If you have large volumes of
product, it may be best just to engage a broker or to sell to a
distributor. If you have small amounts of product, you may
want to sell to individual restaurants or small retailers. Some
people get the greatest satisfaction (and greatest financial return)
by selling directly to consumers. Keep in mind these general
principles:
• The farther along the chain you go, the greater your
potential return per unit of product, but the greater the risk
you assume.
• Consumers have the most precise needs in terms of volume,
quality, grade, etc. Generally, they buy to provide a meal
for a person, a couple or a family and may want a particular
item, such as a steak or filet.
• Retailers and foodservice are also pretty choosy, but they
use more per day or week, and they may be able to trim
imperfections, to cut h&g fish into steaks or fillets and to
hold excess product for a few days.
• Distributors and traders will buy larger quantities and may
be able to use different species and grades.
• Brokers work for pennies per pound, so it’s not worth their
time to deal with small quantities. However, they might
be able to sell a large load, possibly by parceling it out to
several other middlemen.
• The farther along the chain you go (with the exception of
selling off the boat or out of your pickup), the more service
you’ll have to provide in terms of sorting and grading,
packaging, transportation, delivery and maintaining
communication with your buyer. If you let a broker handle
the deal, or if you sell to a trader, either person will arrange
some of those services.
Finding Those Customers
OK, you’ve decided on your product, you think you know
where in the country you want to sell it, and you’ve decided
where in the distribution chain you want to sell. What you
do next depends a lot on the product and your target on the
distribution chain.
If you’re looking for a broker, trader or distributor, you
might want to look in one of the
seafood industry directories for
that type of business in your target geographical region. (A list is
presented in Appendix M of this document.) Some agencies, such
as the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, publish directories
of brokers, traders and other kinds of buyers and also list
producers, such as yourself. Be sure that, as a direct marketer,
you are listed in the next edition, along with the products and
product forms you plan to sell.
You can also find
restaurants, supermarkets and
retail fish markets in some
industry directories, or you can
use the Internet or the Yellow
Pages of your local telephone
directory.
Industry
trade journals such as
Seafood Business are good
sources of ads for companies that may be looking for product
to buy. It’s even possible to advertise in a trade journal yourself,
although that’s a less common way of doing business these days.
It’s also a good thing to subscribe to at least one seafood industry
journal and any pertinent market newsletters, just to keep up on
trends affecting your business.
The appendices of this book contain listings of sources for
information on finding potential buyers.
Remember that if you find your potential customers through
directories, phone books or trade journals, you are going to
have to do the selling yourself. That usually means making a lot
of
cold calls to strangers who may or may not have the time to
listen to your pitch.
If you plan to do retail sales, you’re almost certain to need
to do some
advertising. Paid print and broadcast advertising can
be “black holes” of cash flow, with no guarantee of success. It
usually doesn’t pay to buy a single ad, big or small; advertising
purchases should be incorporated into an overall ad campaign
that includes a message, plans for size and frequency, and a
means to measure effectiveness. You may want to contract an
advertising consultant or sit down with an ad sales rep from the
newspaper or radio station where you plan to advertise and get
them to lay out an ad campaign. You’re under no obligation to
buy, but you want to know whether the ad people really have a
strategy for selling your product or simply want your money.
Not all promotion is expensive as paid print and broadcast
ads. Among the most effective advertising is
free publicity you
may be able to garner by attracting a reporter, photographer or
film crew to your site to do a story. Think Copper River salmon
and the big media hype that surrounds the first catch of the year.
Sometimes
press releases are very effective at getting you ink on
the printed page. A great way to advertise is to get a local or
national
celebrity to display or talk about your product to the
news media. Sometimes one will do it simply because he or she
believes strongly in your product; otherwise you may have to pay
… If you find your
potential customers through
directories, phone books or
trade journals, you are going
to have to do the selling
yourself.
15
a substantial amount for a celebrity’s
product endorsement.
Some kinds of advertising you can do yourself, at relatively
little cost. You can print
brochures or fliers and distribute them
by hand or by mail or by posting them on bulletin boards. You
can make up products like
tee-shirts and ball caps with your
product name and logo. If you’re selling from your boat or
truck, you may need nothing more than a large
sign board that
you hoist in your rigging or place by the side of the road. Just be
sure that such advertising is legal in the jurisdiction where you
intend to operate.
Some catcher-sellers find that a sign board is good but
it works even better with a little paid newspaper or radio
advertising. One of the principles of advertising is that the more
times a message is encountered, and in the more forms, the better
it is remembered and the more likely it will elicit a response.
All these kinds of advertising are intended to draw
customers to your site, but it is still up to you to sell the product.
To be an effective seller, you should have a neat and clean
appearance, should keep a tidy site, should be well-organized
with appropriate boxes, bags, receipts and change for cash
purchases. Above all, you must be outgoing, cheerful and polite
and present a welcoming image to would-be purchasers. It’s a
business for extroverts, for people who love talking to people
and who don’t tire of answering the same questions dozens of
times each day.
Internet Marketing
People use the Internet for nearly everything, including
buying and selling fish. Direct marketers who sell frozen or
value-added processed fish are reaching a much wider market
than any newspaper ad would ever bring them. The Internet has
the advantages of worldwide distribution, potential for excellent
color and graphics, capacity for large amounts of information
in a single ad (Web site) and relatively low cost. It also has the
potential of direct purchases through the Web site itself.
The main downside of posting a Web site is that there are
many millions of them already posted, and it is a challenge to
position yours in a way that it can be found by the people who
are looking for your product. There are numerous tricks for
making your site attractive to the search engines that potential
customers use and, generally, it’s best to hire a pro to
optimize
your site. Also, many of the businesses that use the Web have
found that Web sites alone don’t produce the results they need,
so they incorporate the Internet into their overall ad campaign
and use print or broadcast advertising to drive customers to their
Web sites.
Finding Customers
• Don’t try to do it all yourself, unless you’re sure
you have both the skills and available time. Hire a
professional Web site designer to build and optimize
your site.
• Change the content periodically, and always whenever
your offerings or prices change.
• You’ll probably have to pay to join Web malls or
to be listed with certain search engines. Talk to others
in the business or get advice on which malls and search
engines produce good value for your money.
• Go to a major search engine site and type in some key
words that relate to your products, then open the sites
that come up. You’ll get some good ideas about site
design and prevailing prices for similar products, plus
you’ll see who your competition is.
Additional tips on Internet marketing are contained in
Chapter 5, E-Commerce.
A Few Internet
Advertising Tips
16
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
17
Marketing defines
potential buyers and
their needs and how to meet
those needs.
E-Commerce
5
E-Commerce
The Internet has revolutionized small-business marketing and
leveled the playing field for small businesses by lowering promo-
tional costs while concurrently expanding the businesses’ reach.
Few companies can ignore the Internet as a marketing tool and
not suffer consequences. One of the biggest impacts the Internet
has had is something called “disintermediation,” which describes
the reduction in the cost of direct communications between pro-
ducers and consumers. This has allowed the bypassing of middle-
men and expensive distribution networks.
E-commerce is the use of computers to support business
activities, particularly marketing and promotion. Increasingly,
e-commerce encompasses a variety of business functions,
including “back office” tasks such as order-processing and
fulfillment, inventory management and accounting tasks.
E-marketing describes using the internet and related
technologies that assist with marketing. This includes promotion,
research, advertising and a host of other activities.
The most ubiquitous e-marketing application is the
business
Web site. Web sites are beacons announcing a business’
presence. Web site features can range from a simple electronic
brochure to a fully interactive site that dynamically adapts itself
to the needs and preferences of individual customers. Setting up
a company Web site can be more challenging than a traditional
brick and mortar shop.
Another e-marketing technique is e-mail promotion —
e-mail directed at a specific target market. Thousands of listservs
link to Internet communities with some shared interest or cause.
Since listserv membership is voluntary, members receive e-mail
and can view postings and announcements by other members or
outsiders.
Creating a Web Presence
Give careful thought to your marketing strategy and how its
goals can be met by e-marketing activities. Your Web site needs
to reflect your specific marketing goals. For example, if you have
targeted direct sales to consumers of your fish products, your site
should be rich with product information, including recipes and
themes with fishing content. If
your target market is regional
distributors and wholesalers,
your Web site needs different
content and should handle
inventory queries, order
processing and shipment
tracking. A well-designed Web site can function like a finely
tuned sales force that works for peanuts.
Make or Buy?
Web site design has advanced beyond the technical ability
of most individuals. Give serious consideration to whether
developing your own Web site is the best use of your time
and talents. Many fishermen have invested the time and effort
to develop and maintain their own Web sites. The principle
advantage of this is saving money by not having to pay someone
else. The big disadvantages could be having a Web site that is
problem-ridden or is ranked low by search engines.
Success in direct marketing through a Web site depends
crucially on your site’s ranking by search engines. They are
the primary tools that customers use to find products online.
Knowledge of how search engines rank sites is specialized and
reserved for the domain of professional Web designers. Sites
that are well-organized, use descriptive titles and keywords and
are rich in relevant content generally score higher in terms of
ranks. Of course you can pay to be ranked high but this can get
expensive.
Irrespective of whether you make or hire out your Web site
development you should give careful thought to the following
characteristics:
•
Accessibility - Limit plug-ins or other flashy components that
are unnecessary. These features can enhance the experience
for some folks but may discourage the majority of people
within your target audience.
•
Advertising - Limit the clutter associated with excessive
advertising. Any advertising should relate to your products.
Advertising slows down the performance, overpowers your
H. Charles Sparks, Ph.D., CPA
Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Glenn Haight
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
18
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
content and can distract potential customers. Links to other
sites can actually boost your ranking by search engines
but should be appropriate, topical and of interest to your
customers.
•
Aesthetics - Chose a format and be consistent with it
throughout your site. Contrasting elements draw visitors’
attention to your content.
• Content - Sites full of consistent content are
informative and
achieve higher ranks by search engines. Personalized content
is always preferred to copied or cloned content from other
sites.
•
Navigation - It should be easy to move around in your site.
Frequent and consistent use of buttons and other navigation
prompts is important. Keep them the same size, color and
position so that users don’t have to hunt for them.
•
Speed - Speed is probably the most the important
consideration, after content. Speed is affected by many
things, but two within your control are graphics intensity
and server speed. Pictures and other graphics are important
but use them judiciously because they slow down the rate at
which your pages load.
•
Updates - Plan on updating your content frequently. Be sure
that all the links and other advertising are current and work.
Many tools are readily available to help make your site
function well. Most Web host providers offer extensive support
for Web site development like shopping carts, check-out
processing and other useful programs that have been tested and
proven reliable, and they are available as part of the subscription
or at a nominal cost.
Selecting a Web Host
Web hosting has evolved considerably over the past decade.
Your Web site’s performance and cost will be influenced by where
your site is located and the host server computer’s capacity and
speed. Your Web site’s performance will depend on
bandwidth
available, the reliability of the server, the host’s
broadband
provider and on the operating system of the Web server.
Your Web site can be located anywhere in the world and,
with the right connection and host server, it can perform as if
it were in the next room. Cost and performance should take
priority in the decision about where to host your Web site.
Locating your Web site on a server in rural Alaska could
be disastrous because your site may perform poorly or even be
unavailable to customers when there are telecommunications
problems, power outages, and high internet traffic.
The following are key points when selecting a Web host:
server space, data transfer allowance, tech support, CGI-Bin
access, up-time guarantee, e-mail accounts and reputation.
We will briefly discuss each of these but it is recommended to
independently research Web hosting in order to get current
information about host performance and rankings.
Server space allocations are frequently much larger than
you’ll likely need. Most small business Web sites require, at most,
five megabytes of space. Beware of “great deals” on excessive
amounts of space.
Data transfer allowance is similar to space allocations. Data
transfer occurs every time someone visits your site or requests
information. The more elaborate your site is, the higher the data
transfer. Even sites with elaborate pictures and other graphics
will do fine with a data allowance of only a few gigabytes per
month. Only sign up for what you are likely to need; you can
always buy more if you need it.
The quality of a host’s
technical support may be one of the
most important considerations, depending on your expertise.
Judge technical support by its availability and results; it should
be available “24/7” and staffed by knowledgeable folks. They
should have toll-free telephone numbers with short waiting
cues. Avoid hosts in vastly different time zones that only provide
support during limited hours.
Even if you are starting with a simple Web site, chances are
that you will grow into needing
CGI-Bin access. These are scripts
or programs that perform important tasks such as processing
an order, credit card processing or updating a mailing list. Some
hosts will only allow you to run their pre-installed scripts on
the host sever for security reasons. These may be sufficient but
if your Web site is going to need scripts, then you want to be
sure that the host’s scripts are compatible with your Web site’s
programming and needs.
Up-time guarantee is a statement about the host’s confidence
in their server’s reliability. Poor server reliability sours the best
“deal” no matter how low the price paid.. All servers are down
for maintenance periodically, but such down time should be very
limited and occur during off hours. A strong guarantee indicates
reliable, well-managed equipment.
The
number of e-mail accounts you’ll need depends on the
number of employees you’ll have working with customers and
others through your Web site. Excessive e-mail accounts are just
a waste of money.
Finally, investigate the reputation of prospective Web host
providers. You can read reviews and ranking in online forums.
While many companies offer Web hosting services, they are
not all the same. There are important differences in how they
handle problems and complaints. It is prudent to investigate the
reputation of prospective host providers by reading reviews and
rankings in online forums.
19
E-Commerce
One of the Internet’s
biggest impacts is
the reduction of cost of
communication between
producers and consumers.
Marketing on the Internet
A number of techniques are effective for marketing on the
Web. Some are practical for direct marketers. Examples are
e-mail promotion and reciprocal link advertising.
One of the Internet’s biggest impacts is the reduction of
cost of communication between producers and consumers. This
allows the bypassing of middlemen and expensive distribution
networks. A big component of communication savings is e-mail
promotion. Unlike “spam,” which is unsolicited bulk e-mail
sent to thousands of addresses, e-mail promotion is targeted at
specific markets.
For example, there are thousands of listservs that link
Internet communities with some shared interest or cause. Since
membership is voluntary, members receive e-mail and can view
postings. Listservs consisting of people interested in gourmet
foods, health foods, seafood or similar topics would be good
targets for e-mail promotion.
The goal of
affiliate and reciprocal link advertising is to
generate Web site traffic that results in customers for your
business. Besides the techniques discussed above to get your
site noticed and ranked highly by search engines, you can use an
affiliate, which basically pays other Web sites to steer Web traffic
your way. You enter into an agreement with another Web site
consistent with your target audience’s interests. Every time the
affiliate sends a customer your way through a banner ad link or
“click through” it generates revenue for the referring site. Newer
agreements base banner advertising fees on sales generated and
not just the number of referrals.
You can generate supplemental income from your Web site
by displaying banner ads from other sites. This is known as
reciprocal advertising.
Direct marketers might find a cooking recipe Web site a
good affiliate or reciprocal advertising partner. You could have
several banners advertising your Web site and displaying pictures
of your products on the recipe pages for seafood or salmon or
complementary dishes.
Pay-per-click is a
sometimes expensive way
to advertise on the Web.
Advertisers bid on key words
that they believe their target
market might plug into search
engines to shop for products.
A business might buy several
key words. When the key words are entered into the search
engine, the advertiser’s Web site link is displayed with the search
results; when the shopper clicks on the advertiser’s link, that
advertiser is charged the amount bid. If done properly, pay-per-
click can generate significant sales and could outstrip a small
company’s capacity to fill orders. A number of online service
providers offer pay-per-click features.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
It is cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one.
Keeping customers requires that you keep customers happy by
communicating with them to understand their needs and how
to improve your products and services. E-mails, surveys and
analyzing buying habits are but a few examples of customer
relationship management that help you to know your customers
so that you can serve them better. Advanced e-commerce
applications contain CRM modules that allow you to track your
performance with respect to specific customers.
Lacking this capability doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. If
your sales data are in a computer-usable format, you should try
to identify your top customers, see what they are buying, talk to
them about how they use your products and ask what features
they would like that you’re not currently offering. Analyze
your product sales to see if you can identify trends, and use this
information to prepare for upward or downward shifts in sales.
20
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
21
Planning Your Business
Brian Paust
Alask Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Donna Parker, formerly Commercial Fisheries Specialist
Alaska Department of Commerce
Michelle Kern
Alaska Business Development Center
6
Nearly 75 percent of all start-up businesses fold within their
first five years, and seafood businesses are no exception.
There are many reasons. Some business concepts simply aren’t
viable but, in other cases, owners go broke because they lack
sufficient operating capital, don’t manage well enough or simply
lose interest after a while. Those who remain in business succeed
because they have certain skills or attitudes that help them over-
come all obstacles. The following tips are gleaned from interviews
with dozens of successful direct marketers and their customers.
Strategies and Plans
Consult with a variety of marketing authorities. Success as
a direct marketer is dependent upon consulting with others in
the business and sharing practical information. Call other direct
marketers and go to one of the non-profit business development
assistance programs for free or low-cost advice.
Define a target consumer population. Develop a list of
products in seasonal demand in the target areas. To make direct
marketing more workable, various strategies should be used,
including contacting seafood brokers, making use of the services
provided by other regional marketing specialists, researching
printed literature, and the use of the Internet.
Differentiate your product from the competition. Why
should someone buy from you rather than from someone else?
Can you truly produce better quality or a better price or superior
service? You probably can’t deliver all three at once, but while
striving to do so emphasize what you can do.
Locate buyers who are your philosophical allies. Your
customers need to understand the limitations of a small operator,
and be willing to work with you and at the same time to pay
more for premium quality fish. Buyers who simply want the
cheapest source of supply probably won’t be good long-term
prospects even if you are “cutting out the middleman.” Buyers
who are interested in product appearance, nutritional benefits,
the sustainability of the resource and fishing culture are the best
prospects for a small independent marketer.
Do market research. Invest time in understanding your
potential markets. When possible, talk to prospective buyers
and consumers in person.
Test the waters before
plunging in. Try to maintain a
relationship with your current
processor, who may be willing
to help you with your direct
marketing enterprise or at
least might take you back if
you change your mind. You
may be able to avoid burning
bridges by continuing to deliver part of your catch to your
processors, so long as they don’t get the impression you’re high-
grading and just selling them the lower quality stuff. Some
processors will do custom-processing for you or sell back your
own catch — both possible approaches to easing your way into
direct-marketing your catch.
Correctly assess your costs. It’s easy to anticipate success
when you see relatively high prices you can charge, but your
profit is only what’s left over after you pay all your costs.
Remember permits, bonding, taxes, packaging, transportation,
insurance, cold storage, distribution and additional boat-
operating costs. Home phone bills, fuel and wear-and-tear on
your truck, special clothing and equipment are all costs of doing
business and should be included when projecting profitability.
React to good news. There is so much bad market news
(market saturation, large carryover of previous year’s products,
etc.) that we often forget that positive news is present. Your
business plan should exploit this information such as:
• Positive nutritional news (from infant brain development to
the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly)
• Rapid development of the domestic fresh fish market
• Growing consumer awareness of seafood, due, in part, to
the growth of aquaculture
• Growing preference for “wild” and organic products
• New opportunities in the frozen portion-controlled market
• The emergence of new Asian markets
Properly diversify your markets. Do not direct all of your
products to a single buyer or market area. Develop markets in
Buyers who are interested
in product appearance,
nutritional benefits, the
sustainability of the resource,
and fishing culture are the
best prospects for a small
independent marketer.
22
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
several broad regions. As product prices in one market area be-
gin to decline because of oversupply, promote your products in
the next.
Make provisions for future growth. Plan for the growth of
your business and also for your clients’ growth.
Making Sales
Geographical familiarity. Locate suitable markets for seafood
products and determine how to efficiently transport your prod-
ucts. It is important to know the geography of the region, includ-
ing the available transport infrastructure present in the area.
Develop your markets. Know everything about your
potential customers before making the first call. Understand
the whole distribution network in your region, who the players
are and where the potential customer fits into that network.
Know the customer’s operation and needs. Find out who in the
company does the actual purchasing and arrange to talk to that
person.
Call ahead for an appointment and then go prepared for
an interview. Dress appropriately (Don’t try to impress buyers
by dressing like a fisherman fresh off the boat; dress like a
businessman with a product to sell.) Take samples of your
product to the interview. Provide a photo album or a brochure
that describes the attributes of your product. Be prepared to tell
the story of how you catch and handle your fish.
Don’t promise more than you’re prepared to deliver.
“Under-promise and over-deliver” is the key to good business.
If you over-promise, you may get the first sale but probably not
repeat orders.
Try to get everything in writing, especially quantities,
sizes and grades, quality standards, delivery schedules, prices
and payment terms. Use fax or e-mail to confirm any verbal
agreements.
Be sure to know what price the market will bear. Base
prices are driven by major processors who have lower unit
production costs and can get breaks on packaging and freight
rates. Some buyers expect to pay fishermen less than the going
rate because dealing with fishermen entails greater effort and risk
on the part of the buyer. Have a strategy for responding when a
competitor comes in with a lower price. Some direct marketers
will lower their prices to meet competition, while others will hold
the line in the belief that their quality and service are superior to
that of the competition.
Be Sure You Get Paid
If possible, do a credit check on your customer and check
out the company’s reputation. Some companies make a habit
of cheating small and remote suppliers, whom they know can’t
afford the time and costs involved in collection. However, word
gets around, so take advantage of the grapevine.
Start off small. Never
deliver large quantities of
product to anyone until they’ve
established a track record of
paying promptly and in full. A
common scam is to pay for two or three small shipments and then
default on a large volume purchase, so build your relationship
carefully.
Set realistic payment schedules. Most corporate buyers
expect to pay anywhere from 14 to 30 days (or more) after taking
deliver of your fish. If you can’t live with this, you need to retail
for cash only. If you can negotiate payment on delivery, go for it.
But that approach can greatly limit your potential market. Find
out what payment schedule is normal in your market segment,
then insist that your customers adhere to it.
Establish a system for verifying the quality of the product
when it arrives at its destination. Consider using recording
thermometers or contracting an independent agent to examine
each shipment and verify that your product arrived in good
condition, especially if the buyer has a reputation for rejecting
shipments or not paying.
Protect yourself with insurance. Most seafood products are
highly perishable and a brief delay in delivery will make them
worthless. Furthermore, certain fresh and processed seafood
products have the potential for causing sickness and, therefore,
pose potential liability problems. Cover these risks with product
insurance and product liability insurance. You can find companies
providing this insurance in business directories (such as
Business
Resource Guide for Alaska Fishermen, published by Alaska Sea
Grant Marine Advisory Program) and on the Internet.
Potential Causes of Failure
Inadequate capitalization. A business needs not only enough
capital to purchase equipment, supplies and raw material, but also
enough to pay wages and operating costs while operating for one
or more years until sufficient cash flow is established.
Inadequate business planning. Some industry members
have erred by assuming that a business plan need only be a brief
diagram scribbled on a napkin. Hasty actions of this sort have
predisposed many businesses to failure.
Failing to cope with new realities. Many processors have
been unable to come to terms with changing market realities,
such as lower wholesale prices for some species, higher ex-vessel
prices for others and higher quality standards. Some have ceased
operation.
Accounting failures. Failure to keep strict account of business
finances is a chronic problem. Proper accounting practices should
be used from the outset.
Underestimation of personal energy required. This is
a chronic problem associated with direct marketing. Most
“Under-promise and over-
deliver” is the key to good
business.
23
participants are involved in a number of fisheries. There is
little time available to deal with customers, air carriers, seafood
regulators and others — all of whom are essential to the success
of your business. They need competent assistants on the beach.
Beware of creeping exhaustion.
Insufficient credit control. Whenever possible, do not sell
your product on credit. Arrange to take credit cards or insist
on Irrevocable Letters of Credit if customers do not have cash.
If you are convinced that credit is the only option, use a credit
service to help you assess the financial status of your prospective
customer. Remember, “It’s not a sale until the check clears.”
Ineffective cost control. Know all aspects of your operation,
including how to control cost. The business must be simplified
to its basic elements to maintain costs at a level that allows a
margin of profit.
Excessive risk. Investigate all areas of risk and find solutions
to various identified forms of risk.
Market volatility. Carefully consider market fluctuations
when deciding to actively engage in the business of direct
marketing. A rule of thumb used to be to aim for a differential
of approximately $1.OO/pound above the posted ex-vessel value
of the product after direct-marketing-related expenses. Anything
less represented a marginal undertaking because of the extra
costs and risks associated with direct marketing. As overall costs
rise and your financial needs increase, this target margin also
should increase.
Operating Tips
Prepare to change the way you fish. You probably will have
to sacrifice volume to meet the needs of your customers. You may
have to shift the species you target, or change your timing for
catching them to optimize quality and meet buyer demands. Your
objective is not to fill your boat, it’s to fill your customers’ needs.
Expect to become more self-sufficient. If you stop delivering
to a packer, you may lose access to fuel and groceries, ice, use of
a port engineer, dock space, boat storage, and a range of other
services that companies provide their fishermen.
Separate the fishing and marketing functions. Many
direct marketers say it is exceedingly difficult to run a catching
operation and a sales operation at the same time. Many rely
on a spouse, partner or employee to do the marketing, or they
use a broker or sales agent. Some have formed small marketing
cooperatives to ensure enough volume to support hiring a
marketing person. However, few small-scale marketing co-ops
have been successful.
Take good care of your catch at every step of the process.
Quality cannot be overemphasized. No one can improve your
fish, so it’s up to you to sustain the quality it had when it came
out of the water for as long as possible. Bled and chilled is
virtually assumed.
Establish communication. One of the main reasons buyers
are reluctant to deal with fishermen is that it is hard to keep
track of them and the product and to communicate concerns.
Buyers are more likely to
be responsive if you can
demonstrate that you will be
in regular communication with
them, and that they can reach
you if need be. Providing cell
or satellite phone numbers is a
help, as well as fax and e-mail.
Some buyers will want to talk
to you daily while you are
fishing, so if yours is expecting
to hear from you, be sure to
call or be available to take their call, or they’ll soon lose faith in
you.
Respond quickly to customer schedules and specifications.
“If you are going to keep ‘em, you will need to please ‘em.”
Maintain proper attitude. Some direct marketers have not
done well because of business and personal problems.
Learn to be civil, no matter what kind of day you are
having. Project a positive, optimistic image to your customers,
regardless of what is currently happening.
Be consistent in terms of product quality, delivery timing
and price
.
Use various means of promotion. Prospective marketers
pursuing aggressive markets will need to invest in expanded
promotional efforts. The use of expanded advertising and
product listings may be necessary to reach business goals.
Keep it simple. Your time is not unlimited. Project
complexity increases the probability of many types of risk and
makes business capital more difficult to acquire.
Things to Keep in Mind about Direct Marketing
Buyers get frustrated working with fishermen. The main
reason, they say, is that fishermen too often do not understand the
seafood business. Study the wholesalers, retailers and foodservice
businesses to understand their needs.
Buyers purchase seafood from multiple sources. If you’re
selling to a retailer or foodservice business, they probably are
buying from processors, distributors and other fishermen, in
order to satisfy all their needs. They may buy most of their
fish from a volume distributor to minimize risk and keep the
price down. There may still be a place for your offering in their
selection, but they probably will be in touch with bigger suppliers
and will know prevailing market prices and standards.
You have to do everything yourself. The tasks and risks that
someone else previously assumed are now yours alone. Many of
Buyers are more likely to
be responsive if you can
demonstrate that you will
be in regular communication
with them, and that they can
reach you if need be.
Planning Your Business
24
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
them are very different from fishing and take a great deal of time
and energy to address.
You can’t be in two places at once. So, unless you’re selling
right off the boat, you probably will have to hire or contract
someone to meet the plane or truck at the other end and deliver
your product to the storage facility or buyer. In some cases,
buyers pick up the product; however, you must specifically
arrange that. Buyers ask that air bills identifying the content,
weight and arrival time be faxed ahead of time. Some cold
storages will deliver the product locally. Regardless, nobody
(other than relatives, possibly) does anything for free. You will
need to get the
tariff (rate) sheets for the companies whose
services you plan to use, calculate all the costs involved and
contract for their services well in advance.
You have to get rid of it all. You have to sell all of your
catch, including any inferior species, any #2s and #3s, as well as
any quantity in excess of what your buyers want. In most cases,
it is illegal to discard commercially caught fish, even if you can’t
find a buyer. You may have to sell the excess or less desirable
parts of your catch at a price below what it costs to box and ship
them.
Develop backup market options. What will you do if a
buyer refuses a shipment, cancels an order, reneges on a price
agreement or you simply find that you’ve caught more than you
anticipated? You want backup markets that are no more than a
phone call away. Relationships with brokers and traders come
in handy at times like these. The only backup plan that many
people use is to put the catch in a freezer and hope they can
unload it later.
Middlemen and end-users normally do not buy roe. Part
of the value of your salmon is in the roe, which you may find
difficult to sell, or may have to market separately. See Appendix
E for tips on selling salmon roe.
There will be no retros. Salmon fishermen often get a 10-
to 30-percent “bump” after the season but, when you direct
market, what you get is what you get.
If you succeed, expect to attract competitors. Nothing is
static in the business and an exclusive arrangement with a buyer
can quickly become uncertain or vanish altogether if another
supplier comes along with similar quality and a lower price.
Develop a strategy for dealing with competition bent on taking
your market share.
Writing A Business Plan
Your business plan is a blueprint that provides an outline
of your objectives, the steps in meeting those objectives and the
necessary financial requirements for both a startup as well as an
existing business. It explains where your operation is, where it is
going and how it will get there.
A business plan will be most useful if you update it as
changes occur. These changes
may be internal or external
factors that may have either
negative or positive effects on
the company. The plan should
be reviewed annually to ensure
you and your plan are still
moving in the same direction
and to incorporate any changes
that may have occurred.
The person best qualified to answer the questions raised in
the business planning process is you. You have the information
and details as to where the business currently is and where it will
go in the short and long term.
There are many different business plan outlines that exist
and no two plans are identical; however, there is standard
information that is seen in most business plans. The idea in
writing a plan is to provide as much information and detail as
possible, so the reader is able to gain as much knowledge about
your operation as possible.
Appendix O of this document contains a generic business
plan outline that is adaptable to your operation.
Many federal, state and private resources are available to
business owners for developing a business plan. Consultants
with experience and knowledge can assist with business plan
development, and experts in many different industries can
provide technical advice.
Nothing is static for long in
the business and an exclusive
arrangement with a buyer can
quickly become uncertain or
vanish altogether if another
supplier comes along with
similar quality and a lower
price.
There are three main reasons why you should have a
business plan.
• A business plan provides you an operating tool for
managing the business and working towards your
goals and objectives.
• A business plan is a great resource for
communicating the business ideas to potential
financial institutions and/or investors for possible
funding.
• Writing a business plan forces you to look at every
aspect of the business in an objective, critical manner.
In other words, it forces you to think about all the
details of where the operation is and how it will
move towards its goals.
Why Write a
Business Plan?
25
Many small business owners view accounting as a nuisance
instead of a resource that enables them to run their
businesses more effectively. An accounting system performs two
essential functions:
It provides invaluable information on a business’
performance, hence the nickname, “the language of business.”
Timely feedback is crucial for identifying and correcting
problems and inefficiencies that may arise.
Accounting also assists in meeting the numerous federal,
state and local tax reporting requirements. Whether it concerns
taxes on a business’ profits, payroll taxes, or sales taxes collected
on receipts, accounting is key to meeting these obligations.
Of course, these benefits are contingent on the system being
set up correctly and kept current.
Basic Accounting Reports
Let’s review the three primary statements and their roles.
The income statement, or profit & loss statement, provides
information about sales and expenses of a business. You can
think of it as a scorecard for the business, wherein sales are com-
pared to their related expenses or product costs and other oper-
ating expenses incurred are presented. Sales information should
be identified by source (such as major products and services)
and matched with related product costs. This difference — gross
profit or margin — is a very important number.
Margins represent the profit available to cover other operat-
ing costs and, hopefully business profit. Other operating costs
not directly associated with products include advertising, insur-
ance, depreciation on equipment and buildings, and interest paid.
The income statement covers a discrete period of time,
usually a month, quarter or year. This is somewhat arbitrary,
because the operating cycle — the time it takes to buy raw
materials, make products, then sell these products — varies from
business to business. However, by using reasonable estimates you
can produce reliable accounting reports. In summary, the income
statement provides information on the direction or profits of a
business and the source or sources of these profits.
The balance sheet, or statement of financial position, has
a different role. It presents a longer term financial picture of a
business. It provides a listing of a business’ assets, its liabilities
or amounts owed to outsiders and its owners’ net worth at a
point in time, usually month-end or year-end. Assets are simply
resources controlled by the business that provide current or
future benefits in terms of cash flow. Liabilities, or obligations
of the business, represent unpaid bills and borrowings. These
usually consist of short-term trade credit or amounts owed to
suppliers, as well as long-term financing arrangements — for
example, a mortgage or line of credit.
Owners’ equity, or net worth, represents the owners’ residual
claim to the business, above and beyond the amounts owed. This
amount usually represents the owners’ initial investment plus
the undistributed profits of the business. The balance sheet is a
snapshot of a business’ financial picture, or health, at a given
point in time.
The cash flow statement is a report on the cash flows of a
business segregated into three categories: operations, investing
and financing. This statement provides useful information
about where a business gets money and where it spends it. Like
the income statement, it reports on activities over a period of
time. For example if the business borrowed money to buy new
equipment, both of these transactions would be shown on the
cash flow statement — the former as a source, the latter as a use.
The statements work together as a package, with each
contributing something the others can’t. Only by examining each
and integrating the information can the reader understand the
how and why.
Underlying these reports is a key assumption that the
activities of the business can be separated from those of the
owners. In other words, the financial statements represent the
activities, resources and obligations of just the business. This
can be a challenge in small operations, where the owners’
funds are sometimes commingled, or mixed, with those of the
business. Great pains must be taken to separate the activities of
the business, because mixing them can blur the picture of the
business presented in financial statements.
Accounting for Your Fish Business
H. Charles Sparks
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
7
26
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Manual versus Computerized Accounting Systems
Only the smallest businesses are better off using a manual
accounting system. There are a number of excellent, inexpensive
accounting programs. They can provide substantial benefits for
nearly all businesses.
Quicken, QuickBooks and Peachtree are examples of
accounting packages specifically for small business needs. They
are designed for business people and, thus, do not require
specialized accounting training. They are all similar programs,
so your choice should be based on availability and local support.
Sooner or later, everyone has a problem or question and if you
know someone who is using one of these programs, it is likely
that they can help you. That said, QuickBooks is probably the
best-supported and most widely used accounting program in the
world.
Most instruction manuals and third-party guides for
these programs recommend you round up the following basic
information before you start installing the program on your
computer:
• Copy of recent business tax return, if available
• Federal tax identification number
• Owner names and addresses
• Banking information, including account numbers and
balances
• Information on major customers and suppliers.
For many folks, the first big barrier to setting up their system
is establishing a starting point. To get the most benefit from your
new accounting system it is best to start recording transactions
at the beginning of the year, even if that date was 11 months
ago. This means that you’ll have to input sales and payments
going back to the beginning of the year. But it will be worth it,
because you’ll be able to use all of your program’s capabilities
and reports.
All the programs use a “setup wizard” to prompt you for
information about your company. This routine can take from
one to four hours or more, depending on how extensive you
want to set everything up initially. It will ask you questions about
your company’s products and whether you make things, perform
services or do both. The purpose of this questioning is to assist
the program in setting up a chart of accounts for you.
The chart of accounts is the key part of collecting and
categorizing transactions, enabling you to produce useful reports.
You can make changes to it later but it is much faster and easier
if you can do it right the first time. The initial chart of accounts
should include accounts for each of your products, both sales
and their costs accounts
Adding or Changing Accounts
No matter how carefully and completely you answered the
set-up wizard’s questions, you will need to create additional
accounts. To do this, check your program’s specific instructions
on how to do add new accounts.
Consider using sub-accounts. They will allow you to
produce reports, using either the summary for a group of
accounts or for individual accounts. For example, if you sell
several varieties of smoked fish, you can create a smoked
fish sales account and then create sub-accounts for each type
of smoked fish you sell. Sales of each product will be kept
separately in individual accounts, so that you can generate
reports for each product line and, thus, analyze the success of
your efforts to market and manage each.
At some point during set-up, the program will ask you
for information on your accounts receivable and payables, or
money owed to and by your business. Skip entering any existing
balances for your customers or suppliers. Most small businesses
are on a cash basis, which means it doesn’t count as income
or expense for tax purposes until the money changes hands. It
is easier to skip entering balances as of the start of the year or
whenever you are setting up your accounting program. Instead,
record the amounts owed or due when you actually receive or
pay money, then record the appropriate income or expense.
Using your Accounting System
Your accounting program’s user interface should be very
intuitive and organized around common business activities
such as banking, customers, suppliers/vendors and reports. This
makes it easy to perform tasks such as making deposits, invoicing
customers, paying bills and generating reports.
For example, to pay a supplier’s bill, all you have to do is
open the banking menu and then click on “write checks.” The
program will prompt you for the necessary information and then
post the necessary debts and credits to your accounts.
Since each accounting program is a little different from
the others, it is difficult to go into all the details for these
features here. Invest in a good third party user manual for your
accounting program. Many of these are better written and
easier to follow than the user documentation provided with the
software program.
Payroll Tasks
Payroll reporting requirements are very demanding. Late
reports and tax deposits carry stiff penalties, so they are best
avoided at any cost. It is essential that payroll expenses are
computed and recorded accurately and that all necessary reports
are assembled and transmitted on time. Accounting software can
27
help. Also, many small businesses outsource these tasks to their
accountants.
QuickBooks offers a unique sliding scale of assistance for
users of its program. At one end of the scale, the business can
provide a listing of employees and their hours and the software
computes payroll costs, sends electronic checks for printing,
maintains payroll information, makes the payroll deposits and
files the required reports with both federal and state agencies.
At the other end of the scale, a business submits the employee
time and the program sends back electronically the amounts for
checks and payroll deposits. You complete the process by writing
checks and filing deposits. QuickBooks will provide detailed
reports for you or your accountant to file with the required
payroll tax reports or, for additional fees, will file these reports
and make the required deposits right from your bank account.
Backing Up
It is vitally important to protect your accounting system
and its data files from misuse and loss. This requires some
careful planning and adherence to a back-up schedule. Limit
system access to only those people who have a need for it.
QuickBooks and comparable programs support limiting user
access to only certain tasks. Set up and use this feature to prevent
unauthorized changes and transactions. The frequency of your
back-up schedule depends on how often you update your system.
Implement a weekly back-up schedule, usually on Fridays, where
a complete copy of your files is written to a portable memory
device, such as a jump drive. This device should be taken off-site
until needed for making a new back-up.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
29
To understand the quality aspects of your product, it helps
to understand who buys your seafood. There are two basic
types of customers who buy seafood:
• Trade customers, who intend to re-sell the seafood. These
include secondary ("value-added") processors, wholesale
distributors, retailers (supermarkets, food shops) and
foodservice establishments (restaurants, institutions)
• Ultimate consumers, who actually consume the seafood.
They buy the seafood in retail stores or they eat it in
foodservice establishments
Of the two, the trade customers are more able and willing
to articulate their preferences to you. The ultimate consumers
simply "vote with their wallets" by choosing one kind of seafood
or its competitors. How the customers and consumers select
their food directly affects your ability to sell your products.
Alaska and Pacific Northwest seafood competes with
products from other sources, including Chile, Norway and
Scotland, that have set high standards for quality and the ability
to meet customer expectations. All seafood competes with other
protein foods, such as beef, pork, chicken and turkey. In most
markets, these non-seafood meats out-compete all seafood on the
bases of familiarity, price, predictability of supply
and reliability
of quality.
Customer Expectations
Seafood must meet several basic customer and consumer ex-
pectations, which include, but are not limited to:
•
Purity — Consumers prefer seafood from pristine natural
environments, free of pollutants. Although some consumers
prefer wild-caught salmon for that reason, not all customers
are so discriminating.
•
Safety — Consumers must be protected from harmful
foods, especially contamination from physical, chemical or
biological sources. The safety of your seafood is ensured
by your adherence to the principles of Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and good sanitation
practices.
8
Considering Quality
Stephen T. Grabacki
Graystar Pacific Seafoods
•
Quality — There are
two ways to view
seafood quality. One
concerns the positive
intrinsic characteristics
of the seafood — taste,
texture, color and
appearance — that are
biologically determined.
The other concerns the
extrinsic characteristics
of seafood quality,
which may be damaged by our industry’s practices:
bruising, blood spotting, gaping, softness and general
degradation. Obviously, consumers expect all of the positive
intrinsic attributes and they dislike any negative extrinsic
characteristics. In other words, we cannot improve the
quality of our products but can only
retard the loss of
quality until the seafood reaches the ultimate consumers.
Fish deserves the same respect as the other foods that you
serve to your own family. The old maxim is more important
than ever: “Keep it clean, keep it cold, keep it moving, handle it
gently.”
How Quality is Lost
Seafood is delicate and easily degraded. Fish have a soft
muscle structure, which is easily damaged. Fish flesh contains
catabolic enzymes, which start breaking down the meat as soon
as the fish dies and are an ideal medium for bacterial growth.
Any sort of poor handling, warm temperatures or slow transit
decreases the value of the seafood by diminishing its appearance,
taste, odor, texture and shelf life.
Shelf life is a measure of how long a fish can remain of
good quality from the time it is captured to the time it is eaten.
The longer the shelf life (as viewed by the customer), the higher
the value. Any delays or deterioration on the production end
(catching, holding, processing, storing, shipping or receiving)
decrease the shelf life and the value of your product.
In theory, the shelf life of non-frozen high-fat fish (salmon,
All seafood competes with
other protein foods, such
as beef, pork, chicken and
turkey. In most markets,
these non-seafood meats
out-compete all seafood on
the bases of familiarity, price,
predictability of supply and
reliability of quality.
30
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
herring, sablefish) can be as
long as 10 days, starting at the
moment that the fish dies; the
shelf life of non-frozen low-
fat fish (halibut, cod, pollock,
rockfish) can be as long as
14 days. However, these are
theoretical maximums, which
assume immediate, unchanging
chilling (32º F), and absolutely
perfect handling. The actual shelf life of your products will likely
be less, which is why you must do everything you can to avoid
shortening this time period.
Quality begins to deteriorate even before a fish is landed.
A salmon trapped in a gill net is already getting squeezed and
abraded by the mesh. Further damage can occur as the fish is
brought aboard the boat, removed from the gear, and stored in
the hold. Common mistakes include lifting or pulling the fish
by the tail and dropping or squeezing the fish, which result in
the formation of bruises and blood spots in the meat. Studies by
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program (MAP) have shown
that these bruises can occur in dead fish as well as live ones.
Rough handling very often results in internal defects that are not
visible until the seafood reaches the customer.
Bacteria are present everywhere, including on and in the
fish. As soon as the fish dies, the bacteria go to work, digesting
the flesh and producing chemicals that destroy the texture and
create odors. The higher the temperature, the faster the bacteria
multiply, and the faster the fish spoils.
Fish have enzymes in their guts and their muscles. When
a fish dies, the catabolic enzymes are free to degrade the flesh,
from the inside out (a condition known as “belly burn”). Like
bacterial action, enzyme activity increases in direct proportion to
temperature.
When a dead fish is exposed to air, it undergoes dehydration
and oxidation. Dehydration — the loss of moisture — results
in toughening and discoloring of the meat. Oxidation is caused
by the chemical reaction of fish oils with oxygen. It results in
unpleasant odors and flavors. Both dehydration and oxidation
are easily prevented through good temperature control, proper
packaging, rapid transit of non-frozen fish and correct glazing of
frozen fish.
Practices, Grades and Specifications
The best source of basic information on seafood quality is
John Doyle’s Care and Handling of Salmon: The Key to Quality,
available from Alaska Sea Grant MAP offices and from the
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). It presents more
details on the causes of quality problems, and offers excellent
recommendations on practices for chilling, on-board handling,
cleaning, and sanitation. Other manuals (listed at the end of this
The four-part mantra, “Keep it clean, keep it cold, keep it
moving, handle it gently,” applies to all three links of the
seafood chain:
• Pre-process — Handle the fish gently on the boat and
on the way to processing. Chill it well and promptly.
Prevent contamination of any kind.
• In-process — Process promptly. Hold the
unprocessed fish and the processed products at 32º F.
Keep holding times to a minimum.
• Post-process — Package the products properly, with
careful attention to insulation and chilling. Use
plenty of gel-ice packs. Ship the products as soon as
possible. Monitor the shipments until they reach the
customers.
Your job as a seafood provider does not end until the
seafood products arrive at the customer’s location and the
customer accepts the shipment.
IMPORTANT — The ideal
temperature for non-frozen
fish is 32º F, from the time of
capture. Any temperature
higher than 32º F will
accelerate the deterioration
of your products.
chapter) cover handling of halibut, rockfish and ocean whitefish.
ASMI and MAP have produced several other useful publications
on practices of handling, chilling, packaging, shipping, butchering
and filleting of salmon, halibut, and other species. See the list at
the end of this chapter.
You can inform your customers about your quality practices
in order to assure them that you are doing your best to produce
and deliver top-quality seafood products.
Grades
The seafood industry uses a system of grades to indicate
the quality of the product. These grades are based on extrinsic
factors and indicate freshness and handling.
ASMI’s Seafood Technical Program offers an excellent
matrix of quality grades for salmon, including Premium, A,
B and C. These grades reflect the important characteristics of
quality:
• Handling — bled vs. unbled; chilling; amount of defects,
including skin cuts, bruising and scale loss
• Odor — ranging from "fresh" to "slight, not offensive"
• Eyes — ranging from "bright, clear" to "milky or cloudy"
• Gills — ranging from "bright red" to "pink to buff"
• Skin — clarity of slime; net marks; scars; damage to fins and
tail
• Belly Cavity — internal color; degree of belly burn;
thoroughness of cleaning
Remember That...
31
Considering Quality
ASMI's Seafood Technical
Program has produced several
other useful tools for grading
your products:
• Skin Color Guides for
sockeye, coho, chum and
pink salmon
• Meat Color Guides for
sockeye, coho, chum and
pink salmon
• Premium Quality Specifications for king crab, snow crab,
Dungeness crab and frozen whitefish fillets
ASMI can provide its documents, procedures and grades
free-of-charge. See the ASMI salmon quality specifications in the
appendices of this manual for examples.
Specifications
Specifications are slightly different from grades. Grades are
standard measurements that can be applied to all products and
accepted by all customers, while specifications are tailored to the
individual preferences of each specific customer. Specifications
might include:
• Product — headed and gutted, fillets, fletches, steaks, loins
etc.
• Size — of whole fish or of portions
• Skin — on or off
• Bones — in or out
• Trim — for example, collar on or off, belly flaps on or off,
fillet trim style
• Packing — net weight per box or carton, plastic sleeves,
glazing, etc.
• Quantity — number of fish or portions, or amount of
pounds
• Shipping — all the way to the customer, not just to the
nearest airport
• Time — arrival of the shipment on the day the customer
desires
ASMI's
Seafood Buyer’s Guide is an excellent source of basic
information on seafood product specifications. It is important
to remember that each of your customers will likely have their
own preferred specifications, so you must take special care to
understand and deliver what each customer expects.
Writing specifications is easy. Keep them simple, clear
and easy to read. Make them known to each person in the
distribution chain, from you and your crew to the customers and
their staffs. Each customer will expect to receive seafood that
Grades are standard
measurements that can
be applied to all products and
accepted by all customers,
while specifications are
tailored to the individual
preferences of each specific
customer.
conforms to their specified species, grade, skin color, meat color
and product specifications.
Grades and specifications are critical to the success of your
direct marketing business. They are the basis for the sale (and
purchase) of your products, and, by minimizing mistakes and
misunderstandings, they allow clear communication between
sellers and buyers. Without grades and clearly understood and
mutually accepted specifications, you risk the loss of future sales
through customer uncertainty.
Customer Assurance
The marketplace values and rewards reliable, consistent
quality. There are several ways in which you can assure your
customers of the consistent quality of your products:
•
Handling Practices — Let your customers know about the
quality handling practices that you follow, on the boat,
during processing and during shipment.
•
Product Grades — Be sure that your products are of the
grade that your customer expects. Inform your customers
about the grading system you use.
•
Product Specifications — Clearly understand and
consistently deliver products that meet the customers
specifications.
•
Third-Party Verification — Some customers prefer that
their seafood is produced in inspected facilities, and/
or that the products meet their grades and specifications
before shipment. This type of service is available through
the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Alaska
Manufacturers’ Association and private-sector seafood
inspectors.
Seafood will continue to be valued for its intrinsic qualities:
taste, appearance, nutrition, and purity. As you produce and
market your products, please keep in mind that your competitors
have gained market share by delivering products of consistently
high quality. Quality has never been more important.
For further information on seafood quality practices, grades,
and specifications, please contact:
Seafood Technical Program
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
311 North Franklin Street, Suite 200
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-465-5560
Web site:
www.AlaskaSeafood.org
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
University of Alaska
1007 West 3rd Ave., Suite 100
Anchorage, AK 99501
907-274-9691
Web site:
www.uaf.edu/MAP
Alaska Quality Seafood Program
700 West 41st Ave., Suite 205
Anchorage AK 99503
Phone: 907-565-5655
Web site:
www.alaskaqualityseafood.com
The following publications for handling North Pacific fish are
available through local Alaska Sea Grant MAP offices:
Care and Handling of Salmon: The Key to Quality by John
Doyle
Marine Advisory Bulletin No. 45, June 1995
Handbook on White Fish Handling Aboard Fishing Vessels by
John Doyle and Charles Jensen
Marine Advisory Bulletin No. 36 June 1988
Quality Handling of Hook-Caught Rockfish by Brian Paust and
John Svensson
Marine Advisory Bulletin 20 February, 1986
Care of Halibut Aboard the Fishing Vessel by Donald E. Kramer
and Brian C. Paust
Marine Advisory Bulletin No. 18 May 1985
33
Working with a Custom Processor
Torie Baker
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
9
Some direct marketers find it desirable to work with custom
processors. This might be because they lack processing
equipment on their boats, they need to handle bigger quantities
of product, they want to offer their customers different product
forms or they don’t want the responsibility of conducting their
own processing operation.
A custom processor can provide various value-added
services such as smoking, freezing, portioning, or making jerky
and other product forms. Many custom seafood processors
primarily process fish catches for sport anglers. In some
locations, custom processing arrangements can be made with
traditional large commercial processors.
Whether you are only making a few fresh fish shipments
in a season or stockpiling frozen, canned or value-added
product for after-season sales, your relationship with a custom
processor could be one of the most important components
of your business. This relationship should be open, upfront
and organized to minimize misunderstandings and maximize
efficiencies for both of you.
Most custom processors interviewed for this chapter
agree that receiving high-quality, well-cared-for raw material
and understanding the associated costs are the two most
important elements of a good business arrangement with direct
marketers
.
Working Out the Costs:
It is advisable to write
an agreement or contract
between yourself and your
custom processor outlining
the services to be provided
(e.g., headed and gutted
or frozen). This can be as
simple or complex as you
and your processor desire.
Written contracts are not
always necessary, but if you’re
seriously engaged in moving
large amounts of even the
simplest product forms, a
written agreement, like a written business plan, will clarify
expectations, anticipate problem areas and keep things flowing
smoothly.
A custom processor can help you identify all your
operational costs so you can develop appropriate selling
prices that will allow you to make a profit
. Take your time to
understand arrangements; you may have several conversations
with your processor before a full agreement is reached. Here
are some points to keep in mind during your discussions:
• How will my fish be handled over the dock or on a tender
and how am I assured I will get my fish? Traceability may
be very important to you. Understand how your processor
is tracking your fish from delivery through processing and
final staging for shipping.
• Are there dock delivery fees? In most places, bringing
commercial seafood over a public or private dock requires
someone to pay a landing tax or fee. Your processor will
most likely pass this fee on to you.
A custom processor can
help you identify all
your operational costs so
you can develop appropriate
selling prices that will allow
you to make a profit. Take
your time to understand
arrangements; you may have
several conversations with
your processor before a full
agreement is reached.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
• Does the custom processor have the capacity to process my
fish? This is a fundamental question. Some processors are set
up to provide exclusive areas in their plant and crews for
custom processing that are separated from other processing
activities; others may rely on marked totes to differentiate
fish ownership, and your fish will be processed as a batch,
along with other fish. There are many ways to organize
product flow and itt is important for you to become
familiar with your processor’s system.
• What product forms do you require? You’ve probably
come to the processor with a product Some direct
marketers find it desirable to work with custom processors.
This might be because they lack processing equipment
on their boats, they need to handles bigger quantities
of product, they want to offer their customers different
product forms or they don’t want the responsibility of
conducting their own processing operation.
•
Who will pay applicable taxes? A variety of state and local
taxes are assessed, depending on how you are licensed in
your particular state and what fporm of arrangement you
have with your processor. For example, if you technically
sold your own fish to a processor and are now purchasing
the fish back in a custom processed form, the processor
may be the one paying taxes, and he will include those
charges in your final bill. Check with your state revenue or
tax department for details.
•
Who will provide packaging and labeling? Some
processors will use your packaging; others want to ship
product in their own boxes. If you’re using your own
materials, ask how and when the processor wants those
materials delivered to the plant. Sometimes, processors
can store your materials but, often, that is not the case.
Also, processors can work with you on your labeling
requirements and can connect you with packaging
companies.
Remember, if you’re using any of the chain-of-custody
certifications, such as the Marine Stewardship Council label,
it’s up to you and not your custom processor to ascertain
compliance specifications, tracking numbers, etc. and to
understand how to include that information into your labeling
and packaging.
•
Have you arranged for pick up and transport to the next
stop once the product is ready? This is a very important.
Most processors are just processors; they aren’t warehouses
or cold-storage facilities. Some, like Home Port Seafoods
in Bellingham, Washington, are located near such facilities
and can assist you with information on local shipping and
warehousing vendors. Wherever your product is going,
make sure you understand
how long you have to
move the product out of
the processor’s facility
and how best for your
transporter to work with
the processor.
•
What is the processor’s
billing cycle? What form
of payment do they
accept? Some processors
require payment before
they will release the
product and others will
bill you. In most cases,
you’ll be required to set up an account with the processor
and provide full billing information.
•
Is the custom processor required to put their name
on the product or shipping label? In Alaska, the last
certified handler of a seafood product before it is released
for commercial or retail sale is required to place their
processor code on the shipping box or product label. This
insures traceability and is a requirement that varies in other
states. Discuss this point with your processor and state
permitting agency before ordering packaging or labels.
You’re Not the Only Fish on the Cutting Table
Realize that, in most cases, your fish won’t be the only
concern of a custom processor. He or she will have other
customers with needs similar to yours. In the case of traditional
processors who are taking on occasional custom work, what
seems like a doable proposition of handling your fish can
quickly turn into a nightmare if the plant unexpectedly gets
overwhelmed with their own purchased fish. In this instance,
it’s almost guaranteed that your fish will take second priority.
Be prepared. Check in with your processor prior to your trip.
Confirm how much poundage you estimate you’ll be bringing in
and when you’ll be bringing it. Talk over what the processor’s
workload might be looking like. The processor, too, will be
watching weather conditions, run timings and other factors and
trying to gauge the plant’s workload.
Other Considerations for Value-Added Products
Many custom processors do very basic product handling
— heading and gutting, skinning, removing pinbones ,
trimming, freezing, vacuum-sealing, canning, etc. Most smoke
and roe product services are also readily available. If you are
interested in developing more complex value-added items (for
example, pickled or chowder products), more questions must
be addressed. Remember, re-producing large quantities of
Don’t overlook your
traditional processor as
a potential partner in your
direct marketing venture.
Even if they aren’t set up
to custom-process, in more
remote locations, they may
help you order supplies
or equipment and share
shipping costs.
35
Considering Quality
Aunt Bee’s pickled fish recipe may require modifications to the
original recipe’s proportions to assure you’re getting the taste
you desire.
In some cases, you may need to involve the services
of professional food chemists to analyze your product’s
characteristics for batch production, shelf stability, packaging
requirements, etc. These more involved products will also
require different permits, ingredient disclosures and packaging
and will take a longer time to develop.
Lastly, don’t overlook your traditional processor as a
potential partner in your direct marketing venture. Even if they
aren’t set up to custom process, in more remote locations, they
may help you order supplies or equipment and share shipping
costs.
Some processors are not interested in supporting someone
who could be seen as a direct competitor, but more often
traditional processors simply aren’t interested in losing the fish
production they would otherwise get from you as a traditional
fisherman.
Many large processors are encouraging direct marketers.
Often, markets you are selling into are not the same as retail
customers that buy directly from larger processors, seafood
distributors and brokers. Some large processors feel that the
more high-quality wild seafood from any source is available
to the marketplace, the better everyone in the wild seafood
business will be.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
37
Proper shipping and handling can determine success or failure
for direct marketers. Shipping is risky business and the place
where you typically have the least amount of control. Careful
planning of every step in the process, including risk assessments
of each phase, will help shipments go smoothly and successfully.
Strict adherence to proper shipping strategies and good working
relationships with the shipper, carrier, freight-forwarder and
customer are essential to ensure the delivery of a high-quality
product and continued marketing success.
Means of getting your product to market could include
travel by plane, truck and/or barge. Each method has its own
unique challenges and considerations. Packaging and shipping
methods may vary, depending on what type of product you have:
• Fresh Premium (high quality products such as sockeye
salmon and halibut; small quantities; probably the most
common product type for direct marketers)
• Frozen Premium (growing in popularity with direct
marketers)
• Fresh Utility Grade (usually commodity-type species such
as pink and chum salmon; larger quantities; may not be of
premium quality)
• Live Products (see the discussion on live-product packaging
and shipping, in Chapter 11).
Packaging for Shipping
What you will need to get started:
Proper packaging is
necessary to maintain fish
quality, as it protects the fish
from physical damage and
temperature stress during
transport. Containers must
not leak, as fluids can damage
transport vehicles and aircraft
and greatly upset important personnel. There are many different
types of cartons available for shipping; these can be divided into
containers for fresh or frozen shipments.
As a general rule, use the proper-sized box to fit the fish, as
opposed to cramming the product into an undersized box. Use
boxes you can physically manage. Always handle your product
and packaging materials with care and keep everything clean
throughout the process to ensure a high-quality end-product.
Check with your carriers, as they probably have box size and
box weight specifications. For larger shipments, contact your
carrier to use pallets, totes or other suitable containers.
.
Containers and Packaging for Fresh Seafood
The Container: Fresh seafood is commonly shipped in
wax-impregnated wetlock boxes. These are typically brown
but heat-reflected colors (such as white) are also available. The
wax imparts strength and repels water but it also makes the box
brittle, so the box can easily rupture if dropped.
Check the box bottoms for a testing seal describing box
burst strength of at least 250 pounds. Wetlock fish boxes are
available in various capacities: 10-pound, 25-pound, 50-pound,
80-pound and 100-pound. Most air carriers require that wetlock
boxes have gusseted corners. The box should have at least
three staples per corner to maximize box strength. Do not use
strapping tape in place of staples.
Other Packaging Materials: Once you have your wetlock
box stapled, the inside of the box should be lined with a
plastic
poly liner or
foil-insulated liner. Plastic liners protect against
leaks and come in thicknesses from 1.25 to 4.0 mil.
Foil-insulated liners help maintain temperature and are very
useful when shipping to warm climates or places where you
Packaging and Shipping of
Seafood Products
Cynthia Wallesz
Lofoten Fish Company and Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program10
Proper packaging is
necessary to maintain fish
quality, as it protects the fish
from physical damage and
temperature stress during
transport.
• Appropriate boxes to fit
the items to be shipped
• Plastic liners
• Insulated foil liners
• Gel packs and/or dry ice
• Scale, certified by your
state
• Box stapler
• Packing tape
• Rubber bands or staples
• Permanent marker or
computer labels
• Strapping system
• Truck or other
transportation to deliver
your shipment to the
freight carrier
38
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
think there might be shipping delays. The foil material reflects
radiant outside heat and the inner bubble layer is an effective air
barrier that is beneficial for insulation. The inner, white poly-
ethylene liner part is FDA-approved for food use. Foil liners are
an effective, inexpensive insurance and are available in five sizes,
most of which are designed to fit into wetlock boxes.
Gel packs or
dry ice protects the product from outside heat
and should be used when shipping fresh seafood. Generally, dry
ice is hard to find and prohibited in boxes shipped by air; check
with your carrier for specific requirements.
Gel packs are commonly available and very effective. Use
gel packs that are food-safe in case the packs leak during ship-
ment. Most direct marketers will find the 1.5-pound packs most
useful, although packs are available in many weights and sizes.
Keep in mind that gel ice is intended to slow the inflow of heat
into the box’s interior space, containing the pre-chilled product
— it will not lower the temperature of the contents. Packs must
be thoroughly frozen prior to use.
Containers and Packaging for Frozen Seafood
Insulated boxes normally are used for shipping frozen sea-
food, because they help keep product temperature consistent.
One of these containers includes an insulated box with an insu-
lated lid and a cardboard overwrap. The containers are available
in many shapes and sizes.
If you expect delays in your shipment or are shipping to a
warm climate, consider adding a foil-insulated liner (described
above) to the inside of your insulated box. These liners are de-
signed to fit wetlock boxes but can be used for insulated boxes
as well. The use of gel packs (or dry ice, if you can get it and it’s
approved for use by your carrier) is good insurance that your
product will arrive at its destination in the expected frozen state.
Gel packs are especially recommended for smaller shipments, for
locations where there may be shipping delays (such as remote
areas) and for shipments to warm climates
.
Loading the Boxes
Whether shipping fresh or frozen product, it is important to
maintain proper temperatures throughout the packaging process,
in order to protect product quality. Keep the product and any
packed boxes in the cooler or freezer until the last possible mo-
ment before transport. Pack your fish or product carefully, as the
visual quality of the received container is very important to most
customers. When your customer opens their boxes, you want
them to be pleased and impressed. Be sure to ask your clients
about any product shipping specifications they may have.
• If shipping fresh, chill the product to approximately 32ºF
before boxing. Pre-chilling can be accomplished using
slush ice, properly applied flaked ice, chilled sea water
(CSW), refrigerated van or cold storage. Advantages and
disadvantages of these methods are discussed in Appendix
F. If shipping frozen product, freeze the product thoroughly
in a blast freezer before packaging or retrieve your frozen
seafood directly from your freezer or cold storage facility.
• Pick the size and type of box that is appropriate for its
contents. On the outer part of the box, write or use a
computer label that contains the shipper’s full address
with phone number, the receiver’s full address with phone
number, the seafood species inside, box number and whether
the product is fresh or frozen.
• Put the desired liner (plastic, foil or both) into the box.
• Put a box on the certified scale and carefully place each
fish or product into the box. Make use of all the space you
can; the more product density, the better insulated your
product will stay throughout the shipping process. Fill your
container with product or add as much weight as you have
planned with your customer. Add gel packs, dry ice or other
coolants; you may want to scatter them throughout your
container. Note net product weight for billing and record-
keeping purposes.
• If using a plastic liner, tightly close the liner with a stapler or
rubber band. Secure foil liners with packaging tape. If there
is room inside the box, add any additional insulation, such
as newspaper, so your product doesn’t slide around when
handled.
• Close the container (if cardboard, tape closed); strap all
boxes with banding material in at least two places, depend-
ing upon the size of your container.
Take your loaded containers and boxes directly to your
freight company or place the packed boxes into a cooler or freez-
er until shipping time. Monitor your shipment at every step of
the way, until it arrives safely in the hands of your customer. It is
not uncommon to have to call a freight company mid-shipment
to verify the boxes’ handling and/or destination. Follow up with
your customer to make sure your product arrived as expected.
Table 1.
Effects of temperature on shelf life (days)
Storage Temp
(Degrees F)
High-Fat Fish*
Low-Fat Fish**
32
10
14
40
5
7
50
2.5
3.5
60
1.5
2
70
1.2
1.7
* High-fat fish includes salmon and sablefish
** Low-fat fish includes halibut, cod and pollock
39
• Which carriers serve the area where the product is being shipped? Which of these
companies has the best reputation for handling premium seafood? Are personnel
competent when it comes to the handling of sensitive shipments?
• Does an air carrier offer freight-only flights or is the product shipped on passenger jets?
• Are the schedules convenient to both shipper and receiver?
• Are direct flights available or must the product be transferred between planes or air
carriers? How many transfers will be needed to get the product to its destination?
• How long are the layovers if the product must be transferred? Which carriers have cool
rooms or cold storage facilities where the product can be held during layovers and at its
final destination?
• What arrangements must be made to assure that the product is shipped on a particular
flight? Must cargo space be reserved in advance, and how far in advance of departure
must the product be delivered to the freight office? When will the product arrive at its
destination?
• How is the product to be shipped? Will each discrete shipment be in individual boxes or
will individual shipments be contained in a large unitized container?
• Will the product be held at the airport or shipping company yard for pickup or will it be
delivered to its final destination? Who is responsible for the delivery? What local freight
forwarding companies have good reputations with fresh seafood shipments?
• What information must be on the box to assure uninterrupted shipment and delivery?
• What additional regulatory documentation must be provided for the shipment?
• Does the shipment need to be insured? What are the types of insurance coverage, limits
and costs? Does the carrier provide insurance for customers?
• What packaging precautions are needed to ensure product quality? Are extra gel packs
needed? Should the box contain supplemental insulation? Is extra packing material needed
to prevent shifting?
• When does the customer prefer the product to arrive? Are communications channels with
the air carrier, customer and freight forwarders well-established, so that everyone involved
knows the schedule and arrangements? Is a computerized freight tracking service available?
• Does the customer have special packaging requirements?
Shipping Considerations
Ask the following
questions when
planning shipments:
40
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
41
No matter how healthy
your product is when you
land it, improper packaging
or shipping problems can be
lethal. Specialty packaging
may be required and will
most likely increase your
costs.
Live Shipping
Sunny Rice
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
11
The Alaska Board of Fisheries passed a regulation
that prohibits the transportation of live finfish from the
state. The regulation allows for holding pens for herring
and salmon prior to processing under a Commissioner’s
permit. However, the held fish may not be removed from
the region from which they were harvested.
For more information, contact the
Alaska Department of Fish & Game
Division of Commercial Fisheries, 907-465-4210.
Attention Alaska
Seafood Shippers
Live seafood products can bring in prices that are significantly
higher than traditional fresh or frozen products. You
“purchase” that value, however, with the greatly increased risk,
regulatory concerns and logistical difficulties that accompany live
marketing. This section, adapted from the proceedings from the
1999 Marketing and Shipping Live Aquatic Products conference,
raises some questions a potential live-shipper should address.
Is your species viable?
A trip to area seafood markets reveals some species
commonly marketed live: lobsters, various species of crabs,
geoducks, mussels, oysters and other bivalves. Specialty markets
may even include finfish. If someone else is already selling your
species live, you know that it is possible to land, package and
ship that species in a healthy live state. Keep in mind, however,
that your product must be in
extremely good condition when it is
landed on your vessel.
In some cases, live product will be killed shortly after it
reaches its destination, but many markets want to continue to
hold the product alive until it is sold to the final customer. Does
your catch method deliver this caliber of product?
A second early question to ask is whether it is legal to land
and transport your species alive. Regulations for live seafood
processing and transport differ from those for fresh product.
Although there is no processing involved with live products,
other sanitation concerns arise with live shellfish, such as
paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and amnesiac shellfish
poisoning (ASP).
In addition, some states prohibit exporting certain species
live (see sidebar), while others have regulations to protect them
from the accidental introduction of non-indigenous or invasive
species that might enter the state through importation. So it is
important that, early in your planning process, you research the
export laws in your home state, as well as the import laws in the
state where you intend to market your fish.
How will you keep it alive?
When you switch to live marketing, you should be aware
that, most likely, you will need to change the way you fish. You
may need to decrease your set or soak times to ensure the product
is alive and in good condition when you land it.
Shorter trips may be required. You may also need to time
your trips with the weather or fish in calmer waters to keep your
product from getting overly stressed during transport from the
fishing grounds.
Finally, you will most
likely need to fish more slowly
to accommodate the increased
care needed to keep the product
in optimum condition. Will
this decreased volume be offset
by a sufficiently increased price?
Also consider the
modifications you will need
to make to your vessel. Will
you need to reconfigure your
42
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
hold? If you will be doing any packaging on board your vessel,
will you need to make modifications to comply with sanitation
requirements? Will modifying your fishing gear allow the
product to be landed in better condition?
Packaging and shipping present some of the biggest
difficulties with direct-marketing live products. No matter how
healthy your product is when you land it, improper packaging
or shipping problems can be lethal. Specialty packaging may be
required and will most likely increase your costs.
Because shipping time is of the utmost importance, good
cooperation and communication between you and your buyer is
vital to successful live marketing. Because shipping times are so
crucial, you may want to limit your markets in the beginning to
destinations served by direct flights from your landing port. If
this is not possible, you may need to find a place to recondition
the product at intermediate stops. This may also increase your
costs.
How does the live
market differ from fresh
or frozen market?
In addition to higher prices
offered by the live market, there
are several other differences
between live and fresh or frozen
markets. The best live markets
may be overseas, bringing
with them the additional
complications of shipping
internationally (see Chapter 14 for a discussion about this). Your
buyer may require more frequent but smaller shipments, which
will increase your total shipping costs. Finally, customers want
their live products in the best condition possible, so cosmetic
issues may play a larger role than with other products.
It is doubly important to have excellent communication and
a cooperative and trusting relationship with your buyer when
doing live sales. You need to be certain that the buyer is honestly
assessing the condition of your product when it arrives and that
he or she is properly equipped to deal with your product when
it gets there. You’ll need to agree on how to address issues
pertaining to dead-loss. For these reasons, using a broker may be
an attractive option when direct marketing live products.
In conclusion, realize that switching from fresh or frozen
product to live will impact almost every part of your business,
from your catch methods, to shipping and packaging, to the kind
of relationship you have with your buyer. The amount of work,
attention to detail and risk required will increase dramatically.
Make certain the increased price you’ll receive for your product is
sufficient to cover these changes.
The amount of work,
attention to detail and
risk required will increase
dramatically. Make certain
the increased price you’ll
receive for your product
is sufficient to cover these
changes.
Some markets in the world will pay considerably more
for live seafood over fresh and frozen seafood. In April
2007, the Hong Kong’s Fish Marketing Organization’s
Web site listed the wholesale prices for live yellow-
trimmed sea bream, $4.40/lb (HK$72/kg), while fresh
sold at $2.04/lb (HK$35/kg). Similarly, live rabbit fish
sold for $1.98/lb (HK$34/kg) while fresh sold for $0.67/
lb (HK$11.55/kg).
Pacific Northwest seafood exporters have long-recognized
the value of live shellfish over processed shellfish.
Following changes to PSP testing protocol by the Alaska
Department of Environmental Conservation in 2003,
which allowed for more shipments of live geoduck to
leave Alaska, the ex-vessel price per pound went from
$0.72/lb in 2002 to $3.48/lb in 2004. With relatively no
difference in harvest quantity, this increased the value of
the geoduck dive fishery from $280,000 to $1,250,000
for harvests between 2002 and 2004.
Live Seafood:
The Next Value Added?
43
Using your boat for direct marketing can be pretty simple.
Retailing your catch at the dock may not require much
change at all to your basic fishing operation.
Direct marketing from your boat can also be complex.
For example, setting up to process salmon or prawns on board
a “direct-market vessel” can entail considerable investment, and
you’ll have to jump through a lot of regulatory hoops.
The one thing all good direct-market set-ups have in
common is plenty of forethought. Legal requirements governing
direct marketing and onboard process activities vary from place
to place. Your first task is to contact the relevant state and local
agencies where you plan to operate.
Dockside Sales
The most basic form of direct marketing is retailing your
catch to the public directly from your fishing boat. Technically,
you may not need to alter your boat at all. You can haul a fish out
of the hold and hand it directly to your customer. But, practically
speaking, there are things you should do to improve your set-up.
Help make your customers’ trip to the dock to buy seafood an
enjoyable experience and they will be more likely to seek you out
again.
Try to moor in an easily accessible place. Long walks to the
end of a float can discourage customers — particularly if they
have to lug a heavy load of fish back to their car. Work with
your harbormaster to establish a service-oriented experience for
seafood consumers at your harbor.
Keep your boat shipshape and clean. Extra care is warranted
when retailing to the public. A processor may be perfectly
understanding of a lot of gear on deck, and fish coming out of
bloody slush ice, but many retail customers will be put off. Fish
ready for sale should look as good as those at a seafood counter.
No pets. It’s unsanitary having dogs and cats running
around where you are selling food. It’s also unwise to allow
rambunctious kids to play around on deck. If the kids aren’t
taking part in selling product, you should confine them to the
wheelhouse or the dock.
Maintain a covered area.
In some places, it’s required.
A cover protects product from
what regulations refer to as
“avian fecal contamination.” If
you can set up a cover that also
offers your customers standing
on the dock a little shelter from
the rain, that’s a big plus, too.
Keep enough change on hand. If you are hoping to sell
somebody a couple of nice fat salmon for $25 apiece — or more
— be prepared to break a $100 bill. A lot of dockside fish sales
are made on weekends, when banks are closed, so think about
this in advance. Having a cash box makes things easier. If you
have policies like “Local Checks Only – ID Required,” it’s a
good idea to post them where they can be easily seen.
Use nice signage. A scrap of cardboard with a hastily
scribbled note in marker pen doesn’t speak well of your business.
Make some decent signs. If you can’t print neatly or spell
properly find a friend, relative or fellow fisherman who can.
Include a price list. A chalkboard can look very nice and allow
you to make changes as needed. For directional signs and other
signage off the boat, be accurate and clear. Don’t forget to check
with the harbormaster and other authorities about posting signs
in public areas.
Bags or boxes. Customers need a way to get their purchases
back to their car in some sort of packaging that won’t leak fish
juices all over everything. Whatever you use, make sure you have
enough on hand. Waxed boxes are great and people are often
willing to pay for them, rather than have the carpets of their new
BMW slimed.
Carry the fish to the customer’s car. This is a nice touch
if you can break away to do it. Two or three big cohos in a
33-gallon plastic garbage bag can be a real load. Obviously, you
have to weigh this against being away from the boat. This is the
sort of service that’ll get you remembered and referred to other
potential customers.
Be a good Scout – In your personal comportment and
12
Setting Up Your Boat for
Direct Marketing
Greg Fisk
SeaFisk Consulting and Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Help make your
customers’ trip to the
dock to buy seafood an
enjoyable experience and
they will be more likely to
seek you out again.
44
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
the way you do business, it helps to be “Trustworthy, Helpful,
Friendly, Courteous, Clean,” as per the Boy Scout Oath. Treat
customers honestly. Be prepared to answer questions. Do your
best not to be surly — “sirs” and “ma’ams” don’t hurt — and
don’t look or act like a slob. You’re going to get some customers
who are stupid, unpleasant or even downright hostile. Be
prepared to tough them out with a smile. Finally, be business-
like.
So, You Want to Process and Direct-Market Your
Catch?
Welcome to the club. This has been a dream of lots of
fishermen who want to improve the return they get from their
catch. Some sell their catch to regular processors on shore –
many freezer trollers for example. But, for many, the motivation
is direct marketing. For all such operations. a few basic concepts
apply.
Space - Get as much room as you can afford. If you are
starting from scratch, buy the biggest platform you can afford.
If you are constrained by your existing boat, be realistic in your
expectations and do all you can to free-up space.
Think out your process from start to finish. How is the catch
landed and moved around the boat or facility? What will happen
to the catch, and where? How will it be stored?
The specific regulations you will have to follow vary from
one jurisdiction to another. The suggestions made here are only
general. There is no substitute for reading and understanding the
regulations yourself. Talk with the responsible authorities before
setting up your vessel or small shore operation for direct market
processing. Regulatory authorities want to help you succeed and
often can supply a lot of good advice but, remember, their first
responsibility is to ensure public food safety.
Surfaces - The surfaces that come into direct contact
with your product must be of
food-grade materials — that is,
materials that are easy to clean and sanitize, do not impart
tastes or odors and do not promote bacterial growth and
contamination. Regulations in your area may allow properly
treated wood surfaces, but non-porous metal and food grade
plastics are your best bets, and, when it comes to metals, go
stainless if you can. A lot of operations use aluminum tables,
but aluminum corrodes and pits easily. Good-quality stainless
steel is durable, easy to clean and resistant to chemicals and
corrosion. It’s expensive but bargains may be found by shopping
at restaurant supply houses. Often standard restaurant shelving,
cutting tables and sink set-ups can be used directly or customized
to work on your boat.
Non-food contact surfaces in your processing area must
also be addressed. First, processing functions need protection
from the elements and from outside sources of contamination.
Many boats use converted bait
sheds for processing purposes.
Aluminum bait sheds can work
just fine, but pay attention to:
•
The interior framing,
to make sure surfaces
drain well, don’t readily
accumulate dirt and contaminants and are easy to reach
with cleaners and sanitizers. These principles apply to
processing shelters made of other materials as well. In an
ideal situation, on-board processing areas should be lined
with impervious, easy-to-clean, non-porous paneling, just
like that used in on-shore processing operations.
•
Possible sources of contamination, such as fuel or hydraulic
lines, which should be re-routed and/or shielded to prevent
drips or leaks contaminating product or product contact
surfaces. This may include running such lines through
protective conduit or routing lines below or outside
processing areas. For hydraulics, consider switching to
food-grade fluid if re-routing is difficult or costly. You may
have to do this anyway if you are using hydraulic power in
your processing line, for instance, to power a conveyor or
similar machinery.
•
The floor of your processing area, which should be designed
to drain well and be easily flushed, cleaned and sanitized.
False decks that are common on many fishing boats can
readily accumulate gurry and contaminants. Grating should
be easy to lift and clean.
Lighting - Your processing area should be bright. This is
important for properly working product and for effective cleanup
and sanitation. Regulations may prescribe required illumination
levels. Lighting in processing areas should be with safety-type
fixtures suitable for marine environments and designed to
prevent breakage and contamination of product and surfaces.
Water supply - Regulations in your area are likely to be quite
specific about process water supply. Clean seawater may or may
not be acceptable for primary rinsing, product transport and
initial product processing operations. Check regulations. In any
case, you should always:
• Avoid any highly turbid or nearshore waters;
• Never use water taken from inside a harbor;
• Stay away from other vessels while processing;
• Do not flush your head or pump out sanitary holding tanks
while drawing processing water. (Your water and sanitary
systems should have valves that physically prevent this
possibility, even if that is not a requirement of regulations in
your area.)
Regulatory authorities want
to help you succeed and
often can supply a lot of good
advice but, remember, their
first responsibility is to ensure
public food safety.
45
• Make sure that your
processing water system is
segregated from any other
pumping system. Cross-
connections with bilge
pumps and other non-
sanitary systems are not
permissible.
Systems are available to
provide continuous treatment of processing water with chlorine
or other agents, including acidified chlorine dioxide and ozone.
Such systems work well and may be required in your area. Batch
chlorination of final rinsewater may be an acceptable alternative,
if allowed by regulation. If using batch chlorination, give
products a thorough final rinse in the chlorinated solution, keep
careful tabs on residual chlorination levels (such checks are likely
specified in regulation) and change the solution frequently.
Cleaning and Sanitizing - “Cleanliness is next to godliness”
and nowhere is that more important than in seafood processing.
You simply must keep your processing area clean. Effective
cleaning and sanitizing starts with good organization. Your
processing area should be simple and uncluttered. Eliminate
hard-to-clean nooks and crannies and keep processing surfaces
accessible. Bleeding tanks, cutting tables and other processing
areas should be flushed regularly and kept free of excessive build-
up of blood and gurry while processing.
Cleaning and sanitizing should begin immediately after
you have finished processing. Start with a good washdown
with plenty of clean water. Follow with a good scrubbing of all
surfaces with a detergent that is approved for food processing
areas. Do not use phenolic cleaners such as Lysol® or PineSol®.
Keep a good set of scrub brushes on hand, specifically for these
cleaning purposes. Brushes and plenty of elbow grease can do
a fine job. Remember to give a little extra effort to those hard-
to-reach places that can harbor bacteria. Thoroughly rinse off
all detergent. Next, apply sanitizing solution throughout the
processing area. An effective sanitizing solution can be prepared
with simple household bleach and clean water.
Pressure washers are excellent for cleaning and sanitizing
and can significantly reduce your workload. Pressure washer
units designed for marine use are available at reasonable
prices. They can be mounted in your engine room, with outlets
conveniently located on deck, where they are needed.
Effective cleaning and
sanitizing starts with good
organization. Your processing
area should be simple and
uncluttered.
Setting Up Your Boat for Direct Marketing
46
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
47
In recent years, the spot prawn fishery has seen a lot of growth
in direct marketing activity. In North America, there are active
prawn fisheries from southern California to Southeast Alaska.
Spot prawns lend themselves to direct marketing for several
reasons:
• Catch rates are modest, so the physical burden of handling
and the amount of space needed is not great.
• Pot or trap gear is standard in the fishery, so costs of gearing
up are pretty reasonable and the gear is fairly easy to fish.
• Prawns are in high demand and supply is quite limited, so
prices are high.
• Marketing opportunities exist with several product forms —
live, fresh tails, frozen tails and whole frozen.
Spot prawns are much sought-after in Japan. They are often
served as sashimi and are commonly referred to as
botan-ebi.
Japan dominates the market for West Coast spot prawns,
with roughly 90 percent of British Columbia’s production and 50
percent of Alaska’s production being exported to Japan. Nearly
75 percent of all West Coast production ends up in Japan in a
typical year. The domestic market is also dominated by Asian-
American ethnic markets in the cities of San Francisco and Los
Angeles.
In ethnic seafood markets in Los Angeles and San Francisco,
high percentages of prawns are sold live. Ex-vessel prices are in
the range of $10.00 to $13.00 per pound, and retail prices can
be astronomical. There are also strong markets for live prawns in
Seattle and Vancouver.
Prawns are temperamental but can be successfully held
for a number of days on board the fishing vessel with a good
circulating tank. Temperature, oxygen and salinity must be
carefully monitored. Keeping prawns at a lower than ambient
seawater temperature slows down metabolism and seems to help
reduce mortality. Water to replenish circulating systems should
be drawn from well below the surface to avoid thermal shock
and low-salinity surface water that can quickly kill the prawns.
However, the best practice is to get the live prawns delivered as
soon as possible.
Most prawn fishing takes place in British Columbia and
Alaska in areas remote from major live markets. Whole prawns
deteriorate very rapidly after death because of enzymes in these
animals’ gut and thorax. Quality of the valuable tail meat can
be extended by quickly removing the tails and chilling them. For
this reason, fishermen have been “poppin’ heads” on shrimp for
decades. In Alaska, it is common for fishermen to fill five-gallon
lidded buckets with shrimp tails and to immerse the buckets in
slush ice. This works well to keep tails fresh somewhat longer,
but the tails still deteriorate rapidly, compared to most fish.
Processors often charter floatplanes to remote fishing locations to
pick up the buckets of tails.
Selling fresh tails at dockside is fairly common, but a high
percentage of “fresh tails” are sold to shore-based processors
who freeze them for later wholesale. This results in the lowest
price to the fisherman, however. Processor prices for fresh tails
have been in the range of $4.00 to $5.00 in recent years. With
tails yielding roughly 50 percent, that means a price of $2.00 to
$2.50 per whole pound.
Many fishermen have responded to that price / quality
dilemma by freezing at sea and direct-marketing their catch.
Direct marketing takes several forms – retailing to the general
public, selling to stores and restaurants, or simply bypassing
processors and selling through specialized brokers.
Frozen tails can easily yield double the price of fresh tails
sold to a processor, which makes it worthwhile to invest in the
freezing equipment, packaging and extra production and sales
effort.
Another big step in value can be taken by freezing whole,
sushi-grade prawns onboard. Prices for whole frozen have
been in the range of $6.00 to $9.00 in recent years. Since this
is effectively three to four times the value of fresh tails sold to a
processor, the allure of whole-frozen to the fisherman is obvious.
However, processing sushi-grade prawns is labor-intensive and
requires careful attention to detail.
Spot prawns for Japan are graded according to a generally
accepted standard. The grades are counts of whole prawns per
kilogram.
Direct Marketing Prawns
Greg Fisk
SeaFisk Consulting and Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
13
48
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
S
Small
40+
M
Medium
34/40
L
Large
25/33
XL
Extra Large
20/24
XXL
Extra, Extra Large (or Jumbo)
15/19
XXXL
Jumbo (Extra Jumbo)
10/14
Careful size grading is very important, as buyers are looking
for uniformity within grades. Most Alaska production falls
within M, L and XL grades, with a small amount of XXL. Very
few Extra Jumbos are seen, and the mesh size restrictions on pots
pretty much eliminate the S grade.
After size grading, live prawns are dipped in an anti-oxidant
solution. This solution helps preserve the color of the prawns
after they are frozen. Most buyers provide their preferred
compounds. Some are legal for sale in the U.S., others are not,
so if you are thinking of selling
part of your catch to domestic
sushi bars make sure you use a
solution that is US government
approved.
Right after the dip, the
prawns are carefully “finger”
packed. The 1 kg prawn box
is standard on the West Coast.
The boxes are then placed in
the flash freezer. Once frozen, the boxed prawns are then be
packed in master cartons (12 boxes per carton) and held at a
constant -30° Celsius (-22°F) onboard.
All this requires a substantial investment in top quality
freezing systems, processing set-up, and materials. It also means
more manpower. Nonetheless, the great majority of the vessels
fishing prawns in British Columbia are equipped to freeze on
board, and fully 80 per cent of the BC catch is produced in
this manner. An additional 10 percent is produced in the same
product form but is done in shore plants where fishermen can
deliver live product. The remaining 10 percent goes to the live
and fresh markets in Vancouver, with some of that being shipped
live to California. In Alaska, roughly 50 percent of production is
now done for the Japanese market.
The trader’s role is to match
the flow of product to
the demand by “sourcing”
from numerous suppliers
and trying to supply each
customer what he or she
needs.
Product
Price
Round Weight
Equivalent
Comments
Live
$7.00 - $15.00
same
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver support substantial live
markets, but if you are not fishing within quick trucking distance these are
not practical alternatives. Your local area might support limited sales off
your vessel.
Fresh Tails
$4.00 - $5.00
$2.00 - $2.50
Whole fresh is an alternative in the big urban areas, but isn’t practical for
most fishermen because of rapid spoilage. Fresh tails are a better bet. But
the major market for fresh tails is to processors who freeze the tails for later
sale.
Frozen Tails
$8.00 - $15.00
$4.00 - $7.50
A good alternative for many fishermen. Basic freezing systems will do,
as frozen tails are not as demanding as sushi-grade. Readily accepted
product form for domestic consumers. Market readily absorbs all available
production.
Whole Frozen
$6.00 - $9.00
same
Top dollar for frozen product, limited down time from fishing, greater
operational flexibility. But “nit-picky” production requirements and
competition from other “sweet” shrimp sources make the market a bit
variable.
49
Processing frozen prawn tails at sea is less “nit-picky” than
doing Japanese pack but still requires some care. Some fishermen
sell “ocean run,” but most do at least basic grading into large,
medium and small sizes. Typical packs are individually quick-
frozen (IQF) in bags or frozen in boxes.
IQF product is usually done on freezer pans, spray glazed
after freezing, then packed in Ziploc-type bags — typically two
pounds per bag. IQF product is convenient for consumers to use
but the glazing usually is not as effective and the product is more
prone to freezer burn. Most boxed product goes into standard
one-kilogram prawn boxes.
Once frozen, the boxes are opened, quickly dipped in glaze
and drained. This results in a durable glaze but the product is
more of a block and a bit less convenient. A popular glaze is
made with clean, fresh water and corn syrup. The corn syrup
adds flexibility and staying power to the glaze.
In Alaska, the number of prawn freezer boats and the
proportion of frozen at-sea product are both increasing steadily.
Trollers who had already equipped their vessels to freeze salmon
have adapted their systems to also freeze prawns. However,
increasing numbers of fishermen are investing in systems designed
primarily for prawns. Deck- or hatch-mounted single-contact
plate freezers are popular, and hatch-mounted blast freezing units
are also available.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
51
You’ve had some experience and success in marketing your
seafood to domestic markets and you’ve heard that export
markets may be more profitable. Or, you have an opportunity to
exploit a specialty product that is sold only into an international
market. Be prepared to encounter a variety of new opportunities
and challenges.
Frozen-at-sea trollers in Oregon and Washington have
created opportunities in selling under 10-pound king and under
six-pound coho salmon to Japan. Pacific cod longliners have a
ready market for their product in the Far East. Divers for sea
cucumber in Southeast Alaska ship their product to Hong Kong.
Coastal Oregon fishermen are experimenting with live shipment
of crab and rockfish to Taiwan.
The challenges are found in dealing with the 17-hour
time difference with the Far East and the foreign languages,
international trade regulations, changes in packaging and
different business practices to be encountered when entering the
export market.
Exporting means selling your seafood products in new
markets, often in new ways or new configurations. There is
much that will be unfamiliar to first-time exporters. Gaining
success in the midst of this “newness” means a substantial
amount of work requiring new commitments and resources. For
those of you facing the decision whether to export, we offer a list
of some of the issues commonly faced in deciding if exporting is
the right choice for your seafood operation at this point in time:
• Do you have someone you can hire or contract who is
familiar with seafood export procedures?
Traders and
brokers with a long history of international sales abound
in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Larger foreign buyers
have company representatives with offices in Seattle.
• Can you afford to dedicate the time and energy required for
an export project?
If you are part of your fishing operation,
are you willing to come ashore and tackle the selling and
marketing of your product?
• Do you have the production capacity to accommodate
export sales?
Domestic niche markets can often
accommodate less-than-truckload (LTL) sales. Products
such as live shellfish and
fresh salmon also can be
exported via air freight
in LTL quantities. But
foreign markets for such
commodities as frozen
salmon, bottomfish, and
crab demand sales in
vanload quantities.
• Do you have the capital
to invest in developing export markets?
If you do not have
your own dollars or those of a financial backer, selling to a
trader who is familiar with the export market and is willing
to take possession of your product is an option.
• Are you willing to do things (product configuration,
including boxing and labeling, production, selling, etc.) in
new ways?
Often, you must find a custom processor or
packer who is familiar with export requirements or must be
taught by you or your representative those requirements.
When you have considered these issues and feel you are
ready to move forward, there definitely is a steep learning curve.
Five Steps To Success
Step 1: Selecting Possible Markets:
You must make choices of export markets that suit your
product. To do that, you need to ask several questions,
including:
• Which markets are importing fish like ours?
There are
some standards, such as medium coho to France, chums to
England and Germany, cod to Spain and Eastern Europe,
sockeye to Japan and specialty shellfish to the Far East.
However, there are emerging markets in China, Russia
and other locales, where a burgeoning middle class is just
acquiring tastes for salmon and halibut and can pay for
them.
14
Marketing Internationally
Pete Granger
Washington Sea Grant
Bennett Brooks
formerly with Alaska Department of Commerce & Economic
Development
Exporting means selling
your seafood products in
new markets, often in new
ways or new configurations.
There is much that will be
unfamiliar to first-time
exporters.
52
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
• Where are our competitors selling their products?
You
have to gauge whether a market is not already saturated
or if someone is already there and needs more product.
Perhaps it is more to your advantage to partner and combine
production capabilities with a fishermen who has already
pioneered a market.
• Where do we have a cost advantage?
You need to figure
out the following costs for your product and then compare
them to dock prices for similar product to see whether there
is enough margin for you to make it worthwhile
Processing costs, including grading, boxing and cold
storage
Insurance, financing and transaction costs
Loading, transfers and overseas freight
Certification or inspection fees
Documentation
Customs duties, tariffs and taxes
Exchange rate differences (if applicable)
Sales brokerage (if applicable)
Product testing (if applicable)
Additional overhead, such as your time spent on this
new venture.
• Where do we have a product quality advantage?
This may
be the most important advantage you have — the one that
sets you apart from the competition and gets you the extra
profit you are seeking. How do you maintain that product
integrity for the long journey overseas?
• Which markets have contacted us?
Should you be so
fortunate as to be approached by a foreign buyer or a trader
or broker looking for product, by all means investigate and
decide if you should exploit that market with them or on
your own.
Step 2: Investigate Foreign Regulations and Trade Barriers
There is the story of a salmon fisherman who shipped a
short vanload of frozen coho to Japan and added two boxes
of kings as a gift to his buyer. Japan customs agents seized the
entire load, thinking the fisherman was misrepresenting his
product. By the time the buyer and his legal representative had
untangled the mess, all of the fisherman’s profit had been sucked
out of the shipment in legal fees. His letter of credit expired in
the process and payment was delayed another two months!
Doing business across borders is a tangle of regulations and
paperwork. Precision counts and mistakes — particularly when
shipping fresh seafood — can be costly. Most important, you
must be aware that exporting your seafood involves a series of
bureaucratic hurdles, with laws and requirements that vary from
country to country.
Every shipment of seafood you send abroad must be
accompanied by several documents, regardless of country of
destination. At a minimum, these include a
certificate of origin,
commercial invoice and a
packing list.
Many countries require a general
certificate of
wholesomeness, issued by a state or federal agency, depending on
the shipment’s origin. This is especially true if the product is live
shellfish. Others may require more specific testing, depending on
the type of product, especially if it is live shellfish.
For example, if you want to ship seafood to the European
Union (EU), you will first need to be approved by either the
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) or US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). Once you are approved, you are then
registered by FDA on a list that is sent to EU for validation.
Once you are validated by EU you are assigned an FDA number.
This number, together with the catch area where the product was
harvested, and the commercial and Latin name of the product,
has to be included in a document, such as an invoice. This is
done to ensure a perfect traceability of the product. Moreover,
specific labeling, inspection, and document requirements are
applied to different product categories such as fresh, frozen,
canned, etc. Further, each individual country within the EU may
have specific documentation requirements.
It is not impossible for you to handle these requirements by
yourself. However, with all the other worries of your business,
you would be advised to seek help from freight expediters,
customs brokers and your financial institution.
You must also consider tariff rates — the tax imposed
by each country on imports. These tariffs vary greatly and
must be considered in pricing your product, so as to cover
this added cost and provide a profit margin as well. The Web
site of NOAA Fisheries (formerly National Marine Fisheries
Service) contains information on tariff schedules for various
countries and the European Union at
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/
PartnershipsCommunications/tradecommercial/tariffs.html.
Step 3: Learning Foreign Business Practices
You’ve identified a market and learned what paperwork
is needed to qualify and ship your product. Now you need to
familiarize yourself with the culture and business norms of your
product’s international destination. It is also important to know
any trade terms used in international circles. Some of these are
defined in Appendix N of this manual.
As simple a notion as sending faxes on time will go a long
way toward cementing relationships with others, including
buyers in Japan. Late replies to faxes will send a signal to
would-be customers that you may not be trustworthy. Even
53
State Marketing Officials
(for expertise, statistics, foreign offices and contacts,
and knowledge of regulations)
Federal Marketing Officials
• Department of Commerce NOAA/NMFS Office of
Constituency Services
Commercial Fisheries Specialists
European Markets (Belgium Office)
Stephanie Vrignaud: Stephanie.
Vrignaud@mail.doc.gov
Tel: 011-32-2-508-28-42
Fax: 011-32-2-513-12-28
•
Asian Markets (Japan Office)
Tom Asakawa:
Tomohiro.Asakawa@mail.doc.gov
Tel: 011-81-33-224-5077
Fax: 011-81-33-589-4235
State Marketing Programs
• Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute,
www.alaskaseafood.org, 800-806-2497
• Fisheries Development
Department of Commerce, Community & Economic
Development
907-465-5464, 907-465-5085 Fax
www.commerce.state.ak.us/oed/seafood/seafood.cfm
• Washington Office of Trade & Economic Development,
www.cted.wa.gov/contactitd,
206-256-6100
• Oregon Department of Agriculture, Export Service
Center,
www.oda.state.or.us/lab/esc.html
agmarket@oda.state.or.us
503-872-6600, 503-872-6601 Fax
www.oregon.gov/ODA/ADMD
• World Trade Center Alaska,
www.wtcak.org,
907-278-7233
• Washington Department of Agriculture, International
Marketing & Export Assistance,
www.agr.wa.gov/
marketing/International, 360-902-1915.
Trade Publications and Web sites
• Worldcatch – The Wave,
www.waveonline.com
• Intrafish,
www.intrafish.com
• Pacific Fishing Magazine,
www.pfmag.com
• Seafood Business,
www.seafoodbusiness.com
• Infofish,
www.infofish.org
• Globefish,
www.globefish.org
• National Fisherman,
www.nationalfisherman.com
Other
• International Boston Seafood Show,
www.
bostonseafoodshow.com
• Western U.S. Agricultural Trade Association (which
covers seafood products as well).
www.wusata.org/
• European Seafood Expo,
www.euroseafood.com
• China Seafood Show,
www.chinaseafoodshow.com
• Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center,
www.
taacenters.org
Resources for Intenational Marketing Assistance
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
more than in domestic U.S. markets, good relationships with
foreign buyers spell the difference between failure and success.
Once you’ve established a trustworthy relationship — one
based on honesty and fairness — with a buyer in the Far East
or Europe, that sales option for you will last a long time. After
they’ve established such a relationship, foreign buyers tend to be
far less fickle than domestic customers.
One of the ways to build relationships is to observe and
bridge some of the cultural differences while doing international
business. For example, if you have a potential customer from
China, it will not hurt if you make sure that they have at least
one or two meals served with white rice or noodles. Many
Chinese are not used to having western meals with large portions
of potatoes and meat. A simple gesture like that can help foster
life-long business relationships.
Step 4: Financing Your Transaction and Covering
Your Risk
Marketing your fish internationally adds several layers of
risk and expense that must be considered when putting together
your business plan and calculating your costs.
Extra costs can involve such things as additional time and
energy overseeing the operation, international travel to make
arrangements and meet customers, and shipping and insurance to
cover contingencies that occur once the product leaves the U.S.
You must be prepared for any and all contingencies. For
example, what if your fresh shipper left your shipment of
sockeye on the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
and it spoiled? What should you do if your product arrives in
Taipei and the buyer backs out of the deal — or worse, they
pick up the product and refuse to pay? You obviously need
to take protective measures to deal with these and a myriad of
other contingencies. These include: proper product, transport
and customs insurance; secure payment methods, including
Irrevocable Letters of Credit (most big regional or national banks
have international business departments that handle these); and
establishing a trustworthy relationship with the buyer before any
transactions occur.
Pay particular attention to how you are getting paid. Is
payment in U.S. dollars or foreign currency? What is the
exchange rate at time of transaction? Is the selling price quoted
covering your freight and insurance costs to destination (CIF –
fish cost, insurance, freight or C&F – fish cost, freight) or does
foreign buyer cover those costs (FOB – free on board)?
Step 5: Choosing Partners
After you have identified some target markets that fit
your seafood product and have learned about the different
regulations, business practices and financial aspects of exporting,
you are still going to need some assistance from partners or
direct representatives who can help with sales, transporting
and financing. We’ve already discussed the benefits of freight
expeditors, customs brokers and financial institutions. However,
if you really are committed to exporting and simply don’t have
the time or expertise to initiate all this by yourself, you need to
engage a sales agent or partner. Sales agents can help answer
these critical questions:
• What are the habits of consumption? How do they differ
from your home market?
• What do consumers expect from the products?
• What is the pricing for these products?
• What are the trade margins?
• How are the products packaged?
• What will be the cost of product adaptation?
• Be patient, persistent, committed. Short-term wins in
international trade are the exception. Be ready to spend
years developing a market
• Start small and don’t promise more than you can
deliver. Your credibility as a reliable supplier is
essential.
• Develop an international marketing plan that focuses
on just one or two countries. Don’t chase orders from
around the world.
• Pay attention to your overseas buyers, even when
the domestic market booms. Long-term, stable
relationships are critical.
• No two markets are alike. Be willing to modify your
product’s processing, packaging, etc. to meet the needs
of your foreign buyer.
• Know the import laws and norms of your buyer’s
market and don’t deviate. If necessary, hire experienced
intermediaries such as expediters, brokers and traders,
to ensure you are satisfying all regulations.
• Communicate frequently and clearly with your buyer.
Be prompt in answering all queries.
Marketing Intenationally:
Top Seven Suggestions
55
Two types of sales partners are available to you: traders
and brokers. Traders buy your product, usually at your place
of processing or storage in the U.S. By taking possession of the
product, they remove the financial and product quality risks.
However, the price they pay you will reflect their assumption
of those risks as well. Traders will generally keep your product
in your packaging and promote it as such when it reaches its
destination market.
Brokers are sales agents who sell a seafood product for
you on commission. Usually brokers do not buy or acquire
ownership of your product. They generally handle much of the
paperwork, including arranging the financial instruments, for a
fee that is negotiable. On seafood, this fee ranges from two to
five percent of the sales price, but it can also be on a cents-per-
pound basis.
Once you’ve used a sales agent or broker to get your export
business started, there may come a time when you want to take
over that function yourself.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Fisheries Business Financing and
Business Assistance in Alaska
Sunny Rice, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Many business owners get started without commercial financing
by borrowing from friends and relatives. However, commercial banks,
cooperative lending institutions and government loan programs are
sources of small business financing and are good places to begin the
search for capital.
Consider contacting a lender to describe the business plan prior
to completing any formal application. A business lender will provide
helpful feedback about the business and the environment in which it
will operate. Developing a relationship with a loan officer is a useful
step toward becoming a successful business owner.
State and federal governments also offer a variety of loan
programs for small businesses. Some of these programs are offered
exclusively to Alaska Natives, veterans, women and minorities.
Not all business assistance programs offer loans but may provide
technical assistance to help you prepare loan applications and qualify
for financing. The following is a list of resources for loans and for
technical assistance.
See also the Alaska Sea Grant publication
Business Resource
Guide for Alaska Fishermen for a more comprehensive list of business,
technical and financial resources.
Technical and Financial Resources
• Alaska Business Development Center, Inc. (ABDC)
3335 Arctic Blvd, Ste 203
Anchorage, AK 99503
Phone: (907) 562-0335
Toll Free: (800) 478-3474
Fax: (907) 562-6988
www.abdc.org
The Alaska Business Development Center, Inc. (ABDC) is a
nonprofit corporation that offers personalized technical and
financial services to Alaskan small businesses, with a specialized
focus on Alaskan commercial fishermen and seafood businesses.
ABDC also offers workshops for business training in various
topics such as cash flow management, loan packaging and
strategic planning.
• Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and
Economic Development (DCCED)
550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1770
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 269-5734
Fax: (907) 269-8125
www.dced.state.ak.us
Facilitates economic development and employment opportunities,
particularly in rural Alaska. Offers specialized assistance in
tourism, fisheries and minerals sectors.
Appendix A
• TCC Business Development Center
122 1st Avenue, 2nd Floor, Suite 202A
Fairbanks, AK 99701
Phone: (907) 452-8251
Fax: (907) 459-3957
www.tccbusinessdevelopment.com
Dedicated to improving economic growth in Alaska by expanding
lending opportunities made available to small businesses. The
BDC provides capital that will improve economic growth by
creating and maintaining jobs.
• Alaska Regional Development Organizations (ARDORs)
Office of Economic Development
550 West 7th Ave., Suite 1770
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 269-8104
Fax: (907) 269-8125
www.commerce.state.ak.us/oed/ardor/ardor.htm
ARDORs were created as means for the state to work with
communities to stimulate economic development. These nonprofit
organizations are located throughout the state and provide
assistance with business plan writing, business workshops and
technical assistance.
• Alaska Village Initiatives (AVI)
1557 C Street, Suite 304
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 274-5400
Toll Free: (800) 478-2332
Fax: (907) 263-9971
www.alaskavillageinitiatives.com
AVI is a nonprofit membership based rural community
development corporation that offers a variety of business
assistance and loan programs to both members and nonmembers.
These programs include business education and development,
various loan funds, demonstration economic development,
computer training and assistance and cooperative development
programs.
• Alaska DCCED Division of Investments
P.O. Box 34159
Juneau. AK 99803-4159
(907) 465-2510 or (800) 478-5626
(907) 465-2103 Fax
investment@commerce.state.ak.us
www.dced.state.ak.us/investments
The Division of Investments’ primary responsibility is to
administer seven “state loan” programs, each of which is designed
to promote economic development in a particular segment of the
state’s economy. Of possible interest to fisheries direct marketers
is the Commercial Fishing Revolving Loan Program, although
others may pertain in some cases.
57
• Alaska DCCED Office of Fisheries Development
P.O. Box 110804
Juneau, AK 99801-0804
(907) 465-5464
(907) 465-5085 Fax
debbie_maas@commerce.state.ak.us
www.commerce.state.ak.us/oed/seafood/seafood.cfm
Office of Fisheries Development provides a variety of information
and services pertaining to fisheries, seafood marketing and related
matters. Staff can help fishermen locate sources of financing and
can point to other sources of information. OFD maintains a large
fisheries-related website.
• Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
P.O. Box 25520
Juneau, AK 99802
Phone: (907) 586-7103
Toll Free: (800) 645-8397
Fax: (907) 586-7037
www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs
The Credit and Finance Office of the BIA offers business
assistance and referrals for Alaska Native-owned and -controlled
new and expanding businesses. BIA contracts with tribes and
regional nonprofits to provide credit and finance services. BIA
also provides loan guarantees for small business owners on loans
made by a commercial bank.
• Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank
2550 Denali Street, Suite 1201
Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 276-2007 or (800) 544-2228
(907) 279-7913 Fax
www.cfabalaska.com
CFAB is a member-owned lending cooperative that specializes in
fishing, agriculture, tourism and other resource-based industries.
It is a major lender in the Alaska commercial fisheries, making
loans for vessels, permits, quotas, gear, processing equipment and
shore-based facilities.
• Small Business Administration (SBA)
510 L Street, Suite 310
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 271-4022
Toll Free: (800) 755-7034
Fax: (907) 271-4545
www.sba.gov
SBA is a federal agency that offers financing, training and
advocacy for small businesses. SBA has multiple programs that
assist small businesses in becoming successful. Many of these
programs focus on minority-owned businesses. SBA also offers
online training in short format or week-long seminars.
• Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program (MAP)
1007 W. 3rd Avenue, Suite 100
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 274-9691
Fax: (907) 277-5242
http://seagrant.uaf.edu/map
MAP has a marketing specialist, a fisheries business specialist and
several seafood quality specialists, and has publications written
for commercial fishermen on preparation of financial statements,
on borrowing alternatives and completing loan applications.
MAP agents are also located in Ketchikan, Petersburg, Juneau,
Cordova, Homer, Dillingham, Bethel, Kodiak, Nome and
Anchorage. Six MAP agents helped produce this marketing
manual.
• University of Alaska Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
430 West 7th Avenue, Suite 110
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 274-7232
Toll Free: (800) 478-7232
Fax: (907) 274-9524
www.aksbdc.org
The University of Alaska SBDC offers business assistance and
provides workshops and programs focused on Alaskan small
businesses. SBDC has offices located in various communities
throughout the state as well as a Rural Business Outreach
Program.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Appendix B
Working with the IFQ Program
John Kingeter, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Alaska, NOAA Fisheries
Office for Law Enforcement
Fishermen who legally harvest halibut and sablefish under the
IFQ program may direct-market their catch, provided that they comply
with all the pertinent state and federal regulations. The Federal
regulations are summarized below.
IFQ Permits: An IFQ permit authorizes participation in the
fixed-gear commercial fishery for Pacific halibut off Alaska and most
sablefish fisheries off Alaska. IFQ permits are issued to persons and
are not specific to vessels. Permits are issued annually, at no charge, to
persons holding fishable Pacific halibut and sablefish quota.
IFQ Card: Any individual who commercially harvests halibut
or sablefish with authorized gear must have a valid IFQ card issued
pursuant to an IFQ permit, be aboard the vessel at all times during
the fishing operation, sign any required fish tickets, and sign the IFQ
landing report. IFQ cards are not specific to vessels except for hired
skipper IFQ cards which authorize named individuals to harvest IFQ
fish on one particular vessel only.
Processing: Processing definition includes cooking, canning,
smoking, salting, drying, freezing but does not mean icing, bleeding,
heading or gutting. It is unlawful to possess processed and unprocessed
IFQ species on board a vessel during the same trip except when fishing
exclusively with IFQ derived from vessel category A quota share (QS).
Only category A sablefish may be processed at sea. Halibut may not be
processed at sea except that only category A halibut IFQ cardholders
may freeze whole halibut at sea. All halibut must be either gutted and
gilled or headed and gutted only. Halibut may not be filleted or further
processed on a vessel.
Fish other than IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish may be processed on a
vessel, as long as no persons aboard the vessel are authorized to harvest
IFQ halibut based on allocations of IFQ resulting from QS assigned to
vessel categories B, C, or D. In other words, no processing of any fish
may take place on a vessel when any person on board is authorized to
harvest halibut that cannot be processed at sea.
Prior Notice of Landing (PNOL): The operator of any vessel
making an IFQ landing must notify NOAA Fisheries Office for Law
Enforcement (OLE) no fewer than 3 hours before landing IFQ halibut
or IFQ sablefish. This PNOL must be made to the OLE Data Clerks
at 800-304-4846 (select option 1) between the hours of 0600, Alaska
local time, and 2400 hours, A.l.t. A PNOL must contain information
as listed by the regulations.
Transshipment Authorization: In addition to the PNOL and
landing report requirements, to transship frozen IFQ halibut or
processed IFQ sablefish (“A” category QS only) between vessels, vessel
operators must obtain authorization from a local OLE Officer or
Special Agent. Authorization must be obtained for each instance of
transshipment at least 24 hours before the transshipment is intended to
commence. Vessel operators must submit information as listed in the
regulations.
The purpose of the PNOL and Transshipment Authorization is
to facilitate enforcement monitoring and auditing of offloads to verify
accuracy of catch reports. In addition, PNOLs facilitate biological
sampling by the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
A Registered Buyer Permit is required for any person to receive
IFQ halibut or sablefish or CDQ halibut from the person that harvested
the fish. It is unlawful to make an IFQ halibut or sablefish landing
other than directly to (or by) a Registered Buyer. Permits are non-
transferable, issued annually, on request, and at no cost by NMFS
RAM Division.
Nothing in the regulations prevents a fisherman from obtaining a
Registered Buyer Permit and becoming his own permitted receiver of
IFQ fish. In fact, this permit is required of any person who harvests
IFQ halibut or sablefish or CDQ halibut and transfers such fish in
a dockside sale, outside of an IFQ regulatory area or outside of the
State of Alaska. A fisherman who legally harvests IFQ halibut or
sablefish may transfer (including selling) his catch to entities other than
permitted fish processing facilities if he has a Registered Buyer’s permit
and complies with the recordkeeping and reporting requirements of
that permit.
Once one IFQ fish is offloaded, all fish of that species (halibut or
sablefish) must be offloaded from the vessel at that site, weighed, and
debited from the IFQ permit holder’s account under which the catch
was harvested. The vessel operator is legally responsible for the act of
offloading fish. Once landing operations have commenced, the IFQ
cardholder and the harvesting vessel may not leave the landing site
until the IFQ account(s) is properly debited. The offloaded IFQ species
may not be moved from the landing site until the IFQ landing report is
received by OLE and the IFQ cardholder’s account is properly debited.
If a fisherman wishes to transfer or sell only a part of his or her load
(either halibut or sablefish) to one Registered Buyer, he or she must
offload, weigh, and report the entire load. The remaining catch may
then be put back aboard the vessel and held for subsequent transfer to
other receivers. If IFQ fish are loaded back onto the harvesting vessel
after landing, they must be recorded as “retained” on the IFQ landing
report or the Registered Buyer must submit a Product Transfer Report
(See PTR section below) prior to the transfer back to the vessel.
Landing Report: The Registered Buyer must report an IFQ
landing within 6 hours after all such fish are landed, prior to shipment
of said fish away from the landing site, and prior to departure of the
delivery vessel from the landing site. An IFQ landing may commence
only between 0600 hours, A.l.t., and 1800 hours, although there is no
regulatory limit on how much time is taken to complete the offload
once it is commenced (begun), regulations require the offload to be
continuous in a manner that does not defeat enforcement monitoring.
Electronic landing reports must be submitted to OLE. NMFS
now offers two electronic options by which Registered Buyers
may report IFQ landings and CDQ halibut landings: Automated
Transaction Machines (ATMs) or the Internet. It is the responsibility
of the Registered Buyer to locate or procure an ATM and report
as required. Or, if reporting the landing via Internet, it is the
responsibility of the Registered Buyer to obtain at his or her own
expense, hardware, software and Internet connectivity to support
Internet submissions and report as required.
The IFQ cardholder must initiate a landing report by using his
or her own magnetic card and personal identification number (PIN)
as well as supplying the area of harvest information. The Registered
Buyer must accurately submit the rest of the information for the
59
landing report as listed in the regulations.
An IFQ landing report must be completed and the IFQ account(s)
properly debited within 6 hours after the completion of the IFQ
landing. If unprocessed IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish is offloaded from
a vessel, the scale weight of the halibut or sablefish actually measured
at the time of the offload is required to be reported on the IFQ landing
report.
If processed IFQ sablefish or frozen IFQ halibut (“A” category
quota share only) is offloaded from a vessel, the scale weight of the
halibut or sablefish processed product actually measured at or before
the time of offload may be reported on the IFQ landing report. If
the product scale weights are taken before the time of offload, then
the species and actual product weight of each box or container
must be visibly marked on the outside of each container to facilitate
enforcement inspection and auditing during offload.
After the Registered Buyer enters the landing data and a receipt
is printed, both the IFQ cardholder and the Registered Buyer’s
representative must sign the receipt to acknowledge the accuracy of the
landing report. Legible copies of the receipt must be retained by both
the Registered Buyer and the IFQ cardholder.
Nothing in regulation specifically prohibits the transfer of IFQ
catch to tenders for delivery to processors. However, an electronic
landing report must be filed, IFQ accounts debited, and signatures
obtained on-site at the time of offload. As of mid-2003 no operators
had successfully devised a way of filing electronic landing reports from
tender vessels at sea. So, from a practical perspective, the practice of
tendering IFQ fish is prohibited until a reliable system of legally filing
electronic landing reports at sea is operational.
Dockside Sales: Dockside sale means the transfer of IFQ halibut
or IFQ sablefish from the person who harvested it to individuals for
personal consumption, and not for resale. A Registered Buyer’s Lermit
is required of any person who harvests IFQ halibut or sablefish and
transfers such fish in a dockside sale. A Registered Buyer conducting
dockside sales must issue a receipt in lieu of a shipment report, that
includes the date of sale or transfer, the Registered Buyer Permit
number, and the fish product weight of the IFQ sablefish or halibut
transferred to each individual receiving IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish.
All IFQ fish must be off-loaded, weighed, and a landing report
submitted as described earlier before transferring them in a dockside
sale.
IFQ Departure Report: A vessel operator who intends to make
an IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish, or CDQ halibut landing outside of
Alaska must submit an IFQ Departure Report, by telephone, to OLE
at 800-304-4846 (select option 1) between the hours of 0600 A.l.t.,
and 2400 hours, A.l.t. The vessel operator must submit the Departure
Report after completion of all fishing and prior to departing the waters
of the EEZ adjacent to Alaska when IFQ halibut, CDQ halibut, or
IFQ sablefish are on board. The vessel operator submitting an IFQ
Departure Report must also have an IFQ Registered Buyer Permit and
must submit landing reports for all IFQ halibut and sablefish on board
at the same time and place as the first landing of any IFQ species. The
vessel operator submitting an IFQ Departure Report must ensure that
one or more IFQ cardholders are on board with enough remaining
IFQ balance to harvest amounts of IFQ halibut, CDQ halibut or
IFQ sablefish equal to or greater than all IFQ halibut, CDQ halibut
and IFQ sablefish on board. The vessel operator must provide the
information on the IFQ Departure Report as listed in the regulations.
IFQ Fees: A Registered Buyer that also operates as a shoreside
processor and receives and purchases IFQ landings of sablefish or
halibut must submit annually to NMFS a complete IFQ Buyer Report
not later than October 15 following the reporting period in which the
IFQ Registered Buyer receives the IFQ fish. The Registered Buyer must
submit information as listed in the regulations. The Cost Recovery
percentage is set annually. In 2002, it was set at 2.0 percent of the
ex-vessel value of IFQ harvests. Fee Summaries (billings) are mailed to
IFQ permit holders in November. Payments are due by January.
State Sablefish Fisheries: Federally permitted IFQ sablefish
fishermen commercially fishing for sablefish in the State of Alaska’s
Prince William Sound fishery or under a State of Alaska limited
entry program are not subject to the IFQ regulations requiring their
accounts be debited. However, in all other State sablefish fisheries
(such as North Gulf or Aleutian districts), all sablefish caught must
be debited against an IFQ account if any persons on board the vessel
currently holds IFQ sablefish quota shares, IFQ sablefish permits, or
IFQ sablefish cards during the fishing trip regardless of the IFQ area in
which they hold quota share and regardless of their remaining account
balance. Note: fishermen holding only halibut IFQ quota share, IFQ
permits, or IFQ cards and fishing in these State sablefish fisheries are
not thusly restricted.
Vessel Activity Reports: Catcher vessels greater than 60 ft L.OA,
all catcher/processors, and all motherships holding a Federal fisheries
permit and carrying fish or products onboard must complete and
submit a Vessel Activity Report (VAR) by FAX or electronic file to
OLE before the vessel crosses the seaward boundary of the EEZ off
Alaska or crosses the U.S.--Canadian international boundary between
Alaska and British Columbia. The vessel operator must submit
accurate information as listed in the regulations. If a vessel is carrying
only IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish, or CDQ halibut onboard and the
operator has submitted a Departure Report, a VAR is not required.
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Groundfish
Any person or vessel that receives unprocessed groundfish must
have a Federal processor permit (FPP) and must comply with the
recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Consult the regulations
for descriptions and requirements for recordkeeping and reporting.
Requirements could include the following:
Catcher vessel Daily Fishing Logbooks (DFL)
Catcher/processor Daily Cumulative Production Logbooks (DCPL)
Buying Station Reports
Shoreside Processor Electronic Logbook Report (SPELR)
Product Transfer Reports (PTS) see below
Check-in/check-out reports
Weekly Production Reports (WPRs)
Daily production report (DPR)
Commercial Operator ’s Annual Report (COAR)
Product Transfer Report (PTR): Except as specifically
exempted, federally permitted processors and IFQ Registered
Buyers must complete and submit to the NOAA Fisheries Office
for Law Enforcement (OLE) a separate PTR for each transfer of
groundfish, IFQ and CDQ fish from their possession. PTRs must be
completed within two hours of transfer and must be submitted by
FAX (907-586-7313), or electronic file a copy of each PTR to OLE in
Juneau by noon on the Tuesday following the end of the applicable
weekly reporting period (Sunday through Saturday) in which the
transfer occurred. Office of Law Enforcement phone number is
907-586-7225.
PTR Exemptions:
1) Exemption: Bait sales (non-IFQ groundfish only). See
regulations.
2) Exemption: Retail sales. For one day’s retail sales weighing
less than 10 lbs. each may be aggregated record on one PTR
during the calendar day.
3) Exemption: Wholesale sales (non-IFQ groundfish only).
4) Exemption: Dockside sales (IFQ only). A person holding a
valid IFQ permit, IFQ card, and IFQ Registered Buyer permit
may conduct a dockside sale of IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish to a
person who has not been issued an IFQ Registered Buyer permit.
An IFQ Registered Buyer conducting dockside sales must issue a
receipt to each individual receiving IFQ halibut or IFQ sablefish
in lieu of a PTR. This receipt must include the date of sale or
transfer, the IFQ Registered Buyer permit number, and the weight
by product of the IFQ sablefish or IFQ halibut transferred.
5) Exemption: Transfer directly from the landing site to a
processing facility (IFQ only). A PTR is not required for
transportation of unprocessed IFQ species directly from the
landing site to a processing facility for processing the IFQ species,
provided the following conditions are met: A copy of the IFQ
Landing Report receipt accompanies the offloaded IFQ species
while in transit, is available for inspection by an authorized
officer, and the IFQ Registered Buyer still completes a PTR
for each transfer of IFQ halibut and IFQ sablefish from the
processing facility.
For detailed explanation of any of the above requirements,
contact your nearest NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement.
61
Appendix C
Safety and Sanitation Requirements
Dr. Donald Kramer, Marine Advisory Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks
HACCP Requirements
A federal regulation designed to assure safety of seafood produced
in or imported into the United States became effective December 18,
1997. The regulation is 21 CFR Parts 123 and 124 Procedures for
the Safe and Sanitary Processing and Importing of Fish and Fishery
Products; Final Rule. This regulation was established by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and requires use of the Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system for all seafood
processing operations. Many states, including Alaska, Washington
and Oregon, have adopted HACCP as part of their state regulations.
There is a training requirement in the federal regulation. Persons
who develop HACCP plans, reassess or modify HACCP plans, and
perform HACCP record reviews must be trained. Training can
be accomplished by completing a course that uses a curriculum
recognized as adequate by the FDA or by gaining qualification through
job experience.
The University of Alaska Marine Advisory Program teaches
the three-day course developed by the Seafood HACCP Alliance. A
certificate of completion of this course is given by the Association of
Food and Drug Officials (AFDO). For a listing of courses taught in
the United States, go to the University of California Davis Web site at
http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/haccp/training/reg-cal.htm.
The availability of HACCP courses in Alaska can be found on the
Alaska Sea Grant web site at http://www.uaf.edu/MAP/haccp.html
For more information on these courses, contact Donald E. Kramer
in the Anchorage Marine Advisory Program office phone: (907)
274-9695, fax: (907) 277-5242, email:
afdek@uaa.alaska.edu.
In Washington, contact Richard Dougherty, Food Processing
Specialist at Washington State University at (509) 335-0972 and
dougherty@wsu.edu. North West Food Processors Association co-
sponsors some HACCP training conducted by Dr. Dougherty. Contact
Connie Kirby at (503) 639-7676 and ckirby@nwfpa.org. Another
Washington source is Bart Cox at Surefish, at (206) 284-2686 and
bart@surefish.com. Surefish also does training in Oregon and other
states.
The first two days of the three-day Seafood HACCP Alliance
course can be taken as an internet course through Cornell University.
To access the Internet course, go to http://seafoodhaccp.cornell.edu to
review course structure and requirements. Completion of the internet
course does not qualify for the AFDO certificate. To obtain this
certificate, you need to attend the third day of the three-day course or a
Segment Two One-Day Training Course.
Sanitation Requirements
The federal regulation which requires the implementation of
HACCP to ensure seafood safety also requires that each processor
have and implement a written sanitation standard operating procedure
(SSOP) detailing how the following eight sanitation conditions and
practices will be met and monitored.
1. Safety of the water that comes into contact with food or food
contact surfaces, or is used in the manufacture of ice.
2. Condition and cleanliness of food contact surfaces, including
utensils, gloves and outer garments.
3. Prevention of cross-contamination from unsanitary objects to
food, food packaging material and other food contact surfaces,
including utensils, gloves and outer garments, and from raw
product to cooked product.
4. Maintenance of hand washing, hand sanitizing and toilet
facilities.
5. Protection of food, food packaging material, and food contact
surfaces from adulteration with lubricants, fuel, pesticides,
cleaning compounds, sanitizing agents, condensate and other
chemical, physical, and biological contaminants.
6. Proper labeling, storage, and use of toxic compounds.
7. Control of employee health conditions that could result in the
microbiological contamination of food, food packaging materials
and food contact surfaces.
8. Exclusion of pests from the food plant.
There is not a training requirement for the sanitation monitoring
activities mandated by the federal regulation. However, the Seafood
HACCP Alliance has developed a one-day course to assist seafood
processors in developing the SSOP and setting up the monitoring
program.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Appendix D
Common Mistakes in HACCP
Liz Brown, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Federal and state laws require all processors to conduct a hazard
analysis for each of their products and, in the State of Alaska, the
hazard analysis must be a written document.
Catcher-sellers do not fit the definition of “processor” under these
laws, as no processing of seafood is allowed. Other classes of direct
marketers will fall under the requirement if they process, package
or handle their products prior to sale to the public. If processing,
packaging and handling are done by a third party covered by a Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) program, the direct-
marketer need not duplicate that effort.
If, as result of a hazard analysis, it is determined that a hazard is
reasonably likely to occur, a critical control point must be identified
and proper monitoring and record-keeping must be set forth in a
HACCP plan.
The following are common mistakes in HACCP that may pertain
to direct-marketers. The complete set of PDF documents, Common
Mistakes in HACCP, for different subjects may be found at the Alaska
Sea Grant online bookstore, http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore. This
information is intended to supplement HACCP training, which is
available through the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program at
http://uaf.edu/map.
Occasionally, regulations are changed and they are subject to
interpretation by consumers and agencies.
Mistakes Pertaining to Hazard Analysis
Not having a written hazard analysis
The federal regulation says to perform a hazard analysis but does
not require a written document. The Alaska regulation requires a
written document.
Missing hazard analysis parts
There are three essential parts of a hazard analysis. The
product
description should include the species (using the scientific name will
avoid confusion – the FDA “Fish List” of acceptable names is at
http://
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/seaintro.html), form (i.e., frozen, cured, fresh)
and the intended consumer. A flow chart should be drawn, based
on different parts of the plant, individual machines and the addition
of anything that touches the product, including packaging material,
ingredients, process water, ice, etc. A
narrative description of the
flow chart should include additional information. It is acceptable to
combine products in one hazard analysis only if the hazards, critical
control points, critical limits and production methods are identical.
Too many or too few critical control points
The two common mistakes when performing a hazard analysis
on your product both arise from ignoring the Hazards and Control
Guidance (
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4.html). You may have
many monitoring points in your product flow, where the information
may or may not be recorded, but these should not be defined as critical
control points. Go through the Hazards and Control Guidance and
note which hazards are associated with your product in both the
species list and the product form list, then address those hazards. In
every product form, metal inclusion and allergens are listed as potential
hazards. Your hazard analysis should mention both of these, even if
only to explain why they are not likely to occur.
Combining different processes of the same species in the same hazard analysis
It is permissible to combine products in the same hazard analysis
if the hazards and control methods are identical. However, you will
want a combination like this only if the process is similar enough to
be entered in the same flow chart. For instance, cod fillets and headed
and gutted cod are processed in the same fashion, with one step added
for fillets, while salmon fillets and salmon roe are processed very
differently.
Not updating your hazard analysis
The regulation requires you to reassess your hazard analysis after
any substantial change, such as new equipment or a new recipe, to
your plant or process. If you have a HACCP plan, you are required to
reassess it every year and after such changes.
Not signing the document
If you have a HACCP plan, it must be signed and dated by
someone with authority to represent the firm, who is generally the
plant manager or somebody higher in the corporate structure. The
signature and date will show that the plan has been reassessed
annually, as required.
Not reviewing and signing the records
If you have a HACCP plan, the records must be reviewed
and signed within a week by a HACCP-trained (or equivalently
knowledgeable) person. You should review the records more quickly,
however, because if there is a problem, you will want to discover it as
soon as possible.
Mistakes Pertaining to Agency Jurisdictions or
Requirements
Thinking you are required to have a HACCP plan
You are required to perform a hazard analysis on each of your
different species and processes. You need a HACCP plan only if your
hazard analysis reveals hazards that are reasonably likely to occur. A
hazard analysis is not the same thing as a HACCP plan.
Thinking you need a certificate of training
Attending HACCP training is one way to become familiar with
HACCP information. You do not need a certificate confirming that
you have attended training, but you
do need to demonstrate to your
inspector that you understand the concepts of HACCP. There is one
exception: if your company is a participant in the U.S. Department
of Commerce HACCP/ Quality Management Program, you will
63
be required to have someone in the facility who has successfully
completed HACCP training.
Not having a HACCP-trained — or equivalent — person reviewing your HACCP
records
The person who reviews the HACCP records is required to be
knowledgeable about HACCP, whether through training or self-taught,
as previously described. HACCP records must be reviewed within
one week of the day that the records are made. Unless your vessel is
heading back to port that often, you need someone on board who
understands HACCP.
Not reading the regulation
Reading the six pages of regulations will answer many of your
questions. The regulations are in 21 CFR parts 123.6-12, which can
be found at
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/searule3.html, along with the rest
of the Procedures for the Safe and Sanitary Processing and Importing
of Fish and Fishery Products.
Not reading the Good Manufacturing Practices
These sanitation guides are 21 CFR part 110, which can be
found at
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/cfr110.html.
Being confused about the agencies who deal with seafood HACCP
• FDA — The Food and Drug Administration resides under the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a federal agency.
The FDA is authorized to enforce the federal Food, Drug and
Cosmetic Act, which regulates the production and distribution
of seafood. The FDA’s mandatory seafood HACCP rule is about
seafood safety only.
• USDA — The U.S. Department of Agriculture, another federal
agency, is responsible for inspecting meat (but not seafood
products), as authorized by the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
There is a separate HACCP program for meat.
• NOAA Fisheries — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration is within the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Formerly called the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA
Fisheries provides a fee-for-service seafood inspection program
that includes economic integrity, quality and wholesomeness along
with seafood safety in its voluntary seafood HACCP program.
• EPA — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is concerned
only with HACCP in that it sets tolerance levels for certain food
contaminants.
• ADEC — the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
has adopted the federal HACCP rule as well as imposing several
rules unique to Alaska. They issue seafood processing operating
permits, enforce regulations, and approve any new processes and
technology. Safety inspection agencies in other states perform
these functions.
Mistakes Concerning Sanitation Standard Operating
Procedures (SSOP)
Not having a written SSOP
The federal regulation requires a written sanitation plan while the
Alaska regulation says you to have a plan. Neither one says you
shall
have a
written plan (note the difference between ”should” and “shall”)
but it’s pretty clear that you should.
Not keeping sanitation records
Both federal and Alaska regulations require that you keep
sanitation monitoring records.
Not reading the regulation
You can find SSOP requirements at
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/
searule3.html — it’s CFR 21, Part 123, Section 11
Ignoring additional aspects of water safety
It’s easy to claim that your process water is safe if you have a
valid disinfection program but don’t forget that you’ll need to check
periodically (and keep records) that no cross-connections have arisen
and that you have adequate back-flow prevention devices where
necessary.
Ignoring your SSOP
The whole point of having a sanitation plan is to help make sure
your plant gets cleaned to your standards. Your SSOP is a method for
expressing your intentions to your employees and for them to respond
to you. If the plan doesn’t match the procedures in the plant, or the
records are grudgingly kept only because they are required, it’s a waste
of time.
Not updating
Your SSOP should reflect what you actually do in the plant. You
should have the person who is in charge of cleaning go through the
SSOP periodically to check that they are actually doing what is in the
plan, which includes keeping current the brands and instructions of
cleaning chemicals in use.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Not including the eight points
A typical sanitation plan is a list of equipment and areas to help
your cleaning crew be efficient. This would address the second of the
eight sanitation points. Your sanitation plan also needs to address the
other seven points.
(1) Safety of the water that comes into contact with food or
food contact surfaces or is used in the manufacture of ice;
(2) Condition and cleanliness of food contact surfaces, including
utensils, gloves and outer garments;
(3) Prevention of cross-contamination from insanitary objects
to food, food packaging material and other food contact surfaces,
including utensils, gloves and outer garments, and from raw product to
cooked product;
(4) Maintenance of hand-washing, hand-sanitizing and toilet
facilities;
(5) Protection of food, food packaging material and food
contact surfaces from adulteration with lubricants, fuel, pesticides,
cleaning compounds, sanitizing agents, condensate and other chemical,
physical and biological contaminants;
(6) Proper labeling, storage and use of toxic compounds;
(7) Control of employee health conditions that could result in
the microbiological contamination of food, food packaging materials
and food contact surfaces; and
(8) Exclusion of pests from the food plant.
65
Appendix E
Salmon Roe
Terry Johnson, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
More fishermen are looking into the prospects of separately extract-
ing and selling what often is the highest value component of their catch
— the eggs. Salmon roe values remained relatively stable during times
of declining fish prices and new markets internationally are developing.
Salmon roe may be processed into either of two high-value food
products. One is
ikura, or salmon caviar, which is lightly-salted indi-
vidual eggs. The other is
sujiko, or roe in the intact skeins.
Ikura is
roughly twice as valuable per pound as
sujiko but is made with very ma-
ture large eggs, and requires more expensive and demanding processing.
Several steps are involved, including brining and rubbing on specially-
sized screens to separate the eggs from the connecting tissue. The best
ikura traditionally is made with chum eggs, but quality eggs of any of
the five species can be used. Much of the
ikura currently produced in
Alaska comes from terminal area fisheries and hatchery cost-recovery
fish because of the ideal state of maturity. However, the bulk of the total
salmon catch produces roe of a quality or state of maturity not suitable
to ikura production, so most roe goes into
sujiko.
Little
ikura or
sujiko is sold in domestic markets. Most
sujiko and
much of the chum
ikura goes to Japan and nearly all the rest to Europe,
Russia and Israel. Specifications, packaging and marketing are very spe-
cific to the demands of those markets. Immigrant communities inside
the U.S. — particularly Japanese, Jewish and Russian, consume small
but growing amounts of salmon caviar.
Bait
A third roe product is fishing bait. Several companies buy roe
and process it for use by trout, salmon and steelhead anglers. Bait
processors pay relatively low prices for “green” (unprocessed) roe
but will take lower quality eggs than processors who make
ikura or
sujiko. Bait processing is something that individual fishermen can do
on their own, without concerns about processing permits and other
regulations that pertain to human food products. However, the bait
markets generally are well-supplied so a direct marketer is advised to
research the demand and the price structure for bait before making the
commitment to bait processing.
Caviar Considerations
Processing of caviar and even
sujiko is not practical for most direct-
marketers because of the need for a permitted processing facility with
specialized equipment, and for extensive training and experience to
make a product acceptable to the market. Some fishermen with larger
vessels — for example, purse seiners with freezers — could do process-
ing on board if they got the equipment and a processing permit.
Most fishermen currently dealing in eggs are selling green roe,
extracted from the fish, to processors. For trollers and those gillnetters
who already dress their fish it is a relatively easy step to remove the roe
and sell it separately. For other salmon fishermen the shift requires some
planning and additional effort. Following are some considerations:
• DEC considers roe extraction to be processing, and requires a
processing permit.
• You have to do something with the carcasses. It is a violation
of Alaska’s wanton waste law to remove the roe and dump the
carcasses. Some processors will not purchase fish from which
the roe has been removed, especially mature chums and humpies.
Some buyers may take low grade carcasses for use in inexpensive
smoked products, fertilizer, or garden mulch. The law doesn’t
require use for human food, only for something. It is important to
establish a market or use for the rest of the fish before you attempt
to market the roe.
• Quality control is essential. Green roe buyers pay based on the
grading report on the roe, and pay nothing for roe that is poor
quality. Temperature and time out of the water are critical
parameters, as is cleanliness of containers. Buyers generally won’t
take roe that’s more than two or three days old. Roe flies pretty
well and some fishermen successfully send roe to processors from
remote landing ports, but they have to maintain strict temperature
control.
• The demand for green roe is limited, and only a few companies
process it, so it is essential to establish a relationship with a
processor before starting to fish. The processor will issue strict
guidelines for handling and shipping the roe, and the fisherman’s
financial success hinges on strict adherence to those guidelines.
Quality Tips
While the specifics of handling, packing and shipping will have to
come from the buyer, following are some general tips about handling
salmon roe.
• Fish should be bled when they come on board and dressed as soon
as possible. Be careful to avoid cutting into the guts while dressing
the fish and removing the roe.
• Wash the roe with clean seawater or a brine solution. Green roe
should never come into contact with fresh water.
• Store roe in specified five-gallon plastic buckets kept in slush ice.
When full, seal the buckets. Flake ice and RSW are not suitable.
Keep an insulated tote of slush for storing the roe buckets.
• The fisherman should sort the roes by species and keep them
separated. Dark or soft roe should be discarded and never allowed
to mix with good roe.
Caviar processors generally only take roe from fish harvested
in terminal fisheries, not from outer coasts where fish are feeding or
migrating on to distant spawning districts, because roe likely is too
immature. On the other hand, some in-river fisheries produce roe that
is already separated and has hard shells, which also is undesirable.
If you’re flying out roe buckets, stay in the airport until you see
them put into a cooler (not a freezer). If temperature increases at any
point prior to processing, quality is seriously degraded.
Carefully sanitize buckets with the prescribed solution, and be
alert to possible sources of contamination. Roe can pick up
salmonella,
listeria, and
E. coli bacteria from the environment or from the fish guts,
and can cause serious illnesss.
(Thanks to Sissy Babich, Norther Keta Caviar, for assistance with
this content. – Ed)
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Appendix F
Refrigeration Considerations
Brian Paust, Professor Emeritus, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Pre-chilling Systems
The systems used for chilling fresh seafood prior to air shipment
include chilling rooms, cold storage blast freezers, slush ice, flake
ice, chilled sea water (CSW) tanks and others. These systems can
be classified as dry chilling (chilling rooms, vans and blast freezers)
and liquid chilling (slush ice and CSW). Each has its advantages and
disadvantages.
Dry Chilling
Dry chilling methods consist of putting the product in a cold
room, refrigerated van, blast freezer or similar system until the
temperature is reduced to 32º F or slightly lower. This type of chilling
has several disadvantages that may reduce product quality. Cooling is
slow because air has a low heat transfer coefficient. Air circulation in
vans and blast freezers can dry unprotected product surfaces - causing
wet loss and dehydration. Using blast freezers for product cooling
is discouraged because partial freezing can occur, damaging flesh
texture. For the small shipper, these systems are expensive since they
require mechanical refrigeration and adequate space for the cooling
equipment. However, dry chilling can be effective if the product is
properly protected and carefully monitored.
Liquid Chilling
Liquid systems are more suitable for chilling fresh seafood. Slush
ice consists of a container of ice and water in which the product is
immersed until the temperature is reduced to 32º F or slightly lower. A
variation to this method involves simply placing product in a melting
layer of ice.
A CSW system uses an air pump and air distribution grid to
agitate the slush ice mixture for rapid chilling. Chilling is much faster
and more uniform. Liquid chilling systems can be set up anywhere and
do not require expensive equipment, but do require a source of ice.
A simple slush ice system can be prepared using a fish tote,
water and ice. Sufficient ice should be added to initially attain the
temperature of 32º F and maintain this temperature during the chilling
process. Product should be added in increments to prevent crushing
and to properly distribute product in the chilling liquid. Chilling
will occur rapidly, usually within 30 minutes, depending on the size
of the items to be chilled and volume of product. Internal product
temperatures should be taken to assure the desired temperature is
reached.
A refrigerated sea water (RSW) system uses sea water with a
mechanical refrigeration unit to keep it cold. Most RSW systems have a
shell- and-tube heat exchanger in which refrigerant circulates through
the tubes and sea water circulates around the tubes. RSW eliminates
the need for ice and a lower storage temperature can be used. With
adequate capacity, the same refrigeration system can be used for brine
immersion freezing.
A disadvantage of the liquid chilling is that the water must be
drained from the product before it is packed to prevent extra weight
and the presence of unwanted water. Also, unless the chilled water is
replaced often and containers frequently sanitized, liquid can introduce
bacteria into product, particularly into the body cavity of cut fish,
accelerating spoilage. It is recommended that chilled sea water be used
for whole fish, not for fish that are dressed or partially dressed.
With the exception of a good high-capacity RSW system, these
liquid chilling systems are not capable of commercial quality freezing.
Only high capacity blast and plate freezers should be used for seafood
products not intended for further processing. Equipment such as home
freezers and walk-in freezers are designed to only maintain in a frozen
state products that have already been frozen. Their freezing capacity
is very low and even within that capacity, the rate of freezing is so slow
that ice crystals form within the tissue cells, causing mushy texture and
drip loss on thawing.
67
Appendix G
Box Insulation Values and
Gel Pack Effectiveness
Brian Paust, Professor Emeritus, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Three factors influence temperature control during transit. The
first is ambient conditions, including air temperature, contact surface
temperature and degree of insolation (direct heat input from the sun).
The second is the insulation level of the container. The third is the heat
absorbing value of gel packs.
What is the insulation or R value of wetlock and other types of
boxes? How useful are gel packs in keeping seafood cold? In tests,
shipping containers were evaluated for their insulation rating and gel
packs for effectiveness.
Box Insulation Values
In a laboratory test 50 pounds of salmon, prechilled to 32º
F, were loaded into wetlock boxes - one uninsulated and the other
insulated with a 3/8-inch polystyrene insert. The boxes contained no
gel packs and were held in a 60º F environment. The temperature of
the fish in the uninsulated wetlock box rose to 40º F in six hours. In
the insulated box, the temperature rose to 40º F in 12 hours. Adding
insulation doubled the maximum transit time for the product. With
the data from these experiments, R values were calculated. Similar
tests were done on polystyrene boxes ranging from 25-pound to
125-pound capacity.
Adding Styrofoam or other insulating materials to any container
is very effective in maintaining temperature. Generally, the polystyrene
boxes have better insulation characteristics than wetlock. The
thicker the wall of the polystyrene box the higher the R value. Keep
in mind that effective alternatives to the use of polystyrene are now
available, and polystyrene is falling out of favor in many places due to
environmental concerns. Check with your box distributor.
Gel Pack Effectiveness
The positive effect of gel packs has also been tested. The test was
similar to the box insulation test, except that 1.5-pound gel packs were
placed in the top and bottom of each container. The gel packs were
effective in intercepting heat and slowing the warming of the product.
In about nine hours, the product warmed from 32º F to 40º F with gel
packs in the uninsulated wetlock. This was a 50 percent increase in
potential transit time when compared to the box without gel packs.
The temperature inside the insulated wetlock with gel packs rose to 40º
F in a little less than 21 hours - a 75 percent increase in storage time.
Whenever possible, favor the placement of gel packs in the top portion
of containers when using insulated containers.
Conclusion
These studies indicate that the general use of insulation and
gel packs greatly extend the time seafood can be kept at acceptable
temperatures. The use of high quality packaging makes possible
the shipment of the highest quality seafood to discerning markets
worldwide.
(See the chapter on packaging and shipping in this manual for
more on insulation. – Ed.)
68
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Appendix H
Processing and Storage Costs
In some cases direct marketers can do everything necessary to
get their product directly from the boat to the buyer. Usually they
must pay to have some of the work done for them, and they must
use services such as cold storage to keep the product during part of
the process. Furthermore, even if the fisherman does all the work,
his or her labor has a value that should be included in the profit/loss
calculations.
Following is a sample of the common services involved in direct
marketing, and sample rates charged for providing those services,
derived from the tariff of a major cold storage company. Keep in mind
that these rates have been charged by a large company that deals in
large volumes and has good economies of scale. Actual charges at
local facilities may be significantly higher.
Processing
all rates based on finished product weights
Salmon and Sablefish
$/lb.
Western cut dress and freeze
.26
Wash and freeze H&G
.105
Western dress/layer ice in totes
.17
Fresh packing in boxes or totes
.11
Fresh heading
.025
Domestic pack (frozen)
.085
Export pack (frozen)
.12
Excess grading
.015-.03
IQF fresh salmon fillets and tote
.18
Frozen salmon heading
.035
Un-bagging frozen salmon
.018
Packing in 10# (fillet only)
.18
By-product disposal
.03
Fresh Halibut
Heading
.05
Wash and freeze
.075
Grade
.12
Packing in totes or boxes
.085
Van unloading
.03
Frozen Halibut
Trim, grade, glaze and tote
.08-.10
Pack H&G (random weight)
.05
Re-glaze and tote
.04-.055
Re-grade
.025
Trim, glaze and pack
.11-.12
Layer ice in totes
.035
Poke ice
.02
Other Services
Fresh bottomfish fillets and tote
.37
Apply labels
.16 each
Print labels
.16 each
Van cleaning, de-icing
hourly @ $36/hr
Inspection and glaze testing hourly @ $73
Overtime is 1.5 times the regular rate. Prices do not include bags,
cartons, liners, film or other materials. Additional charges for orders
less than 5,000 lbs; minimum charge of $55.
Warehousing, Storage and Handling
Rates based on gross CWT (hundredweight)
Handling
Storage
per month
Salmon, halibut,sablefish
Toted
$2.00
$1.23
Boxed – under 100 lb
2.50
1.29
Boxed – over 100 lb
2.40
1.26
Shellfish, including crab
Bulk pack - over 40 lb
1.92
1.42
Finished pack < 40 lb
2.03
1.60
Whole cooked
2.08
1.88
IQF steaks, fillets, portions
1.87
1.28
IQF shrimp or scallops
1.90
1.35
Block, shatterpack bait, roe
.97
.89
Across dock rates
Sorted, palletized, unload and load
2.00
Sorted, palletized, unload or load to van crew
2.82
Van crew offload to van crew load
3.64
Minimum charge
47.00
69
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
Recommended Statewide Quality
Specifications for Alaska Fresh and
Frozen Wild Salmon
Part I: Description
Section 1: Product Definition
Alaska Fresh or Frozen Wild Salmon is the food prepared from
only the species of salmon listed in Section 2; these species may be sold
fresh or frozen, and shall be reasonably protected from oxidation and/
or dehydration.
Section 2: Species
The Species which can be designated Alaska Wild Salmon are:
Species
Common or Usual Name(s)
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
Chinook, King
Oncorhynchus nerka
Red, Sockeye
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Coho, Cohoe, Silver
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
Pink
Oncorhynchus keta
Keta, Chum
Section 3: Styles of Preparation
A. Dressed, Head-off: The belly of the salmon is split from the
anus to approximately one inch before the throat (isthmus of the
nape); the split may also continue through the throat. The viscera and
kidney (backblood) are removed leaving the cavity free of blood and
pieces of membrane. The head is removed leaving the nape cut free
of gill. Water used during processing or rinsing shall be sanitized in
accordance with Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
requirements, 18 AAC 34.080(c).
B. Dressed Head-on: The belly of the salmon is split from the anus
to approximately one inch before the throat (isthmus of the nape); the
split may also continue through the throat. The viscera and kidney
(backblood) are removed leaving the cavity free of blood and pieces of
membrane. The gills may be removed; the head and gill cover remain
intact. Water used during processing or rinsing shall be sanitized in
accordance with Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
requirements, 18 AAC 34.080(c).
C. Whole (Round) Fish: Water used during processing or
rinsing shall be sanitized in accordance with Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation requirements, 18 AAC 34.080(c).
D. Other: As defined by a buyer/seller relationship. This category
may include a variety of styles and cleaning/processing techniques
depending upon the form in which the product is marketed. Water
used during processing or rinsing shall be sanitized in accordance with
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation requirements, 18
AAC 34.080(c).
Part II: Recommended Quality Grades and
Characteristics
Section 1: Quality Grades
Salmon are categorized in the following grades:
Premium Grade
Grade A
Grade B
Grade C
Section 2: Quality Characteristics
A. All salmon will exhibit the following characteristics in order to
meet the
Premium Grade.
1. HANDLING: All Premium fish will be bled and chilled upon
harvest. There will be no skin or internal cuts or tears. There
will be no punctures or bruises. Meat will be resilient when
subjected to finger pressure. Scale loss will not exceed 15%.
Scale adherence will be uniform. Some scale loss due to method
of harvest handling can be expected.
2. ODOR: Odor will be sea-fresh. There will be no off-odor.
3. EYES: Eyes will be normal in appearance, bright and clear.
4. GILLS: Gills will be bright red, and will smell sea-fresh and
odorless.
5. SKIN: Skin color will be characteristic of fresh fish that is typical
of the species, sexual maturity, district of harvest, and time of
year it was harvested. (Refer to ASMI Skin Color Evaluation
Guide for Pacific Salmon). Skin will be bright, shiny, and not
hold wrinkles when bending fish slightly. There will be no skin
indentations, perforations or scars. Slime will be clear. There
will be no tail damage or fin loss.
6. BELLY CAVITY: Color will be bright and natural. There will be
no belly burn or protruding ribs. The belly will be free of viscera
and the collar free of gill membrane.
7. MEAT COLOR: Meat color will be characteristic of fish that
is typical of the species, district of harvest, and time of year
harvested. (Refer to ASMI Meat Color Guide for Wild Alaska
Salmon).
8. PHYSICAL SHAPE: Physical shape will be characteristic of the
species at its stage of sexual maturity.
Deviations from the above characteristics are cause to downgrade
salmon from
Premium Grade.
1. Grade A. Same as Premium Grade with the following exceptions:
Bleeding will be optional. Scars may be present if less than 1”
and well healed. There may be one skin cut less than 1”. Scale
loss will not exceed 25%. There may be up to 2 protruding ribs.
2. Grade B. Same as Grade A with the following exceptions: Smell
may be neutral. Eyes may be dull, but not milky or cloudy.
There may be slight to moderate indentations, scars up to 1.5”
in size, and one skin cut up to 1.5”. Scale loss may not exceed
40%. There can be no tail damage and fin loss will not exceed
50%. There may be slight fading of belly lining natural color and
slight discoloration. There may be slight belly burn with up to
Appendix I
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
6 protruding ribs. There may be internal cuts not to exceed 0.5”
total. There may be no viscera, but traces of blood acceptable.
3. Grade C. Same as Grade B with the following exceptions: There
may be slight odor, eyes milky or cloudy, and gills pink to buff.
Slime may be dull and copious. Scars and punctures will be
allowed. Cuts and scale loss may be more than Grade B. Tail
damage may be present and fin loss may be more than Grade B.
Belly cavity discoloration may be more than Grade B. Bruising,
belly burn, and cuts, may be more than Grade B. Viscera traces
and blood more than Grade B.
B. Any, or a combination of the following defects are cause to
downgrade a
frozen salmon from Premium, depending upon the
severity:
1. Improper handling: A salmon which has been frozen in a
misshapen or severely deformed position or one which has
experienced any tail damage. This does not apply to minor
changes in the symmetry which may occur during freezing.
2. Natural defects and improper workmanship: Any of the defects
listed in the fresh fish grading criteria which are determined, upon
nondestructive examination, to exist in frozen fish.
3. Dehydration/freezer burn: A fish which has readily discernible
dehydration present on the nape and/or in the belly cavity that is
not adequately trimmed.
4. Scale loss: A salmon exhibiting over 15% scale loss, if other
defective conditions are apparent
Typical Weight Grades for Wild Alaska Salmon
(in pounds)
Chinook (King)
4 to 7
7 to 11
11 to 18
18 and up
Chum
4 to 6
6 to 9
9 and up
or 9 to 12
12 and up
Coho (Silver)
2 to 4
4 to 6
6 to 9
9 and up
Pink
2 to 3
3 to 5
5 and up
or 5 to 7
7 and up
Sockeye (Red)
2 to 4
4 to 6
6 to 9
71
Characteristics
Handling
Premium Grade
Grade A
Grade B
Grade C
bled
yes
optional
not applicable
not applicable
chilled
yes
yes
not applicable
not applicable
skin cuts
no cuts
one cut less than
1”
one cut up to 1.5”
more than grade B
internal cuts
no cuts or tears
no cuts or tears
not more than 0.5” total
length of cuts and tears
more than grade B
punctures
no punctures
no punctures
no punctures
punctures allowed
bruising
no bruises
no bruises
slight bruising acceptable
more than grade B
scale loss
not to exceed 15%
loss
not to exceed 25%
loss
not to exceed 40% loss
more than grade B
ODOR
fresh smell
fresh smell
neutral
slight, not offensive
EYES
bright, clear
bright, clear
dull, not milky or cloudy
milky or cloudy
GILLS
bright red
red
pink
pink to buff
SKIN
color
**
**
**
**
**
slime
clear
clear
cloudy
dull and copious
net marks
no indentations or
skin perforations;
no broken
backbones
no indentations or
skin perforations;
no broken
backbones
slight to moderate
indentations
may have moderate
indentations; skin may be
perforated
scars
none
less than 1”, well
healed
up to 1.5”, well healed
scars permitted
tail/fins
no tail damage or
fin loss
no tail damage or
fin loss
no tail damage; fin loss to
50%
more than grade B
BELLY CAVITY
color
bright natural
color
bright natural
color
slight fading of natural
color; slight discoloration
acceptable
more than grade B
belly burn
none; no
protruding ribs
none; up to 2
protruding ribs
acceptable
slight belly burn, up to 6
protruding ribs
more than grade B
cleaning
thorough; no
viscera of any
kind; collar
trimmed,
thorough; no
viscera of any
kind, collar
trimmed
thorough; no viscera of any
kind; traces of blood ok
more than grade B
MEAT COLOR* *
*
*
*
** Skin Color: Wild Alaska salmon skin color is variable depending on species, location of harvest, sexual maturity, and is not correlated with
grades. Users are referred to the ASMI Color Evaluation Guide for Pacific Salmon.
* Meat color: Meat color is variable depending on species, location of harvest, sexual maturity and is not correlated with grades. Chinook
salmon have both red and white meat. Coho salmon meat color ranges from pinkish-red to pale pink. Sockeye salmon meat color is red.
Chum and Pink salmon users are referred to the ASMI Meat Color Guide for Wild Alaska Chum Salmon, and Meat Color Guide for Wild
Alaska Pink Salmon.
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Recommended Quality Grades for Wild Alaska Salmon
72
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Appendix J
Permits, Licenses, Bonds, Reporting,
and Taxes Required for Alaska
Seafood Direct Marketers and
Small-Scale Processors
Sunny Rice, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Disclaimer: Requirements and regulations pertaining to seafood
processing, handling and sales are complicated and subject to
change, due to legislation or regulatory interpretation. The agencies
regulating the industry use different terms specific to their regulatory
requirements. Sometimes similar terms can have different meanings
for different agencies. Terms in common use—such as “direct
marketing”—may have specific regulatory meaning that differs from
common use.
Note: This appendix does not address the processing and sale of
“shellfish,” such as clams, oysters, geoducks and mussels. Some of
the regulations covered herein apply, but there is a different set of
shellfish-related sanitation and processing regulations. However,
“shellfish” in this context does not refer to crabs and shrimp, which
are covered by the regulatory provisions outlined in this appendix.
This appendix is a summary of pertinent Alaska and federal
requirements as of spring 2007. Use it for general informational
purposes only. Consult with each of the relevant agencies for detailed
and up-to-date instructions before engaging in seafood processing or
sales activities.
While the regulating agencies have attempted to simplify the
permitting process for many activities, you may still have questions
as you complete the applications. It will save considerable time if you
contact the agencies early in the process with questions. Establishing
a good working relationship with the agency will help you more easily
resolve any problems that may arise later in the process.
Once you do anything with a fish other than deliver it to a
tender or processor’s dock, you are in the food business, and food is
a highly regulated industry. Direct marketers are required to comply
with a number of license, tax, inspection, and reporting requirements
depending on the precise nature of their operation.
Each state has its own agencies and requirements; in Alaska most
activities will require that you comply with regulations of three main
entities:
1. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), which
regulates the take of fisheries resources, and issues Fisheries
Business licenses.
2. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which
ensures the safety of food products.
3. The Department of Revenue (DOR), which collects fisheries
business and other taxes.
You may also need to work with the following agencies:
• National Marine Fisheries Service, if product comes from a
federally-managed fishery. A Federal Processor Permit, endorsed
for either Shoreside Processor or Stationary Floating Processor, is
required if you do any processing.
• Division of Measurement Standards. Scales used to weigh product
must be certified.
• Local city governments for local vendors licenses, regulations, and
city sales taxes if you sell within a local municipal jurisdiction.
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for:
mandatory one-time registration as a food processing facility
random processor inspection for sanitation, HACCP compliance
nutritional labeling on any retail size packaging that may be used
• U.S. Department of Commerce in some cases for services under
voluntary inspection and certification programs.
What is “processing”?
Both DEC and DOR make an important distinction between
operations that
process seafood products and those that do not.
By DEC definition,
you are a processor if you:
1. Head or butcher product
2. Recover roe
3. Shuck
4. Pickle
5. Cook in water/steam
6. Hot or cold smoke
7. Salt/Brine
8. Dry
9. Do mixing/formulating
10. Freeze
11. Make surimi
12. Create retorted thermal packaging
DEC also considers it to be processing if you package and
transport product from your boat to another location.
The definition of processing does not include: gutting, gilling,
sliming, icing, or decapitating shrimp if performed on a vessel while on
the fishing grounds.
73
Complying with agency requirements
Your first step in determining which permits, licenses, reports,
bonds and taxes you will be required to complete is to determine which
of the following kinds of operations you will be running. Following are
classes of operation, based on state agency criteria:
A. Catcher/Processor – Catches and processes and sells processed
seafood products, and includes:
1.
Direct Marketer, 65 feet or less in length - May only process
own fish.
2.
Catcher/Floating Processor (>65 feet) – Floating processors can
buy or custom process, but Catcher/Processors cannot buy fish to
process and sell, or custom process.
3.
Roe Recovery Only - Recovers roe for sale as a product for
human consumption.
Note - Under DEC interpretation,
salmon fishermen such as trollers who gut their catch and sell
the roe after it has been removed from the fish, even to the same
processor who buys the fish, are engaged in “roe recovery” and
need to be licensed as such.
B. Catcher/Seller – Sells his or her own catch as unprocessed and
unpackaged fishery resources in Alaska at the dock directly to the
consumer, or to food establishments that have a DEC Seafood
Processing Waiver. If you sell to food establishments with a DEC
Seafood Processing Waiver, they must pick up the product off the
boat or you must have a DEC permit to transport the product to
the establishment. Catcher/Sellers can also sell product for use as
bait.
C. Exporter – (“Export” means transporting product out of Alaska
to another state or country) Includes:
1. Catcher/Exporter -Catches and transports unprocessed fish out
of the state to a processing facility under the regulatory oversight
of a governmental health regulatory agency.
2. Buyer/Exporter - Buys unprocessed seafood product from
harvesters for transport out of the state to processing facilities
under the regulatory oversight of a governmental health agency.
D. Processor - Processes or places seafood products in commerce and
includes:
1. Inshore Floating Stationary Processors
2. Floating Processors greater than 65’ in length (>65’). A vessel
of less than 65’ that buys and process on board can also be
licensed as a processor if it meets all the DEC requirements.
3. Shore-based Processors
4. Canneries
5. Selling live (Dept. of Revenue considers lives sales to be
“processing”)
E. EEZ Only – Processes only in the federal Exclusive Economic
Zone (between 3 and 200 miles from shore).
F. Waivered Buyers – Markets, restaurants, groceries or lodges who
have a DEC processing waiver
. May buy up to 500 lbs./week from
catcher/sellers for sale or use in their establishment.
G. Independent Buyer – Buys from fishermen to sell to licensed
processors or exporters who have the product processed in a
facility under the regulatory oversight of a governmental health
agency.
H. Transporter – Transports and sells salmon, herring or Pacific cod,
and legally taken by-catch species in those fisheries, as an agent
of the fishermen who caught the fish. They do not buy or process
fish.
Your operation may fall into more than one of these categories.
If you are unsure which permits are required of you, contact the
agencies directly. Contact information is at the end of this appendix.
Some consultants provide assistance in securing seafood-related
permits, licenses, bonds, etc., and can be located in trade publication
advertisements and in the
Marine Yellow Pages under “consultants.”
The scope of this
Direct Marketing Manual covers only these
categories:
• Catcher/Floating Processor
• Direct Marketer
• Catcher/Exporter
• Roe Recovery
• Catcher/Seller.
Category A - State of Alaska Requirements for Catcher/Processors
1.
Alaska Direct Marketing Fisheries Business License Application
and Intent to Operate. This application covers both the Department
of Revenue and Department of Fish & Game license requirements for
individual fishermen who process, export, or have their own catch
custom processed. To qualify for this license you must:
• Hold a limited entry or interim use permit, or IFQ quota shares,
and
• Own or lease a commercial fishing vessel not exceeding 65’ in
length.
If you don’t meet these requirements, or if you purchase catch
from other fishermen, you should apply to these agencies with the
standard Alaska Fisheries Business License Application and Intent to
Operate, available at
www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/permits/intent/
sfpe_app.pdf.
The Department of Revenue charges a $25 license fee for both the
Direct Marketing Fisheries Business License and the standard Alaska
Fisheries Business License.
Important Change in 2007: The joint “Direct Marketing”
and “Alaska Seafood Processor and Exporter License and Permit
Application” no longer exists. Direct marketers need to apply to
the Department of Environmental Conservation separately from the
Department of Fish & Game and Department of Revenue application.
You can find the DEC application at www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/forms.
htm.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
2.
Alaska Commercial Operators Annual Report (COAR)
A Commercial Operator’s Annual Report, accurately and
completely summarizing your activities for the past year, must be
submitted to ADFG no later than April 1 of each year. Forms are
available online or at your local office. Most who file an ADFG Intent
to Operate must complete this form, whether you engaged in the
proposed activities or not. Catcher/Sellers are not required to file a
COAR.
3. Fish Tickets
ADF&G also requires that fish tickets be completed for each
landing of fish. You apply for a number code plate and blank fish
tickets with your Intent to Operate or Direct Marketing Fisheries
Business License application. You may then either purchase your own
stamping machine or arrange with your local ADFG office to stamp
your completed tickets in their office after your trip. Completed
tickets generally must be submitted within seven days to the local
ADFG office. Operators in some fisheries have additional reporting
requirements and may be required to report more frequently.
4. Fisheries Business Tax Return
The Alaska Department of Revenue (DOR) is responsible for
collecting taxes on fishery products. A Fisheries Business Return
must be filed every year by March 31. When you sell your fish to a
processor, these taxes normally are paid by that company. In most
cases, you become responsible for those taxes if you direct marketing
your own product. As a direct marketer, you may face one or more of
five different taxes:
a
. Fisheries Business Tax must be paid by the first processor of a
fishery product. If the product is not processed, but is exported
from the state, the exporter must pay the fisheries business tax.
As a direct marketer, the first processor or exporter is likely
to be you. If you have your product custom processed, you
are responsible for paying the tax. If you sell your catch to a
processor, even with the intention of buying some of
it back later, the processor is liable for the tax.
Current rates are:
Floating processor (including catcher/processor) ................. 5.0%
Shore-based processor..........................................................3.0%
Canned Salmon ....................................................................4.5%
Direct Marketer ................................................................... 3.0%
Rates are lower for “developing species.” Contact the DOR for a
current list of these species.
b. Landing Tax is paid on fisheries products caught and processed
outside Alaska state waters (three mile limit) and first landed or
transferred inside Alaska or within state waters. The assessment
rate is 3% based on the unprocessed value.
c. Salmon Enhancement Tax is paid by fishermen where regional
aquaculture associations exist. The tax is 1 to 3% depending on
the region’s self-assessment. Licensed buyers must collect this tax
and remit it to the state. Salmon Enhancement taxes are listed
on fish tickets. This tax is reported and remitted monthly to the
DOR. Catcher/Sellers and fishermen operating under a Direct
Marketing Fisheries Business License selling to unlicensed buyers
must pay this tax directly to DOR but are allowed to remit yearly.
Contact DOR for more information.
d. Seafood Marketing Assessment is paid by processors handling
more than $50,000 worth of product annually. Processors must
pay .3% of the ex-vessel value of all seafood processed to fund the
activities of ASMI.
e. If you are selling your product within the limits of a city or state
that has a local sales tax, you will be required to collect this tax
on all sales of your product. Contact the city or local government
for information concerning reporting and payment requirements.
Note: The Department of Revenue has a “Frequently Asked
Questions” page (
www.tax.state.ak.us/programs/fisheries/faq.asp)
that you might find helpful in determining your tax and bonding
requirements.
5. Tax and Other Surety Bonds
All people, firms, or corporations that process fish in Alaska, or
export unprocessed product from Alaska, must secure their estimated
Fisheries Business Tax liability in advance. Catcher/Processors and
Catcher/Exporters are not required to prepay or post bond if their
estimated tax liability is $500 or less.
You may prepay your estimated tax or secure your credit by
submitting:
• A Letter of Credit in the amount of the estimated tax,
• A Time Certificate of Deposit in the amount of the estimated tax,
• A Fisheries Tax Bond equal to twice the estimated tax, or
• Verification of lienable real property valued at a sum equal to at
least three times the estimated tax liability.
Surety bonding is required if you purchase fisheries resources
from other fishermen or if you have an Unemployment Insurance
Contribution obligation for any of your employees. Operations that
process more than 30,000 lbs. of raw product annually are required
to post a $10,000 bond. Those that process less than 30,000 lbs.
annually are required to post a $2,000 bond. You may secure your
credit for this bond in any of the ways listed above.
6. ADEC Seafood Processors Permit Application
This application covers requirements of the Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation for processors.
Annual DEC fees levied on processors are based on the type and
amount of processing being permitted. Fees in 2007 are:
Shore-based facility processing <5000 lbs./day
$ 795
Shore-based facility processing >5000 lbs./day
$2094
Cannery processing <5000 lbs./day
$1120
Cannery processing >5000 lbs./day
$2094
Direct Marketing Land-based
$ 200
Direct Marketing Vessel <65’
$ 325
All Other Vessels
$2094
75
If your proposed operation involves any form of processing, as
defined above, be prepared to submit scale drawings of your vessel or
facility with the processing permit application. These drawings must
indicate location of toilet and hand-washing stations, plumbing lines,
locations and types of processing equipment, how processing waste
will be discharged, where you will get approved water for processing,
and other specified information.
DEC will review your application and, depending on what and
how you plan to process, may require any or all of the following
additional permits:
• Plan Review and Approval of Sewage or Sewage Treatment Works
• Air Quality Control Permit to Operate
• Wastewater Disposal Permit
• Solid Waste Management Permit
• Plan Review and Approval of Public Water Systems
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit from the
U.S. E.P.A.
• Food Service Permit
Processing these applications can take up to eight weeks and it
is not legal to operate without having received initial issuance of the
appropriate permits.
7. HACCP Plan
Federal Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
regulations require each processor to conduct a hazard analysis to
identify significant hazards in the species and processing method. If
significant hazards to sanitation or wholesomeness are present, you
must specify in a HACCP plan the critical control points, critical
limits, and where and how they will be monitored. DEC includes
HACCP inspections as part of their regular seafood processing facility
inspections. See the section on HACCP elsewhere in the appendices of
this manual.
8. Certification of Measuring/Weighing Devices
Certification of Measuring/Weighing Devices (from the Division
of Measurement Standards) is required for scales used to weigh fish
for sale. The device must be checked annually and bear an inspection
sticker. The fee is based on the capacity of the scales.
9. Federal Laws Enforced by the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS)
If you are marketing halibut or blackcod (sablefish) caught
under provisions of an individual fishery quota (IFQ) or community
development quota (CDQ), you must comply with applicable federal
laws. See Appendix B, which addresses direct sales of fish caught under
the federal IFQ program.
Category B - Requirements for Catcher/Sellers
1. Catcher/seller application
Catcher/Sellers are those fishermen who sell only their own catch,
unprocessed, directly from their boat to the public in Alaska. The
required application is available online at www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us or
at your local ADF&G office.
2. Fish Tickets
See Category A above for details
3. Certification of Measuring/Weighing Devices
See Category A above for details.
4. Fisheries Business Tax Return
Catcher/Sellers are liable for payment of salmon enhancement
taxes. See Category A above for details.
5. Federal Laws Enforced by the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS)
See Appendix B for details.
6. Mobile Vending License
This license is required by DEC if your product will be transferred
to a cart, car, or truck for sale.
Category C - Requirements for Catcher/Exporters
1. Alaska Direct Marketing Fisheries Business License Application and
Intent to Operate
See Category A above for details.
2. Seafood Processors Permit
This permit can be held by a custom processor that you have
handle your seafood product for you, or an “approved source”/
Permitted Processor to which you sell your product. (If you sell it before
it leaves the state you are not an exporter.) If you do have the product
handled by a custom processor, you will need to become an approved
source/Permitted Processor yourself by filling out the ADEC Seafood
Processors Permit Application. See Category A above for details.
3. Alaska Commercial Operators Report
See Category A above for details.
4. Fish Tickets
See Category A above for details.
5. Certification of Measuring/Weighing Devices
See Category A above for details.
6. Fisheries Business Tax Return
See Category A above for details.
7. Tax and Other Surety Bonds
See Category A above for details.
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Addresses and Web Sites
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC)
Division of Environmental Health, Seafood Section
555 Cordova Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99501-2617
Phone: (907) 269-7640
Fax: (907) 269-7510
www.state.ak.us/dec/
Email:
manny_soares@envircon.state.ak.us
Seafood Processors Permit Information: (907) 269-7501
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G)
Division of Commercial Fisheries
P. O. Box 25526
Juneau, Alaska 99802-5526
Phone: (907) 465-4210
Fax: (907) 465-2604
www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us
Email:
cfweb@fishgame.state.ak.us
Intent to Operate and Catcher/Seller Permit Information: (907) 465-6131
Division of Measurement Standards
Section of Weight and Measures
12050 Industry Way, Building O
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
Phone: (907) 345-7750 Fax: (907) 345-2313
Email: jamesecomiskey@dot.state.ak.us
www.dot.state.ak.us
Juneau office: (907) 789-9763
Alaska Department of Revenue
Tax Division
P.O. Box 110420
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0420
Fishery Business License Information: (907) 465-2371
Fax: (907) 465-2375
www.revenue.state.ak.us
National Marine Fisheries Services
Restricted Access Management Division
P. O. Box 21668
Juneau, Alaska 99802-1668
Phone: (907) 586-7221
Fax: (907) 586-7131
www.nmfs.noaa.gov
Email:
Alaska.webmaster@noaa.gov
8. Federal Laws Enforced by the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS)
See Appendix B for details.
9. Exporting salmon in the round
A special law applies to the exportation of salmon in the round.
Contact Department of Revenue for details. Exporting of any
seafood product, if not from an approved source/permitted processor,
must be to a processing facility under the regulatory oversight of a
governmental health agency.
Requirements for all other categories
Categories D-G are not within the scope of this manual.
Operators in these categories should begin by contacting ADFDG,
DEC, and DOR to determine which permits, licenses, taxes, or bonds
are required. Fees, taxes and permits other than those listed may be
required.
Category H – Transporters need a Fish Transporter Permit, issued
by ADFG, as well as a valid commercial fishing vessel license from the
Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. See
Instructions for Fish
Transporters for full information on permits, operating requirements,
fish ticket reporting requirements and other regulations, available
at
www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/permits/transporter_app.pdf.
Transporters are exempt from posting bonds, paying fish processing
taxes, and from filing a Commercial Operators Annual Report.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Requirements
The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and
Response Act of 2002 requires that all food processors, including
fisheries enterprises in Alaska that meet the definition of seafood
processing, be registered with the FDA. Exempted are fishing vessels
that head, gut, or freeze fish solely to maintain their quality while
aboard the vessel for delivery to a processor. Registration can be
done on-line at
www.access.fda.gov, by mail using Form 3537, or by
CD-ROM, for which the PDF can be downloaded at
www.cfsan.fda.
gov/~furls/papercd.html.
Processors whose product goes into interstate trade are subject to
mandatory, unannounced FDA sanitation and HACCP inspections.
FDA contracts with the state’s DEC to do most of its processing vessel
inspections.
Seafood products sold in retail-size packaging are required to
have nutritional content labels. Nutritional content information, for
individual fish and shellfish species, is available at
www.nal.usda.gov/
fnic.
77
Many permits are available online:
NMFS Registered Buyer Permits are available at www.fakr.noaa.
gov/ram/reg_buyer_app_inst.pdf
NMFS Federal Processor Permits are available at http://www.
fakr.noaa.gov/ram/applications.htm
Alaska Seafood Processor Permit Application forms are available
at www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/forms.htm under “Seafood and
Shellfish Permits.”
Alaska Direct Marketing Fisheries Business License Application
and Intent to Operate forms are available at
www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/permits/plf_home.php. This
packet includes applications to the Department of Revenue and
Department of Fish & Game. You can also apply online at
www.
tax.state.ak.us/fish. You will need to create an account with
“my Alaska” which is also used to apply for the Permanent Fund
Dividend online, to use this feature.
Alaska Fisheries Business License Application and Intent to
Operate forms can also be found at www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/
geninfo/permits/plf_home.php or at
www.tax.state.ak.us/fish.
78
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
State and Local Regulations
in Oregon
Commercial fishermen, accustomed to fluctuations of supply and
demand, often look for new ways to market their catch. Some consider
selling directly from their boat, truck, or small roadside stand.
Such a decision requires giving careful thought to potential
problems: regulations, licenses, transportation, cold storage, price
monitoring, packaging, sale location, and time away from fishing. In
the long run, you might decide it’s to your advantage to sell your catch
to a processing plant so you can spend more time fishing.
If you decide to sell your catch directly to the public, you will need
to obtain a number of licenses and forms—from several different state
and local agencies— and pay the necessary fees. This fact sheet lists the
required forms, licenses, and fees. Remember, fees (current as of 2003)
are subject to change.
Here are the agencies you’ll need to contact.
Oregon Department Of Fish And Wildlife (ODFW)
3406 Cherry Ave., Salem, OR 97303.
Licensing: 503-947-6100.
It’s important that all commercial fish landed in Oregon be
documented. That’s why Oregon law requires that all commercial fish
landed in the state be sold to a wholesale fish dealer and reported on
a fish ticket. The only exception is that a fisherman may sell fish from
his or her boat under a limited fish seller’s permit and report total trip
sales on fish tickets. The dealer, or limited fish seller, is responsible
for landing fees for any salmon sales of 3.15% of the ex-vessel value
plus $0.0575 per pound dressed weight (or $0.05 per pound in the
round) and 1.09% of the ex-vessel value for all other fish and shellfish.
Additional fees are paid directly to one or more of the four commodity
commissions, depending on the species sold from the boat.
If you want to sell your own catch, you have three options.
1. Limited Fish Seller’s Permit
A limited fish seller’s permit is a limited retail permit that
authorizes you, as a licensed commercial harvester, to sell from your
boat, food fish and shellfish caught by your boat. You can sell the fish
only to the final consumer, defined as the person who will consume
the fish. At this time, a restaurant is considered a final consumer. You
cannot sell away from the boat, nor can you appoint anyone else to
sell your fish in your absence. Furthermore, you cannot sell under the
permit to anyone who will resell the fish (for example, a fish market or
a grocery store).
After you have sold the fish to the final consumer and have
recorded the sale on a numbered receipt, you may conduct or allow
loining or filleting of the sold fish on your boat. Check with the Oregon
Department of Agriculture for sanitation recommendations.
You must make a numbered receipt for each sale (you must keep
the receipts on your boat for six months and make them available for
inspection for three years). You must record your sales on fish tickets
and send the tickets to ODFW. You need to prepare monthly reports
for ODFW and pay landing fees to that agency. Furthermore, you must
pay commodity fees to the commodity commissions. You do not need a
retail license from the Department of Agriculture.
Costs and equipment: $20 fee, $200 refundable deposit, a certified
scale, and numbered receipt books. ODFW furnishes fish tickets, fish
ticket envelopes, and monthly report forms.
2. Wholesale Fish Dealer’s License
A wholesale fish dealer’s license is required if you process your
fish or sell it to retailers. It is a license for one specific, fixed business
location, often your home. No other dealer may be licensed at that
location. If you receive any fish at a location other than the licensed
location, you must buy a buyer’s license, which costs $150.
If you have a wholesale fish dealer’s license and a buyer’s license,
you can— like the limited fish seller—sell fish caught by your boat
directly from your boat. However, if you sell retail away from your
boat, you will need a retail license from the Department of Agricul-
ture unless you are selling at a farmers’ market.
Costs and equipment: $350 fee (wholesale license only); $1,000
bond, assigned savings, or refundable deposit; certified scale and
receipt books or invoices. ODFW furnishes fish tickets, fish ticket
envelopes, and monthly report forms.
3. Selling Fish To—Then Buying Fish Back From—A Wholesale Fish Dealer
If you sell fish to a wholesale fish dealer and then buy fish back
from the dealer, you in turn can sell only to a final consumer. You
cannot sell the fish from a commercial fishing boat, and you cannot
sell to a retailer. The wholesale fish dealer must record the sale of
your landing at current market price on the fish ticket. In turn, the
wholesaler will need to recover from you the landing and commodity
commission fees as well as other ex-penses. No license is required from
ODFW. However, you need to keep very good records.
To buy fish from a wholesaler and then resell to a retailer, you
will need a license from the Department of Agriculture, unless you are
selling at a farmers’ market.
Oregon Department Of Agriculture (ODA)
635 Capitol NE
Salem, OR 97310
Contact: Administrator, Food Safety Division, 503-986-4720
1. No ODA license is required if you sell only raw agricultural
products (whole or dressed fish) directly from your boat.
Guidelines for safe fish filleting are available from ODA.
Inspection is not required.
2. If you sell from a vehicle or stand, an ODA retail license ($75
minimum) is required. A food processor’s license ($75 minimum)
is required if you do any processing, except for filleting raw fish
for the final customer. If you have the product processed in an
ODA- licensed facility, you do not need a processor’s license.
3. You must use an ODA-approved scale for all sales (see
Measurement Standards Division).
Appendix K
79
4. Keep the temperature of your catch under 40°F at all times.
Proper icing should be sufficient.
5. Except for boats that sell raw fish only, sales locations are subject
to provisions of the retail Food Code.
Measurement Standards Division
503-986-4670
1. You can purchase new or used scales that are legal for trade
(known as Class III weighing devices) from a reputable scale
dealer. You won’t find these in your local hardware store. Several
companies listed under “scales” in Portland offer them. Be sure
to determine that a scale is accurate and certifiable by the Oregon
Measurement Standards before you buy it.
2. Obtain a scale license application from the ODA Measurement
Standards Division. Once you have filled out the application and
sent it in with the annual (July 1–June 30) fee ($30 for scales up
to 400 pounds capacity), you may use the scale if it is an accurate
Class III weighing device. Appointments for scale testing can be
made at the Salem metrology lab at 503-986- 4672. You do not
need to have the scale tested before you use it if it is a licensed,
accurate, Class III device. A license certificate will be mailed to
you.
Oregon Driver And Motor Vehicle Services (ODMV)
1. If you transport your catch to another location, no special license
is required if your gross vehicle weight (loaded) is under 8,000
pounds.
2. If your loaded vehicle weighs more than 8,000 pounds, contact
the ODMV about licensing and permit requirements. You can
contact your local ODMV office, or call the central customer
assistance line at 503-945- 5000.
County
Courthouse
1. Check the county planning department regulations on zoning
requirements for selling from a vehicle or stand on the public
right-of-way. Also, obtain permission from the appropriate body
(state Highway Division, county road office) before setting up a
stand.
2. If you want to sell from private property, get permission from the
owner and check with the county for zoning regulations.
City
City Hall
1. If you want to sell from a vehicle or stand within a city limits,
check to see if you need a business license, a vendor’s license, or
both. Prices vary considerably from town to town.
2. If you want to sell on private property, be sure to get the owner’s
permission, buy a business license, and make sure you meet city
zoning requirements.
Other
Additional requirements for individual species:
1. Crab: Obtain poundage fee forms from the Oregon Dungeness
Crab Commission. P.O. Box 1160, Coos Bay, OR 97420;
541-267-5810. www.oregondungeness.org
2. Albacore: Obtain poundage fee forms from the Oregon
Albacore Commission, PO Box 983, Lincoln City, OR 97367,
Phone # 541-994-2647.
www.oregonalbacore.org/
3. Salmon: Obtain poundage fee information and forms from the
Oregon Salmon Commission, P.O. Box 983, Lincoln City, OR
97367; 541-994- 2647. http://oregonsalmon.org
4. Bottomfish, shrimp, scallops (trawlcaught): Obtain first
purchaser’s report forms from the Oregon Trawl Commission,
P.O. Box 569, Astoria, OR 97103; 503-325-3384. www.ortrawl.
org/
5. HACCP: You do not need to have an FDA/ODA HACCP or
sanitation plan unless you are processing on board (not including
troll-dressing salmon). Processors may place HACCP-related
requirements on albacore boats.
80
Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
For Further Information
Oregon Sea Grant and the OSU Extension Service offer many
publications that may be useful to fishermen wishing to market their
own catch.
Please order by publication number; when fees are charged,
prepayment is required.
The following publications are available from
Oregon Sea Grant Communications
Oregon State University
322 Kerr Admin. Bldg.
Corvallis, OR 97331-2131
Phone: 541-737-2716
Also available on the Web at
http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/
sgpubs/index.html
Oregon Sea Grant Publications Directory
No charge.
Albacore Tuna: A Quality Guide for Off-the-Dock Purchasers
ORESU-G-95-003. 50¢. Also on the Web at
seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/onlinepubs/g95003.pdf
Ensuring Food Safety . . . The HACCP Way: An Introduction to HACCP &
a Resource Guide for Retail Deli Managers
T-030. $1.
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Applications to the Seafood
Industry
ORESU-H-92-001. $4.
Preparation of Salt Brines for the Fishing Industry
ORESU-H-99-002. 50¢.
Quality Control and Quality Assurance for Seafood
(Conference proceedings.)
ORESU-W-93-001. $15.
Understanding and Controlling Histamine Formation in Troll-Caught
Albacore Tuna: A Review and Update of Preliminary Findings from the
1994 Season
ORESU-T-01-001. No charge.
Also available on the Web at
http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/
sgpubs/index.html
The following publication is available from Extension and
Experiment Station Communications, Oregon State University, on the
Web at
eesc.orst.edu/ agcomwebfile/edmat/SG79.pdf
Parasites in Marine Fishes: Questions and Answers for Seafood
Retailers
81
Marketing Your Own Catch:
State and Local Regulations in
Washington
Sarah Fisken, Washington Sea Grant
Fishermen in Washington may sell their catch themselves by
either obtaining a
Direct Retail Endorsement or a
Wholesale Dealers
License, in addition to meeting other requirements. With both of these
options, start with the Department of Fish and Wildlife Department
Licensing Division, (360) 902-2464.
Tax Registration Number
Because the state collects taxes from the sale of fish, you are
required to have a tax registration number. A tax number valid for
the duration of the business is available for $15 (a temporary tax
number, valid for up to 30 days, is also available at no charge) from the
Department of Revenue, 1-800-647-7706.
Direct Retail Endorsement
This applies only to current holders of salmon or crab licenses.
Salmon must be sold uncut and unprocessed except for gutting and
removal of the head. Crab must be sold live. Below are general
requirements. Please contact the state Department of Fish & Wildlife
and your local health department for any additional requirements.
Requirements:
• Only the person who owns the license may apply.
• The applicant must obtain a letter from their county health
department certifying that their method of operation
(transporting, storage and display of product) meets county and
state standards for a food service operation. This letter must be
presented to the Department of Fish & Wildlife before a direct
retail endorsement will be issued.
• Holders of direct retail endorsements must complete fish/shellfish
receiving tickets. This procedure is similar to that required of
wholesale dealer license holders.
• Any salmon or crab caught by the holder of a direct retail
endorsement must be landed in the round and documented on
fish tickets, as provided for by the Department of Fish & Wildlife,
before further processing.
• The fee for this endorsement is $50.
• The applicant must also obtain a food and beverage service worker
permit, available from their county health department.
Appendix L
Wholesale Dealers License
A Wholesale Dealer’s License is available from the Department
of Fish & Wildlife Licensing Division at an annual fee of $250. An
additional fee may be required if your operation is a company or
corporation.
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
Licensing Division
Mailing Address:
600 Capital Way N.
Physical Address:
1111 Washington St. SE
Olympia, WA 98501
(360) 902-2464
A Surety Bond of $2000 is required to make certain that fish
receipts are reported in a timely and accurate manner. Information and
forms are available from the Department of Fish & Wildlife Licensing
Division.
Inspected & Approved Scales
The scale you use for weighing your product must be accurate.
It must be certified annually by the Washington State Department
of Agriculture, Division of Weights & Measures, Olympia, (360)
902-1857.
City or County Business Licenses
Contact your local city or county licensing department or clerk to
find out if you need a business license to operate in your chosen area.
Additional Requirements or Regulations
Some counties require additional permits and regulations for
selling seafood. Please contact the appropriate county:
Pacific County
Pacific County Health
Department Courthouse
South Bend, WA 98586
(360) 875-9356
Health Inspector, Faith Taylor
Grays Harbor County
Grays Harbor County
Environmental Health Division
100 W. Bdwy., Suite 31
Montesano, WA 98563
(360) 249-4413
Janna Denning, Food Program
Coordinator
Bremerton –Kitsap County
Environmental Health Division
109 Austin Dr.
Bremerton, WA
(360) 337-5235/5726
Bonnie
Clallam County
223 East 4th St.
Port Angeles, WA 98362
(360) 417-2589
Joe Graham
Jefferson County
Environmental Health
615 Sheridan St.
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360) 385-9436
Larry Fay
Seattle-King County
Environmental Health
2124 4th Ave.
Seattle, WA
(206) 205-3485
Whatcom County
Environmental Health
509 Girard St.
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 676-6724
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Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual
Appendix M
Sources of Information and
Materials
The following is a partial list of sources for information, services
and materials that may be of use to direct marketers.
Inclusion does not imply endorsement by the Alaska or
Washington Sea Grant programs, nor does it indicate that authors have
investigated or tested the products or services offered by the companies
listed.
Sources for Information on Potential Markets
Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.
Directory of Alaska Seafood Suppliers, sales aids and literature
catalog.
www.alaskaseafood.org
(800) 478-2903
Chain Store Guide.
Directories of chain and independent restaurants, food service
distributors and wholesale grocers.
www.csgis.com.
(800) 927-9292
ContactDirect.Com.
On-line directories of food and beverage industry companies.
www.contactdirect.com.
(757) 599-4644
Food Logistics.
Business journal of food shipping industry
www.foodlogistics.com.
Circulation (920) 563-1743
Marketplace Classified Advertising Sales
Ross Johnson
(920) 563-1723
(920) 568-2244 Fax
ross.johnson@cygnusb2b.com
Seafax Yearbook.
Seafood industry financial information
sales@seafax.com.
(800) 777-3533
Seafood Business.
Publishes Seafood Business (monthly journal of the seafood
industry) and Seafood Handbook (a buyers guide).
www.seafoodhandbook.com.
(207) 842-5682.
Urner Barry Publications, Inc.
Seafood market newsletters, business directories, wall charts, fish-
and seafood-related books.
www.urnerbarry.com.
(800) 932-0617
Sources of Shipping, Insulating and Related
Materials
American Thermal Wizards International, Inc.
Insulated shipping packaging.
www.ATW-International.com.
(866) 568-3289.
A. Mindle & Associates.
Tray packaging for processed products.
www.amindle.com
(831) 425-6627
Beck Pack Systems Inc.
Shipping packaging and liners.
www.beck-liner.com
(206) 575-3037
Eastern Seaboard Packaging.
Insulated shipping containers and container insulation
info@thermashield.net,
info@easternseaboardpackaging.com.
(704) 895-7277
Ketchum Manufacturing Inc.
Seafood and aquaculture tags, merchandizing products.
www.ketchum.ca.
(613) 342-8455
Packaging Products Corporation.
Shipping boxes, insulation, and gel packs.
(800) 225-0484
Packagemasters Inc.
Packaging supply and design, vacuum pouches, labels.
(800) 938-7511
Peterson Pack Systems Inc.
Shipping packaging and liners.
www.beck-liner.com.
(206) 575-3224 Fax
QuickLabel Systems.
Product package labels
www.quicklabel.com.
(877) 757-7978 (401) 822-2430 Fax
Sensitech Inc.
Temperature data loggers.
(800) 843-8367
(978) 921-2112 Fax
www.sensitech.com
Stock America Inc.
Packaging systems
www.stockpackaging.com.
(262) 375-4100
Stoffel Seals Corporation.
Product package labels.
www.stoffel.com.
(770) 574-2382
83
Victory Packaging.
Boxes, bags, plastic wrapping, shipping supplies.
(800) 790-8457
Yerecic Label.
Product package labels.
www.yereciclabel.com. (800) 245-2700
Sources of Shipping, Handling, Logistics and
Cold Storage
LIFOAM.
Shipping containers, insulation, and gel packs.
www.lifoam.com.
(800) 638-1471 (800) 937-3626 Fax
Old Dominion Freight Line.
Product shipping and logistics services.
www.odfl.com.
(800) 432-6335
VersaCold.
Seafood product freezing, shipping, and warehousing.
(360) 354-2138 (360) 354-1304 Fax
dshuler@versacold.com
www.versacold.com
United States Cold Storage.
Cold storage services, refrigerated and logistical services.
www.uscoldstorage.com.
(856) 354-8181 (856) 354-8199 Fax
AmeriCold Logistics.
Refrigerated product logistics services, warehouses, consolidation.
www.americold.net.
(888) 808-4877
Global Perishable Logistics Group.
Air and sea freight, storage, distribution, and logistics.
www.gplg.org.
(617) 5599-2333 (Australia)
Oceanair, Inc.
Perishable logistics services, inventory management, containers,
freight and insurance services, etc.
(781) 286-2700 (781) 286-3095 Fax
sales@oceanair.net.
www.oceanair.net
Seafreeze Cold Storage.
Cold storage.
(206) 767-7350
www.seafreeze.com.
Astra Information Systems.
Seafood distribution, importing and processing technology
sales@astrainfo.com
(800) 305-5567 ext. 111
DeltaTrak.
Temperature recording produces, in-transit data management
www.deltatrak.com
(800) 962-6776
Sources of Insurance, Inspection and Credit Services
Alaska Manufacturers’ Association.
Quality seafood program. Consulting, grading, inspection.
www.alaskaqualityseafood.com,
seafood@alaskamfg.com.
(907) 565-5655
Capitol Risk Concepts, Ltd.
Product insurance and produce liability insurance
(914) 946-7161 (914) 683-8048 Fax
john.keane@crclimited.com
www.crclimited.com
InsureCargo Insurance Services, Inc.
Cargo insurance.
www.insurecargo.com
(888) 286-5647
Northeast Analytical Laboratory Services.
Product quality testing and assurance.
information@nealab.com.
(518) 346-4592
Seafax.
Business reports, creditors index, company credit reporting,
collection service, credit insurance.
See Seafax, above.
Shorepoint Insurance Services.
Cargo insurance, business and product liability insurance
www.shorepointinsurance.com.
(800) 350-5647.
Surefish.
Seafood inspection, chain-of-custody certification,
HACCP audits, training.
(206) 284-1472 (206) 282-6288 Fax
surelab@surefish.com
www.surefish.com
U.S. Department of Commerce Seafood Inspection Program.
Product inspection services. Federal Standards for Fish Plants. Policy
for Advertising Services and Marks (800) 422-2750
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Appendix N
Glossary of Seafood Business Terms
Accrued expenses – An expense incurred but not yet paid.
Amortization – The gradual reduction of a debt by means of periodic
payments sufficient to meet current interest and extinguish the debt at
maturity.
Assets, capital – Those assets which are not readily convertible into
cash and in the ordinary course of business are not so converted, more
often termed
fixed assets.
Assets, liquid – Those assets, generally current, which may be quickly
turned into cash.
Break-even analysis – A method used to determine the point at which
the business will neither make a profit nor incur a loss. That point is
expressed in either the total dollars of revenue exactly offset by total
expenses; or in total units of production, the cost of which exactly
equals the income derived by their sale.
Broker – An agent who sells a product for the owner, for commission.
Usually brokers do not buy product or acquire any ownership. Fees
usually are 3 percent to 5 percent of the sales price.
Business plan – An objective, written review of your business to
identify areas of weakness and strength, pinpoint needs and begin
planning how you can best achieve your business goals.
Cash flow – The sources and uses of a company’s cash funds over a
designated period.
Cash position – The percentage of cash to total net assets indicates
relative cash positions. It includes cash and United States government
securities and is the net amount after deducting current liabilities.
CIF – Cost, insurance, freight. The price an importer or wholesaler
pays for fish which has been processed, and for which insurance and
freight fees have already been paid. It is processor cost plus freight and
insurance.
C&F – Cost and freight. Same as above without insurance paid.
Collateral – Property that is pledged as security by a borrower to a
lender as assurance that a loan will be repaid. It may be a tangible
item such as a vessel or a piece of land and building, or it could be
intangible such as a trade receivable owed to you, or both.
Corporation – A form of business organization that may have many
owners with each owner liable only for the amount of his investment
in the business. It is an artificial person created by state or federal law.
As defined by the Supreme Court of the United States, a corporation
is an artificial being, invisible, intangible and existing only in
contemplation of law.
Current assets – Those assets which are readily convertible into cash
without substantial loss; included are cash, investments, notes and
accounts receivable, and inventories.
Current liabilities – Those obligations ordinarily intended to be paid
in the usual course of business within a relatively short time, normally
within a year, out of earnings.
Current ratio – The ratio of current assets to current liabilities,
indicating the ability of a business to pay its current liabilities in cash
as they fall due.
Custom processing – Service provided for a fee on products owned by
a customer other than the processor. Custom processing could be as
little as washing and boxing, or as complex as portioning, smoking,
and vacuum packaging.
Debt capital financing – Money borrowed with the intention of paying
it back plus interest.
Debt to worth ratio – A ratio of your business’ total liability to its net
worth.
Depreciation – Expiration in service life of fixed assets, other than
wasting assets, attributable to wear and tear through use and lapse of
time, obsolescence, inadequacy or other physical or functional cause.
Distributor/wholesaler – An agent who buys large lots of product,
transports and possibly warehouses it, and then sells small quantities
to many food service or retail outlets.
Dividends – The proportion of the net earnings of a corporation paid
to the stockholders as their share of the profits.
Eastern cut – Fish product form with head removed but collar left on.
Entrepreneur – One who assumes the financial risk of the initiation,
operation and management of a given business or undertaking.
Equity – The monetary value of a property or business which exceeds
the claims and/or liens against it by others.
Equity capital financing – Money given to your business, without
the intention of paying it back, in return for part ownership in your
business.
Export – Sent outside the country of origin.
Ex-vessel – The price paid to fishermen for raw (unprocessed) fish.
Filet, fillet – (pronounced “fi-lay” and “fill-et”) – Two words for the
slice of meat taken from each side of a fish outboard of the backbone
and ribs, from behind the gills to the isthmus “caudal peduncle” before
the tail. May include some bones unless identified as “bone-out.”
Fletch – A fillet of a halibut, consisting of one whole side of the fish,
above and below the backbone and running from behind the gill plate
to the caudal peduncle.
Food service industry – The group of food providers that includes
restaurants, hotels and cafeterias in establishments like schools,
hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and businesses.
FOB – Free on board. A term used in a sales agreement which specifies
that the buyer is responsible for all transportation costs including
freight and insurance from the location designated on the shipping
document.
Glaze – A solution applied to a frozen product designed to seal the
surface and protect it from dehydration and oxidation.
85
Guaranty – A written commitment by an individual or authorized legal
entity to pay back a loan in the event the borrower is unable to do so.
HACCP – Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. A seafood safety
assurance plan based on identifying and monitoring those points in the
process system where contamination could occur.
H&G – Headed and gutted.
IFQ – Individual fishery quota
Ikura – Japanese, from the Russian “ikra” for fish eggs, ikura is salmon
caviar –individual salted eggs, as opposed to sujiko, see below.
IQF – Individually quick frozen.
Inventory – The amount of product currently kept in storage ready for
sale. Carryover is inventory at the beginning of a new season, which
remains from the previous season.
Leverage – The relationship of other people’s money (debt) in relation
to your own investment (equity) in your business.
Liquidity – Solvency of a business; the degree of readiness in which
assets can be converted to cash. If assets cannot be converted into cash
to meet current liabilities, the firm is said to be illiquid.
Management – The administration and policy makers of a business;
those responsible for planning goals and objectives.
Market – The number of people and their total spending (actual
or potential) for your product line within the geographic limits of
your geographic ability. Also, the geographical area itself. Also, the
ethnicity or other characteristics of a group of consumers. Also, the
particular processing company that buys product from a fisherman.
Also, as a verb, to conduct the activities (including research, product
positioning and advertising) needed to bring a product to the attention
of purchasers and get them to buy.
Marketing – The business of tailoring the right mix of product form,
price and promotion to a specific segment of the population to meet a
sales goal.
Market niche – A segment of the population that buys a certain
product because it suits their needs in terms of product form, price,
packaging and promotion style.
Metric ton – 2,200 pounds.
Net worth – The excess of the assets of an individual or an enterprise
over all his, her or its liabilities.
Niche market – A small group of consumers, defined by ethnicity,
geography or some other feature, that allow them to be targeted by a
sales effort for a small quantity of product.
Partnership – Two or more persons who are associated in order to
pursue a business for profit.
Portion – a piece of fish (e.g., steak or piece of fillet) which is cut to a
specific and uniform weight.
Princess cut – Gilled and gutted, with the throat latch left intact.
Processing – Any of various mechanical activities that prepare a fish
for storage, transport and consumption by removing unwanted parts
of it and stabilizing it by freezing or cooking. Secondary or value
added processing may include portioning, smoking, curing or other
treatments that improve flavor or make it more user-friendly.
Processing yield – Processed weight divided by the original whole fish
weight. The result is given as a percentage.
Pro forma – A projection or estimate of what may result in the future
from actions in the present. A pro forma financial statement is one
that shows how the actual operations of the business will turn out if
certain assumptions are realized.
Profit – The excess of the selling price over all costs and expenses
incurred in making the sale.
Receivable – An asset in the form of an amount which is due from a
borrower.
Recovery rate – The percentage of round fish weight which remains
after processing.
Retail – The final link in the distribution chain where the product is
sold to the consumer. Fish markets and supermarkets are considered
retail outlets; restaurants and institutional food service facilities
usually are not.
Retro – A payment to fishermen as a bonus or incentive that is above,
and usually comes later than, the grounds price settlement.
Rigor mortis – Literally “stiffness of death,” the muscle tension that
occurs some hours after a fish expires. Product processed and frozen
pre-rigor is generally higher quality when it thaws.
Round – Whole. Round fish is whole, unprocessed fish, and round fish
weight is the total weight of the catch before heading and gutting, and
grading or culling inferior grade fish.
Shrinkage – The loss of weight of product between its purchase and
sale, due to “drip” (loss of fluid from the flesh) as well as from product
that doesn’t sell before it goes bad.
Sole partnership – Ownership by one person of an entire business.
Sourcing – The process of finding product to purchase for subsequent
resale.
Sujiko – Japanese, for salmon eggs processed and sold in the skein
rather than separated out, as in ikura.
Surety bond – A cash deposit, pledge of property or insurance policy
that is forfeited if the entity posting the bond fails to comply with
requirements for which it is posted, such as remitting taxes, paying
employees or performing the contracted service.
Trader – One who buys and sells on behalf of another company and,
unlike a broker, takes ownership of the product.
Tramper – a cargo ship that is chartered by voyage rather than running
on a scheduled route. Trampers are commonly chartered to transport
Alaska fish to Japan at the end of the season.
Uni – Japanese, for sea urchin gonads.
Value added – Further processing or packaging of a product that
causes the product to sell for a higher price.
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Business Plan Outline
The following outline for a business plan details what
information should be included under each category. Please note
that all parts may not be applicable to every business. Similarly,
there may be additional categories that should be included.
Title Page
Business Name
Purpose (Planning and/or Financing Proposal)
Name of Principals
Contact Information
Executive Summary
Describes the purpose and/or goal of the business plan and
summarizes the major points of the business plan. This summary
should be one to two pages and should highlight the important
facts that are described in detail within the plan.
Table of Contents
List all of the headings within the plan and the pages they
are located on.
Description of Business
• Mission statement
• Type of business/industry
• Status of business (start-up/existing/expanding)
• Form of business (sole proprietor/partnership/corporation)
• Location (address)
• Physical features of building
• Own or lease facility
• Hours of operation/seasonal (peaks/valleys)
• Background and history
• Future goals/objectives/strategies
• Products/services (description/customer benefits)
• Target market
Market
Company
Analysis
• Company goals/focus
• Company strengths/weaknesses
• Niche market
Product/Service
• Description of products/services
• Benefits to consumers
• Compare to competitors
Consumers
• Type of consumers (wholesale/retail)
• Products/services purchasing
• Factors affecting purchasing decisions (politics/economics/
etc.)
Competition
• Primary competitors
• Competitors’ products/services
• Evaluation of product/service (similar/dissimilar)
Marketing Plan
• Overall market description
• Size/growth and trends
• Market segments
• Market projections
• Products/service (brand name/quality/scope/package/
warranty)
• Pricing (list price/discounts/payment terms)
• Distribution (channels/locations/logistics)
• Promotion (advertising/public relations/trade shows/
partnerships)
• Sales force and forecast
• Market growth potential
Management
Management team (include resumes)
Business background/management experience
Division of responsibilities of management team
Strengths/weaknesses of team
Salary and/or payment plan
Benefit plan
Outside management and/or assistant needs
Personnel
Personnel needs
Skills required
Training requirements/availability
Full-time/part-time
Salary/hourly
Benefits
Employee policies/contracts
Financial Data
List of capital equipment
Source and application of start-up capital
Inventory control system
Accounting system
Three years profit and loss statement (income and expenses)
Three years balance sheet (assets, liabilities and owner
equity)
Appendix 0
87
Cash flow (projected monthly breakdown of when money
comes in and goes out, where money came from and what it
was spent on)
Break-even analysis (level at which total revenues and total
expenses equal; no profit/no loss)
Explanation of assumptions for all financial documents
Three years tax returns (company and principals)
Supporting Documents
Contracts/leases/agreements
Copies of licenses/permits/certifications/etc.
Community support
Marketing research information
Credit reports
Principal current financial statements
Resumes
Tax returns
For an electronic fisheries business plan template, see Alaska
Fish Business Plan Writer, available from Alaska Sea Grant’s
Fisheries Business Assistance Project (“FishBiz”). You can
request a free CD from the Alaska Sea Grant MAP, or download
the program by going to www.alaskafishbiz.org and following
the link to fisheries business management.
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